Is it save to copy large amount of data via Win98SE Explorer?

[Wolfgang16]

Hello,

I plan to copy a hd (about 100GB), there is mixed stuff on it, but its not the system partition. I know Win98SE explorer has some problems with large number of files, but can I really loose data?

Or is it better to put the 2 hd's via USB on a XP system? Or any other suggestion?

bye

Wolfgang

[submix8c]

Should be ok, but go here for an unofficial "fix" to allow for file copy/delete bug fix (large file and/or too many files per "pass") -

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=84451

[herbalist]

I don't have that much file capacity so I can't vouch for Windows Explorer's ability to move much more than a few gigabytes at a time. That said, I'd offer a couple of suggestions. Don't use the "move" option. Copy the data instead. Before deleting the original files, use WinMerge to compare the copies to the originals. It can check both the files and the copied file system.

Rick

[Fredledingue]

Us T-copy instead.

Awsome tool!

http://www.ranvik.net/totalcopy/

Edited March 2, 2009 by Fredledingue

[Queue]

I've never encountered corruption, even with a ~120 GB copy, but Explorer basically is broken after the copy/move is finished and needs to be restarted to get back to normal. Some of the various fixes on these forums resolve that issue though. For example, simply installing UberSkin, but not actually using it to tweak Windows' appearance, resolves the issue for copying large quantities of files.

You could always use an alternative means of copy/move like Unstoppable Copier, FastCopy, etc. There are many to choose from.

Queue

[Multibooter]

I know Win98SE explorer has some problems with large number of files, but can I really loose data?

Hi Wolfgang,

Windows Explorer under Win98Se has no major problems copying large amounts of data IF you have installed Internet Explorer 5.5 SP1. Internet Explorer 6 or higher, however, corrupts Win98SE, and makes file copying/moving a major headache.

I have been using under Win98SE 1 ext.USB HDD enclosure with 1.5 TB SATA HDD and 2 enclosures with each 1TB SATA HDD, for about 2 months now. I have copied with Win98SE Explorer maybe 5TB and over a million files in these 2 months.

When connected to my dual-core desktop with a modern motherboard (Asus P5PE-VM, 2GB of RAM) with IE 5.5, I did not encounter major file-copying problems with Win98SE Explorer, except:

- Norton Disk Doctor has problems with files with names containing international characters, originally created under WinXP

- when the ext.USB HDD is connected to the USB port of an eSATA/USB/IDE combo PCI card, instead of being connected to the onboard USB controller (I am still fiddling around with this problem): System freezes when copying large files (e.g. 700MB) but not small files (e.g. 10MB), maybe 5 seconds after starting to copy. Again, when the ext.HDD is connected to the onboard USB controller, even if this PCI card is in its slot, there is no such file-copying-problem. The onboard USB controller uses a special Intel ICH4-5 edition of the OrangeWare USB driver (v1.1.0.2).

When connected to my 10-year-old Inspiron 7500 laptop (512MB RAM, USB 2.0 via PCCard only, buggy PCMCIA controller chip, BIOS is not LBA and in POST internal PATA drives >64GB are indicated as 65535MB) with IE 6.0 I did encounter major problems, like freezing during the file move with Win98 Explorer. Beyond Compare has been for years my tool of choice for file-moving and file-copying on the IE 6.0-tainted laptop, instead of Windows Explorer. But when I used Beyond Compare with this old laptop for file-moving to the 1.5TB ext.HDD, somehow the target and source partitions got corrupted. Unlike moving with Beyond Compare, copying with Win98 Explorer didn't corrupt the HDD and data on the source drive didn't get lost , it just caused a lot of lost clusters on the target drive when the system froze. After the Beyond-Compare-disaster (losing about 150GB of data) I eventually deleted the source and target partitions and created new ones in their place, good that I had a backup of all the files on another ext.HDD. Since then I try to write as little as possible with the old laptop to the 1+TB HDDs.

Also, if you use a small ext.HDD, you may avoid some new problems. On the Asus P5PE-VM motherboard in my desktop, for example, Legacy USB Support works ok with an 80GB ext.USB HDD, but with a 300GB USB HDD connected under Legacy USB Support, the computer freezes at POST. I have Legacy USB Support disabled on the Asus P5PE-VM desktop, the old Inspiron 7500 laptop doesn't have this BIOS setting.

Edited March 2, 2009 by Multibooter

[Multibooter]

... but [Windows] Explorer basically is broken after the copy/move is finished and needs to be restarted to get back to normal.

Not on my desktop with 2GB of RAM and Internet Explorer 5.5 installed Edited March 2, 2009 by Multibooter

[Kwibus]

accoording this microsoft article the problem is with internet explorer 4 and should be fixed with internet explorer 5

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=318293

Also keep in mind the problem with harddisks larger than 137 gb.