Copying/Moving files from hard drive My Docs to flash drive

[David Martin]

Flash drive is 32 MB with over half the space available. When I try to move
or copy or send (i.e., save) files from My Docs to the flash drive, I get the
following error message: "Error copying file or folder; cannot copy (name of
file): the directory or file cannot be created.

Yet, I can move a file already on the flash drive to the hard drive and
return it to the flash drive with no error. A first-time problem in five
years. So space is not an issue, and, as far as I can tell, there is no
damage to the drive; no files are corrupted.

Thanks for any suggestions.

DM

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Flash drive is 32 MB with over half the space available. When I try to
move
or copy or send (i.e., save) files from My Docs to the flash drive, I get
the
following error message: "Error copying file or folder; cannot copy (name
of
file): the directory or file cannot be created.

Yet, I can move a file already on the flash drive to the hard drive and
return it to the flash drive with no error. A first-time problem in five
years. So space is not an issue, and, as far as I can tell, there is no
damage to the drive; no files are corrupted.

Thanks for any suggestions.

DM

I do hope you're not using a flash drive for backups; they are a completely
inappropriate technology for that purpose. In addition to having a limited
number of write cycles, they have a tendency to suddenly and irretrievably
fail with no warning.

 

[Touch Base]

Flash drive is 32 MB with over half the space available. When I try to move
or copy or send (i.e., save) files from My Docs to the flash drive, I get
the
following error message: "Error copying file or folder; cannot copy (name
of
file): the directory or file cannot be created.

Yet, I can move a file already on the flash drive to the hard drive and
return it to the flash drive with no error. A first-time problem in five
years. So space is not an issue, and, as far as I can tell, there is no
damage to the drive; no files are corrupted.

Thanks for any suggestions.

DM

==================================================
"There's no practical limit on the combined sizes of all the files in a
folder, though there may be limits on the number of files in a folder. More
importantly, there are limits on individual file size that depend on what
filesystem you're using on your hard disk. (The "filesystem" is nothing more
than the specification of exactly how files are store on disk.)"
Is there a limit to what a single folder or directory can hold?
http://ask-leo.com/is_there_a_limit_to_what_a_single_folder_or_directory_can_hold.html


--
Regards,
Touch Base
Report back on the results, good or bad so others may benefit

“There’s an old story about the person who wished his computer were as easy
to use as his telephone. That wish has come true, since I no longer know
how to use my telephone.†(Bjarne Stroustrup, computer scientist and creator
of the C++ programming language.)

 

[Alan Edwards]

There is a limit on the number of items a flash drive can hold in the
root directory. Try moving some into sub-directories and see if it
helps.

....Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
http://dts-l.com/index.htm



On Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:18:11 -0700, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support, David Martin <David

 

[sandy58]

Flash drive is 32 MB with over half the space available.  When I try tomove
or copy or send (i.e., save) files from My Docs to the flash drive, I getthe
following error message:  "Error copying file or folder; cannot copy (name of
file): the directory or file cannot be created.

Yet, I can move a file already on the flash drive to the hard drive and
return it to the flash drive with no error.  A first-time problem in five
years.  So space is not an issue, and, as far as I can tell, there is no
damage to the drive; no files are corrupted.

Thanks for any suggestions.

DM

Use "search" for one of the offending files. It sounds like the files
could be being used & not allowed to be interfered with.

 

[Touch Base]

There is a limit on the number of items a flash drive can hold in the
root directory. Try moving some into sub-directories and see if it
helps.

....Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
http://dts-l.com/index.htm



===========================================

Thanks Alan, that's basically what I was alluding to

 

[David Martin]

Thanks to all who replied.

The answer is simple, but disturbing. I tested out the driver and no
problem; then I tried to copy on a desktop with the same result, which
pointed to the storage device. I then copied all the files to one folder on
the desktop and tried to copy one single file to the storage device (Gateway
flash drive 32 MB) -- and no problem. So, in other words the device reaches
its max with less than half the space still available.

Moving to sub-directories, though, I don't think I'd know how to find either
a directory or a subdirectory.

So, as in most things, the simplest answer was true.

DM

 

[Hodges]

Thanks to all who replied.

The answer is simple, but disturbing.  I tested out the driver and no
problem; then I tried to copy on a desktop with the same result, which
pointed to the storage device.  I then copied all the files to one folder on
the desktop and tried to copy one single file to the storage device (Gateway
flash drive 32 MB) -- and no problem.  So, in other words the device reaches
its max with less than half the space still available.  

That is faulty logic.

 

[John John - MVP]

Thanks to all who replied.

The answer is simple, but disturbing. I tested out the driver and no
problem; then I tried to copy on a desktop with the same result, which
pointed to the storage device. I then copied all the files to one folder on
the desktop and tried to copy one single file to the storage device (Gateway
flash drive 32 MB) -- and no problem. So, in other words the device reaches
its max with less than half the space still available.

This is a limitation of the FAT16 file system. The FAT16 root folder
has a fixed number of 512 entries, you cannot store more than 512
objects (files or folders) in the root folder. This limit does not
apply to other folders, just move your files to a folder instead of the
root.

John

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

This is a limitation of the FAT16 file system. The FAT16 root folder
has a fixed number of 512 entries, you cannot store more than 512
objects (files or folders) in the root folder. This limit does not
apply to other folders, just move your files to a folder instead of the
root.

Yes, but three points to clarify this:

1. The limit is on the number of *entries*, not files and folders.
It's entries, not files and folders, because files and folders with
long file names use multiple entries. The effective number of files
and folders you can have is always less that the maximum number of
entries.

2. The limitation is not just with FAT16. Yes, it's 512 entries for
FAT16, but FAT32 has a similar limit, just larger--64K. For NTFS,
there is also a limitation, but it's so large (in the millions or
more) that it can effectively be disregarded.

3. The error message in Windows is terrible, and extremely misleading,
saying that you have run out of space on the drive.