File/Folder Cut and Paste Problem (XP Pro)

[Paul Collins]

Don't know if anyone has come across this particular problem or has any
ideas.

I only noticed the problem a couple of days ago.

I've tried a quick scan of the last few months headers in this group,
Google and the MS Knowledge base without a great deal of
success.

Briefly I am having problems using cut and paste to transfer files from
one disk to another (doesn't matter whether or not it is a physical disk
or a partition). It also makes no difference if I "right click" and use
cut and paste from the context menu or if I use ctl x and ctl v.

For example if I select a folder of files and right click on the folder
and select cut then go to a different disk and select paste it writes the
new folder name to the disk and the first file to be copied then it stops
(machine doesn't lock up and I can still do other tasks). When I try to
close the machine down I get a warning that Windows is working with a
file and I need to close it so I end up having to switch off the PC to
end the windows session.

If it is a folder with only a couple of files then there is no obvious
error in the transfer (other than it doesn't happen) but with a folder
with a lot of files I get the file progress window and it just sits there
saying say two minutes to completion. I end up having to cancel it.

After rebooting the transfered folder is visible with just the first file
(also visible and intact) and the original folder is also there with all
the original files in it.

Strange thing is copy and paste works fine. Also if I cut and paste to a
different directory on the same disk that also works fine.

I'm the only user on the PC and have admin priveleges, etc. I don't
normally mess around with policies etc so I don't think I've changed
anything there.

Only thing I've installed in the last couple of days is an upgrade to
Newsbin Pro and a Text Converter. I would rather avoid using the system
restore function. I've lost files in the past using restore and there are
a lot of pictures and documents that I've recently transferred
(unfortunately not into My Documents) that I may lose on a restore. It
will probably be a reformat and re-install job if I can't find a solution.

It also seems to be causing a problem with WinRar unless I unarchive to
the same disk on which the rar files are stored.

Have run full virus check on all disks with F Secure on line scan
(clean), spyware check (clean) and used CCleaner to check for registry
problems (fixed some errors but made no difference).

Does anyone have any ideas please?

Thanks.

 

[bojimbo26one]

I use Xplorer2 on my system (99% of the time) and to go between drives
I use the double screen and drag and drop which is a lot easier .

 

[Oliver]

Can you please create a 2nd user account on that machine and try the
same actions with that user account?

If it works there, you have a profile problem.
If it does not work, you have a system problem.

 

[Paul Collins]

Can you please create a 2nd user account on that machine and try the
same actions with that user account?

If it works there, you have a profile problem. If it does not work, you
have a system problem.

Thanks - I'll give this a try.

It'll probably be a couple of days as I'm a bit busy at the moment.

 

[Paul Collins]

Can you please create a 2nd user account on that machine and try the
same actions with that user account?

If it works there, you have a profile problem. If it does not work, you
have a system problem.

I have had a bit of a play with this.

The second user account exhibited exactly the same problems so it appears
to be a system problem.

I've booted into safe mode and the problem appears to go away albeit the
cut and paste is very slow, perhaps because the disks are running in PIO
mode rather than DMA in safe mode. The disks are in DMA mode in normal
running.

Anybody have any ideas on what may be disabled in safe mode that isn't
disabled in normal mode and could cause this cut and paste problem?

Thanks.