Copying large quantities of files weirdness

Hi,
Over the past few years I have noticed that the process of copying large quantities files can act strangely.
Weirdness #1
As the copying process nears the end, the progress bar will get all the way to the right and it will keep on copying, with the size of the files to be copied EXCEEDING the actual size of the items I am copying (X mbs of Y mbs are copied and X gets LARGER than Y!)
That didn't happen today but I thought I'd mention it. It happens alot.
What did happen today is weirdness #2
I bought a new external drive, a Western Digital 320gb PC/Mac formatted drive. I threw out the few files that showed up when I connected it, mostly PC-related but one Read Me I could read. I then looked around the internet (Apple's site wasn't much help) to see if I should reformat i, to get rid of the FAT(32?) and how. I decided I would and found some instructions, re-partitioned it, erased it and then re-partitioned it again. (I should have done the erase first but all seemed well after it all...I checked it with DIsc Utility and it found nothing wrong.)
Anyway, so I start to bring files over. I thought about using SuperDuper but couldn't understand it's options so I just copied EVERYTHING in my root folder, typing in my admin password when needed and accepting that not everything would actually go over. Most would and that is enough for me now.
Now comes the weirdness.
I watched as the files get copied and the time calculation goes from 28 hours to 2, as it copied 197,807 files (give or take a few), about 61 GB, which is what is on the Powerbook. Two hours and we're almost done.
The weirdness comes now. As the copying gets to about 20 minutes left (I didn't notice how many GB I was away from being done but it must have been in the 50s, so only 10 GB or so to go), the whole process STARTS OVER AGAIN! I didn't cry because I have seen this kind of thing before. I assumed if there was a bug with this new drive, or if I had formatted it incorrectly, that it would either work this second time or not. If it didn't I would cancel the third attempt and call for help.
It did finish. It probably got only about 10gb into the second round and then it finished suddenly!
What is going on!
Is this (are these two things?) a known bug with the Finder?
I have been using OSX for about 3 years now. Weirdness #1 happens occasionally. #2 may have happened before but is rarer.
Thanks for any help.
Cheer,
John L

First of all, I have had problems copying large files with Tiger. For the most part, the system behaves itself, but occasionally, things go wrong or take way too long. However, I should note that 95% of these problems have been with FAT32 formatted drives.
Okay, first of all, I'm hoping this external drive you bought has FireWire. If it does, use FireWire 400 instead of USB 2.0, it's twice the speed (contrary to what the specs might lead you to believe). Of course, if it has FireWire 800, you should use that.
Backing up is brilliant, more people should do this. That's a VERY smart thing to do.
If SuperDuper gives you problems. Try something called iBackup. I've been using it a lot and it's brilliant. You put check marks on the files/folders you want backed up and it backs it all up for you whenever you want. You can even set specified times in the day for it to backup. It's free, you can get it here:
http://grapefruit.ch/ibackup/
My Seagate external hard drive's manual recommends that you format any hard drive that is to be used on a Mac to Mac OS (extended journaled) format to prevent data loss. It also says it's better that you use third-party software to allow the Windows to read Mac OS formatted disks than it is to leave your disk FAT32 formatted.
Reasons to use Mac OS format instead of FAT32:
• Extends spotlight searches to your external drive
• Allows files to be larger than 4 GB
• The Mac can read and edit it more quickly
• The drive name doesn't have to be in all caps and limited to like 8 characters
hope this helps!

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