NTFS permissions can be affected when you copy or move a folder or file within or between NTFS partitions. For example, if you move a file to a new folder on a different partition, the file inherits the permissions of the destination folder.

Now all this can get confusing. The only thing you really need to remember is that permissions will only stay the same when a file (or folder) is moved to a different folder on the same partition. Let’s take a look at an example of what I mean. Two folders, Private and Public, are stored on F (and F is an NTFS partition). There is a file called Employees.doc stored in the Private folder. Users have been assigned Read permission to this folder. Users have also been assigned Full Control to the Public Folder. When Employees.doc is moved from the Private folder to Public, it will retain its original permission (in this case, Read).

All other actions will result in a permission change. If you copy a folder or file within the same NTFS partition, the folder or file will inherit the permissions of the destination and the original permissions are lost. If you copy or move a folder or file between NTFS partitions, the original permissions are also lost, and the permissions of the destination folder are inherited.

One final note as well, if you move a folder or file to a FAT partition, obviously the NTFS partitions will once again be lost.

[tags]move file, moving file, copy file, xp, diana huggins[/tags]