Copying photos to laptop no longer works!

October 31, 2005 5:32 PM

Windows XP help needed! I suddenly can't copy photos onto my laptop. I'm getting a weird error...

I have a Presario X1000 laptop running Win XP Pro. It has an 80 GB hard drive with apx. 6.5 GB available. I have a digital camera with an SD card, and an SD card slot on my laptop.

When I copy pictures from the card, I insert the card and sometimes a window pops up that gives me an option to copy or view the pictures. But often it doesn't pop up and I go into My Computer, open the E: drive and copy manually.

Today I get the same error, no matter what I do. I've even tried connecting the camera via USB cable. The error says "Cannot copy X, the parameter is incorrect". If I try moving one photo at a time, it will sometimes allow one or two to be copied, but then I get the same error.

I've had no problem with other files, having downloaded a gig of music today... but this problem was the same before and after the music download.

Any advice?

posted by kdern to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

It sounds like your card has been corrupted. If you have another card available, shoot some pictures and se if you have the same problem. If your camera has internal memory, remove the card, take a few photos, and see if you can copy those over.

Sorry, no direct solution to your problem, but troubleshooting might help others help you.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 5:35 PM on October 31, 2005

Response by poster: Purple - I just tried it. Copied 6 photos from the card to the camera's internal memory, and connected the USB cable. When I tried to copy the 6 photos, it said "Cannot copy X - there is not enough free memory. Close one or more programs and try again.

I closed everything except Firefox, tried again, and got the same error.
posted by kdern at 5:43 PM on October 31, 2005

Have you tried rebooting the computer?
posted by intermod at 6:39 PM on October 31, 2005

Try formatting the card? Or removing your SD controller using Device Manager and rebooting (it should reinstall it on reboot)?
posted by Boobus Tuber at 7:48 PM on October 31, 2005

Or copying from the command line?
posted by Boobus Tuber at 7:48 PM on October 31, 2005

Response by poster: I'm afraid to uninstall the SD driver - I won't know how to reinstall it if it doesn't reappear on restart.
posted by kdern at 8:22 PM on October 31, 2005

So what about the command line or reformatting?
posted by Boobus Tuber at 8:42 PM on October 31, 2005

Reformat the card. It sounds like it is the problem, not Windows. Also, has this been occuring after a reboot?
posted by k8t at 3:14 AM on November 1, 2005

Response by poster: This morning I reformatted the camera internal memory and the card. I also rebooted the computer. Then I took a few photos and tried copying them both ways. When I put the card in the laptop, the errors were "Parameter is incorrect" and "Cannot read from source file". When I connected the camera and tried to copy, the error was "Not enough room. Close some programs and try again"

I have discovered that when the camera is connected, I can copy one photo at a time, just not more than one.

Please help!
posted by kdern at 6:35 AM on November 1, 2005

Uhm, I meant - take the card out (the photos on the card may be corrupted) and take a few new photos, of say, that dust bunny sitting behind your monitor so a new picture is stored in the camera's internal memory.

See if these new photos can be copied to the computer en mass. If it works, then it's probably just the SD card that's gone rotten.

Sorry if this this obvious - have you checked the HD for free space/(severe)fragmentation?
posted by PurplePorpoise at 8:34 AM on November 1, 2005

Response by poster: I'm going to check these things - thank you for your help. My hard drive is severely fragmented, and there's only 7% avail. So I'm going to delete some files, defragment, and try your steps above.

Thanks!
posted by kdern at 8:47 AM on November 1, 2005