The destination already contains a folder named ...

[shewood1]

I am trying to backup/copy 5 system folders to a WD 320 gb hard drive. The 5 folders are; the Program Files, the Program Files (x86), the ProgramData, the Users, and the Windows folders in the C: folder. Two of these folders, the Program Files folder and the Windows folder are giving the message "The destination already contains a folder named ... If any files have the same name ... Do you still want to merge these folders?" There is not any other folder by that name on the hard drive. The hard drive has been reformatted and erased to zeros, via advice from WD (Western Digital) support.

Today I thought I could put these two files on a simple 2gb flash drive, but the same message appeared. I then tried to put them on a different brand name 4gb flash drive and still the same message.

I read something on the internet about this message appearing if the folders are encrypted, but I also read something about only windows professional and higher have encryption capabilities. I have windows 7 home premium. Where do I check for encryption?

What could be the problem?

shewood1

 

[TrainableMan]

This is not really an answer to your question. This is a request for more information as to why and wondering if it is the best course of action to even try.

Are you simply trying to clone your old hard drive so you can replace it with that WD320GB ? To clone the hard drive use Acronis True Image for WD. Then once you pop in that new cloned drive you usually will need to boot to the W7 DVD to repair the boot sector and tada, new HD with old everything preserved.

If that is not the motive, then the truth is there is little to no value in a backup of either of program files folders because very few programs work any longer without the registry entries that install with them and many also create folders in your user appdata folders ... so you must reinstall not just copy.

And as for the system files, they are on the W7 DVD. Also if you go to Control Panel > Backup and restore you can "Create a system repair disk" which would make a DVD to repair those files or Create a System Image which makes a back-up in compressed block format (ie must use the built-in system restore options to extract it because it's compressed).

If you are still sure you need to do it then it's quite possible you simply don't have authorization to access those folders because they are defined as system folders and your ID doesn't "own" them by default. You would need to take ownership by modifing the file or folder Permissions (see the Security Tab in the properties).

 

[dbrooks13]

Copy windows file to empty drive

This is the most pathetic answer I have seen to a tech question in years. The user is coping files to an an empty drive and get message that folder by that name already exists. There is no mention of "clone" and honestly not much need for any other information. Copy from source A to source B (when B is empty) gets an already exists message...how much more information do you really need? I guess the user should go out and purchase Acronis so he/she can copy files to a disk!

This is not really an answer to your question. This is a request for more information as to why and wondering if it is the best course of action to even try.

Are you simply trying to clone your old hard drive so you can replace it with that WD320GB ? To clone the hard drive use Acronis True Image for WD. Then once you pop in that new cloned drive you usually will need to boot to the W7 DVD to repair the boot sector and tada, new HD with old everything preserved.

If that is not the motive, then the truth is there is little to no value in a backup of either of program files folders because very few programs work any longer without the registry entries that install with them and many also create folders in your user appdata folders ... so you must reinstall not just copy.

And as for the system files, they are on the W7 DVD. Also if you go to Control Panel > Backup and restore you can "Create a system repair disk" which would make a DVD to repair those files or Create a System Image which makes a back-up in compressed block format (ie must use the built-in system restore options to extract it because it's compressed).

If you are still sure you need to do it then it's quite possible you simply don't have authorization to access those folders because they are defined as system folders and your ID doesn't "own" them by default. You would need to take ownership by modifing the file or folder Permissions (see the Security Tab in the properties).

 

[TrainableMan]

DBrooks,

Generally the user only "believes" the folder is empty because they cannot see hidden system files.

Knowing what it is they are actually attempting is often the best way to find a solution that works for them.

And as for purchasing Acronis, the link I provided is for a free version.

So dbrooks, if you have a better solution you should state it in polite and respectful manner ... because your current approach will simply get you banned from these forums.

And since this thread is 8 months old, we will assume the user found their solution or gave up. Avoid re-opening threads over 3 months old unless you intend to offer a solution, which you never even attempted to do.