Can't copy files from external hard drive

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  1. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #11

    I'm pretty sure it is a permission issue too, I just don't know how to fix it. I tried setting myself as the owner of all the directories the link referenced by Bill2. Looks like it may have improved the situation somewhat, but not totally fixed it.

    It looks like maybe the destination appears to have a greater number of files after the copy because the source isn't showing me the correct number of files and size when I go to the folder Properties. Maybe it's not showing me data for folders and files it thinks I shouldn't have access to? Who knows.

    I eventually got most of the files over by painstakingly going through each one and dealing with the problems as they came up. Not real impressed with this whole exercise. Until now I had been pretty impressed with Windows 7. Now I am depressed with it.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 369
    Windows 7
       #12

    dland2000 said:
    I'm pretty sure it is a permission issue too, I just don't know how to fix it. I tried setting myself as the owner of all the directories the link referenced by Bill2. Looks like it may have improved the situation somewhat, but not totally fixed it.

    It looks like maybe the destination appears to have a greater number of files after the copy because the source isn't showing me the correct number of files and size when I go to the folder Properties. Maybe it's not showing me data for folders and files it thinks I shouldn't have access to? Who knows.

    I eventually got most of the files over by painstakingly going through each one and dealing with the problems as they came up. Not real impressed with this whole exercise. Until now I had been pretty impressed with Windows 7. Now I am depressed with it.
    Did you read the article link posted from MajorGeeks.com yet? Did you try taking ownership of the entire folder and child permissions?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #13

    motc7 said:
    Did you read the article link posted from MajorGeeks.com yet? Did you try taking ownership of the entire folder and child permissions?
    Yes, I added myself as the owner of the root folder and everything under it. It helped with some items but not all of them.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 222
    Windows 7 x64
       #14

    I had to set permissions on a drive where the files were copied over from an operating system that was pass worded.

    Open mycomputer and right-click on drive. select properties and system tab.

    You should set full access for system and yourself.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Can't copy files from external hard drive-security1.jpg   Can't copy files from external hard drive-security2.jpg  
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1
    Windows 7
       #15

    i think this may help


    I too just switched (not by choice) from XP to Windows 7 and had a lot of stuff stored on external hard drive. At first I couldn't figure out how to transfer from external to internal hard drive but then I figured it out. Open two copies of Windows Explorer, minimize them to half size and put them side to side. In one window, open your C drive and create a destination folder. This is where you're going to store the files from your external hard drive. In the other window, open your external hard drive. With the two windows open, you can just drag the files from the external to the C drive and it will copy them over. Once the files are copied, you can delete them from you external drive. I hope this helps.

    As far as the permissions stuff, I don't know anything about that.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 4
    Windows Vista Ultimate
       #16

    Solution


    dland2000 said:
    So I recently moved from XP to 7. Before I did this I created a backup of some files on my XP box and copied it to an external hard drive. Now that I'm on Windows 7 I've learned that there is really no way to directly restore the backup. So I have restored it onto a Vista box and copied the rehydrated files back onto the external hard drive. Now I just want to copy the files from the external hard drive to the main hard drive on my Windows 7 box. However, when I do this I get the following warning for some (but not most) folders:

    "You'll need to provide administrator permission to copy this folder"

    My options are Continue, Skip, and Cancel. First off, I am an administrator on this box so I don't understand why it's asking my this. Secondly, if I choose Continue, it tells me that the folder I'm copying over already exists in the destination! What? The system is in the middle of copying it! Why is it asking me this? So I just tell it to proceed, but then it tells me the same thing about a few particular files and asks me if I want to overwrite them or ignore them. I usually say overwrite because they shouldn't be there yet. Anyway, by the time the whole thing is done, the destination folder is actually BIGGER and has more files than the same freaking folder on the drive I was copying from? How is that possible?

    What is going on here? Why does a simple copy operation not work anymore?

    REply: I found this in a website after much web maneuvering. hope its helpful 2 sum1.
    Can't copy files from external hard drive Attached Files
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 32
    win7ult64sp1retail
       #17

    dland2000 said:
    So I recently moved from XP to 7. Before I did this I created a backup of some files on my XP box and copied it to an external hard drive. Now that I'm on Windows 7 I've learned that there is really no way to directly restore the backup. So I have restored it onto a Vista box and copied the rehydrated files back onto the external hard drive. Now I just want to copy the files from the external hard drive to the main hard drive on my Windows 7 box. However, when I do this I get the following warning for some (but not most) folders:

    "You'll need to provide administrator permission to copy this folder"

    My options are Continue, Skip, and Cancel. First off, I am an administrator on this box so I don't understand why it's asking my this. Secondly, if I choose Continue, it tells me that the folder I'm copying over already exists in the destination! What? The system is in the middle of copying it! Why is it asking me this? So I just tell it to proceed, but then it tells me the same thing about a few particular files and asks me if I want to overwrite them or ignore them. I usually say overwrite because they shouldn't be there yet. Anyway, by the time the whole thing is done, the destination folder is actually BIGGER and has more files than the same freaking folder on the drive I was copying from? How is that possible?

    What is going on here? Why does a simple copy operation not work anymore?

    the admin accounts are different SIDs. so you would have to take ownership of the files and folders.
    best case would be to copy without perms/security info attached, meaning, you did not take ownership of the directory in the first place.

    Take Ownership of a File or Folder
    Troubleshoot "access denied" when opening files or folders
      My Computer


 
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