HELP: Copying layers from one file to another to keep structure not possible??!!!

Hi guys,
I have a curious question. Sounds a bit silly and highly disappointed if Illustrator is actually not capable of doing this. Hopefully I have missed something.
I have an AI doc that has grown so large that saving it now is a major effort so trying to break out sections into multiple AI files. Allot of users will be working on these files so it is imperative that all the Artboard elements are clearly organized in the appropriate folders (layers). Im trying to simply copy and paste a layer that has multiple layers beneath and within those more layers to another empty AI file. Everything copies correctly and in place however it dumps all the elements into a single massive layer in the new file. If I go into the Layer Palette menu and check on Paste Remembers Layers it does a better job at keeping some of the structure but it still doesnt copy exactly how the structure was in the Master document.
Please tell me Im doing something wrong. I cant believe that you cant simply drag and drop a parent layer from one file to another while maintaining its structure! Exactly like in Photoshop - copying a folder from one file to another is simply as easy as dragging and dropping ...is this same methodology not available with Illustrator? I always assumed the layer and folder concept between these two packages were somewhat interchangeable.
Thanks for any help, comments, or suggestions
Nick.

Hi All,
After much trial and error trying to locate where the problem was it ended up being the guide objects. If you have the guides set to lock and attempt to copy out any layer that a guide is sitting in the resulting copy/paste will break apart that layer structure in the destination file. Simply setting the guides unlock allows everything to translate correctly.
You guys may have known about it already but I learnt a little something in the process. Thanks to all for your suggestions!
Cheers

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