ServerWatch content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Copying Files and Folders
Regardless of how an object gains its permissions, allowing it to keep them when being moved or copied is always an issue.
Some key points to remember are:
- To copy files or folders within or between NTFS volumes, the user must have
the Add permission for the destination folder at the minimum to perform the file
copy. - The user who performs the copy will become the owner of the new file or folder.
- When files or folders are moved within the same NTFS partition, they retain
their permissions. - When files or folders are copied within the same partition or between NTFS partitions, or moved to another partition altogether, they inherit the permissions of the destination folder.
- When files or folders are copied (or moved) to FAT16 or FAT32 volumes, they lose their NTFS permissions because FAT16 and FAT32 volumes do not support local
permissions natively within the file system as NTFS does.
Moving Files and Folders
Some key points to remember are:
- To move files or folders between NTFS partitions, the user must have the Add
permission for the destination folder or file and the Delete permission for the
source folder or file. The Delete permission for the source folder or file is
required because the folder or file is deleted from the source folder once the
move to the destination folder is complete. - When the folder or the file is moved to another partition, the user who performed the move will become Creator Owner.
- When files or folders are moved within the same volume they retain their original
permissions - When files or folders are moved across different volumes they inherit the permissions of the destination folder.
- When files or folders are moved (or copied) to FAT16 or FAT32 volumes, they lose their NTFS permissions because FAT16 and FAT32 volumes do not support local
permissions natively within the file system as NTFS does
