Solved HP Laptop unable to copy paste large amount of files

[Sir Smokealot]

Hi, i am unable to copy/ paste ‘large anounts of elements’ ( 1000+, using Windows Explorer ) using my HP laptop.

I have a large music library ( about 13000 files/ songs ), and if i copy the entire ‘library folder’ and paste it somewhere else there is no problem ( the entire folder is sucessfully copied without any issues ).

But if i instead open the library folder, select more than 1000 elements and try copy paste, it doesnt work.
When i copy, the mouse cursor starts spinning and the laptop sounds like it processing. But when i paste nothing happens, other than the mouse curson blinking for a split second.

It might be worth mentioning the Laptop was sold as new, but with hardware defects ( Wifi Adapter ) that have been adressed.

Why cant i copy paste such large amount of files? Is this normal, or is it a limitation in Windows10, the Processor or something else?

 

[veeg]

Hello

Hopefully some of our members will chime in soon..

@Rustys @Bruce

 

[Bruce]

I know Windows uses different methods if moving or copying, and if dealing with files or folders.
which would explain why your folder operation works but not when dealing with files.

try moving instead of copying just to see if that works.
also try only selecting 100, then 300, then 500, and so on, until the copy process fails again.
I suspect it's the accumulative size of the copy operation that is blowing some internal cache limit.
you could also try another File Explorer program, I went through a XYplorer stage for a couple of years and although it was great, I can't now remember why I stopped using it.

 

[gus]

Xyplorer is hands down the best file manager out there, but for some years now it's no longer free. The closest, and **** near as good as xyplorer, free file manager with copying ability is Free Commander.

Windows has had difficulty for years coping with large numbers of file moving and copying. If you just want a file copy app have a look at teracopy, or others in this list

Best free fast File Copy software for Windows 11/10 PC

While we can fix slow file copy speed in Windows using some tips, if you are looking for a free fast File Copy software for Windows PC, then this list will interest you.

www.thewindowsclub.com

 

[Bruce]

it's paid for! - that's right, that's why I stopped. :thumbsup:

 

[Sir Smokealot]

Thanks for replying.
I tried 'Free Commader', it works but appears to become unresposive in quite alot ( in short periods ).

I used Free Commander to select all 1000 songs and tried to copy past ( edit->copy/paste ) them to a new test folder. Same as before the coping seems to work ( not sure due to periodical unresposiveness ), but when pasting nothing happens.

I used Free Commander to select all 1000 songs and tried to copy past them ( using 'the copy button' in the middle of the window ) to a new test folder. This time the Windows loading bar appears for a few seconds ( displaying 0% ), but then it disapears and i
get an error message i dont understand ( directly translated: "System-call-level invalid" ).

I will try Tercopy...

 

[Sir Smokealot]

I tried Teracopy.
Although i dont know how it works, its interface stated i could "drag'n'drop files and folders " so i tried to drag 1000 songs and drop them, but nothing happens. Im either doing something wrong, or Teracopy is not accepting my 1000 elements for whatever reason.

So Windows Explorer wont do it, Free Commander wont do it...

 

[Sir Smokealot]

I know Windows uses different methods if moving or copying, and if dealing with files or folders.
which would explain why your folder operation works but not when dealing with files.

try moving instead of copying just to see if that works.
also try only selecting 100, then 300, then 500, and so on, until the copy process fails again.
I suspect it's the accumulative size of the copy operation that is blowing some internal cache limit.
you could also try another File Explorer program, I went through a XYplorer stage for a couple of years and although it was great, I can't now remember why I stopped using it.

Bruce, you mentioned something about 'moving' the elements instead of copying them. How do you 'move' something rather than copying it? Just drag it to a new location? Or is there a menu command for doing this?

 

[gus]

Teracopy does allow you to select the files you want to copy, and then drag and drop them into the app.

If you are having difficulty with this try syncing the files, this will definitely work. I just copied over 150,000 files using this method which I wouldn't dare try using winDOZE dopey native file copy.

https://pchelpforum.net/resources/synchronise-files-with-freefilesync.75/

If I may answer your question about copy and move, the only difference is you choose move instead of copy from the right click context menu. Moving will of course remove the files from the source folder, so you will NOT have a copy of the files.

 

[Bruce]

yep, Gus is on the money.
drag n drop using the left mouse key and it'll copy.
however, select your files normally but then click the right mouse button and you'll have more options.

just had a memory recall of something that may be similar.
you mention songs.... I had a file name with ' in it's name and I couldn't copy it either so look for songs that may have weird characters in there that may effect the copy process.

 

[Sir Smokealot]

@gus
This is greate news, if this copy method works on your end i have something to compare to. I will try the sync method as soon as i can.

@Bruce
I was looking for a Move command under the ( right-click ) context menu after selecting the files, but could not find a move command here or in the top menu. I will take alook again ( i know Mac has a Move operation for files by default ).

OK, i also have alot of Photo files that dont have any special characters in their name ( combination of Capital Letters and Numbers only ). I can try to copy the Photos and see if it makes a difference.

 

[gus]

I had a file name with ' in it's name and I couldn't copy it either

Yes, @Bruce, a good point but it shouldn't stop the copy process of the rest of the files in the folder if the funny named folders are chosen to be skipped, unless of course they all have some sort of weird characters.

Syncing should get around his issue, although strictly speaking should not be necessary.

A question about this if I may? Where did all these files come from? another PC, external drive, or maybe a linux machine?
Also what operating system?

