TIP: Robocopy in Win7 - Super Duper fast copying

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by HSChronic, Feb 14, 2009.

  1. HSChronic

    HSChronic MDL Expert

    Aug 25, 2007
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    For those who don't know Robocopy is basically an enhanced version of xcopy that came with DOS and comes as the standard command line tool set. Well with Windows 6 and later versions they put the resource kit tool robocopy in Windows. The advantages of Robocopy over GUI based copy or command line copy is the speed. It uses VSS to copy the file so that way it can transfer faster.

    For instance I transferred a whole DVD-5 in 2 minutes, over a gigabit ethernet connection. To access it go to a command line and type in robocopy /? and it will give you the options. There are a couple GUI tools for it too so look for those if the command line isn't your thing.
     
  2. foxhunter

    foxhunter MDL Member

    Feb 6, 2009
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    Hi,

    it depends on the files of the DVD. If you have only a few large files, the copy process is fast in XCOPY too.

    I've tested it with a PS CS4 DVD. The time to copy the content to a dicrectory on the harddrive was the same than with XCOPY
     
  3. HSChronic

    HSChronic MDL Expert

    Aug 25, 2007
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    cool good to know...

    One thing that I have noticed is in Vista (not 7) is that when you copy files through the GUI it is slow. 7 seems to speed it up to XP levels, but robocopy beats the copy/paste method by far.
     
  4. jayblok

    jayblok MDL Guru

    Dec 26, 2010
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    this is so awesome,i never knew about this:worthy::worthy:
     
  5. Stannieman

    Stannieman MDL Guru

    Sep 4, 2009
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    Can you explain a bit more why it is faster? And what if you do it programatically? Like for a folder:
    for each file in folder
    copy file
     
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  6. jayblok

    jayblok MDL Guru

    Dec 26, 2010
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    #6 jayblok, Jan 5, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
  7. Stannieman

    Stannieman MDL Guru

    Sep 4, 2009
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    #7 Stannieman, Jan 5, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
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