Solved XCopy Woes, or Not?

I've been using a WD Blue 500GB HDD as a working drive instead of an SSD to temporarily hold files and downloads until I either discard them or file them away somewhere else. This way I don't prematurely end the life of an SSD with the heavy write actions.

I recently found a WD Black 1TB HDD in a bunch of my spare PC stuff. CrystalDiskInfo shows power on count at 2750 and total power on hours at 22504. Black is better quality than Blue, it's twice the capacity, and has more life available to it. So I had an idea to give it a whirl and replace the WD Blue because the Blue, even though newer, has nearly triple the power counts that the WD Black does.

In an elevated command prompt I used XCopy with switch options /e (any folder, even if it's empty), /c (continue to copy even if an error occurs), and /h (include hidden files and folders). I didn't include the /r swtich (overwrite read only files) because I had just used diskpart to clean the WD Black HDD and convert it to GPT before quick formattaing it into a single simple NTFS volume. I left the system-generate partitions alone, of course.

Now here is my issue: All the freshly copied files and folders open without issue, EXCEPT every shortcul link (.lnk) gives a security warning, even if I create a new link on the spot. It doesn't matter if the link is Internet-based or simply points to another file or program on the same disk or another disk in the system. The gist of the seecurity warning is about "While files from the Internet can be useful, this file type can potentially harm your computer. If you do not trust this source, do not open the software." Along with pertient link type and source information, I am given the option to Open or cancel. This WD Black drive is the only drive that is presenting this issue. I checked security permissions on the drive, and I see no issue there. I ran the icacls X:\ /reset /t /c /l elevated command where X is the WD Black HDD to no effect. I don't know what else to try at this point.

Ideas? Thanks!

Check the shortcut properties to see if the files are not blocked.

1-Right-click on one of the shortcuts and click on properties
2-Click on the "General" tab
3-Then check if there is a security warning "This file came from another computer and might blocked to help protect this computer"
4-If have the security warning, check the option "Unblock" then click on Apply and OK to save the change
5-Then check if you can open the file without the security warning. If this procedure works, you will need to repeat for the other shortcuts

Z E Year 2525 said:

I recently found a WD Black 1TB HDD in a bunch of my spare PC stuff. CrystalDiskInfo shows power on count at 2750 and total power on hours at 22504. Black is better quality than Blue

Click to expand...

I have one for a spare, too. I tested it and can't find SMART problems. No bad sectors found. I got it in the very-late-2010s, IIRC.
I also have a 500 GB Black and no problems found in tests, either. If there are no errors, just lots of power on time, then I would say, go for it.

Here is what AI says about that:

The warning you're seeing is a common security message that appears when you're transferring files, especially executable files or software, from the internet to your computer or external storage devices like a USB HDD. Here are some key points to consider regarding this warning:

1. **File Types**: Certain file types, such as .exe, .bat, .cmd, .scr, and others, can execute code on your computer. These types of files are often flagged because they can potentially contain malware or harmful software.

2. **Source Trustworthiness**: Always ensure that the source of the file is trustworthy. If you downloaded the file from an unknown or suspicious website, it's best to avoid opening it.

3. **Antivirus Software**: Make sure you have up-to-date antivirus software installed on your computer. This software can help scan files for potential threats before you open them.

4. **File Scanning**: Before transferring files to your USB HDD, consider scanning them with your antivirus software. Many antivirus programs allow you to right-click on a file and select an option to scan it.

5. **Backup Important Data**: Always keep backups of important data on your USB HDD or other storage devices. This way, if you accidentally transfer a harmful file, you can restore your data.

6. **Regular Updates**: Keep your operating system and software updated to protect against vulnerabilities that malware might exploit.

If you have any doubts about a file, it's better to err on the side of caution and not open it.

Folks, thanks for the info. Sorry for the late response, but I'm building a new Cyberdyne Systems Skynet PC to replace my 9-year old primary PC, which was down for a couple days to cannibalize parts. I'm waiting on a secondary ATX 12-volt PSU-to-motherboard power cable. This new LGA-1851 board requires two cables instead of only the one that the LGA-1700 board needed. I can't wait to fire up this new Core Ultra 9 285K to see how it performs with all the new supporting components.

I will keep psychocyr's post for future reference in case I ever run across this situation again. I work with Excel a lot and see a similar issue when copying cells from one spreadsheet to another, and then I have to break the unnecessary links. That usually happens when I'm working with protected sheets and forget to disable protection when copying between the two workbooks.

Anyway, the NVIDIA App informed me of a new Studio update yesterday The mystery of how this issue occurred in the first place will continue to elude me. It disappeared after I installed the new RTX 4070 Ti Super update. FM (not Frequency Modulation, but Frickin' Magic), I guess. It's possible that this issue occurred because I performed the XCopy task from the WD Blue HDD in my secondary PC before transferring the WD Black HDD to my primary PC. Along with a bunch of MK4 videos, I had a backup copy of my %USERPROFILE% system folders (Desktop, Downloads, Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos) on the WD Blue HDD. I don't keep user's system folders on my OS SSD - I keep them in an alternate location on a HDD instead to help reduce premature SSD multi-write burnout.

I'm marking this as solved just to end this thread. I'm really curious, though, as to why this happened in the first place.