Windows 7, Files Management Flaw

On 04/09/2014 23:03, wrote:
Hi,

I have Windows 7 Home Premium, SP1 and I have found (more than
once) , if you use Windows 7's files manager (Explorer) to copy a very large
group of files, within a group of folders, which includes the folders (copy),
(example: from a USB drive onto the hard disk drive), some files may be
skipped without your knowledge. Also, you may receive a notice that a
particular file(s) "already exist", with the option to "skip" or have the
file renamed.

I tried "Tera Copy", but I found a flaw with that ap, so I removed it.

Note: I never had this problem with Windows XP's (home version)
files manager.

Does anyone know if there is a fix for this problem?

Thank You in advance, John
PS,
I use the copy and paste method (not "drag and drop") to copy "stuff".


What flaw did you find with Tera Copy?
I use it for quite some time now and have never seen any problem.

Fokke

Char Jackson wrote:
On Fri, 05 Sep 2014 17:03:51 -0400, wrote:

SNIP


One thing just came to me and maybe it applies, maybe not. Are you
coping files from a disk formatted differently than the dish you are
copying to, i.e. NTFS to FAT32? I too would think there would be some
kind of warning, though.

Hi,
No to your question.

External device is an Extension (external) NTFS HDD plugged into a 3.0 USB
port. Internal HDD is also NTFS.

I was copying a few folders that contain many files from the Extension
drive onto the internal HDD. One folder contained sub-folders. The total
files in all those sub-folders is 8,694 files. After the copy was finished,
there were only 8,685 files total copied to the internal HDD. 9 files
are missing. Note: This pertains to just one folder.

If you have enough room, create a temp folder and MOVE everything into it.
That way you can see exactly which files got left behind. With any luck,
it's a bunch of desktop.ini's, one per sub-folder.

Alternatively, use a file compare program and see what it says about there
being more files in the source folder than the destination folder.

I'll second that suggestion, and go even further. For non-trivial copy
operations, I always use a file sync program. That works better than
Explorer in just about every conceivable way.

--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

SNIP
I was copying a few folders that contain many files from the Extension
drive onto the internal HDD. One folder contained sub-folders. The total
files in all those sub-folders is 8,694 files. After the copy was finished,
there were only 8,685 files total copied to the internal HDD. 9 files
are missing. Note: This pertains to just one folder.

If you have enough room, create a temp folder and MOVE everything into it.
That way you can see exactly which files got left behind. With any luck,
it's a bunch of desktop.ini's, one per sub-folder.

Alternatively, use a file compare program and see what it says about there
being more files in the source folder than the destination folder.

I like your idea of leaving desktop.ini. If his settings are not to
show hidden files, you think windows will then omit these. And visa
versa, if he was set to show hidden files, you think the desktop.ini
would be copied? I should give this a try, probably the easy way to
test. Only issue is I'm on win8.

Hi,
No hidden or system files and no desktop.ini files. These sub-folders
are copies of all my USB flash drives that I have used to back up "stuff"
over the years. I label each flash drive.

I used a WinXP computer and an extension drive, I created a "parent"
folder. Within the "parent" folder, I created folders with the names of each
flash drive. Then I copy the contents of each flash drive into it's folder.
There are no very long filenames.

John

I have Windows 7 Home Premium, SP1 and I have found (more than
once) , if you use Windows 7's files manager (Explorer) to copy a very large
group of files, within a group of folders, which includes the folders (copy),
(example: from a USB drive onto the hard disk drive), some files may be
skipped without your knowledge. Also, you may receive a notice that a
particular file(s) "already exist", with the option to "skip" or have the
file renamed.

I tried "Tera Copy", but I found a flaw with that ap, so I removed it.

Note: I never had this problem with Windows XP's (home version)
files manager.

Does anyone know if there is a fix for this problem?

Thank You in advance, John
PS,
I use the copy and paste method (not "drag and drop") to copy "stuff".


