On attempt to back up data, copy and paste fails to copy any files. What is the root cause of this on laptop running Windows XP system?

Question

Laptop (running XP) fails to start most of the time i try to boot it (last 20 times). Tried it again tonight, it started. Bought an external hard disk to backup required data a few days ago in case laptop started up. It recognised new hardware and showed the drive in explorer. However copy and paste of directories or a single file to the drive fails. Copy and paste on local drives fails also. I tried opening a file on local drive and then used save as to copy to external drive. That worked. So what piece am I missing within the system that allows me to copy and paste?

Another symptom are a lot of services won't start.

Answer 1

What is the error message you get when trying to paste?

An alternative to try is to use xcopy from a cmd prompt, i.e.

Start / Run / CMD.exe

xcopy c:\somedir e:\somedir /e/s

I would copy critical, irreplaceable files, then try a scandisk on the disk (Properites on the drive, then Tools)

Make sure you have a good antivirus program running that is up to date.