Help with copy file error

Hi all hope you can help me figure this one out. I have MP3's in a folder on my desktop I am trying to copy them to a 4 gig usb flash drive and I get an error message " the directory or file can not be created" this will not let me back up my music these are legal music files copied from CD's that I placed on my computer. I am running windows xp pro with media center on an HP laptop. if anyone could tell me how to correct this it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Phil.

 

Try renaming the directory and copying it? Or create a directory on the flash drive and copy the files separately?
You could also try to copy using Teracopy. It's a free copy manager that is very useful for moving or copying files. It uses the disk cache intelligently, so copy operations on large files are sped up; but it sometimes struggles with large numbers of smaller files though.

 

Sounds like the error I was getting when I tried to copy a large file on to a USB key. It may be a limitation of the files going from NTFS to FAT.. they are individual files, right?

Sometimes resetting everything helps.

 

I want to thank you both for responding and yes they are small seapreate files (songs) I don't think it's due to the size. I have music files on the usb Flash Drive that I was able to copy off the computer before but for some reason even if I try one song at a time or the entire folder I have added songs to my computer so I wont have to Carry disks around. Now when I try to back up to the same USB device I get the error I will try to create a directory not sure how exactly to do it. Should I just create a folder or file on the usb D or change it on the computer?
Again Thank You in advance
Phil

 

Hi Phil,

Directories and folders are exactly the same thing. Microsoft just decided that "folders" sounded more friendly than directory.

Try to create a new folder on your USB drive. If you get an error, then the problem is not copy-protection of the Mp3 files but something to do with the USB drive.

Actually, go ahead and also try to copy any file (text or document) from your PC to your USB drive that will help to verify that it is a file system error. Let us know if either works.