What flaw did you find with Tera Copy?
I use it for quite some time now and have never seen any problem.

Fokke

Hi Fokke,

I did not expect an error (don't recall the error message) because I did
not have an error using a Windows XP computer to copy a folder that contained
sub-folders of all my USB flash drives contents from an extension drive onto
the internal hard drive in the WinXP PC.

John

On Sat, 06 Sep 2014 11:14:59 -0400, wrote:

SNIP
I was copying a few folders that contain many files from the Extension
drive onto the internal HDD. One folder contained sub-folders. The total
files in all those sub-folders is 8,694 files. After the copy was finished,
there were only 8,685 files total copied to the internal HDD. 9 files
are missing. Note: This pertains to just one folder.

If you have enough room, create a temp folder and MOVE everything into it.
That way you can see exactly which files got left behind. With any luck,
it's a bunch of desktop.ini's, one per sub-folder.

Alternatively, use a file compare program and see what it says about there
being more files in the source folder than the destination folder.

I like your idea of leaving desktop.ini. If his settings are not to
show hidden files, you think windows will then omit these. And visa
versa, if he was set to show hidden files, you think the desktop.ini
would be copied? I should give this a try, probably the easy way to
test. Only issue is I'm on win8.

Hi,
No hidden or system files and no desktop.ini files. These sub-folders
are copies of all my USB flash drives that I have used to back up "stuff"
over the years. I label each flash drive.

I used a WinXP computer and an extension drive, I created a "parent"
folder. Within the "parent" folder, I created folders with the names of each
flash drive. Then I copy the contents of each flash drive into it's folder.
There are no very long filenames.

In that case, the next step is for you to tell us about the files that got
left behind. You already know how to find them. Any illegal characters in
their filenames or paths? Any unusual file attributes?

What I'm getting at is that it's not an issue with Windows Explorer, per se,
it's an issue with the drives/folders/files that you're working on.

--

Char Jackson

On 04/09/2014 22:03, wrote:
Hi,

I have Windows 7 Home Premium, SP1 and I have found (more than
once) , if you use Windows 7's files manager (Explorer) to copy a very large
group of files, within a group of folders, which includes the folders (copy),
(example: from a USB drive onto the hard disk drive), some files may be
skipped without your knowledge. Also, you may receive a notice that a
particular file(s) "already exist", with the option to "skip" or have the
file renamed.

I tried "Tera Copy", but I found a flaw with that ap, so I removed it.

Note: I never had this problem with Windows XP's (home version)
files manager.

Does anyone know if there is a fix for this problem?

Thank You in advance, John
PS,
I use the copy and paste method (not "drag and drop") to copy "stuff".

Not a fix, but a possible - although longer - alternative.

I wonder what would happen if you created a *.zip file from the original
files and then unzipped it in the new location. Would you still find
that some files were missing?

One other point. You didn't say whether or not it was possible to copy
all the missing files singly (I believe that you mentioned only TIB
files). Was it possible or did you have problems with those too?

--

Jeff

On Fri, 05 Sep 2014 22:27:10 -0400, Big Al wrote:

Char Jackson wrote on 9/5/2014 8:30 PM:
On Fri, 05 Sep 2014 17:03:51 -0400, wrote:

SNIP


One thing just came to me and maybe it applies, maybe not. Are you
coping files from a disk formatted differently than the dish you are
copying to, i.e. NTFS to FAT32? I too would think there would be some
kind of warning, though.

Hi,
No to your question.

External device is an Extension (external) NTFS HDD plugged into a 3.0 USB
port. Internal HDD is also NTFS.

I was copying a few folders that contain many files from the Extension
drive onto the internal HDD. One folder contained sub-folders. The total
files in all those sub-folders is 8,694 files. After the copy was finished,
there were only 8,685 files total copied to the internal HDD. 9 files
are missing. Note: This pertains to just one folder.

