Really weird - can only copy 7 files to external usb

Hi,
I'm trying to recover data from a PC that ran Win XP. I have used knoppix 5 before a couple of times successfully. In this case when I connect the external usb drive (Maxtor Onetouch mini 120gb), first of all sometimes I get a mount error saying its a nonempty mount etc. and other times (like if I reboot) it would mount without problems. Anyways the weirdest thing I have noticed is that once it is successfully mounted, it will only write 7 files to a folder in the external drive. For example I made a new folder on the usb drive called "pics" and used drag and drop to copy files from the hard disk folder (\Documents and Settings\username\My documents\My pictures) to the destination "pics" folder on the external usb, it will only copy 7 files and after that give me a write error that it cannot write to the destination. I have tried several other source directories - no luck. I have also tried to drag and drop indvidual files and same thing happens after the 7th file. I have also tried to copy via command line using :
# cp -av /media/sda2/download/* /media/sdc1/backup/
since its verbose it shows whats going on and after the 7 files it gives an error:
cp: cannot create regular file operation not supported

After the 7th file is copied I cannot even "touch" a file in that directory....

Any ideas guys, I'm stumped ????
Thanks
uzee

I resolved the problem and wanted to give an update in case someone else also experiences it. Instead of the maxtor 120gb usb external drive, I used my 2gb thumb drive which worked without any problems. The only thing I had to do was use it 3-4 times to recover all the data, other than that everything was ok. After data was recovered I had no problems transferring it on the maxtor using windows..... I think the problem lied in some compatibility issue with knoppix and maybe a filesystem type issue. I noticed my thumb drive was mounted as a vfat filesystem, but when maxtor was connected it showed a FUSE type filesystem.

thanks

I would guess you are using an earlier Knoppix. Possibly 5.0? I remember an early driver version where the author, being unsure, decided to reduce file creation down to just a few. I belive that was with early ntfs support. You would have to unmount the partition... and remount it... to create a few more files. The author was concentratiing on other parts of the filesystem, and file creation came last. Just historical info at this point... as ntfs filesystem "write" support is adequate since 5.1.1.

I would try using the latest Knoppix (5.3.1) and see if you can work with your bigger drive using that one.
If you need the 5.1.x be sure to get 5.1.1 as 5.1.0 has a kicker bug.