 

[Sir Smokealot]

First of all thank you very much for all your help!
Between all my contact with the Reseller, HP and Windows ( all good companies ), the help and direction i have gotten here on PCHP is hands down the best of all Company product support should be in this here format, not talking to robots on the phone wasting peoples time

@gus
There is absolutely no 'Move' command in my context menu, but i dont think i need it at the moment.
Also i dont think i need to fiddle any more wih Terracopyor any othercopy software for the time being, as i think i have located tot issue ( although syncing 'might' work, i dont want to rely on such a method if i can find and eliminate the problem ).

My music library is a accumilation of songs/ music spanning over many years.
The music files come from various sources , some downloaded, some from Torrents ( maybe even as far back as Napster ), but mostly i have copied ( with permission of cource ) other individuals ( from a few different countries ) music libraries into my own.

@Bruce
You are somewhat correct, there is a problem with one or more of the files that is causing the copy and/ or paste operation to fail.
I can confirm that there is 1 files that is causing the problem: If i try to copy/paste only this file the problem occurs, if i copy/ paste 1100 songs but exclude the problematic file the copy/paste process is normal/ problem does not occur.
So the problem is a specific file.


I didnt notice any strange or special characters in the files title or metadata ( see attachment, properties of the file using Foobar2000 ), other than the file name being unessesarily long.
So i tried to shorten the filename to see if this would help, but to my suprise i am unable to edit this file in any way.
Any changes i make to the 'filename' using Explorer or Foobar2000 is just reverted as soon as i press Enter or lose/ change focus.
If i try to change the filename of another file/ song, it works correctly ( changes are applied ).

So it appeared to me to be a permission issue maybe...?
However when i right click the file -> Properties -> Security -> Advanced, i can see that 'all' users have 'all' persissions for this file ( see attachent ), and i only have 1 User.

So it seems i have found the source of the problem kindoff...
Could the issue be that in reality i dont have permission to edit this file in any way?
How can i get permission to edit this file?

 

[Sir Smokealot]

Attached metadata for the wrong file, attaching the correct one here.
( Unable to edit previous post, time limit )

 

[gus]

Can you answer the questions I asked in post 12 please.

Ok lets be more specific, if you drag and drop files with a right mouse click you should have both copy and move in the menu.

this

or this

If you wish to do it by right clicking a file, your menu should have both CUT (which means MOVE) and COPY. You then select your target folder right click and then PASTE. Depending whether you cut or copied it will move or copy the file.

Another thing you could try is to take ownership of the files, which is what I was getting at when I asked the questions earlier.

When dealing with large amounts of files Syncing is by far the best method as it is not not hamstrung by Windows constraints. As an example I have just copied over 3 terabytes of music files to each of 3 new hard drives in 3 NAS boxes. To do that in Windows copy you would be lucky to live that long, and be sadistic enough to put yourself through needless agony .

 

[Bruce]

Yep, there is a 259 character limit on file names.
And the full folder path is included in that total.

I see this issue at work all the time.
I can not rename the long file name until I also change its parent folders to something much smaller to get under the 259 limit. Then MS will allow the file to be deleted or renamed.

 

[Sir Smokealot]

@gus
Not sure what question i didnt answer, i tried to explained the source of my music files/ library, but maybe you wanted to know where they were located?
They are located in a folder on my Laptops C:\ drive, im running 'Windows10 Home'

Trying TerraCopy/ Move files one more time, with success!
I tried copying the 1000 files and pasting in a new folder ( using Explorer ) - Noting happens
I tried cut the 1000 files and pasting in a new folder ( using Explorer ) - Noting happens
I tried drag and drop the 1000 files with ''right mouse button', selected 'Move here' ( from context menu, using Explorer ) - Nothing happens

I tried drag and drop the 1000 files with ''right mouse button', selected 'TerraMove here' ( from context menu, using Explorer ) - All 1000 files copy in notime!
I then tried to 'TerraMove' the 1000 files back to the original folder, i see all the other files disapear from the folder but 1 file remains ( "BATTER~3" ) and an error message pops up ( from TerraCopy ) stating that the file "BATTER~3" allready exists and aksed me what to do, i chose keep both.
When i moved the files using TerraMove....Was that syncing...?

I then check the original folder and i can see a file named "BATTER~3 (2)", but cant find "BATTER~3 (1)"/ "BATTER~3" ( Shouldnt there be 2 files now? ).
I can further confirm that the file "BATTER~3 (2)" in fact is the same 'problematic' file as before, only it has changed its filename ( see attachment ).
Furthermove, i can now copy and past the file without any issues using only Explorer without any dilly dally
___
So is it safe to say that the long filename was the problem all along?
I have only worked with the first 1000 songs untill now, but maybe i could 'TerraMove' the entire Library to 'identify and fix' all the problematic files?
Is there a special way to fix long filenames maybe, when they wont be edited in the first place?

I think i know how the filename ended up this long.
Im using Foobar2000 to organize my library, and i have used a file operation within Foobar2000 to rename all files to 'SongName+ArtistName'.
The problematic song, for some reason, has a long text inserted into the Artist field instead of the name of the Artist.

 

[Bruce]

there is a program called longpathtool.exe that I use to find filenames greater than 250chars.
it can also delete and rename in batches but I'm not sure how limited the free version is.

 

[Sir Smokealot]

Perfect, seems like this one file was the entire problem and i can now copy all 13000ish files to another location using Windown Explorer with no issues!

Thank you very much @Bruce and @gus, could not have done it without you

How do i mark this issue as Resolved?

 

[Bruce]

no need to, a Mod will come along and tidy that up for you.
glad you got it sorted.