When you try to copy or move a folder you get an error that you cannot copy or move the folder.

When you open the contents of the folder, you find that you can copy or move most files and folders, but there are some files that you cannot copy, delete, move, open or rename.

When you right click on those files the menu does not include the normal options for copy, delete, open, properties or rename.

There could be a number of reasons for the problem. The worst reason is that there is a problem with your hard drive or file system, which we will address here.

Sometimes when you have errors like this, it is an early warning sign before a total crash.

If you have problems with a lot of your files, your hard drive may be failing badly. If you do not have a backup and you need your data, you might be best calling a data recovery specialist. In some cases, you can destroy your good data by trying to use your hard drive when it is failing badly.

If you only a have problem with a small number of files, the first thing you should do is back up all the files you want to keep from that hard drive to another hard drive.

You should have a back up anyway. Now is a good time to make one.

For folders you cannot copy, you will have to open and copy the contents individually.

Once your data is backed up, you can restart your computer and see if that solves the problem.

You can check your hard drive for errors and fix some errors by right clicking on your hard drive and going into Tools.

You can also try using Ubuntu to see if you can access the files and check the hard drive for errors. Ubuntu gives nice statistics for errors.

www.internethandholding.com/Articles/tabid/153/Internet_Marketing/190/Ubuntu-to-the-Rescue--Boot-from-CD-to-Save-Hard-Drive-Data.aspx

There are other Windows utilities you can use.

You have to decide if you trust your hard drive. If you want to continue to use it, you will want to clean out the files you could not do anything with.

You may be able to do that by deleting the folder containing the troubling files. Move the good files to another folder first.

Make sure you have a good, automated back up process in place.

http://internethandholding.com/Articles/tabid/153/Internet_Marketing/191/Windows-Live-Mesh-for-Automated-Real-Time-Backup-and-Synchronization.aspx

By Andrew Weitzen (c) 2010

Weitzen is the publisher of several online Internet journals including: InternetHandholding.com, DomainNames.gs, DotNetNuke.bz, Programmer.bz, Software.vg, WebHosting.vg