Slow transfer speed when copying files from one location to another on the same HDD.

[everway9]

Hello everyone.

I'm experiencing a problem and would like to ask for your help please.

I have a old Windows 10 laptop (DELL 15R Special Edition 7520). Copying files from location to location on the same HDD is either instant or at the maximum speed the HDD is capable of (appx 80+MB/s). The HDD in that is a 2.5" 7200rpm SATA 3.

I have a new Windows 10 PC (Alienware Aurora R5). I noticed today that when I copy from location to location on the same HDD the fastest speed was only about 3-4MB/s. The HDD is a 3.5" 7200rpm SATA 3.

The files I copied were large video files 30MB+ in size

What reasons could there be which may cause this behaviour?

If anyone can help I'd be very grateful.

Many thanks in advance.

Andrew.

 

[boosted1g]

Moving a file will be instantanious but copying a file should not be at the max speed, should be half speed as on the exact same drive it has to read AND write.

If file is in use then it has to work harder to bassically make a copy before it makes a copy.

One large file will trasnfer at max speed, but many small files (like pictures or documents) will copy much much slower.

Outside of those situations then the other most likely issue is that your disk or other system resources are already being heavily utilized.

 

[everway9]

Hi boosted1g.

Thanks for the information. I will bear that in mind next time I am copying/moving files and see what happens.

 

[RolandJS]

I like copying a little better than moving -- if anything goes wrong, the originals are still there until deleted by end-user.

 

[Paperdoc]

You need to understand the difference between copying and moving files on the SAME hard drive. A COPY requires that the original file be read, and then re-written to the new location. So the same data has to be handled twice, and the overall speed of the operation will be approximately half the speed of the drive.

A MOVE of a file to another location on the same drive does NOT move the file! The entire file itself is left alone. ONLY the Directory data for that file is copied from one folder to another. The file now is in the new folder, but the actual data never moved. So this is "almost instantaneous".

 

[everway9]

I like copying a little better than moving -- if anything goes wrong, the originals are still there until deleted by end-user.

Yeah. That's good practice.

 

[RolandJS]

PaperDoc, you're right as rain about same media file-moving; however, if explorer.exe has a hiccup of some kind during the copy operation, the pointers may have to be "re-educated".

 

[everway9]

PaperDoc, you're right as rain about same media file-moving; however, if explorer.exe has a hiccup of some kind during the copy operation, the pointers may have to be "re-educated".

Reactivate? The pointers?

 

[everway9]

Is there a way to mark a post as answered, solved? Or is that only for posts which have been posted as a question and not a discussion?

Also, is there a way to add to someones reputation or give a like?

 

[RolandJS]

PaperDoc, you're right as rain about same media file-moving; however, if explorer.exe has a hiccup of some kind during the copy operation, the pointers may have to be "re-educated".

Reactivate? The pointers?

My term "re-educated" means sometimes the files have to have their MFT/pointers reset.

Since the thread title is: Slow transfer speed when copying files from one location to another on the same HDD. -- we are trying to either solve the slow-copy speed or come up with a better operation plan. I'm thinking of suggesting TeraCopy version 2, however, that depends if the thread starter does not mind trying something new.

 

[everway9]

PaperDoc, you're right as rain about same media file-moving; however, if explorer.exe has a hiccup of some kind during the copy operation, the pointers may have to be "re-educated".

Reactivate? The pointers?

My term "re-educated" means sometimes the files have to have their MFT/pointers reset.

Since the thread title is: Slow transfer speed when copying files from one location to another on the same HDD. -- we are trying to either solve the slow-copy speed or come up with a better operation plan. I'm thinking of suggesting TeraCopy version 2, however, that depends if the thread starter does not mind trying something new.

Oh... 'Re-educated'.. sorry, my mistake.


No... I don't mind trying something new at all. I'm all up for new. I will download TeraCopy 2 soon and see what it's all about.

Thanks RolandJS