Member Avatar for Nanci252

Running XP home, sp2 on Dell workstation. etc. etc. All hardware and software fully functional and fully updated.

Starting to rebuild a website I ran a while ago. Had saved tons of image files (pictures, drawings, graphics, etc.). Now when I go to search for them I have to look in about 25 different folders since I seldom paid attention to where they were saved or collecting. I don't run a photo album of camera photos of family and the actual MyPictures folder is dang near empty.

I run Search and it finds approx. 36,000 (thousand) images and I already tried to just copy the entire search into a specially made folder (where I can FIND it) and it just did not. Sat for two hours thinking to let it do it's thing cuz it would take a while for that many.....but, after 2 hrs. the set-up special folder remained Empty. When I tell it to save the search, all it saves are the search parameters - not the found items.

Help ?
'stupid, image collector, Nan'

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by bobbyraw

Dani AI

Generated

Short, practical summary and safe ways to gather scattered images (Windows XP Home SP2)

described roughly 36,000 image files spread across many folders and reported that “Save search” only kept the query. As noted, saving a search stores parameters only — it does not move or copy files. Two reliable approaches are: 1) use the Search Companion + Explorer to select-and-copy in batches, or 2) run a small batch script to copy matching extensions automatically. Always copy first (do not move), verify results, then delete originals once everything is confirmed.

Explorer (quick, GUI)

  • Run Search → look in C:\ (or the whole drive). Use wildcards such as *.jpg (repeat for *.jpeg, *.png, *.gif, *.bmp).
  • In Advanced Options check “Search subfolders” and “Search hidden files and folders” if required.
  • When results appear: Ctrl+A to select, Ctrl+C to copy, open the prepared destination folder and Ctrl+V to paste.
  • For very large result sets split by extension or copy in batches (select a few thousand at a time) to avoid Explorer timeouts and to watch disk-space.

Batch (automated, repeatable)

  • To preserve folder tree and copy all common image types into D:\CollectedImages, save a .bat containing:
md "D:\CollectedImages"
for %%E in (jpg jpeg png gif bmp) do xcopy "C:\*.%%E" "D:\CollectedImages\" /S /I /Y
  • To flatten all images into one folder (watch for name collisions), use:
md "D:\CollectedImages"
for /R "C:\" %%F in (*.jpg *.jpeg *.png *.gif *.bmp) do copy "%%F" "D:\CollectedImages\"

(If running commands directly at the command prompt, replace %% with %.)

Additional notes

  • Check free disk space before copying. Test any script on a small folder first. After copying, verify counts/sizes before deleting originals. For faster indexing and selective copying on large drives, consider a lightweight indexer/file manager (third‑party) that supports XP.

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Member Avatar for bobbyraw

Now question one how are you searching for the file? by ext (*.jpg) something like that?
Q2 are these image attributes hidden?
Q3 Where on the hard disk are these files located.
Q4 did you get any error message when copying to the newly created folder.
you cannot save a search and expext to save the items that is has found. As you can see you will only end up with the parameter search in the event you need to do that search again.

Member Avatar for Nanci252

Now question one how are you searching for the file? by ext (*.jpg) something like that? JUST THE NORMAL SEARCH ALL PICTURES (AS SPEC. IN SEARCH SET UP)
Q2 are these image attributes hidden? NO. I HAVE NO HIDDEN FILES ANYWHERE INCL. SYS. ON HERE. AND ALL EXTENSIONS ARE VISIBLE WITHIN FOUND ITEMS.
Q3 Where on the hard disk are these files located. THAT'S THE WHACK. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE, APPROX. 20 DIFF. FILES & FOLDERS.
Q4 did you get any error message when copying to the newly created folder. NO
you cannot save a search and expext to save the items that is has found. As you can see you will only end up with the parameter search in the event you need to do that search again. YEPPERS, MY DUH !!

AND THE IDEA OF SITTING HERE FOR DAYS & HOURS TO INDIVIDUALLY MOVE THEM.......YET ANOTHER DUH ! NOT IN MOOD FOR THAT.
THANKS FOR ANY SUGG. YOU CAN GIVE.
I'M A HARDWARE PERSON, NOT SO MUCH SOFTWARE !! JUST ENOUGH TO KEEP MACHINES CLEAN & WORKING.

Member Avatar for bobbyraw

ok when u do the search (wild card search *.<file extention>) search should look like this (*.bmp,*.jpg,*.gif,*.png) and so on. for all files and folder and ensure hidden folder are searched. once the search is done, create a directory yoiu want to save the files. then highlight all found pic and images then copy to the new dir. i said copy beif u do a move and an error occurs you are going to lose the moved files. SO DO COPY once thats done you can delete the ones that are in all the diff directory. that should help with cleaning up your pc .

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