Problem while backing up My Documents folder to external HD

smuggler.ie

Here it comes...

As per image attached "XPuser", member of USERS group(not administrators)
CMD running as user ...... and as we can see command, originally provided by me , failing(shame on me) with "Invalid number of parameters"...... and we can see same command wrapped(fully in my case, but could wrap each directory_that_has _space_in_name separately) in to commas completes successfully. No need for elevated CMD, no need to navigate to other directory. NEEDED COMMAS!!

Well spotted Ten Pin.

@Maidhci:
If your CMD starts your location in....

C:\Documents and Settings\username>

.....you can try simplified command as per screenshot(fully highlighted line):

C:\Documents and Settings\username>xcopy ".\My Documents" R:\foldername\ /s

Note: my sample show copying from C:\Documents and Settings\ to C:\ drive root - would not allow XP on my network so its fully isolated VM - but same should apply to USB drive after changing drive letter.

Maidhci

smuggler.ie wrote: »

What error do you get (if any)?

In your previous post you typed command/path with lot of spaces in path
double check you command - there should be only spaces i pointed in first my post.

xcopyspaceC:\Documents and Settings\username\My DocumentsspaceRBackupJan2018\space/s

only change:
1. R - to letter you see on you PC for USB drive.
2. username - to your logon name OR type % on each side of username(actual word USERNAMEin this case)
Leave rest as is

@mods! is there reason i cant type username variable? For some reason it gets removed and leave ame% only.

The error I kept getting was "Invalid number of parameters"

Most definitely, there were no erroneous spaces or incorrect typos. I see that you have posted a modified command in a later post and I will try this over the weekend when I have access to the XP PC. Thanks again for your endeavours here - much appreciated.

Maidhci

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Here it comes...

As per image attached "XPuser", member of USERS group(not administrators)
CMD running as user ...... and as we can see command, originally provided by me , failing(shame on me) with "Invalid number of parameters"...... and we can see same command wrapped(fully in my case, but could wrap each directory_that_has _space_in_name separately) in to commas completes successfully. No need for elevated CMD, no need to navigate to other directory. NEEDED COMMAS!!

Well spotted Ten Pin.

@Maidhci:
If your CMD starts your location in....

C:\Documents and Settings\username>

.....you can try simplified command as per screenshot(fully highlighted line):

C:\Documents and Settings\username>xcopy ".\My Documents" R:\foldername\ /s

Note: my sample show copying from C:\Documents and Settings\ to C:\ drive root - would not allow XP on my network so its fully isolated VM - but same should apply to USB drive after changing drive letter.

Thanks smuggler.ie - this behaves in the same way as when copying files in windows - it starts off but stalls at the same point as when copying within Windows. There is obviously a more fundamental problem here - when copying to USB in small batches, a message is displayed when an offending file is encountered....''the file xxxxx has extra information attached to it that might be lost if you continue copying....." This message is not displayed when copying My Documents to the external HD, the process simply stops and screen freezes necessitating a power off. The interesting aspect is that the offending files were copied on previous occasions without issue.

smuggler.ie

Maidhci wrote: »

Thanks smuggler.ie - this behaves in the same way as when copying files in windows - it starts off but stalls at the same point as when copying within Windows. There is obviously a more fundamental problem here - when copying to USB in small batches, a message is displayed when an offending file is encountered....''the file xxxxx has extra information attached to it that might be lost if you continue copying....." This message is not displayed when copying My Documents to the external HD, the process simply stops and screen freezes necessitating a power off. The interesting aspect is that the offending files were copied on previous occasions without issue.

Is trouble with same files each time or is it random files. What type files these are(docx, pdf, etc.)?
Usually this type of message presented where you have thumbnails. And usually has option to confirm to proceed.
Google search the message, read through articles see if you find that describes you issue.
Read this and try on. Let know if it worked.

Maidhci

Thanks for this smuggler.ie - it stalls on the same files each time, being pdf and jpeg. As you say, the option to continue is given when copying in batches to USB not when copying to external D. In one instance, in a folder containing some documents that were initially downloaded to Dropbox, containg a batch of 3 Ireland invoices, the message is referenced :com.dropbox.attributes:$DATA, also, when jpeg files are being copied, it stalls on 'copying thumbnails'

I have read the document referenced in your post - how to clear thumbnails cache and Enabling / Disabling thumbnails, thanks for this, I will look at these this evening when I have access to my XP PC. What is the impact of disabling thumbnails and the effect on PC of clearing thumbnails cache - will it impact of viewing or working with stored documents etc. etc? Thanks again.

smuggler.ie

Maidhci wrote: »

...... What is the impact of disabling thumbnails and the effect on PC of clearing thumbnails cache - will it impact of viewing or working with stored documents etc. etc?..........

It is safe to delete them, could even say "recommended" once in the wile , as they might get corrupted, clog your system. No harm any way.
Basically they created on purpose to speed up browsing through files, preview file - especially images - this was mentioned in one of the early posts

Xterminator wrote: »

Hi Op

you might have file preview on, in windows explorer, which 'opens' the file to display a preview.
change view to list view etc and try again.

your replay about "tiles view" - it is previewing.

Thumbnails on Wikipedia
More reading

If you delete thumbnails, they will be recreated as needed next time you open folder/file(providing thumbnail caching remain enabled)

Maidhci

smuggler.ie wrote: »

It is safe to delete them, could even say "recommended" once in the wile , as they might get corrupted, clog your system. No harm any way.
Basically they created on purpose to speed up browsing through files, preview file - especially images - this was mentioned in one of the early posts
your replay about "tiles view" - it is previewing.