If you have enough room, create a temp folder and MOVE everything into it.
That way you can see exactly which files got left behind. With any luck,
it's a bunch of desktop.ini's, one per sub-folder.

Alternatively, use a file compare program and see what it says about there
being more files in the source folder than the destination folder.

I like your idea of leaving desktop.ini. If his settings are not to
show hidden files, you think windows will then omit these. And visa
versa, if he was set to show hidden files, you think the desktop.ini
would be copied? I should give this a try, probably the easy way to
test. Only issue is I'm on win8.

Windows sees the files even if you don't. But desktop.ini files might
not be appropriate to copy anyway, since they wouldn't be correct on the
destination drive, and Windows might be smart enough to not copy them.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Sat, 06 Sep 2014 11:14:59 -0400, wrote:

SNIP
I was copying a few folders that contain many files from the Extension
drive onto the internal HDD. One folder contained sub-folders. The total
files in all those sub-folders is 8,694 files. After the copy was finished,
there were only 8,685 files total copied to the internal HDD. 9 files
are missing. Note: This pertains to just one folder.

If you have enough room, create a temp folder and MOVE everything into it.
That way you can see exactly which files got left behind. With any luck,
it's a bunch of desktop.ini's, one per sub-folder.

Alternatively, use a file compare program and see what it says about there
being more files in the source folder than the destination folder.

I like your idea of leaving desktop.ini. If his settings are not to
show hidden files, you think windows will then omit these. And visa
versa, if he was set to show hidden files, you think the desktop.ini
would be copied? I should give this a try, probably the easy way to
test. Only issue is I'm on win8.

Hi,
No hidden or system files and no desktop.ini files. These sub-folders
are copies of all my USB flash drives that I have used to back up "stuff"
over the years. I label each flash drive.

I used a WinXP computer and an extension drive, I created a "parent"
folder. Within the "parent" folder, I created folders with the names of each
flash drive. Then I copy the contents of each flash drive into it's folder.
There are no very long filenames.

Note that I said long "path" names...

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Thu, 04 Sep 2014 17:03:20 -0400, wrote:

Hi,

I have Windows 7 Home Premium, SP1 and I have found (more than
once) , if you use Windows 7's files manager (Explorer) to copy a very large
group of files, within a group of folders, which includes the folders (copy),
(example: from a USB drive onto the hard disk drive), some files may be
skipped without your knowledge. Also, you may receive a notice that a
particular file(s) "already exist", with the option to "skip" or have the
file renamed.

I tried "Tera Copy", but I found a flaw with that ap, so I removed it.

Note: I never had this problem with Windows XP's (home version)
files manager.

Does anyone know if there is a fix for this problem?

Thank You in advance, John
PS,
I use the copy and paste method (not "drag and drop") to copy "stuff".


Years ago I had a problem with files some transferred to a new drive
not showing up. I ran chkdsk and it fixed the problem.

SNIP
In that case, the next step is for you to tell us about the files that got
left behind. You already know how to find them. Any illegal characters in
their filenames or paths? Any unusual file attributes?

What I'm getting at is that it's not an issue with Windows Explorer, per se,
it's an issue with the drives/folders/files that you're working on.

Hi,

UPDATE:

There was a prompt, "The 'filename' already exist", with 3 options,
Replace, Skip, etc. It is possible I had checked "do all" (don't recall
exact wording) in order to avoid the same prompt again and again, when I
clicked on "Skip". This would result in missing files without notice.

I have discovered that one of the two files had lost it's LFN (Long File
Name) in older computers. This happens when a file(s) is copied to a
directory/folder while in real Dos mode (not Dos/Command Prompt). In real Dos
mode, there is no LFN support. Note: Files via older Windows OS has both an
8.3 Dos format and a LFN (example: "Active Setup Log.TxT" (LFN) and
"ACTIVE~1.TXT" (8.3 format)).

This was not a problem with WinXP and older Windows OSs when you
copy a group of files that include some that "lost" their LFNs.

