"Are you sure you want to copy this file without its properties?" when coping .jpg files to thumbdrive.

Question

"Are you sure you want to copy this file without its properties?" when coping .jpg files to thumbdrive.

Answer 1

Hi,

Is the thumb drive formatted as FAT 32 (File Allocation Table 32) or NTFS (New Technology File System)?

Windows stores file metadata on NTFS using a feature known as Alternate Data Streams. That is, the metadata is stored in a different "stream" (a file system object with a different identity) than the stream which holds the file data. Since FAT32 does not support ADS, data in these alternate streams cannot be copied, and will be lost if you proceed with the copy.

If you do not have any data on the thumb drive, then you can format the drive. If the data is not backed up then you need to backup the data from the thumb drive on to the computer hard drive and then restore it back after performing the format.

Try formatting the thumb drive in NTFS format and check if the issue persists. To do so, follow these steps.

a.       Insert the thumb drive and go Start menu and then Computer.

b.      Right click on the thumb drive and click Format.

c.       Under "File System" select "NTFS" and then click Start. Once the format is done, check to see if you can copy the files successfully.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Sorry, but it's wacky to format a USB flash drive as NTFS.

NTFS is a journaling file system that makes many more writes to devices than FAT32 (the usual file system for flash drives) does. So besides being entirely unnecessary for removable media, it'll considerably shorten the drive's life. (If you don't believe me, just Google "ntfs" and "flash drive".)

The error message is also misleading. It's actually referring to preserving the files' NTFS permissions (who owns them, who can modify them)—not their properties (when they were created, how big they are, etc.). If I saw that error message, I would be concerned—because I'd think that, for some reason, Windows would no longer be able to determine the copied files' most basic info.

In my opinion, when Windows copies files from an NTFS device to a flash drive, it's silly to show any kind of warning related to the target device's file system because the user is already copying to an unsecured device that anyone could read. So even if the error message used the right word, I think it'd be annoying and unnecessary.

Maybe this is just Microsoft suddenly trying to protect itself from lawsuits, from people who thought their files would still magically be password-protected on a flash drive? Sort of like the woman who sued McDonald's for burning herself with hot coffee, because McDonald's didn't warn her that coffee was hot? (This, BTW, is why coffee cups say that now.)

Answer 3

This does not answer the question as to why we cannot disable this message.

The error message is not even accurate.  It is not properties but NTFS permissions that have no place on a dos partition.  By the way NTFS is not an option.  By the way 2, even if it is NTFS the permissions are not enforced on the next location.  Which leads to a question, Is Microsoft going to enforce these permissions by file one day?  As they do will they provide the ability to log in per file or will the files not be accessable unless the same user is logged in?  Are you going to require AD for home users?  ****?!?

Can someone accurately address the issue and respond with a method to eliminate this useless and time consuming error message?  It is an annoyance message.  It serves no purpose.  When one is using a usb drive he is simply transferring files from one device to another.

Who has time to sit and click these messages when copying files should be drag and drop?

Answer 4

I have this same problem.  It has nothing to do with thumb drives.  I have a client who transfers large batches of media files from her Mac to a sandbox location on my Win2008 R2 VM machine via mapped drive.  Then when I go to upload the files from her sandbox into SharePoint I am getting this stupid Microsoft dialog popup very frequently and it's stalling the upload, causing it to take MUCH longer (because I cannot sit around an monitor it 24/7).  This never used to be an issue on my old Win2003 machine when uploading to SharePoint WSS 3.0, it is only a problem now on my 2008 machine and uploading to SP 2010 Foundation.

So my question is: IS THERE A WAY I CAN TURN OFF THESE WINDOWS MESSAGES VIA A REGISTRY HACK OR SOMETHING ELSE SO I AM NEVER PROMPTED ABOUT COPING A FILE WITHOUT ALL ITS PROPERTIES?

Thanks for any info.

Answer 5

Thanks for the illumination.  I've long wondered which properties were "lost."  If it's only permissions, then nothing of value is lost.