I would like copy all contents of my local disk on my hp pavilion 17-ab202na. for my hard drive

[computerman3]

I request help because not all the files are being copied over on my external hard drive

Please help with this

Thanks

[WAWood]

@computerman3 

You didn't bother to tell us HOW you're doing this, but if you're using File Manager or something similar -- that will not work.

Why?

Because many directories are HIDDEN, and some of the files are protected so you can't copy them.

If you really want to migrate the entire contents of the OS partition, a better solution would be to make an Image Backup with something like Macrium Reflect.  That works because it copies physical sectors, not files and folders.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR) from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
2) Run MR and choose the option: "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" to write a full backup to an external drive or USB stick
3) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

My experience is that MR, when using the High Compression option, typically can compress the saved image file to about 50% of the USED space in the OS partition. This means if you have an 80GB OS partition, and 40GB is used, MR only needs about 20GB to store the image file.

I use this all the time and it typically takes less than 15 minutes to do the image backup and about the same time or less to do a restore.

NOW, you have an image file that contains all of your OS partition and you can either save that to backup disk or you can copy it to another PC and mount it to view the contents.