# Transferring data from an ext drive to an ext drive **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988 "2009-08-19T20:01:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/1 "2009-08-19T20:01:27Z")
Okay, so I finally ran out of room on my WD (250 gigs). So I went out and bought a different external drive (can’t remember the name) with a lot more gigs. I thought I could plug them both in, C&P, wait a while, and be all good. Instead, it seems I cannot. I have a lot of large files (movies and such) and I don’t have enough room on my cpu to put everything from the WD onto it and then to move it to the new drive. Anyone have any ideas as to what I should do? ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/2 "2009-08-19T20:05:08Z")
D’oh! Wrong forum. Mods? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/3 "2009-08-19T20:05:38Z")
You’re probably going to have to do it a few (dozen/hundred/whatever) files at a time - move them onto your internal hard drive, transfer them to your second external, and then start the process over again. Not much to debate, though, from what I can see. ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/4 "2009-08-19T20:30:42Z")
[Moderator Hat ON] To GQ. [Moderator Hat OFF] ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/5 "2009-08-19T20:41:14Z")
Why not plug them both in at once and copy/paste between them that way? If you’re short on USB ports, a USB hub will soon take care of that problem. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/6 "2009-08-19T20:47:11Z")
Plug them both in and move then from external drive to external drive. If size of the files is a problem I’m betting the new drive is formatted as FAT. You need NTFS format for your new hard drive. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/7 "2009-08-19T20:48:32Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > Why not plug them both in at once and copy/paste between them that way? If you’re short on USB ports, a USB hub will soon take care of that problem. > [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Plug them both in and move then from external drive to external drive. > > If size of the files is a problem I’m betting the new drive is formatted as FAT. You need NTFS format for your new hard drive. If I’m reading the OP correctly, that’s what s/he’s doing. But I think Windows caches volume-to-volume copy and paste data in TEMP folder. I would try doing it without using Windows. Try any of the various Linux LiveCDs like Knoppix or Ubuntu. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/8 "2009-08-19T20:50:10Z")
I’m curious about what stopped you from dragging them from one drive to the other. Did you get some sort of error message? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/9 "2009-08-19T20:50:52Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > Okay, so I finally ran out of room on my WD (250 gigs). So I went out and bought a different external drive (can’t remember the name) with a lot more gigs. I thought I could plug them both in, C&P, wait a while, and be all good. Instead, it seems I cannot. I have a lot of large files (movies and such) and I don’t have enough room on my cpu to put everything from the WD onto it and then to move it to the new drive. > > Anyone have any ideas as to what I should do? Try using this application [ycopy](http://www.ruahine.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/10 "2009-08-19T21:28:58Z")
> [@Dervorin](#): > > Why not plug them both in at once and copy/paste between them that way? If you’re short on USB ports, a USB hub will soon take care of that problem. That doesn’t work - I keep getting errors. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/11 "2009-08-19T21:36:06Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Try using this application [ycopy](http://www.ruahine.com/) I had some initial hope for this, but it keeps erroring out. Also, my external hard drives keep attempting to execute their programs (WD and Free Agent software that comes with the drive). I get this error: - Folder F:\iTunes\ - Temp File.tmp Error: Couldn’t select folder - Check source folder exists (F:\iTunes\Previous iTunes Libraries) last\_error=3(The system cannot find the path specified. ) Error: Couldn’t select folder - Check source folder exists (F:\iTunes\iTunes Music) last\_error=3(The system cannot find the path specified. ) Error: Couldn’t select folder - Check source folder exists (F:\iTunes\iPod Games) last\_error=3(The system cannot find the path specified. ) Error: Couldn’t select folder - Check source folder exists (F:\iTunes\Copies) last\_error=3(The system cannot find the path specified. ) Error: Couldn’t select folder - Check source folder exists (F:\iTunes\Album Artwork) last\_error=3(The system cannot find the path specified. ) Error: Find next file failed last\_error=1006(The volume for a file has been externally altered so that the opened file is no longer valid. ) - Summary -------------------------------------------------- Ycopy was unable to copy 1 (of 7) files, totalling 4.00Mb (19.76% of the original source folder) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/12 "2009-08-20T07:57:22Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > Also, my external hard drives keep attempting to execute their programs (WD and Free Agent software that comes with the drive). Well, one of the first things you should do is erase that kind of crap off your new drive! ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/13 "2009-08-20T09:01:53Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > That doesn’t work - I keep getting errors. What operating system are you running? Have you run a scan on the source disk to check that there are no filesystem problems before copying? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/14 "2009-08-20T11:03:05Z")
I’m thinking you may have corrupted files on the source drive also. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/15 "2009-08-20T16:13:49Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > - Summary -------------------------------------------------- > Ycopy was unable to copy 1 (of 7) files, totalling 4.00Mb (19.76% of the original source folder) if you are only missing 4mb on a drive copy of any size I would be willing to bet these are some kind of Itunes encryption keys or something that do not like to be copied. I am not an Ipod maven so I am not sure but sounds like you got 99.9% of your stuff. ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-data-from-an-ext-drive-to-an-ext-drive/506988/16 "2009-08-21T11:24:04Z")
I’m doing this sort of thing myself right now between two USB drives using Windows XP Home. I’m not sure what’s different to your setup but I’m not having any trouble at all. Windows seems to be doing it in a sensible way. When copying several 12 GB files there is no significant activity on the computer’s internal disk so it’s definitely writing directly between the two externals.