Solved "There is not enough memory to complete this operation"

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karnawgie

karnawgie

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Nov 18, 2021
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So, I make videos. I often transfer hundreds of gigs of files to my hard drives from external devices. Yesterday I started to dump some footage and quickly was given the error "there is not enough memory to complete this operation". There is about 1.1TB free on this drive, so I'm sure there's enough memory. I ran sfc /scannow to see if the drive has an issues, allocated more virtual memory/the recommended amount, checked if any new installs on my pc affected it, nothing has really fixed it. I even turned off my pc, unplugged my HDD, rebooted computer and tried again with no real luck. I have 16gb of ddr4 so I don't think that's it either... This morning I woke up and tried again and actually got a few files to randomly transfer but ran into the issue again. I kept trying throughout the day and eventually got my footage transferred after tons of the same error. One week later, here I am trying to copy another load of files (52 items, 81GB) and can't get a single one to transfer. I've always used the standard file explorer, but I tried teracopy with 0 result. I even tried individual files, no idea what allowed it to work last time. The files will try to transfer for 1 second and get to a percentage depending on how large the file is, and then cap at the current mb/s and then results in the error a few seconds later.
 
what have you tried since your last thread was closed.

"there is not enough memory to complete this operation"

So, I make videos. I often transfer hundreds of gigs of files to my hard drives from external devices. Yesterday I started to dump some footage and quickly was given the error "there is not enough memory to complete this operation". There is about 1.1TB free on this drive, so I'm sure there's...
pchelpforum.net pchelpforum.net
 
I tried the only thing that was really recommended to me on here, to try a 3rd party file manager. I tried moving the files individually, and to a different drive. Those didn't work. I tried using a usbc cable to transfer instead of my microsd to sd card stuff and it worked, just 4x slower. I still want to use my normal method so I tested my sd to usb adapter on another computer and it works fine. No new ideas apart from that right now.
 
A NAS system would be cool, but I really don't have a need for it. I have a few drives and once my video is edited, rendered, and uploaded I delete 95% of the raw footage to free up that used space. As for my issue, I tried in safe mode and rather than getting the usual "there is not enough memory to complete this operation", I got an "Error 0x800701b1: A device which does not exist was specified". After the couple of seconds of it trying to transfer, the device disconnects and reconnects itself, then the error popped up. I should note that I also have of course tried different ports.
 
Have you tried a different USB drive?
Could be that one is starting to fail.

What are the steps that you are using to remove the drive?
May need to go through Device Manager and clear out the ghost drives

Something to try access Device Manager

Expand Disk Drives
select the Drive that the videos are stored on
Right Click and select Update
Reboot and see if that corrects it.

If not go back there and select the drive again
Press Delete on the keyboard
Reboot and see if that help.
 
No, I haven't tried a different USB drive. Most of my footage comes from a micro
SD and I put it into a microSD to SD adapter and then into a SD to USB adapter. I tried the SD to USB adapter on another computer and it transferred files right over, so I assumed the device was fine. I removed some ghosts drives, for the USB device and for the microSD I believe. Rebooted, didn't help. I removed the HDD and USB from file manager and rebooted because there were no new drivers, didn't help. The files won't transfer to any one of my drives from the USB, so. I'm thinking I should try another adapter, even though this one worked on another computer.
 
@Bruce

Please stop typing in one paragraph makes it hard to read and follow.

Knowing the exact stuff that you are using and how you are copying would be helpful since it read as if you were using a USB HDD and not a microSD to USB SD Adapter to where ever else it is going to.
karnawgie said:
No, I haven't tried a different USB drive.
Click to expand...
Be the first thing to do to confirm that there are no possible issues with the ports.

The other things I would check and test other on with a small simple video is the MicroSD

Would also run a check disk on all the drives using the /r switch

How many times have you used the same drives?
they could be starting to show wear.
 
so the common factor in all this is the micro SD card?
that goes into an adapter, and that in turns goes into another adapter to get it into a USB connectable format?
are the movies on the micro SD card still readable in the original device?
what is the original device?

as Rustys has stated, try the SD in another device, and check those two adapters are OK?
but my money is on the micro SD card, can you try others, you probably have more than one! :)
 
Sorry for making things confusing, I've always written in paragraphs.

The exact stuff I am using and how I'm copying... I'm using a Samsung Evo microSD with the included Samsung microSD to SD adapter and a cheap SD to USB adapter I've used for probably 6 years now.

I'm selecting all the files (MP4s) from the USB device and and dragging them over to the HDD, idk what other details to add.

I haven't tried a different drive/USB device, ill get a new adapter after work today, but of course I've tried different ports with this one.
Rustys said:
@Bruce

The other things I would check and test other on with a small simple video is the MicroSD
Click to expand...
Not sure what you meant by this, but I tried moving a small THM file off of the drive and even it wouldn't copy at 9kb.

I downloaded a program called HD Tune pro to test my drive the other day and it said they were fine, if that means anything.
Files won't transfer to either of my 2 HDDs or my main SSD. I've used them both hundreds or thousands of times.

I don't have another microSD on hand ATM, but like I previously said, I tried copying files from this USB drive (The whole adapter) to another pc and it transferred just fine. I even just tried again before reiterating this and it worked with no issues.

Yes, the mp4s are still playable from USB/SD on my pc and on the original device, which is a GoPro.

To top this off, I tried transferring some files first thing this morning before replying on here and had the process stop like usual.
Once I had a successful test on the other pc, I tried again on mine and the files are wanting to transfer to my desired HDD now.
I even restarted my PC and it still works fine. I'm glad it's working finally but at the same time I still don't know what's caused this for the last 2 weeks or so and I feel like it will happen again. It's kind of a big F-you to you guys, but I really appreciate the effort to help me <3. I don't know what else to say.
 
Do not worry about it sometimes it can take time to figure it out. Other times it may have been a patch that played havoc and a new one is installed now and corrected it.

Should it happen again feel free to let us know.
 
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