Big mistake trying to move files between shares?

Everything is being transferred through your PC - over the network from the NAS to the PC, and then over the network again from the PC back to the NAS.

Are you using WiFi?

The NAS is connected by a network cable to the wifi router, and the router is connected by cable to the desktop PC. The desktop PC has no wifi card so no, I don't think the connection between the desktop PC and the NAS is via wifi.

No, it wouldn't be. Does the router support gigabit ethernet? I'm wondering if there is an underlying performance problem with the NAS.

But we should also get back to your original problem.

When you tell Windows you want to move files, it has two ways to do that.

(a) It can copy each file into the new folder, and then delete the original file. This method always works.
(b) it can update the two folders to re-organize the data, but leave the files themselves as they are.

Method (b) is instant in human terms, but there are cases where it physically isn't possible. For instance, if one folder is on a flash drive, and the other is on your hard drive, the slow but sure method (a) has to be used.

If you open two network folders in Windows, one for each share, then Windows doesn't know if method (b) will work - and if it can't tell, it uses method (a). That is what is happening to you.

To prevent this, you need to do your re-organizing within a single window - using the main pane in conjunction with the left-pane directory tree to move things around.

You can mount the entire data volume by entering \\nasname\c into the windows explorer address bar, and using "admin" as the password (no quotes) and the NAS admin password.

BTW, you should be able open two \\nasname\c folders, and move files between them if you find that easier. If you aren't sure it will work, move just a few files as a test first.

Thanks for your help. I cannot, however, mount the entire data volume by entering \\nasname\c into the windows explorer address bar. When I ask Windows to diagnose the problem, it reports that "READYNAS exists but Windows can't find "c"."

What firmware are you running? If you go into frontview, and click "volume settings" what volume letters do you see?

RAIDiator 4.1.13 [1.00a043]

I think Windows is probably using stored credentials (for instance if you told it to remember your password).

Try \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\C instead (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address).

Or go into windows control panel, and launch the credential manager. delete any credentials saved for the NAS, and then try again.

again, windows reports that 192.168.1.7 exists but can't find c

there are no certificates for the NAS in certificate manager

Connect to \\192.168.1.7 as the "admin" user. Can you then see the C share?

sorry, but could you remind me how to do that? do I start windows explorer from an elevated command prompt?