Flash drive

Hello Until recently, I kept both pc’s updated by transporting delicate information using the rt. click> ‘send to’ option with a flash drive as the link. There are other ways of doing this such as; drag + drop, cc/cv and others but would like to find out ‘why’ this procedure decided now. Once a week I ‘send to’ from my desktop to a flash drive “My Documents”. Then at the other pc I ‘send to’ the info from the flash to this second pc. Thus the flash is the link. It takes about 4 minutes. Recently, the ‘send to’ from the flash drive to the second computer failed to transfer the new information. Here are some of the recent changes I made. ERUNT was installed along with ntregopt; I ran ntregopt twice. I have run malware detectors, and all seems fine. I did have to open hidden file extensions so I could identify ERUNT.EXE but did no major tinkering I can think of. I thought the flash drive was defective so I performed the ‘send to’ task and where the failure to ‘send the flash info to the 2nd pc occurred, it also occurred with the other flash drives. I gave in and copy/pasted so the goal is accomplished. If something I said raised a red flag, I would appreciate an advisory. Thank you

You posted a lot of information, but one critical piece of information is missing. You said the process failed. How did it fail? Was there an error message? What was the error message?

Are both PCs in the same location? Are they networked? If so, why not just share your My Documents folder on both computers, then you can simply Copy and Paste or Send to between them over the network, or install a neat program like Mirror Folder to keep them in sync auutomatically.

Hello Apple - >>Recently, the ‘send to’ from the flash drive to the second computer failed to transfer the new information.<< I never learned to 'put things in a nutshell' hard as I try. However, the above statement is in the original message + does say where the process failed; with due respect, I would not have written had it not failed. To be more exact, the information that should have appeared at the laptop form the flashdrive did not appear. Hello ztrucker I have the laptop connected to the desktop with a wireless router ; I've often wondered how you can share information between the two, without compromising security. Mirror folder sounds like a comprehensive program which I'd like to look at after I get the knack of sharing a folder between between the desktop and laptop which share the same router. I'll be trying to learn but do you have any tips as to where to start? Thanx to both

Grampy, I understood your first message. My intention is not to be condescending. I am trying to get more information from you. Your message tells me it doesn't work. However, I can't begin to troubleshoot your problem if you don't tell me WHAT the failure is. In other words, when you attempt to "send to" on the second machine what is the exact problem you experience? Is there an error message? What exactly happens? The idea of sharing files between the PCs over a network is a great idea and preferrable.. Although a great solution, I'd like to determine what the cause of your original problem is.

Microsoft has some good articles on setting up file sharing with Windows XP. There are also other sites with good help.

See here: file sharing windows xp

Is your router secure? Is it setup to use WPA or WPA2 encryption? If yes then there really is little or no concern about sharing files between computers on the LAN side of your network.

Hello 1- There is no error message. (*I do however see a light gray word = system in the flash drive along with a thumbs.db I should have clicked on the word system to see if it was a ghost or it would have opened .)When I try to 'send to' the data from the flash drive to My Documents in the second pc, My Doc's data in this 2nd pc which used be updated or written over is no longer doing so. So, the specific problem is the link from the flash to the Doc's in the second pc is not transferring/overwriting data. I have always checked to see if changes have been made. For about 2 weeks or so,the data in the flash is not sent to the 2nd pc. 2-Please don't ever apologize to me as my lack of pc knowledge contributes to poor choices of words; I'm the one who should apologize and the one who is grateful for those who take the time to unravel my long winded attempts at explaining issues :-) 3-My goal is to restore the ability to use the 'send to' method of using the flashdrive to bring my documents from one pc to the other. So, to use my flash drive to bring my documents from my desktop to my laptop, I right click my documents in the desktop 1st, select 'send to' and choose the flash drive letter recognized by the computer. The data is now in the flash drive. At the 2nd pc, + with the flash dive inserted, I find my docs from within the flash drive and 'send to' to install these docs in this 2nd pc.'s My Documents. Historically this overwriting of the folder is how my documents is upgraded or updated. Now the desk and lap have the same My Doc's data. 4-This has worked for years even after formatting + reinstalling each o.s. As I said, the only changes I made recently was installing ERUNT + installing/running ntregopt. I removed both. To further eliminate possible trouble spots, I ran my av + spyware programs, dumped temp files and folders, etc. My question is, not to find a work around for 'send to' mafunctioning, but to correct whatever is preventing this from functioning as it did before. 5- I do have a router with the desktop and a lap upstairs. If I bite off too much I'll really get lost so for now I'll try to resolve the flash drive issue so I can bring my pc data to my daughter's home. If I get this resolved, I will look into networking and sharing Thank you and bless your poor eyes.

