How long does it take to copy 4TB?

[smalltech]

I have a 4TB hard disk WD green that stores backup created by Acronis software. If I were to copy (normal windows 7 copy and paste) all the 4TB data to another 4TB external hard disk, how long will it take?

Thanks

 

[SBMfromLA]

The Green Drives are basically among the slowest of hard drives.. so expect to spend extra time transferring data over.

Here is some info I found on the WD Green drives:

WD Green Pros & Cons

The WD Green HDDs have had a shaky history. In concept, WD Greens were an attempt at affordable archival storage with a variable RPM, theoretically allowing boosted speed during higher load times and an overall lower power consumption. The RPM for WD Green drives isn't advertised, but it is generally understood to rotate between 5400 – 5900 revolutions per minute.

Earlier revs of the WD Green drive exhibited failure from header disconnects and seek errors, attributed to the variable RPM. These issues have been largely resolved with the newer WD Green drives.

WD Green's primary advantages are regarded as:

Higher capacity at a more affordable price.
Lower power consumption.
Useful as cheap, archival storage.
Quieter.

Its disadvantages are:

Slower speeds that are inadvisable for primary and gaming HDD usage.
Slower wake and seek times.
Lower reliability over its life.
2-Year warranty.

 

[alexoiu]

At an average speed of 100-120 MB/s, about 10-12h.

 

[JPNpower]

In more practical terms, longer than a typical overnight job, but shorter than a full day left alone.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/hdd-charts-2013/-04-Write-Throughput-Average-h2benchw-3.16,2904.html

Average is 94.34 MB/s on the 3 TB .... best case a almost 12 hours....assuming we talking "marketing department TBs for the drive size and real MB for the test speed.

4,000,000 MB / (94.34 x 69 x 60 x 1.024) = 11.5 hours

 

[JPNpower]

Guys don't be too specific. We don't know what types of files he's copying. I think it's very safe to assume that it'll all be done within a day though.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The 11.5 was indicated as an average but in the spirit of "giving a man a fish versus teaching a man to fish".... he and anyone reading this post will be able to answer the question in the future.

 

[ananya.gupta]

Just make sure you're using USB 3.0 cables to get the maximum speed.

 

[USAFRet]

Just make sure you're using USB 3.0 cables to get the maximum speed.

I'm pretty sure, that 3 years later, this data copy has finished.