Vista - Error message 'there is not enough memory to complete this operation'

Hi there,

I'm trying to copy about 7gig of folders and files from one SATA hard drive
to another SATA hard drive and it keeps failing saying that 'there is not
enough memory to complete this operation' please can someone tell me what
this means?

I aimed 2 GB of memory was more than enough?

Many thanks, Tim.

You will get this message if the hard drive you are copying to is formatted
as fat32 and you are trying to copy a single file that is larger than 4 gig.
That is the file size limitation of fat32.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

"Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:uK9$gLToHHA.4428@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Hi there,
>
> I'm trying to copy about 7gig of folders and files from one SATA hard
> drive to another SATA hard drive and it keeps failing saying that 'there
> is not enough memory to complete this operation' please can someone tell
> me what this means?
>
> I aimed 2 GB of memory was more than enough?
>
> Many thanks, Tim.
>

Hi there,

Thanks for that but both drives are NTFS and this is just a load of files in
folders.

Both drives have at least 150 gig free and it has just done it again and I
had to re-boot the computer to carry on copying the rest of the files.

Could it be that if I use the copy and paste option the clipboard memory
gets full???

I do have 2 GB RAM and an X6800 processor so finding it hard to believe it
can be anything to do with them. Also have 1 x 160 GB SATA as Primary
drive, 2 x 250 GB SATA HD's as storage and one 750 GB SATA with 3 equal
partitions.

Thanks for your input anyone any other ideas?

Tim.







"Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:O2ZYhnToHHA.3512@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> You will get this message if the hard drive you are copying to is
> formatted as fat32 and you are trying to copy a single file that is larger
> than 4 gig. That is the file size limitation of fat32.
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
> Quote from George Ankner:
> If you knew as much as you think you know,
> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>
> "Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:uK9$gLToHHA.4428@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I'm trying to copy about 7gig of folders and files from one SATA hard
>> drive to another SATA hard drive and it keeps failing saying that 'there
>> is not enough memory to complete this operation' please can someone tell
>> me what this means?
>>
>> I aimed 2 GB of memory was more than enough?
>>
>> Many thanks, Tim.
>>
>

People here have been complaining about what you see for a while now.

I have never seen this problem, even though I copy 60-80 gig at a time. Why?
Because I am using an honest to god file manager program that takes over the
chore instead of using Explorer. Try Total Commander
http://www.ghisler.com/. It can be downloaded and used for free. If you
decide you like it, you can then pay to get rid of the nag screens.

This file manager has been around for over 10 years and is as good as they
get.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

"Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:uA5lzvToHHA.4188@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Hi there,
>
> Thanks for that but both drives are NTFS and this is just a load of files
> in folders.
>
> Both drives have at least 150 gig free and it has just done it again and I
> had to re-boot the computer to carry on copying the rest of the files.
>
> Could it be that if I use the copy and paste option the clipboard memory
> gets full???
>
> I do have 2 GB RAM and an X6800 processor so finding it hard to believe it
> can be anything to do with them. Also have 1 x 160 GB SATA as Primary
> drive, 2 x 250 GB SATA HD's as storage and one 750 GB SATA with 3 equal
> partitions.
>
> Thanks for your input anyone any other ideas?
>
> Tim.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:O2ZYhnToHHA.3512@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> You will get this message if the hard drive you are copying to is
>> formatted as fat32 and you are trying to copy a single file that is
>> larger than 4 gig. That is the file size limitation of fat32.
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Richard Urban
>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>>
>> Quote from George Ankner:
>> If you knew as much as you think you know,
>> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>>
>> "Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:uK9$gLToHHA.4428@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> Hi there,
>>>
>>> I'm trying to copy about 7gig of folders and files from one SATA hard
>>> drive to another SATA hard drive and it keeps failing saying that 'there
>>> is not enough memory to complete this operation' please can someone tell
>>> me what this means?
>>>
>>> I aimed 2 GB of memory was more than enough?
>>>
>>> Many thanks, Tim.
>>>
>>
>

Hi there,

Thanks for that will have a look but seems odd that it is doing this?

I could use Microsoft Sync Toy which will do the job but it would be
interesting to know why this is happening?

Again many thanks, Tim.




"Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OjzWVAUoHHA.4024@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> People here have been complaining about what you see for a while now.
>
> I have never seen this problem, even though I copy 60-80 gig at a time.
> Why? Because I am using an honest to god file manager program that takes
> over the chore instead of using Explorer. Try Total Commander
> http://www.ghisler.com/. It can be downloaded and used for free. If you
> decide you like it, you can then pay to get rid of the nag screens.
>
> This file manager has been around for over 10 years and is as good as they
> get.
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
> Quote from George Ankner:
> If you knew as much as you think you know,
> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>
> "Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:uA5lzvToHHA.4188@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Hi there,
>>
>> Thanks for that but both drives are NTFS and this is just a load of files
>> in folders.
>>
>> Both drives have at least 150 gig free and it has just done it again and
>> I had to re-boot the computer to carry on copying the rest of the files.
>>
>> Could it be that if I use the copy and paste option the clipboard memory
>> gets full???
>>
>> I do have 2 GB RAM and an X6800 processor so finding it hard to believe
>> it can be anything to do with them. Also have 1 x 160 GB SATA as Primary
>> drive, 2 x 250 GB SATA HD's as storage and one 750 GB SATA with 3 equal
>> partitions.
>>
>> Thanks for your input anyone any other ideas?
>>
>> Tim.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:O2ZYhnToHHA.3512@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> You will get this message if the hard drive you are copying to is
>>> formatted as fat32 and you are trying to copy a single file that is
>>> larger than 4 gig. That is the file size limitation of fat32.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Richard Urban
>>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>>> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>>>
>>> Quote from George Ankner:
>>> If you knew as much as you think you know,
>>> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>>>
>>> "Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>>> news:uK9$gLToHHA.4428@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>> Hi there,
>>>>
>>>> I'm trying to copy about 7gig of folders and files from one SATA hard
>>>> drive to another SATA hard drive and it keeps failing saying that
>>>> 'there is not enough memory to complete this operation' please can
>>>> someone tell me what this means?
>>>>
>>>> I aimed 2 GB of memory was more than enough?
>>>>
>>>> Many thanks, Tim.
>>>>
>>>
>>
>

Microsoft is looking into it.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

"Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:eBpvuFUoHHA.4424@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Hi there,
>
> Thanks for that will have a look but seems odd that it is doing this?
>
> I could use Microsoft Sync Toy which will do the job but it would be
> interesting to know why this is happening?
>
> Again many thanks, Tim.
>
>
>
>
> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:OjzWVAUoHHA.4024@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> People here have been complaining about what you see for a while now.
>>
>> I have never seen this problem, even though I copy 60-80 gig at a time.
>> Why? Because I am using an honest to god file manager program that takes
>> over the chore instead of using Explorer. Try Total Commander
>> http://www.ghisler.com/. It can be downloaded and used for free. If you
>> decide you like it, you can then pay to get rid of the nag screens.
>>
>> This file manager has been around for over 10 years and is as good as
>> they get.
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Richard Urban
>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>>
>> Quote from George Ankner:
>> If you knew as much as you think you know,
>> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>>
>> "Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:uA5lzvToHHA.4188@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>> Hi there,
>>>
>>> Thanks for that but both drives are NTFS and this is just a load of
>>> files in folders.
>>>
>>> Both drives have at least 150 gig free and it has just done it again and
>>> I had to re-boot the computer to carry on copying the rest of the files.
>>>
>>> Could it be that if I use the copy and paste option the clipboard memory
>>> gets full???
>>>
>>> I do have 2 GB RAM and an X6800 processor so finding it hard to believe
>>> it can be anything to do with them. Also have 1 x 160 GB SATA as
>>> Primary drive, 2 x 250 GB SATA HD's as storage and one 750 GB SATA with
>>> 3 equal partitions.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your input anyone any other ideas?
>>>
>>> Tim.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:O2ZYhnToHHA.3512@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>> You will get this message if the hard drive you are copying to is
>>>> formatted as fat32 and you are trying to copy a single file that is
>>>> larger than 4 gig. That is the file size limitation of fat32.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> Richard Urban
>>>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>>>> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>>>>
>>>> Quote from George Ankner:
>>>> If you knew as much as you think you know,
>>>> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>>>>
>>>> "Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>>>> news:uK9$gLToHHA.4428@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>>> Hi there,
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm trying to copy about 7gig of folders and files from one SATA hard
>>>>> drive to another SATA hard drive and it keeps failing saying that
>>>>> 'there is not enough memory to complete this operation' please can
>>>>> someone tell me what this means?
>>>>>
>>>>> I aimed 2 GB of memory was more than enough?
>>>>>
>>>>> Many thanks, Tim.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>

Hi, Tim.

My personal favorite for copying tons of files is good ol' Xcopy.exe.

It has been around since MS-DOS days and has been a part of every Windows
version for decades, at least. If you are not familiar with it, just open a
Command Prompt window and type: xcopy /?