Is Send to completely broken on the 2nd PC? If so, read here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918165

Try opening My Pictures on the computer with the problem and right click one of the pictures and send to -> My Documents. See if that picture is copied to the My Documents folder… This will determine if it is a problem with the My Documents link, or a problem with the contents of the flashdrive.

I looked over all the updates in add/remove after ckecking the box to 'show all updates'. I don't know if that shows all that were ever installed but at least the one you refer to is not there. I have xp sp3 and am up to date with M.S. updates. However, after tinkering with cars for years, I should have thought of Apple's idea to troubleshoot. I was able to 'send to' a pik from My Piks to my Doc's. The trouble is that seems to imply the flash drives are no good. When I suspected trouble and tried to fix it I saw where you could format a flash drive so I did it to my three flash drives. I swear the problem was occuring before the format's however I am going to put some content in the flash then see if I can 'send to' to this second pc. If that works then I think the only thing broken is me. Thanx for all the ideas - I appreciate them.

it doesn't necessarily mean the flash drive is no good. Rather that the contents (you saved from the other PC) of it are messing something up. A strange folder or something. My next suggestion is to completely erase the flash drive and save a single picture to it from the original PC and attempt another send to on the other PC. See if it works. Using this method you can narrow down what it is you are putting on the flashdrive that ia screwing things up.

I tried erasing the flash and sending to the 2nd pc as I have always done - it did not send but I could copy and paste(that wasn't too smooth either but I'll keep it simple). As soon as my grandchildren allow me to, I'll do as you suggest. Thanx for sticking with me + I think step by step you will help me solve this problem. I'm getting that photo out and will reply as soon as I can.

Hello appleoddity I tried your suggestion and I hope it gives you a clue. I used a clean flashdrive as the link between pcs. I 'sent to' a pik from desktop to flashdrive. Then used the same flashdrive to try to 'send to' same pik to lap top; it did not appear. I copied and pasted it and it worked. I think I told you I tried ERUNT and ntregopt just recently but removed them as there were some minor conflicts which I wish I could remember. I hope the ability to copy/paste and inability to 'send to' gives you food for thought. Look forward to hearing from you.

Did you perform a backup of your registry with ERUNT? If you haven't changed a lot of things, I would attempt a restore of the registry to before you ran the optimizer, or roll back with a system restore point prior to a couple weeks ago. This seems like the most obvious thing to try, although I prefer to find the solution to a problem before doing something like a rollback. I like to know WHY things happen, if you know what I mean. Anyways, I'll continue to do some searching for a solution, but if you have not made any significant changes to your computer in the last couple weeks, it seems the rollback would be the way to go. Curiousily, have you tried to send to from the flash drive to a different computer and see if it works on a different PC? How about send to -> Desktop instead of My Documents? Does that work?

I let ERUNT back up the registry for about ten days and would removed all but about four folders in autobackup to save space.; I ran ntregopt twice. I did this on both pcs but when the problems occured I removed ERUNT and ntregopt from both. I create a restore point almost daily so that is a possibility. I don't have a 3rd machine I trust but, my daughter will let me use her laptop. Is there a way I can format or clean any virus from my flash drive so I don't install malware? I am more fussy than she is about security. She is good about it but I'm retired and am a bit neurotic about it. I may have tried sending to the desktop when I was testing things but can't be sure. I think I will use your ideas; 1- I will send to desktop first. 2–I keep a copy of My Docs on a flash drive which I will try to send to her pc. Whether or not it works I will look for your sanitizing idea I mentioned above if you could please comply. Last resort I will toss it as i have another backup - better than inheriting a virus. 2-If it does not work I will do a system restore to about ? Maybe I can find out when I first used ERUNT by my forum dates or somehow. Thanx a lot for your help. I also like to know why but I will settle for a fix.