Thanks again to everyone for your replies, John

Most of my original post:

I have Windows 7 Home Premium, SP1 and I have found (more than
once) , if you use Windows 7's files manager (Explorer) to copy a very large
group of files, within a group of folders, which includes the folders (copy),
(example: from a USB drive onto the hard disk drive), some files may be
skipped without your knowledge. Also, you may receive a notice that a
particular file(s) "already exist", with the option to "skip" or have the
file renamed.

Note: I never had this problem with Windows XP's (home version)
files manager.

Hi,
UPDATE:

There was a prompt, "The 'filename' already exist", with 3 options,
Replace, Skip, etc. It is possible I had checked "do all" (don't recall
exact wording) in order to avoid the same prompt again and again, when I
clicked on "Skip". This would result in missing files without notice.

I have discovered that one of the two files had lost it's LFN (Long File
Name) in older computers. This happens when a file(s) is copied to a
directory/folder while in real Dos mode (not Dos/Command Prompt). In real Dos
mode, there is no LFN support. Note: Files via older Windows OS has both an
8.3 Dos format and a LFN (example: "Active Setup Log.TxT" (LFN) and
"ACTIVE~1.TXT" (8.3 format)).

This was not a problem with WinXP and older Windows OSs when you
copy a group of files that include some that "lost" their LFNs.

Thanks again to everyone for your replies, John

wrote on 9/7/2014 5:09 PM:
SNIP
In that case, the next step is for you to tell us about the files that got
left behind. You already know how to find them. Any illegal characters in
their filenames or paths? Any unusual file attributes?

What I'm getting at is that it's not an issue with Windows Explorer, per se,
it's an issue with the drives/folders/files that you're working on.

Hi,

UPDATE:

There was a prompt, "The 'filename' already exist", with 3 options,
Replace, Skip, etc. It is possible I had checked "do all" (don't recall
exact wording) in order to avoid the same prompt again and again, when I
clicked on "Skip". This would result in missing files without notice.

I have discovered that one of the two files had lost it's LFN (Long File
Name) in older computers. This happens when a file(s) is copied to a
directory/folder while in real Dos mode (not Dos/Command Prompt). In real Dos
mode, there is no LFN support. Note: Files via older Windows OS has both an
8.3 Dos format and a LFN (example: "Active Setup Log.TxT" (LFN) and
"ACTIVE~1.TXT" (8.3 format)).

This was not a problem with WinXP and older Windows OSs when you
copy a group of files that include some that "lost" their LFNs.

Thanks again to everyone for your replies, John



Not playing language cop, I'm asking for clarity (for me), by "WinXP and
older Windows OSs" in your last paragraph, do you mean WinXP and later
OSs? Older OSs would be Win98 Win3.1 etc

On 06/09/2014 17:46, wrote:
I have Windows 7 Home Premium, SP1 and I have found (more than
once) , if you use Windows 7's files manager (Explorer) to copy a very large
group of files, within a group of folders, which includes the folders (copy),
(example: from a USB drive onto the hard disk drive), some files may be
skipped without your knowledge. Also, you may receive a notice that a
particular file(s) "already exist", with the option to "skip" or have the
file renamed.

I tried "Tera Copy", but I found a flaw with that ap, so I removed it.

Note: I never had this problem with Windows XP's (home version)
files manager.

Does anyone know if there is a fix for this problem?

Thank You in advance, John
PS,
I use the copy and paste method (not "drag and drop") to copy "stuff".


What flaw did you find with Tera Copy?
I use it for quite some time now and have never seen any problem.

Fokke

Hi Fokke,

I did not expect an error (don't recall the error message) because I did
not have an error using a Windows XP computer to copy a folder that contained
sub-folders of all my USB flash drives contents from an extension drive onto
the internal hard drive in the WinXP PC.

John


Hi John,

Perhaps a one off.
Never had any problems with it.
I use it for 2 years now and I like it.

Fokke