Copying files does not copy all

[SQLWilts]

Hi,
I have Vista Enterprise. I have added a hard drive from a laptop that has 2 partions on it - one vista, one XP. I am not booting from this drive.
I want to make a copy of the files from the hard drive to another drive. No problems, as I'm not booting from it, I select all, drag them across to the folder on my other drive where I want them copied.
No.
I right click on the files and folders I want to copy, choose properties, and it tells me that there are 57,900 files in 5,1063 folders giving a total size of 23GB - much as I would expect.
I select all from the folder that I have copied them too, and find that only 9GB and many, many thousands of files have not come across.
Does anyone know why on earth this would happen?
Yes, I am admin on this box.
Any help gratefully received.
Oh, and please dont get tied up with why I want to do this - the files need to be retrievable for a teenager's laptop, so ghosting wouldn't work.
Thanks

 

[sggaunt]

Ok lets assume these are not Windows system files you are trying to Copy.

And that they are all independent files i.e not system files from installed applications.
Then yes you should be able to copy them without being a top level administrator.

You should be aware that a normal 'administrator' account under Vista is not a Full administrator account, and you will be unable to carry out certain tasks.

It may be there is a limit on the Buffer size, have you tried moving the files in smaller blocks?



Steve: N.M.N.F.
If something is popular, it must be wrong: Mark Twain

 

[SQLWilts]

Hi Steve,

Nope, your assumptions are incorrect.

They are on an XP partition, there are some program system files and some from installed programs - but this disk is not the one I am booting from. I have connected it via a sata cable to the mother board and set it as an H drive.

Full administrator! I HATE Vista. As a DBA/Developer/general geek it puts all sorts of hurdles in my way.

Rant over

You wouldn't know how to automatically escalate the permissions of my user to full admin would you? If not, I can google it.

 

[smah]

It really has nothing to do with Vista - XP would behave exactly the same. Your user account does not have access to many of the files that you're trying to copy. For XP, you'd have to take ownership. Vista works the same way mostly, but also has some additional behavior if you try to manually access a restricted folder with Explorer, it will try to give itself permission to access the folder by modifying the NTFS permissions.

And does 'Full Administrator' mean domain administrator (since this is Enterprise)? Are you starting the copy from an elevated command prompt or elevated explorer?

 

[SQLWilts]

The PC is at home, and not currently on a domain (more hardware to be bought yet ).

Elevated command prompt!!!! Of course - that lovely little widget! I will try that one

thanks

 

[PRPhx]

Have you tried using Robocopy? With Robocopy you can set up a log, which may give some indication as to why files aren't being copied.

 

[linney]

In both Destination, and Source folders, are you showing both options, via Folder Options, that show Hidden Files and also System Files?

 

[SQLWilts]

Yup, all options selected on source and destination

 

[linney]

Did the Elevated Prompt work?

"Oh, and please dont get tied up with why I want to do this - the files need to be retrievable for a teenager's laptop, so ghosting wouldn't work."

As a last resort a form of "Ghosting" might work, although it is not the most efficient way of doing this.

I use "Image for Windows" from Terabyte and that has the ability to Image a whole partition and also the ability to restore individual files from the Image.

"TBIView allows you to open, browse, and extract files or folders from TeraByte Unlimited image files that are based on a EXT2/3, FAT, FAT32 or NTFS partition.

NOTE: This utility is already included in the Image for Windows setup"

Terabyte Unlimited

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/prodgrid.html

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-windows.htm

Can you use the Recovery Console and run a batch file with the copy commands to copy all these files outside of the Windows environment? See the "Batch" command.

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Still outside of Windows, something like BartPE might do the job.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Have you tried copying from Safe Mode?

 

[SQLWilts]

Hi Linney,

The elevated prompt work partly - I got more files. I ran out of time (A level homework and his "friends" pressing him to get back on MSN were pressing <sigh>) so I did a P to V and grabbed the image off the laptop and into a virtual machine. Not the best solution and took all night to run, but it worked.

I will take a look at the Terabyte software though - looks interesting.

Thanks for all your help guys