The Briefcase is broken in Windows 7. Is there a fix?

[CP30126]

Hello. According to a thread on Microsoft TechNet called "Working with Briefcases in Windows 7", the Briefcase is broken in Windows 7, it fails to copy read-only files and halts the process. This is bad because I want to mirror the content of an hard drive to another one, and there are many read-only files for which I do not want to change the attributes.

Was a fix ever released for it? And if not, then what's another program I could use?

 

[Werner Alfred Lichtenberg]

Hello,
Don't really have a solution for the Briefcase but have, I think an advice and some alternative (there is a lot of them) :

Windows Briefcase is a tool not to mirror but to synchronize two folders. Mirroring drive, depending the content must be a way more complex than simply synchronize two directories. Synchronize is used when you want duplicate only data (no program/software/OS...) and between two machine without a permanent connection. It's often used for bad purpose with poor result (for migrating data from a disk to another by example).
So, maybe a more specific question (why would you copy, what would you copy, will you maintain the two versions sync...) would have a better response and will drive you to a duplication, a backup/restore or a ghosting tool.

Nevertheless, for directories sync, Briefcase is a deprecated tool and a lot of other (even free and Windows) existing to do the same thing. Wikipedia could be a start (a page on Briefcase exist on it...) with a page on directories sync tools :

Comparison of file synchronization software - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

rsync/rclone are the tool by default for most of CS/IT specialists. But other tools could be easier to manipulate or have a better GUI for you. Or have way more option that just sync files. Maybe on the list will you find your dream tool.

Hope this help !

 

[Isatech81]

I would like to suggest you check the hard disk for errors first.
If it is good, I also would like to suggest you disable User Account Control (UAC) and test the briefcase issue in Clean Boot. This should work or else
create a new user account to test the issue.

If you have any third antivirus program installed, please temporarily disable it to check the issue.

 

[CP30126]

I decided to go with a tool called Cobian Reflector. With it, I can mirror the content of an hard drive to another one. It's a bit complex to set-up because it's not configured for that task out of the box, but for now it seems to do what I want.