Thumbnails on Wikipedia
More reading

If you delete thumbnails, they will be recreated as needed next time you open folder/file(providing thumbnail caching remain enabled)

Thanks for this info - deleted thumbs cache per article, only two files there as presumably they had been deleted when I ran CCleaner a few days ago. The system was already set to 'Do not cache thumbnails'. Unfortunately, deleting the thumbnails does not help with the issue - still stalls on the same documents. I had tried this again over the weekend, having changed the view from Tiles to List, again last evening having deleted the thumbs etc.

smuggler.ie

1. Are offending files all time same or random?

2. Are offending files in same directory/folder (provide full path like C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\Foldername)?

3. Can you try xcopy from CMD while Windows explorer task killed? So start CMD, right click and "end task" for windows explorer in task manager then run command, after command completed, in cmd, type explorer.exe and hit enter to start win explorer again.

4. Can you try copy while booted in safe mode?

post all errors you get

JohnRTLH

Hey MaidHCI,
In an earlier post you mentioned: "I am not sure if it is relevant here, but the PC from which I am copying is running Windows XP."
I have an XP install that I use as a test bed.  I started getting the same behavior as you this morning after an Avast! Antivirus Update.  I tried disabling Avast! but problem continued.  I temporarily uninstalled Avast! and the problem went away.
What Antivirus program are you running?  Have you tried Disabling?  If no results, try Uninstalling.  I'll be interested in knowing your results as it may help me too

Ten Pin

Others having same issue since Avast update.

Possibly something to do with Avast Shields, maybe the File System Shield? Temporarily disable and check for file copy errors.

Here are 3 alternatives to explorer for copying files, I've only used Fastcopy. See if the problem persists with any / all of those programs.

Maidhci

JohnRTLH wrote: »

Hey MaidHCI,
In an earlier post you mentioned: "I am not sure if it is relevant here, but the PC from which I am copying is running Windows XP."
I have an XP install that I use as a test bed.  I started getting the same behavior as you this morning after an Avast! Antivirus Update.  I tried disabling Avast! but problem continued.  I temporarily uninstalled Avast! and the problem went away.
What Antivirus program are you running?  Have you tried Disabling?  If no results, try Uninstalling.  I'll be interested in knowing your results as it may help me too

Hi John - Interesting, I am also running Avast, it expired in the last day or two, so will uninstall and see how it goes. Will let you know how I get on. Thanks for that.

Maidhci

Ten Pin wrote: »

Others having same issue since Avast update.

Here are 3 alternatives to explorer for copying files, I've only used Fastcopy. See if the problem persists with any / all of those programs.

Thanks Ten Pin, I will look into these at the weekend. Smuggler.ie has also posted some helpful possibilities which I will also try out at the same time.

Maidhci

JohnRTLH wrote: »

Hey MaidHCI,
In an earlier post you mentioned: "I am not sure if it is relevant here, but the PC from which I am copying is running Windows XP."
I have an XP install that I use as a test bed.  I started getting the same behavior as you this morning after an Avast! Antivirus Update.  I tried disabling Avast! but problem continued.  I temporarily uninstalled Avast! and the problem went away.
What Antivirus program are you running?  Have you tried Disabling?  If no results, try Uninstalling.  I'll be interested in knowing your results as it may help me too

Hi John, I updated to the latest Avast version, tried and no joy. Uninstalled Avast and again no joy. Obviously, the issue here is not related to the Avast AV software. Thanks for you input.

Maidhci

Ten Pin wrote: »

Others having same issue since Avast update.

Possibly something to do with Avast Shields, maybe the File System Shield? Temporarily disable and check for file copy errors.

Here are 3 alternatives to explorer for copying files, I've only used Fastcopy. See if the problem persists with any / all of those programs.

Hi Ten Pin, Unchecked Avast shield as outlined in the link, again no benefit. Thanks.

Maidhci

smuggler.ie wrote: »

1. Are offending files all time same or random?

2. Are offending files in same directory/folder (provide full path like C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\Foldername)?

3. Can you try xcopy from CMD while Windows explorer task killed? So start CMD, right click and "end task" for windows explorer in task manager then run command, after command completed, in cmd, type explorer.exe and hit enter to start win explorer again.

4. Can you try copy while booted in safe mode?

post all errors you get

Hi smuggler.ie - Option 3 works for me - no errors at all, all files copied without issue.

The offending files while copying in Windows mode were PDF and jpeg files, same issue while booted in safe mode.

I very much appreciate your help and your patience here. It was rather baffling given that I have always been copying these files as backup for several years, last copied in October with the now offending files present and copied at that stage. Can you hazard a guess as to what might be the issue here, given that the process works with windows explorer shut down?? Again, many thanks, it is much appreciated.

smuggler.ie

Glad to hear that, but...
Please confirm you have copied all files, especially check for those offending.
Check if the files troubling you are accessible on both C:\drive and backup drive - can you open/edit them.
To get list of offending files/errors you could try this command(don't open anything on PC, just cmd):

xcopy .\My Documents R:\TEST\ /s /c /f 1>copied.txt 2>errors.txt

..it should create "TEST" folder on R:\ drive and copy all folders/files, ignoring errors and same time it will create two text files on C:\ drive called copied.txt and errors.txt - file names speak , check them once command completed
As i cannot replicate errors not sure what format errors.txt will be, but should list offending file and error message - let me know what it look like

With regards what is the cause...not quite sure. Error messages, some times not definitive enough, could point right direction.
If all time failing same file('s) - blame file
If failing random files - blame application / PC
Could be just corrupted file, some apps might have processes running in background(check task manager for Adobe, Office apps...) and keep file "locked", your PC could run low on resources and taking time...

Maidhci wrote: »

Copying......

"Windows is currently working with a file. Either wait for Windows to finish, or close it before you quit windows."

After all you running XP(you never mentioned PC specs...) - way beyond support time, no security updates, plenty vulnerabilities......