"File in use" Error During Back Up

[Scott]

I am backing up my desktop computer on my notebook computer. They are
connected through a router. Both have XP Home SP3.

I use the drag and drop method on my notebook to copy over files.

When copying over pictures, the process stops with "File in use" error. It
does not happen with most pictures. In this case, the file is a jpg picture.
I am not using the picture for any purpose.

Since the pictures are in my My Pictures folder, all the folders coming
after this one are not copied.

Does anyone know why I get this error? Otherwise I'll have to go hand to
hand combat with each picture to get backed up.

Thanks
Scott
Los Angeles

 

[Twayne]

I am backing up my desktop computer on my notebook computer. They are
connected through a router. Both have XP Home SP3.

I use the drag and drop method on my notebook to copy over files.

When copying over pictures, the process stops with "File in use"
error. It does not happen with most pictures. In this case, the file
is a jpg picture. I am not using the picture for any purpose.

Since the pictures are in my My Pictures folder, all the folders
coming after this one are not copied.

Does anyone know why I get this error? Otherwise I'll have to go hand
to hand combat with each picture to get backed up.

Thanks
Scott
Los Angeles

Well, something thinks it's using that file; pretty hard to tell what
from here. Is it part of a slide show or something that loads inthe
background?

I can tell you how to maybe work around it though: Since you know the
filename and have copied everything before it, use Explorer to copy all
the files after it, leaving that picture out of the copy. Unless there
are more of them "in use" it should work right off.

 

[Twayne]

I am backing up my desktop computer on my notebook computer. They are
connected through a router. Both have XP Home SP3.

I use the drag and drop method on my notebook to copy over files.

When copying over pictures, the process stops with "File in use"
error. It does not happen with most pictures. In this case, the file
is a jpg picture. I am not using the picture for any purpose.

Since the pictures are in my My Pictures folder, all the folders
coming after this one are not copied.

Does anyone know why I get this error? Otherwise I'll have to go hand
to hand combat with each picture to get backed up.

Thanks
Scott
Los Angeles

If you were to use an actual backup software that worked with VSS
(volume copy services) that would work since it can copy files that are
in use. Or, many 3rd party Explorer replacements can do it too, as can
copy or xcopy from a command promt.

HTH,

Twayne

 

[Pegasus]

I am backing up my desktop computer on my notebook computer. They are
connected through a router. Both have XP Home SP3.

I use the drag and drop method on my notebook to copy over files.

When copying over pictures, the process stops with "File in use" error. It
does not happen with most pictures. In this case, the file is a jpg
picture. I am not using the picture for any purpose.

Since the pictures are in my My Pictures folder, all the folders coming
after this one are not copied.

Does anyone know why I get this error? Otherwise I'll have to go hand to
hand combat with each picture to get backed up.

Thanks
Scott
Los Angeles

Try finding out what holds on to these files:
- Click Start / Run / cmd{OK}
- Type this command:
openfiles.exe | find /i "xxx.jpg"
(replace "xxx.jpg" with the real name of your picture file).

Once you know what application locks the files, you can close it and perform
your backup action.

 

[Scott]

Thanks, but my system cannot find the file "openfiles.exe"

Scott
Los Angeles

 

[Scott]

In the folder that contains the picture, I have a thumbs.db file. I have
been told that it holds thumbnails of the pictures contained in the folder.

Could this be the problem?

Scott
Los Angeles

 

[Pegasus]

Thanks, but my system cannot find the file "openfiles.exe"

In such cases you type this into a Google search box:

download "openfiles.exe"

 

[Scott]

Thanks, but the google search did not work. It provided lots of sites, but
the three I tried did not have the download, and were actually dishonest
about. The first one that came up was something like corruptedfiles.com.
Clicking the download button only resulted in advertisements. The Microsoft
site only had documentation.

Scott
Los Angeles

 

[Pegasus]

Thanks, but the google search did not work. It provided lots of sites, but
the three I tried did not have the download, and were actually dishonest
about. The first one that came up was something like corruptedfiles.com.
Clicking the download button only resulted in advertisements. The
Microsoft site only had documentation.

Scott
Los Angeles

Since I appear to have given you a bad lead and since I could not find a
proper download site myself, I make my own copy available for a short time
at this location:
http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/2353156_xzod4/openfiles.exe.

 

[Scott]

I didn't get to your site in time, but thanks for the effort.

Scott
Los Angeles

 

[Pegasus]

I didn't get to your site in time, but thanks for the effort.

Scott
Los Angeles

Well, the file is still there but it won't be for much longer.