How to copy not move Files or Folders

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Why copy a file instead of doing a move file?

Move or copy a file? There is a small catch to moving a file. The catch is if the process does not complete the copy it will deleted your file anyway. It works like this: You right click on the file and select move. Or you right click on the file and drag it to where you want it to go. Then release the mouse button and the OS asks you if you want to Copy or Move the file here? You click on Move. The OS will copy the file into clip board, then delete the original file. Then it pastes the file into the destination folder. If some thing interrupts this operation you have just lost your file! It will be deleted from the clip board because the os thinks it completed the move. Want to know the worst part of this? You will not find the file in the Recycle Bin either! There are some file recovery tools that may (note I said may) find the file. My advice? Never move a file! Always copy and paste the file then delete the original.

So now you need to know the mechanics of the process. Ok it is not complicated but the first couple of times it is tedious.

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You can use any of these techniques to copy your files:

Explorer Copy:

Open explorer, go to the source folder, right click on the file you want to copy, go to copy on the menu. Next go to the destination folder and double click on it or click on the 'plus' sign in the left column. In the right column where you want the file right click on the empty white space and select paste. If you don't want or need the original file right click on it and select delete.

You will find further information on file management in the Self Computer Repair Unleashed! E-Book.

My Computer Copy

Let us say you have a folder full of files you want to put in a different place. If the destination is on the same drive the OS will just move the name of the folder to the new destination, it is not really a copy operation. But lets say you want to have the folder on your usb pen drive from you hard drive as a back up. You open the folder above the one you want to move, you also open the destination folder you want to place the copy in. Right click on the folder and select copy (remember the warning about using Move!) In the destination folder you right click in the open white space and select paste. To insure you have all your files right click on both the source and destination folders and select properties, they should be the same in amount of sub folders, files and size in bytes.

Search copy

Let us assume you have created a document sometime in the past and can't remember where you saved it. (Happens to the best of us believe me!) But you remember the name of the document or part of the name. You can do a search for your file. Once you have found the file you can either note where it is located and open that folder or you can copy it from the Search window to the destination. To do this you would use the Explorer copy technique.

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