Windows Stops Copying

Hi, I use windows 11. When I try to copy large amounts if files from one drive to the other the process stops after a few files
Then I have to restart the computers o remove the drive. Please advise.

ramirezandujar said:

Hi, I use windows 11. When I try to copy large amounts if files from one drive to the other the process stops after a few files
Then I have to restart the computers o remove the drive. Please advise.

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This issue can be caused by a number of things. It could be the result of a defective drive, it could be that you're running out of capacity, it could be that you need to use TRIM, it could be that one of the files is protected and won't transfer so the whole process comes to a halt. This will also happen if the file name or address is too long. What size of files are you trying to copy? Are you attempting to copy from an online source or from a physical drive to another physical drive.

File explorer is flaky copying large numbers of files. Try Teracopy, a free download that moves files much quicker than explorer and may solve your freezing issue.

You're much better off using a copy application that will only copy files that aren't already on the destination drive, that way if the copy gets interrupted, you don't have to start from scratch. RoboCopy will do that as well as a host of other applications.

ramirezandujar said:

Then I have to restart the computers o remove the drive.

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When you say you are removing the drive I assume this is an external USB HDD?
Check the health of the drive. Download DiskGenius and or Crystal Disk Info. Both available in my signature. View the SMART Info. This shows an overall health report of the drive. If it is any less than GOOD it needs to be replaced.

I second the opinion to download Teracopy. When you copy and paste with this app, It tries to keep the process going and not stalling. if it stops in the middle for any reason, when you start the copy paste process again, it starts up from where it left off and not from the beginning.

And make sure show "Hidden Files" is ticked. You wanna copy those, too.

When I copy files I use either Teracopy or FastCopy. I find FastCopy to be a little faster than Teracopy. In FastCopy you select the source and the destination then click on Execute.

Or you might be using fake usb drives? check using GRC | ValiDrive

I had a similar issue with a cheap unknown brand USB card reader. When copying some small files, it had no problem. When copying a large file and copy speed exceeded 20MB/sec, it would hang and be undetectable by Windows. To detect it I had to remove it and plug it again, but then I had to start from the beginning which was pointless. The solution was to use a utility called Ultra Copier to replace the File Explorer copy function which also had a setting to limit the maximum transfer speed. I set the limit just below 20MB/sec and the card reader managed to complete the transfer. It would take more time with limited speed, but at least it didn't hang. Needless to say USB flash drives are too cheap today. Just copy the files of the problematic one to your computer and replace it with a new and better one.

PenPusher said:

Or you might be using fake usb drives? check using GRC | ValiDrive

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This is a thing. Many drives of this nature come out of China and are wholesaled unbeknownst to the vendor for retail to the victim. Several informative videos are online covering this subject. I've even made a few purchases of this nature myself on Amazon. Rule of thumb (no pun intended) is if the price looks too good to be true it likely is.

PenPusher said:

Or you might be using fake usb drives? check using GRC | ValiDrive

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You reminded me when I was working at a small Computer shop. It was in the center of Athens, on a street with several other computer shops. We heard that a competitor bought cheap USB flash drives from China but they were just the edge of a USB cable inside a plastic case so it looked like a flash drive. It was literally a piece of USB cable, which of course when plugged on the computer did nothing! Big scam!

spapakons said:

You reminded me when I was working at a small Computer shop. It was in the center of Athens, on a street with several other computer shops. We heard that a competitor bought cheap USB flash drives from China but they were just the edge of a USB cable inside a plastic case so it looked like a flash drive. It was literally a piece of USB cable, which of course when plugged on the computer did nothing! Big scam!

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If you look at the Chinese marketing sites, they're full of such SCAM products.

Scannerman said:

This is a thing. Many drives of this nature come out of China and are wholesaled unbeknownst to the vendor for retail to the victim. Several informative videos are online covering this subject. I've even made a few purchases of this nature myself on Amazon. Rule of thumb (no pun intended) is if the price looks too good to be true it likely is.

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Which is why I avoid Amazon Marketplace junk.

Scam artists know that there are some people out there who look at the price and only the price, and don't consider anything else when they purchase something. I used to be that way when I was younger but not anymore. Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.

Most reputable brands already have their own stores over at amazon, anyway. SanDisk, Lexar, PNY, Samsung, etc, all have their own stores over at amazon. You'll pay more upfront, but at least you'll have some peace-of-mind over it. Or you can order it directly from the brand's website, which I have been known to do on occasion.

cheaterslick said:

Which is why I avoid Amazon Marketplace junk.

