Phil,
You may be losing your graphics because the graphics are linked to external
files.
Alternately, you may be losing your graphics because during the paste
operation, the destination file applies the destination master to the copied
material, and inadvertently erases the graphics (pictures?).
You did not state if you are copying one slide, or groups of slides. Does
this problem only occur for group copies, or does it also occur for single
slide copies?
If you are copying groups, and the graphics are huge, then the pictures may
fall off the clipboard (note enough system memory space). also believe that
the clipboard has problems with some graphic types.
Tom C