Moving folders on desktop - seems to be copying

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A really odd question here - I have been doing some spring cleaning and archiving old work. Halfway through the task, suddenly every folder is copying rather than moving. I have double checked and both the folders are in the same location but every time I attempt a move it copies instead.

I have tried making some new dummy folders and items are moving as I would expect, it is just these existing folders seem to want to copy.

Source folder: /Users/mikedanford/Desktop

Destination folder: /Users/mikedanford/Desktop

But it insists on copying!
 
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Mac Mini Core i7 2012 | White 2009 MacBook 2 Ghz | 733 Mhz G4 Quicksilver
Sound more like a permissions issue, maybe all or one of the files inside had read only permissions

Try repairing the disks disk permissions with Disk Utility, or if you know more about disk permissions check the status of the source folder
 
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Source folder: /Users/mikedanford/Desktop

Destination folder: /Users/mikedanford/Desktop

Huh? you're copying a file from the Desktop to the Desktop?
I think you need to explain a little more what you're doing.
 
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I am trying to move a file on my desktop to another folder on the desktop but instead of moving it is copying.
 
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You shouldn't have to do this, but try holding down Option when you drag. Does it move or copy?
 
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Turned out it was permissions on files I had copied back onto the Mac ( our IT bod had made backups when logged in to the network as an Admin
 

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