Moving Music files from Windows 7 to Windows 8

[cuivenion]

Hi there, Would appreciate any help you can give. I am trying to copy my music collection from this windows 7 machine:

Toshiba Satellite C660-17E
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Service pack 1
Intel Celeron Dual Core T3500 @2.10ghz
4gb Ram
Toshiba MK6465GSXN 650gb Hard Drive 5400rpm
Intel graphics

To this windows 8 machine:

HP Pavilion g6-2265sa
Windows 8 (Home) (64 bit)
Intel Dual Core i3-2370M processor
4GB RAM
750GB hard drive (ST750LM022 HN-M750MBB)
Intel graphics

I tried using a Western Digital My Book 2.0 Essential USB 2.0 external HD to copy it across first. When it had finished I tested a few MP3's at random on the win8 laptop and found they wouldn't play, coming up with "error", just a few seconds of noise or 2 songs mixed together.
Assuming there was a problem with the External HD I deleted the files from the Win8 machine and started again.
This time I created a wired connection via ethernet between the two and copied the files over again. When I tested the files on the Win8 Machine again the music played ok but the imbedded images (covers) on some files had changed and moved around leading me to conclude there was a problem again.

In both cases corresponding files on the Win7 laptop played and displayed covers just fine. I used two different softwares to play the MP3's on the Win8 machine and had the same issues on both. So I'm pretty sure thats not the problem. The total size of the transfer is about 300gb. I've since done two in depth error checks of the MY Book external HD and it's come through fine with no bad sectors or any other problems. It's also passing it's SMART tests fine. Help!

[Radio2006]

What program are you using to play the files? Is the same program on the orginal PC. Also, what is the file format?

[cuivenion]

The files being transferred are mainly MP3's. I'm using windows media player and virtual DJ to play the files. Same problems on both software. The file format of the external hd is FAT32.

[caperjack]

The total size of the transfer is about 300gb

i suggest moving files in smaller sizes ,about 50 gig at a time ,just using drag and drop ,go to this location of the music files on the computer assuming you keep them in the default location .
C:\Users\username\Music

[cuivenion]

If I use drag and drop, would that move rather than copy the files? I'll try your suggestion, but I'm curious as to why I can't copy the whole music folder across.

[caperjack]

just because i think it so large, and more prone to errors,like the ones you aregetting ,and use the right click when you drag and drop to give choice of copy or move ,I always use copy in case something goes wrong in the move you still ahve the orignal ,

[cuivenion]

No probs, I'll try that later then.

[Reverend Jim]

Could be a codec problem. Try downloading gspot. It will try to process the file and will tell you if there is a problem with a codec (bad or missing). Try installing VLC Media Player. It's free and open source and can play just about anything.

[cuivenion]

Tried shifting about 50gb at a time as suggested over the LAN. The covers are still getting mixed, on exactly the same files as before, weird. The music's fine however so I'm carrying on with the transfer. Reckon win8 or the media player has some sort of issue with the id3 tags with the covers imbedded. Not sure why the files went haywire after being transferred via external HDD but they play OK if transferred over LAN. That HDD is quite old so I'll I guess I'll have to get something more up to date. It's just annoying when you can't find a fault.

[Reverend Jim]

Here's an oddball possibility. If you are moving the files from an NTFS device to a non NTFS device And If the missing data was being stored in alternate data streams then that data would not be copied with the files.

[cuivenion]

Bit over my head that, but thanks for the help guys.

[cuivenion]

Installed Windows 7. No more problems.