Files don’t copy from Win7 HDD to Win10 computer

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Removed Win7 HDD from computer with dead power supply.

Placed Win7 HDD in an enclosure to be able to connect using USB 3.

Connected to Win10 2004 machine (DELL Optiplex 9020 i5 64 bit).

On observation all files are present and readable.

Attempted to copy and paste files to move them from Win7 HDD to Win10 2004.

Win10 computer immediately goes to desktop once I select and click paste after copying desired files to transfer, and no transfer takes place.

Then copied one file/folder from Win7 HDD to a flash drive to test transfer. It would not copy/paste to my Win10 2004 machine. However it did copy and paste from the flash drive to a second Win10 2004 machine. How do I fix this?

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What privilege level were you running the copy with?

Because it’s unlikely to work as a non-administrator unless the computers had shared account management (as in members of the same domain), but I’d expect at least an error about the permissions. And even administrators probably need to adjust file ownership or access privileges.

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likescats

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Thanks for your reply. I do have administrative privilege. When copy/paste didn’t work, I took ownership of the files and it still did not work. There have been no error messages.

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Use another machine to transfer the files.
If that still doesn’t work there may be an issue with the HDD or enclosure.

You could try using Robocopy in a Command Prompt / PowerShell window. This should give you a better idea of any errors generated.
Choose a small directory on the external HDD.
Run this command: robocopy E:\smallDir C:\ /v

Change “E:\smallDir” to match your drive and directory name.

cheers, Paul

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likescats

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Thank you for your reply. As you recommended I did try copying the files to another Win 2004 machine, my laptop. I tried it and got a message “you don’t have access to these files”. At that point I took ownership and then tried copy/paste of a few files/folders at random. It was a smooth and successful process copying files to the laptop.

I then went back to the machine that would not accept copy/paste to try again. The copy/paste process failed again.

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snalmond

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Have you tried different USB ports on the troublesome machine?

Do you have another disk you can try on said machine?

Finally, backup the disk on the laptop so you have all the data, or if space is short, just copy the files you need. Then plug the disk into the machine that doesn’t work and try repartitioning and formatting the disk. If it still doesn’t work you may need to reinstall Windows – after making a full backup.

cheers, Paul

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likescats

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Thank you for your response.

I did try different USB ports on the troublesome machine. Fortunately my USB ports are all active, unfortunately I still couldn’t copy.

Then I thought about your advice and the several solutions I tried. It seemed to me that if my External HDD worked with 2 other Win 2004 machines that your suggestion to reinstall might be the way to go. Armed with backups, I bit the bullet and reinstalled Win 2004 on said troublesome machine. Problem solved! All the data and files I needed from the Win 7 HDD are now on my no longer troublesome machine.

Again, thank you ever so much.

likescats   (and Border Collies)

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