Copying Folders = Missing Content

[Phil3]

I took a friend's hard drive out of their computer as Windows won't boot and wanted all their data saved. I plugged into my computer, saw the extra drive, and prepared to copy their "Documents and Settings" folder, which has all their subfolders and files.

That folder has 18.3 gigs, 3.047 folders, and 72,827 files. When I copy the Documents and Settings folder to another drive, it is just 543 megs, 518 folders, and 2,319 files. ???

Obviously, I am missing a ton of content. Why can't I capture the entire contents of the Documents and Settings" folder? How do I capture it all?

Thank you.

Phil

 

[Phil3]

Hmmm..., I thought this would a quick and easy answer. - Phil

 

[Ztruker]

You really don't want all the Documents and Settings content as there is a lot of stuff there that is useless when copied to a new system, like IE Temporary files, Applications Data, Temp files, etc.

All you really want is their My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, My Videos folders plus user data that is stored outside the Documents and Settings profile folders.

But, if you want it all, you need to show all folders and files, including hidden System files.

Open Control Panel, Folder Options.
Click on the View tab.
Select or unselect choices as necessary so it looks like this:



Check Hide protected operating system files [Recommended] when done.