Scam artists know that there are some people out there who look at the price and only the price, and don't consider anything else when they purchase something. I used to be that way when I was younger but not anymore. Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.

Most reputable brands already have their own stores over at amazon, anyway. SanDisk, Lexar, PNY, Samsung, etc, all have their own stores over at amazon. You'll pay more upfront, but at least you'll have some peace-of-mind over it. Or you can order it directly from the brand's website, which I have been known to do on occasion.

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It's really a trade off. I'm not much of a fain boi on brand names either anymore. For example two years ago a purchased a Toshiba microwave because I heard they were good quality. Well, it's dead now and it really didn't get much use apart from heating up left overs and cold coffee. My buddy's Hamilton Beach of the same capacity (and much cheaper budget brand) has lasted him 8 years now and he uses it practically every day.

I once had a mechanical drive that I "inherited" used that came out of China that had a name I never hear of. I think it was called Sun something or other. That drive refused to die regardless of all the chatter it made. It copied files just fine and I got a lot of use out of it. Because I was not familiar with the brand I used it for a back up drive and it served me well for 12 years. Then one day it just stopped running. I purchased a brand new Western Digital Blue of the same capacity to replace it and that drive didn't even last a month.

Had I purchased the drive from Amazon I could have returned it with free shipping. Silly me. I bought it from a Canadian company with a reputation for poor customer support. I called up Western Digital and they gave me such a hard time. After 20 minutes of haggling the fellow on the telephone he capitulated and said, "Okay, but just this once." He was right because that was the last time I ever purchased a brand new Western Digital mechanical hard drive. A little further research into SMR drives told me all I needed to know about those drives. Pretty sad when a generic used hard drive from China of the same capacity out lasts a brand new Western Digital drive by 12 years, I should think.

Sometimes a fella just has to take some risks. Amazon has a good return policy.

If I've had a good track record with a brand, then I tend to go back to them. Even after 20 years, I'm still using Dells. I've had detours with Lenovo and HP over the years but I still wind up going back to Dell.

Sometimes that changes over the course of time. 10 years ago, I used to swear by Patriot USBs and for awhile, they were the best out there, imo. I still even have most of them (and they're about 8 - 15 years old by now) but the quality declined as Patriot put their resources in elsewhere and their transfer rates went down and they became not much better than the cheaper brands out there.

So yeah, brand loyalty only goes so far...

My parents had a similar experience. An expensive known brand microwave that died soon and a cheap "no-name" (nickname for unknown brands) that they still use after many years. We also prefer cheap vacuum cleaners, toasters and the like. It's not worth investing on an expensive brand for such devices. Also WD have a good reputation, but their 2.5" external disks have their SATA to USB controller soldered on the board! This means if the controller dies, you CANNOT remove it and use a third-party USB enclosure! Other brands, as far as I know, just use a standard 2.5" SATA disk in a USB enclosure, so you won't lose your data if the controller dies. Just break it open and put the disk in a third-party 2.5" USB enclosure or a SATA-to-USB adapter. Having said that, I recently bought another WD USB hard disk because it was the cheaper in the shop... Shame to me

I had a similar problem using Teracopy and copying large numbers of MP3s and images to internal and external drives, and flash drives, but it didn't happen all of the time. Last night, I decided to try FastCopy, and it looks like the problem disappeared.

Scannerman said:

Sometimes a fella just has to take some risks. Amazon has a good return policy.

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When I'm tempted to buy a questionable product, I look for one that is returnable on Amazon. No questions asked, I just drop it off and get my money back. That's how I bought the bogus USB FLASH drives, I was just curious. I knew I wasn't getting terabytes of capacity for $10-$15, but I was curious what I would get.

gunrunnerjohn said:

When I'm tempted to buy a questionable product, I look for one that is returnable on Amazon. No questions asked, I just drop it off and get my money back. That's how I bought the bogus USB FLASH drives, I was just curious. I knew I wasn't getting terabytes of capacity for $10-$15, but I was curious what I would get.

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same. Returned no questions asked. I think Amazon already knew.

Scannerman said:

same. Returned no questions asked. I think Amazon already knew.

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Actually, I've returned dozens of items over that last several years to Amazon, never any questions. You just have to make sure they're not sold through their 3rd party stores but direct from Amazon.