Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro

Subject: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 11:53 AM

Ever since I rebuilt this computer and reinstalled my Win XP Pro in late December 2008 I have had a few glitches that I haven't figured the answer to. One is that is annoying me again this morning is that whenever I click and drag a file to a new location, the original stays put and the copy appears in the new location (it doesn't say "copy," it is simply the same file in two locations).

I haven't found the setting to make it stop this. I want to click on and drag the file and have that file go to the new place. I don't want to have to do something new, like use the alt key or copy key or whatever as I do the move. I want to go back to the old standard way of doing it.

There are other little glitches in the system that I may bring back here when I stumbled upon them again, but for now, it would be lovely to solve this little puzzle. (The main annoyance is that I have to double check to be sure the file actually went to the new place before I go back and delete it from the old. I don't want to accidentally delete too many copies when dealing with these dup files. And if I forget to delete the old one, I end up with lots of duplicate files. I have a lot of hard drive space now, but no point in filling it with duplicate files.)

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 03:19 PM

SRS
Just a thought, what files were you trying to move.
If they are system files or files needed for specific reasons, then windows will copy rather than move.

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 03:24 PM

SRS

If you drag a file to another disk it is copied not moved. You need to hold down Shift to force a move. This is standard behaviour.

(Similarly if you do it with a program file it will create a shortcut rather than move the file; you have to right-click and drag. See Windows help under Move files by dragging for full details).

Mick

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Rasener
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 03:33 PM

Agreed there Mick. Is youm OK?

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 03:45 PM

Bostin our kid. Youm OK too?

Mick

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 03:57 PM

"..whenever I click and drag a file to a new location"

Are you doing this in Windows Explorer? It has been so long since I even opened it, that I canonly agree with Mick Pearce.
If it USED to be otherwise for you, perhaps there is a setting to change the deafualt behavior.

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I use, (as you might have guessed...*grin*)... a separate file manager. (I have a number of them, but one... Free Commander is my program of choice more & more.) It makes doing exactly what you want a breeze, and has so many other features I won't bother to list them.
When I want to move a file, I open the source & destination directories and click either the 'copy' or 'move' arrows.

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 06:07 PM

This isn't system files, this is stuff in folders or on the destop.

I work as a writer and photographer and drag file around all day long. It wasn't until this year that I couldn't just drag and drop a photo or file to a new place and have it stay there and be the only one (of that version) on the computer. (I do keep backups, but I do it on purpose, I don't intend the leave a bread crumb trail of photos all over the computer.)

It did it just now--moving a desktop image (PDF) into an existing folder where it needed to go. It moved, but the PDF also still stayed on my desktop. It's just annoying. I've never had to toggle shift or control to move files to get them to act the way I want them to. I do use Windows Explorer a lot, but not always.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Tootler
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 06:58 PM

If your source and destination are on different disks or even on different partitions on the same disk, then dragging and dropping will copy. It is only if source and destination are on the same partition that drag and drop will move the file. At least that is what I have found.

If you drag with your right mouse button, when you drop the file a menu appears which gives you the option to copy, move or create a shortcut at the new location. That is what I use if I want to move files between disks or partitions.

Geoff

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 07:07 PM

"...this is stuff in folders or on the desktop." Sure...I never mess with system files anyway. EVERYTHING I do is from one folder to another: I 'almost' never put an actual file on my desktop.

But, in Windows, the desktop is treated 'almost' as another folder....as in this image from another file manager I play with.
The right hand window IS the desktop, although all I have there is shortcuts.

Now, I just saved that image of my folders TO my desktop, then I dragged it FROM the actual desktop to a folder listed in the left window. It appeared in the folder and disappeared from the desktop. (I think that's the first time I have done that in years. I always download files from the WWW to some specific folder, whether it be called 'temp' or 'downloads' or 'Bill's pics')
If I don't use the desktop for temporary storage (and I never do), I can drag or 'click' or copy with F5 or move with F6 from within the file manager with no problems.

I think I will explore Windows Explorer to see if I can find a way to change some default for what dragging does. It's fascinating to see how this actually works and how many different ways there are for people to work with stuff.

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 07:15 PM

Desktop is just a folder in your Documents and Settings/ folder and /Documents and settings/ folder. The same rules apply as with any other folder. Assuming that's your C drive, you can drag a file from any folder on C to the desktop or from the desktop to any folde on C and it will move the file. Use another disk and it will copy rather than move.

SRS have you now got more drives than you used to have? (eg have you put your system on a separate disk from your data). The symptoms you describe seem to imply that.

Mick

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jun 09 - 12:33 PM

Actually, there are a gazillion desktop folders when I look at Windows Explorer. Every single thing that is a visible named file on my desktop is also called simply Desktop in one part of the application. I can click on each of those and find different contents. Haven't a clue what is going on there, but it is probably part of the problem. All I can say is that while I used to be able to do the normal drag and drop to move things, now it will generally only drag and copy.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 12 Jun 09 - 01:31 PM

Sorry I messed up my last post a bit. In the normal run of things there will be a Desktop folder for each user defined under Documents and settings - All Users has desktop items defined for everyone, the individual user on items defined for that user only. The desktop you see combines them.

Do you have only 1 disk defined? If so, you should always get move (unless files are read only IIRC). If you have more than one disk defined you will get copy if you move across different disks.


There have in the past been a few problems associated with drag and drop in XP, but I don't know if any are current.

Here's a registry edit that is supposed to fix drag and drop problems: Drag and Drop registry edit (you can refuse the ActiveX control). Just follow the instructions to load it. I can't vouch for the fix, but those settings are the ones in my registry (Xp/Pro). (If you're confident with regedit, you can check to see if your settings are already these; if they are you needn't bother trying it).

Mick

Subject: RE: Tech: Drag to Move vs Drag to Copy - XPpro
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jun 09 - 08:11 PM

I'll take a look, thanks!

I double checked earlier--when I'm in Windows Explorer it works correctly. It's outside Explorer that it is bonkers.

SRS