Can't Copy a Video File from USB Flash Drive to Hard Drive

[jaugustine]

Hi,
A friend gave me his Toshiba Satellite A85-S1072 laptop. I formatted
the HDD (NTFS) and installed WinXP Home Edition SP2 from a System CD rom.
Note: I have done this several times on my other computers.

I had no trouble copying aps (to be installed) and other "stuff" from USB
flash drives. Note: 38GB free space on HDD and 1G ram.

ISSUE:

When I tried to copy "HOME-BW-VIDEO.MPG" (480MB) from one of my
USB flash drives, I received the following message,
"Cannot copy HOME-BW...: The parameter is incorrect" !!! I also had the
same message when I tried to copy some other .MPG videos (each less than
500MB). Note: I used the copy (Ctrl & C) and paste (Ctrl & V) method

NO ISSUE on Other PCs.

I tried the same procedure (same USB flash drive) on two of my other
WinXP (same version) PCs without any issues

Does anyone know what is causing this issue?

Thank You in advance, John

 

[R.Wieser]

John,

What happens when you rename such a file to just a few chars and try again ?

What I'm thinking of is path length (on the target drive). Or a (hidden)
character in the filename.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message:

 

[jaugustine]

What happens when you rename such a file to just a few chars and try again ?

What I'm thinking of is path length (on the target drive). Or a (hidden)
character in the filename.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Hi Rudy,

I guess you did not comprehend everything I said in my post, especially
this part:

" I tried the same procedure (same USB flash drive) on two of my other
WinXP (same version) PCs without any issues"

However, I left out some information in my original post. I first tried
to copy the .MPG file(s) into a "VIDEOS" folder within "Documents and
Settings" (in my folder which I have already copied other video files, but
different formats such as .FLV and .WMV without any issues). Then I created a
"VIDEOS" folder at the root, C:\VIDEOS, and tried to copy into that folder.
That did not "work" (same issue).

I also tried the copy command ("COPY HOME-BW-VIDEO.MPG C:\VIDEOS") via
Command Prompt with the same issue after I changed to E: (flash drive).

Again, Thanks to anyone who can help, John

 

[jaugustine]

ISSUE:

When I tried to copy "HOME-BW-VIDEO.MPG" (480MB) from one of my
USB flash drives, I received the following message,
"Cannot copy HOME-BW...: The parameter is incorrect" !!! I also had the
same message when I tried to copy some other .MPG videos (each less than
500MB). Note: I used the copy (Ctrl & C) and paste (Ctrl & V) method

NO ISSUE on Other PCs.

I tried the same procedure (same USB flash drive) on two of my other
WinXP (same version) PCs without any issues

UPDATE:

Using another computer, I copied those same .MPG video files from the
other computer's hard drive on to a different USB flash drive.

Using this other USB flash drive, I had no issues copying those same
..MPG video files on to the hard drive in this Toshiba Satellite A85 laptop!!

Could a "glitch" in the original USB flash drive's driver occurred when
the OS installed the driver for it?

Note: Since I have several USB flash drives, I won't use that
particular one on this laptop.

John

 

[R.Wieser]

John,

I guess you did not comprehend everything I said in
my post, especially this part:

I think I did. But you're right, that last part, a (hidden) character
wasn't one of my better suggestions. It was an afterthought, as I
experienced something like it myself.

As for the filename/path lenght, there is a 260 chars maximum. Go over that
and windows will refuse.

One other thing: have you tried changing the extension to something else ?

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


-- Origional message

 

[Paul]

UPDATE:

Using another computer, I copied those same .MPG video files from the
other computer's hard drive on to a different USB flash drive.

Using this other USB flash drive, I had no issues copying those same
.MPG video files on to the hard drive in this Toshiba Satellite A85 laptop!!

Could a "glitch" in the original USB flash drive's driver occurred when
the OS installed the driver for it?

Note: Since I have several USB flash drives, I won't use that
particular one on this laptop.

John

I don't have any good theories. "The parameter is incorrect" seems to
map to more than one flavor of problem, being once removed from the
real error condition.

I would survey the machine for software differences. Like what AV
software is present. Does the OS in question support "Libraries"
(Windows 7) ? The size or file name, seems a strange dependency,
and that's why I can't think of anything to fit. OSes with a
"Library" or thumbnail scanning treatment of a movie file, might
have reasons to become overly interested in the file.

You could try a HDTune benchmark on the USB flash drive, to
see if it has a nice flat line bandwidth number.

During the errant file transfer, you could run a copy
of Procmon from Sysinternals.com, and see if you can
capture some result for a file operation (file operation
returns an error condition, including an LBA number as
to where it was reading). While at the same time, looking
for other software or processes which are active just before
the error happens.

You could also try a small file with the same file extension
to see if there really is a large file dependency.

Some AV software will get in there, and start scanning
the incoming file as it is being transferred. Whether
that causes "Parameter is incorrect", I haven't a clue.
Sometimes, a file can be marked "busy" because of behind
the scenes activity like that.

If it was a network share drive letter conflict versus
the drive letter being assigned to the USB flash, that
should break everything, not just one length of file.

Paul

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>,

However, I left out some information in my original post. I first tried
to copy the .MPG file(s) into a "VIDEOS" folder within "Documents and
Settings" (in my folder which I have already copied other video files, but
different formats such as .FLV and .WMV without any issues). Then I created a
"VIDEOS" folder at the root, C:\VIDEOS, and tried to copy into that folder.
That did not "work" (same issue).

I also tried the copy command ("COPY HOME-BW-VIDEO.MPG C:\VIDEOS") via
Command Prompt with the same issue after I changed to E: (flash drive).

Again, Thanks to anyone who can help, John

I doubt it'll contribute anything, but - assuming you have a suitable
player installed - can you _play_ the .mpg file, on that computer,
direct from the USB drive? (Whether the answer is yes or no, can you
play _other_ .mpg files on that computer direct from the USB drive?)