I've got an old hard drive taken from a previous computer (which was running Windows 2000) and I am trying to copy this drive onto another drive. The computer I am using now is a different one, but is still running Windows 2000. I am able to copy stuff, but when I run into a file that is restricted (no permissions to access the file) then all copying stops.

I would like the computer to copy all that it can and skip over those files that it cannot copy instead of completely stopping.

I am copying a very large amount of data and both drives are connected via USB 1 and therefore individually moving files wouldn't be convenient.

Any suggestions?

David:

When you state: "I am copying a very large amount of data and both drives are connected via USB 1", if you are saying that you have both systems connected via a USB cable, than I suggest you remove the old drive and install it in the new system. You, yourself having administrator priveledges (presumably) on the new system will allow full access to the old hard drive (when logged in as Administrator.)

If you are saying the old hard drive is an "external" USB drive I have no answer for you.

The old hard drive is now an external hard drive as is the drive that I wish copy contents of the old drive to.

My question has more to do with Explorer than the drives themselves. When copying files Explorer tends to 'give up' as soon as it encounters an error. It would be much better if Explorer (or some other program) would copy all files that it can rather than stopping somewhere in the middle.

I've had similar issues with Explorer in the past and usually my fix is to manually move everything and identify the file that caused the error.

You would think that there would be something out there a bit more robust.

In this particular instance I have a hard drive removed from a previous computer and I wish to copy everything from it that I can. Of course not all files can be copied due to permission settings. However, I intend to copy those files with permission settings that allow copying. I would prefer to use a single command rather than sitting in front of the computer for a few hours copying one directory at a time with a note pad by my side to keep track of what was copied and what was not copied (that's a job suited for a computer).

I hope that's a bit more clear.

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/Disk_Maintenance_and_Repair_Utilities/DrvClonerXP_Download.html

The above link is to drvclonerxp which will make a bite by bite copy of the hard drive. It is free and works very quickly.
It makes an exact bootable copy.