Error 0x80070052 The directory or file cannot be created

Question

I am copying photos in the photo gallery from a folder/tag to a scan disk.  I have one file of about 140 photos that will not copy.  The rest have copies with no trouble.   I have created a folder with all of the photos I want to copy.  When they begin the process, all go but the ones from this particular group.  I get the error message above.  Please tell me what I should do, as I have been unsuccessful for the last 1.5 hours at resolving this myself.  Happy New Year!!

Kelly

Answer 1

My next try at finding out what was happening would be to check the location of the files. A root folder of a drive can only contain so many files, (depending on the file system used, like Fat32 or NTFS). I would count the number of successful files in the root, and see if you are over that, based on the File System restraints. When you rightclick a drive, and Properties, it shows the file system in use for that drive.

Errors Creating Files or Folders in the Root Directory: 

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Rating posts helps other usersMark L. Ferguson MS-MVP

Answer 2

Chuck Estep said:

Mark,

This is Chuck Estep.  Saw your post and tried the two suggestions.  Still not able to proceed with copying pictures from my c drive to a jump drive.  I've got plenty of space on both devices too.

Got any other suggestions master jedi?

It's likely that the jump drive is formatted with Fat16. I suggest saving whatever files on the jump drive you wamt, and formatting the drive with Fat32 or NTFS. Rightclicking the drive in Explorer should put you there. You are probably seeing something like a format for UFD or Fat (Standard)http://communities.sandisk.com/sandisk/board/message?board.id=u3&thread.id=3248

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Rating posts helps other usersMark L. Ferguson MS-MVP

Answer 3

512 files in the root (maybe 511).

The number of files in a folder is a maximun size of 65535 filenames. But the short name takes one filename position. And the long name takes 1 filename position for every 11 characters.

You need to use a command prompt if you want to know what happened.

It's not going to work on a FAT32 drive (re above limits).

Start - All Programs - Accessories - Right click Command Prompt and choose Run As Administrator. Type (or copy and paste by right clicking in the Command Prompt window and choosing Paste).

Then configure the command prompt. Right click the Command Prompt's titlebar - Properties - Layout tab - and enter 1000 for Screen Buffer Size Height and 43 (or 50) for Window Size Height. Change the Color (Color tab) and Font (Font tab) if you want.

For Help

xcopy /?

Copies all files and folders on d:\ to c:\test folder.

xcopy d:\.* c:\test /e /c /i /f /h /r /k /o /x /y*

To keep a list of what happened. XCopy.txt will be on your desktop.

xcopy d:\.* c:\test /e /c /i /f /h /r /k /o /x /y>> "%userprofile%\Desktop\XCopy.txt" 2>&1*

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Answer 4

In Windows when typing pathnames and filenames if they include spaces they must be enclosed in double quotes. Double quotes are optional otherwise.

xcopy "d:\.*" "c:\test" /e /c /i /f /h /r /k /o /x /y*

Answer 5

I have been trying to get a bunch of pictures (about 5GB) from my computer's HD to a 32GB micro SD card (with 14.1GB free) and have been getting this error code.

Facts:

The micro SD card is already in FAT32 (it was in NTFS format before, but my phone wouldn't acknowledge the card as anything other than blank, which it obviously wasn't) format.

I have confirmed that I have ownership of each file I want to move and have full permissions.

All files and folders on the SD and the ones I intent to move to the card are already virus free with short file-names

The SD card is always safely removed between uses and has no bad sectors.

I have moved the intended destination of the files to a sub-folder and done a defrag.

There are no loose files in the root directory, only folders; each with one to several sub-folders.

Nothing you've suggested seems to be working for me. I have consulted other message boards and nobody seems to be saying anything beyond your advice which apparently isn't enough for me. I've solved issues with external drives similar to this by editing the registry. Do you know any registry editing tips to fix this?