"Path too deep" copying from HD to USB HD

fatherdougalmag

OK so I picked up one or four of those Packard Bell 50GB DivX/MP3/photo player external HD.

Works like a charm (except I can't get the SD-copy thing going at all or that would have solved the problem I'm about to outline) but I get an error when copying large files (e.g. 700MB) to it. It gets so far and claims the path is too deep. Nonsense. Root dir to root dir copy so the "path too deep" thing is a glitch in the error reporting. I think it's actually pointing to a timeout happening somehwere as when I use 'copy' from a command prompt, again, it gets so far and then a timeout error occurs.

I've webbed around and people have suggested that this error occurs when copying over networks, copy with dodgy IDE cable, copying from too deep a path and when copying to a USB HD (like me). However, the only solution I've come across is to use 'robocopy' from the Resource Kit. That's working away now but, presumably because of retries, it's taking forever.

I brought the HD into work and copied a 2GB file over without any problems so it's definitely down to this machine (Dell Inspiron 6000). I've had this error when copying to a 20GB iPod too.

If anyone knows the real root cause of this I'd be v grateful.

Edit: robocopy picked up speed after while which suggests that there might be some bad sectors on the disk. Doing a scandisk now

dellsmore

I don't know if you've had any success yet with your copy, but I'm assuming you're running XP here......

Have a look in the event logs and see if Windows is reporting any strange stuff with the drive - that may give you a better idea of what's going on.

If you're able to hook the drive up to a Linux machine you may be able to get more informative messages about what's going on there - helped me in the past locate dodgy sectors on a old HDD that was behaving oddly.

thebman

Try a different USB port. I know it sounds stupid but sometimes this kind of thing works especially if your using a side USB port. Use the ones at the back.

I've heard people say that the side USB's get less power but I don't see why that would be the case.

fatherdougalmag

The scandisk didn't turn up anything (yes, I'm on XP). I'm using the rear USB ports but I'll try the side ones. I have a few Linux boot CD's (Kanotix, Knoppix, Mepis) but they didn't pick up my NTFS HD nor my USB HD. Admittedly I didn't get down and dirty with a shell prompt. I was just looking at the file manager.

Cheers for the tips though.

seamus

Got this before when copying over a network. Googled, found the same results you did, and the replaced the IDE cable. Worked like a charm (and the machine ran a hell of a lot faster as a result).

fatherdougalmag

Well I'm not going to go opening up my laptop so I guess I'll have to live with robocopy /z'ing everything. I've a desktop machine at home too so I'll use that where I can. I'll also try the HD->SD card->USB HD route again too.

fatherdougalmag

It looks like switching from the rear to the side USB ports has done the trick. Thanks for the tip b4b.