Windows 7 Copying Error - Invalid MS Dos Function

By Sethalos
in Hardware Hangout

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Sethalos

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Hello Neowinians,

I have a problem I'm wondering if one of you hardware guru's can help with.

I have a 250 gig external hard-drive that contains all of my music, pictures, and movies. I recently bought a 1 TB external drive and would like to put all of the contents of the 250 onto it.

When I try to copy anything over, even one folder or one song, etc....I receive the following error: Invalid MS-DOS Function .

Now, I can play the music, look at the photos, and watch the videos from my 250 just fine....they just won't copy over without me getting that error.

Anyone have this problem or know the fix? I've checked out MS$ site with no luck, and google didn't help.

Thanks,

Seth

Apprentice

Sethalos

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  On 17/06/2010 at 05:40, Koshy John said:

Run chkdsk /f on it.

Create a new text file on the 250GB and then try copying that over. Do you get the error? What file system is the 250GB formatted with?

Greetings,

Thanks for your responses.

1) The file system is NTFS.

2) I created the text file, and no it won't copy, same issue.

3) I ran the chkdsk /f and nada.

It's really strange, because the disk works fine...and I can copy to it, but everytime I try and copy from it I get that error.

Apprentice

Sethalos

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  On 17/06/2010 at 15:44, GreyWolf said:

What motherboard/chipset do you have? It could be a USB driver issue.

Thanks Again.

1) Won't copy to the main HD either.

2) It's an HP Laptop, relatively new, not sure the mobo/chipset.

3) Ok, Ran CHKDSK /r and it completed with no bad sectors

4) It is an external HD within a Caddy connected by a USB cable...I switched out the cable and tried with a new.

During my search around the websphere, I've found some others with a similiar problem only they had issues copying from a cd (data) to their hard drive. No solutions but all were using Win 7, so I'm wondering maybe if this could be an OS issue.

Experienced

+kjx Subscriber²

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Try the HDD with another machine to see if the problem persists. If it does, we can isolate the problem to the HDD.

Try copying a single file using the command prompt and tell us what error you get:

copy /v X:\random.txt C:\Users\Your Name\random.txt (change appropriately)

Also try:

xcopy /c /j X:\random.txt C:\Users\Your Name\random.txt (change appropriately)

Apprentice

Sethalos

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  On 17/06/2010 at 16:22, Koshy John said:

Try the HDD with another machine to see if the problem persists. If it does, we can isolate the problem to the HDD.

Try copying a single file using the command prompt and tell us what error you get:

copy /v X:\random.txt C:\Users\Your Name\random.txt (change appropriately)

Also try:

xcopy /c /j X:\random.txt C:\Users\Your Name\random.txt (change appropriately)

Hello,

Ok, I tried copying with both commands, and both commands were successful.

I created the random.txt file, and was able to copy via the commands.

No idea how I would use the commands to copy the entire drive over, so if you know the proper syntax I'd like to give that a try.

The problem drive is F:\ and I want to copy it to G:\

NOTE: Ok, so I found the Xcopy command and used the following: xcopy F:\*.* /a/e/k

I received the error: The target volume does not support symbolic links

So I looked up what a symbolic link was (basically a file linking from a different location)...so I verified that all the files are where they say they are.

No clue.

Experienced

+kjx Subscriber²

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Format G: as NTFS. FAT32 volumes do not support symbolic links.

Use the following command to copy stuff over:

xcopy F:\* G:\* /E /F /Y /B /J

(note: it will overwrite existing files in the destination with the same name; but that won't be an issue if G: is freshly formatted to NTFS)

Apprentice

Sethalos

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  On 18/06/2010 at 09:54, Koshy John said:

Format G: as NTFS. FAT32 volumes do not support symbolic links.

Use the following command to copy stuff over:

xcopy F:\* G:\* /E /F /Y /B /J

(note: it will overwrite existing files in the destination with the same name; but that won't be an issue if G: is freshly formatted to NTFS)

Yep, I read that, the G: drive is actually formatted as NTFS, as well as my main HD, and neither will be copied to from the F:

Also, I think I've narrowed it down to the F: drive as the issue, I tried it on another computer and no go.

Craziest problem I've ever encountered, lol.

Experienced

+kjx Subscriber²

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  On 18/06/2010 at 13:57, Sethalos said:

Yep, I read that, the G: drive is actually formatted as NTFS, as well as my main HD, and neither will be copied to from the F:

Also, I think I've narrowed it down to the F: drive as the issue, I tried it on another computer and no go.

Craziest problem I've ever encountered, lol.

xcopy F:\* G:\* /E /F /Y /B /J /C

The new switch I added will let xcopy continue copying even if errors occur. Hopefully that'll get your files across. If it does, verify that you have gotten what you need and just reformat F:.

Grand Master

redvamp128

Posted
Posted

I would run a scandisk on the drive.. not the new TB drive but where the music and pictures are.

I also found this KB that may apply -- not sure.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976972

I would also try a live linux like Puppy Linux or Ubuntu

and see if it can move the files -- to rule out a hardware issue.

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