ERROR: moving or copying files

[voice_of_reason]

Greetings:

When trying to copy files from my hard-drive to the top-level
directory on an external USB drive, I keep gettng the error message

"The directory or file cannot be created"

During one attempt, my finget slipped and I accidentally directed the
transfer to a sub-directory on the USB drive....IT WORKED!!

Then I tried to move the files from the sub-directory to the main
dir....SAME ERROR!!

I tried again this time purposely transfered to the sub-directory,
again it worked.

I tried to rename the USB subsirectory (since it already had the
files)....SAME ERROR

It is almost as if the directory has somehow become "locked". I tried
to look at the properties of the directory, but I can't seem to figure
out how. Right-clicking ont he drive name in File Explorer does not
bring up any information relevant to the drive being set to "read-
only" or anything like that (and if it were, why could I write to a
sub-directory...but not the main one??)

Any assistance or insight into the problem and how to solve it is
appreciated!!!

Thanx!

 

[Alan Edwards]

Perhaps you have too many files/folders in the root?
There are limits, though I am uncertain of the figure in a USB.
Try moving some files out of the root and see what happens.

....Alan

 

[Bill in Co.]

I think that's probably it. Back in the Win98 days, that limit for the max
number of folders in the root directory was somewhere around 80, if I
remember correctly.

 

[Dave Cohen]

Perhaps you have too many files/folders in the root? There are
limits, though I am uncertain of the figure in a USB. Try moving some
files out of the root and see what happens.

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

Fat32 and NTFS file systems aren't supposed to have a root file limit.
It's most unlikely the drive would be fat16, but check just to make sure
since the symptoms all point to that. With long filenames it's not
possible to know how many files can occupy a fixed size directory,
longer names take up more entries.
Dave Cohen

 

[Alan Edwards]

NTFS may not but FAT32 has a limit of around 64K -1
FAT disks have limits of 512 entries and any folder or filename over
13 characters will use 3 or more entries. I guess that applies to USB
drives (maybe?)

....Alan

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Fat32 and NTFS file systems aren't supposed to have a root file limit.

No, that's not correct. Both have limits.

The FAT32 limit is 512 entries (note that it's *entries*, not files
and folders, because files and folders with long file names take
multiple entries). See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/120138

I ran into that 512 entry limit just yesterday on a USB thumb drive
used on a friend's computer.

The NTFS limit is much larger. I don't remember the actual number, but
it's large enough that it's highly unlikely that anyone would run into
it.

 

[voice_of_reason]

Perhaps you have too many files/folders in the root?
There are limits, though I am uncertain of the figure in a USB.
Try moving some files out of the root and see what happens.

...Alan

BINGO!

That was it!!!

I moved files OFF the memory stick. Problem solved. Moved them back
on...problem returned.

Thanks for your assistance!