Windows 10 - File Explorer

[aekyall]

Probably I'm doing something wrong but ......... I don't seem to be able to copy and paste documents from one folder (on C:) to another folder (on Z:) using File Explorer - nothing seems to happen when I carry out the actions. I'm also not able to copy & paste to an external drive (I:) which I use for my documents back-ups. Never had a problem with Windows 7. This is the first time I've tried to do file copying since installing Windows 10. I've tried both 'copy and paste' using the File Explorer ribbon options and also by using Ctl-C and Ctl-V, neither way seems to produce any result!

I have no trouble getting Windows 10 to back up my files to my external drive using the 'settings - update and security - back-up' facility, but I like to be able to back up my folders and documents so that I can have a mirror image of the files and folders on my C: drive.

I'm obviously missing something simple - - which doesn't surprise me!

[HansV]

That is weird - I'm not aware that anything has changed in this respect in Windows 10. I can copy files to/from external drives without problem, by using Copy/Paste, Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V and by dragging.

Does the problem persist after restarting Windows?

[aekyall]

I think I may have 'stumbled' upon the/a reason - although I'm not yet sure!! It seems I have no problems using copy and paste for individual items, or (so far) three or four items together - it's when I try and copy/paste a whole file load that It doesn't seem to work. I wonder if I'm trying to copy over more than the clip board can handle? couple of times when I've tried to copy a whole batch of folders/documents from one drive to another, the paste action has resulted in the previous copy action (where I've only copied three/four docs) being written to the other drive. As I said, never had a problem in Windows 7. Is there, perhaps, a limit/different limit to what the clip board in Windows 10 can accommodate? If so, is there any way to increase the capacity? - I may be way off line here as I know little about clipboard functionality.

I'm probably expecting too much from the function - combination of sub files and documents in a folder I'm trying to copy over, can contain as many as 1200 documents in total - too much in one go?

Regards,

[HansV]

Have you tried dragging the files/folders from the C: drive to the external disk?

[aekyall]

I think the penny's dropped!! What I've been doing is opening a sub folder, highlighting all the contents of that sub folder and then doing 'copy' - I've then been going to a sub folder on another drive, opening it, and trying to paste to it - that doesn't work - it also didn't work dragging and dropping using that method. However! When I just drag the sub folder (without opening the folder and highlighting the content) to the sub folder on the other drive (with the same name), it does, indeed, paste all the contents. Looks like you've helped me resolve/understand (I think!) the problem I was having. I'll have a play around over the next few hours (I obviously need the practice!) and will post back if I encounter anything untoward!
Regards,

[aekyall]

I think I'm confusing myself!! Forget most of what I posted, above. What really works is if I right click and 'copy' at the folder level - then right click on the target drive (not any of its folders/sub folders) and select 'paste' - then the original folder replaces/overwrites the one on the target drive - clear as mud! What I discovered is that clicking on the target drive's folder and copying there, just results in a sub folder being created within it, rather than replacing it!

It also works at this level using the commands on the File Explorer ribbon. Sorry the confusion (you'll get used to it, in time!)
Regards,