In the UI, I never use Copy'n'Paste to move folders and files. I just use
right-click drag'n'drop. To me, Copy'n'Paste is for the text or other
contents of a file, not for whole files.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail desktop beta in Vista Ultimate x64)

"Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:eBpvuFUoHHA.4424@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Hi there,
>
> Thanks for that will have a look but seems odd that it is doing this?
>
> I could use Microsoft Sync Toy which will do the job but it would be
> interesting to know why this is happening?
>
> Again many thanks, Tim.
>
>
> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:OjzWVAUoHHA.4024@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> People here have been complaining about what you see for a while now.
>>
>> I have never seen this problem, even though I copy 60-80 gig at a time.
>> Why? Because I am using an honest to god file manager program that takes
>> over the chore instead of using Explorer. Try Total Commander
>> http://www.ghisler.com/. It can be downloaded and used for free. If you
>> decide you like it, you can then pay to get rid of the nag screens.
>>
>> This file manager has been around for over 10 years and is as good as
>> they get.
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Richard Urban
>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>>
>> Quote from George Ankner:
>> If you knew as much as you think you know,
>> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>>
>> "Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:uA5lzvToHHA.4188@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>> Hi there,
>>>
>>> Thanks for that but both drives are NTFS and this is just a load of
>>> files in folders.
>>>
>>> Both drives have at least 150 gig free and it has just done it again and
>>> I had to re-boot the computer to carry on copying the rest of the files.
>>>
>>> Could it be that if I use the copy and paste option the clipboard memory
>>> gets full???
>>>
>>> I do have 2 GB RAM and an X6800 processor so finding it hard to believe
>>> it can be anything to do with them. Also have 1 x 160 GB SATA as
>>> Primary drive, 2 x 250 GB SATA HD's as storage and one 750 GB SATA with
>>> 3 equal partitions.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your input anyone any other ideas?
>>>
>>> Tim.
>>>
>>>
>>> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:O2ZYhnToHHA.3512@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>> You will get this message if the hard drive you are copying to is
>>>> formatted as fat32 and you are trying to copy a single file that is
>>>> larger than 4 gig. That is the file size limitation of fat32.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> Richard Urban
>>>>
>>>> Quote from George Ankner:
>>>> If you knew as much as you think you know,
>>>> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>>>>
>>>> "Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>>>> news:uK9$gLToHHA.4428@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>>> Hi there,
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm trying to copy about 7gig of folders and files from one SATA hard
>>>>> drive to another SATA hard drive and it keeps failing saying that
>>>>> 'there is not enough memory to complete this operation' please can
>>>>> someone tell me what this means?
>>>>>
>>>>> I aimed 2 GB of memory was more than enough?
>>>>>
>>>>> Many thanks, Tim.

Richard Urban presented the following explanation :
> People here have been complaining about what you see for a while now.
>
> I have never seen this problem, even though I copy 60-80 gig at a time. Why?
> Because I am using an honest to god file manager program that takes over the
> chore instead of using Explorer. Try Total Commander http://www.ghisler.com/.
> It can be downloaded and used for free. If you decide you like it, you can
> then pay to get rid of the nag screens.
>
> This file manager has been around for over 10 years and is as good as they
> get.
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
> Quote from George Ankner:
> If you knew as much as you think you know,
> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>
> "Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:uA5lzvToHHA.4188@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Hi there,
>>
>> Thanks for that but both drives are NTFS and this is just a load of files
>> in folders.
>>
>> Both drives have at least 150 gig free and it has just done it again and I
>> had to re-boot the computer to carry on copying the rest of the files.
>>
>> Could it be that if I use the copy and paste option the clipboard memory
>> gets full???
>>
>> I do have 2 GB RAM and an X6800 processor so finding it hard to believe it
>> can be anything to do with them. Also have 1 x 160 GB SATA as Primary
>> drive, 2 x 250 GB SATA HD's as storage and one 750 GB SATA with 3 equal
>> partitions.
>>
>> Thanks for your input anyone any other ideas?
>>
>> Tim.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:O2ZYhnToHHA.3512@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> You will get this message if the hard drive you are copying to is
>>> formatted as fat32 and you are trying to copy a single file that is larger
>>> than 4 gig. That is the file size limitation of fat32.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Richard Urban
>>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>>> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>>>
>>> Quote from George Ankner:
>>> If you knew as much as you think you know,
>>> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>>>
>>> "Tim" <erat@NOSPAMblueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
>>> news:uK9$gLToHHA.4428@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>> Hi there,
>>>>
>>>> I'm trying to copy about 7gig of folders and files from one SATA hard
>>>> drive to another SATA hard drive and it keeps failing saying that 'there
>>>> is not enough memory to complete this operation' please can someone tell
>>>> me what this means?
>>>>
>>>> I aimed 2 GB of memory was more than enough?
>>>>
>>>> Many thanks, Tim.
>>>>
>>>
>>

There is a free one called FreeCommander.

--

Mike Matheny