Thanks Mathais,
now it is even more strange. I tried the same thing today and it works as expected. No idea why it only copied a single file yesterday, but now is copies them all.
i am using Commander style and the correct number of selected files is displayed.
i am copying photo files from my camera which is connected via USB.
I selected F6 to move, but it only copied. i was able to delete the files on the camera afterwards using Multiple Commander. maybe some security built in the camera card. not a major issue
Thanks for the response.