Losing files when cutting/pasting...

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Guest

So, one of the guys I work with swears up and down that sometimes he ends up
losing files when copying large folders to a firewire drive we use for
backup. The whole idea seems a little nutty, as my understanding is that
Windows will not delete the old file until it verifies the new file has
arrived at it's new destination. Anyone care to comment?
 
Patrick said:
So, one of the guys I work with swears up and down that sometimes he
ends up losing files when copying large folders to a firewire drive
we use for backup. The whole idea seems a little nutty, as my
understanding is that Windows will not delete the old file until it
verifies the new file has arrived at it's new destination. Anyone
care to comment?
Click to expand...

It would be very easy to check if files are lost if you are actually copying
to the drive. Just compare the orginal with the copy.
I would never cut and paste across drives. It is just as easy to copy and
paste and then delete the original.
 
I'm not a fan of "CUT and PASTE" when it comes to files. "COPY, PASTE
and then DELETE" or R-click "Drag and drop, Move". To my knowledge the
last two work as you believe, the former doesn't.
 
RA said:
It would be very easy to check if files are lost if you are actually copying
to the drive. Just compare the orginal with the copy.
I would never cut and paste across drives. It is just as easy to copy and
paste and then delete the original.
Click to expand...

Ya, that's the thing...the stuff he's copying has a lot of folder, and
sub-folders. So it would be pretty hard to go through and manually verify if
it is all there. The whole thing seems rather dumb to me though. I've cut and
pasted like this hundreds of times and never lost a bit of data.
 
Patrick said:
Ya, that's the thing...the stuff he's copying has a lot of folder, and
sub-folders. So it would be pretty hard to go through and manually
verify if it is all there. The whole thing seems rather dumb to me
though. I've cut and pasted like this hundreds of times and never
lost a bit of data.
Click to expand...

If you just right click on the files, you can at least compare the sizes. If
they are exactly the same size, you can be fairly sure that all the files
copied. If there is a difference in sizes, then obviously something didn't
go.
 
Cutting and pasting is problematic if you take into account that if you were
to cut a file, then for what ever reason something happens before you get a
chance to paste the file (blue screen, power failure etc..) That file is
lost.

You delete the information from one place and place it in another with
cutting and pasting. The key word is "delete". If *anything* unexpected
happens to the computer before you paste the info, that info is left in the
deleted state.

Copying and pasting is safer in that you copy the information and place it
in another location, you have the info in two places and you have to
*manually* delete the file you want.

If a file is that important, you should be using copy and paste for the same
reason you backup your files, you want a "copy" in two places in case of
problems.

hth
DDS W 2k MVP MCSE
 
You are preaching to the choir.

Danny said:
Cutting and pasting is problematic if you take into account that if
you were to cut a file, then for what ever reason something happens
before you get a chance to paste the file (blue screen, power failure
etc..) That file is lost.

You delete the information from one place and place it in another with
cutting and pasting. The key word is "delete". If *anything*
unexpected happens to the computer before you paste the info, that
info is left in the deleted state.

Copying and pasting is safer in that you copy the information and
place it in another location, you have the info in two places and you
have to *manually* delete the file you want.

If a file is that important, you should be using copy and paste for
the same reason you backup your files, you want a "copy" in two
places in case of problems.

hth
DDS W 2k MVP MCSE
Click to expand...
 
Danny said:
Cutting and pasting is problematic if you take into account that if
you were to cut a file, then for what ever reason something happens
before you get a chance to paste the file (blue screen, power failure
etc..) That file is lost.
Click to expand...


No, not true. When you cut a file, the file is not deleted until you
subsequently paste it.

Try it for yourself. Create a small txt file in notepad, then close notepad,
open My computer and cut it. Close My Computer.. Don't paste it and wait as
long as you like. Then find it in in My Computer and open it. You'll see
that it's still there.

The cut file even survives rebooting. Only the paste deletes it.
 
Ken Blake said:
No, not true. When you cut a file, the file is not deleted until you
subsequently paste it.

Try it for yourself. Create a small txt file in notepad, then close notepad,
open My computer and cut it. Close My Computer.. Don't paste it and wait as
long as you like. Then find it in in My Computer and open it. You'll see
that it's still there.

The cut file even survives rebooting. Only the paste deletes it.
Click to expand...
EXACTLY what I have known to be true from my experiences.
 
Ken Blake said:
No, not true. When you cut a file, the file is not deleted until you
subsequently paste it.

Try it for yourself. Create a small txt file in notepad, then close
notepad, open My computer and cut it. Close My Computer.. Don't paste it
and wait as long as you like. Then find it in in My Computer and open it.
You'll see that it's still there.

The cut file even survives rebooting. Only the paste deletes it.
Click to expand...

Maybe that's the way it's supposed to work, but I've known people who have
managed to lose files. Maybe it's a case of the paste operation starting but
not finishing? Or corrupting? Or maybe just sticky fingers?

But for safety's sake with important files, copying and then deleting is a
little more foolproof.
 
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