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How to move completely move a folder to one place or another?

Folders in one place please?

  • Why is folder copying on my Windows 7 laptop all hinky? I've been noticing an occasional disconcerting problem with moving large folders from one place to another- occasionally, when I drop OR copy/paste a folder from one place to another, the original folder will not delete itself entirely. So, I'll see the folder in its new location, and a partial ghost/clone in the original location - typically one or two subfolders are left inside the original copy, sometimes entirely empty, sometimes with a file or two hanging around inside it. There doesn't seem to be any regularity about what kind of files get left behind. The ghost folder is typically pretty persistent - redoing the copying operation may result in a few more files/folders traveling to the new location but doesn't solve the problem. Right now my solution is to make a brand new folder and transfer things in by hand. It often takes quite a bit of checking/rechecking to assure myself that I have a complete copy at the new location, but regardless I really would like this behavior to go away. I am running Windows 7 on a Lenovo laptop, and the only thing I've been able to think of that might be involved is Dropbox (this has been going on for several months, and I didn't notice it until after several months on Dropbox)- but the problem persists even if I pause syncing. The problem files/folders are not in use by any program when I'm trying to move them. I've googled around for possible answers, but there is a great deal about 'copying folders in dropbox' on the internet that is not relevant to this :p Any idea about what could be causing this?

  • Answer:

    I should clarify - when I say the files aren't in use, I mean not intentionally by me. If this might be caused by background operations using files, how can I detect such things?

heyforfour at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

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http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653 is what I would try (From the Find menu choose "Find Handle or DLL" and enter part of the file or folder name). Dropbox is a good suspect if it's happening in the folders you are synching, or some wonky virus scanners can do this too.

samj

if you are unable to track down the source of the problem i would try installing http://codesector.com/teracopy and see if it helps. if it does not resolve the issue it is likely to give you a more descriptive error message.

phil

Start with the obvious things first like anti-virus and move towards using process explorer to find out what may be locking the files.

samsara

Another possibility is that the files aren't in use, but that you don't have ownership or the necessary privileges to delete them. I distrust Windows so badly that when moving large folders I have Windows copy them, and then run a Perl script that verifies the copy and deletes the original. I'd send you the script if you wanted, but it's a pretty hackish, low-level, command-line-y thing to do.

benito.strauss

The default in Windows, as far as I can tell, is that a drag and drop on objects from one volume (drive) to another is to copy. But on the same volume it is move. But I too have noticed that Dropbox is a little hinky with moving stuff around.

gjc

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