Question Software to copy and paste data with the ability to pause the process ?

[miogpsrocks]

Hello.

OS: Windows 11

I am looking for a software that allows you to copy large amounts of data and possibly have the ability to "pause" the process since these transfers can take days.

In the past, I have had problems with the software freezing from such a large transfer.

I have had limited success with freefilesync as it does not freeze and allowed for pausing which is good. However, I am concerned that it can delete files if the settings are not done right and I have recently noticed missing files.

So I am looking for more of a strictly "copy and paste" software that won't freeze and possibly has a pause/resume feature so I can pause when using PC and resume the copy overnight. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Eximo]

I would probably stick with something simple like robocopy myself. Literally the pause button, and then enter to resume.

At least for Windows. If I seriously wanted to copy some stuff, I would probably extract the drives, put them together in a system and do a bitwise copy which would be done in minutes as compared to hours.

 

[USAFRet]

I am looking for a software that allows you to copy large amounts of data and possibly have the ability to "pause" the process since these transfers can take days.

How much data and what hardware are you using that it will take "days"?

 

[miogpsrocks]

I would probably stick with something simple like robocopy myself. Literally the pause button, and then enter to resume.

At least for Windows. If I seriously wanted to copy some stuff, I would probably extract the drives, put them together in a system and do a bitwise copy which would be done in minutes as compared to hours.

I am copying from one NAS to another NAS using my PC. Can't really pull the drives because they are using RAID .

Have you experiencing any freezing issues with robocopy when dealing with terabytes of data at a time taking days to copy? This is command line program right?

Thanks.

 

[miogpsrocks]

How much data and what hardware are you using that it will take "days"?

Terabytes of data and readynas and synology nas systems. I am using my PC to manage and monitor the data transfer.

 

[Eximo]

Back in the day I wrote some scripts to handle overnight/overseas copy jobs. Usually had issues with the target system disconnecting. And I had to write a complex check for IP address identification due to release/renew policies.

On a truly local network, as long as you have pretty stable systems, I wouldn't expect any issues.

 

[USAFRet]

Terabytes of data and readynas and synology nas systems.

Details, please.

On a local gigabit LAN, 1TB between my PC and the QNAP NAS may be about 3 hours.

But even brain dead File Explorer in Windows has a 'Pause' option.

How often are you moving this 'terabytes of data'?

 

[Grobe]

Have you experiencing any freezing issues with robocopy when dealing with terabytes of data at a time taking days to copy? This is command line program right?

I've used robocopy to set up scheduled backup between two servers at work. However, this are small text/log files and the command doesn't account for network failure.

When that is said, when looking at robocopy dodumentation and some other sources online, there are parameters that you can set in order to make the copying process being more tolerant to unstable network connection.

https://lazyadmin.nl/it/robocopy-ultimate-guide/#robocopy-switches

 

[miogpsrocks]

Details, please.

On a local gigabit LAN, 1TB between my PC and the QNAP NAS may be about 3 hours.

But even brain dead File Explorer in Windows has a 'Pause' option.

How often are you moving this 'terabytes of data'?

It's not done that often but I have noticed files missing which I an suspecious of maybe the " syncing" feature of freefilesync as deleting files even know I always select to update only to the target side. It makes me nervious that it even has the ability to delete files on one side. I think I would feel more confortable if I used a program that was copy only. I guess file explorer or others can also delete if you do cut and paste instead of copy and paste but maybe its less likely to do it by accident.

local gigabit LAN, my NAS are large but old systems dealing with inadequaet amounts of RAM from what you might expect in a enterprise enviroment. I have a lot of data but its mostly just storage and not access often.

The data disappearing is a real mystery. I was thinking of maybe making the files read only they would not accidentally be deleted but I think it would also make it so people could not transfer new files there but this may be a topic for another post.

I guess there is not a lot of new programs or development in the world of file copy for windows?

 

[USAFRet]

It's not done that often but I have noticed files missing which I an suspecious of maybe the " syncing" feature of freefilesync as deleting files even know I always select to update only to the target side. It makes me nervious that it even has the ability to delete files on one side. I think I would feel more confortable if I used a program that was copy only. I guess file explorer or others can also delete if you do cut and paste instead of copy and paste but maybe its less likely to do it by accident.

local gigabit LAN, my NAS are large but old systems dealing with inadequaet amounts of RAM from what you might expect in a enterprise enviroment. I have a lot of data but its mostly just storage and not access often.

The data disappearing is a real mystery. I was thinking of maybe making the files read only they would not accidentally be deleted but I think it would also make it so people could not transfer new files there but this may be a topic for another post.

I guess there is not a lot of new programs or development in the world of file copy for windows?

FreeFileSync, or SyncBackFree, does NOT delete from the Source without selecting it to do that.
I've used both of those extensively.

Currently, I just use Macrium Reflect, and do full drive Images off to somewhere else.


But, copying between systems that takes "days"...that is a whole other issue.
And a LOT of data.

 

[miogpsrocks]

Back in the day I wrote some scripts to handle overnight/overseas copy jobs. Usually had issues with the target system disconnecting. And I had to write a complex check for IP address identification due to release/renew policies.

On a truly local network, as long as you have pretty stable systems, I wouldn't expect any issues.

FreeFileSync, or SyncBackFree, does NOT delete from the Source without selecting it to do that.
I've used both of those extensively.

Currently, I just use Macrium Reflect, and do full drive Images off to somewhere else.


But, copying between systems that takes "days"...that is a whole other issue.
And a LOT of data.

Maybe because to old CPU and little RAM from NAS from over 12+ years ago? This was very expensive equipment in its day and probably still is even used but maybe you guys are working with cutting edge enterprise stuff from today?

I need tons of storage but its not access a lot. Perhaps the old equipment and the large amounts of data cause it to be slow.

 

[miogpsrocks]

FreeFileSync, or SyncBackFree, does NOT delete from the Source without selecting it to do that.
I've used both of those extensively.

Currently, I just use Macrium Reflect, and do full drive Images off to somewhere else.


But, copying between systems that takes "days"...that is a whole other issue.
And a LOT of data.

Freefilesync did have problems copying over encrypted files last time I tried.

 

[USAFRet]

Maybe because to old CPU and little RAM from NAS from over 12+ years ago? This was very expensive equipment in its day and probably still is even used but maybe you guys are working with cutting edge enterprise stuff from today?

I need tons of storage but its not access a lot. Perhaps the old equipment and the large amounts of data cause it to be slow.

No.
I am NOT using 'cutting edge enterprise' equipment.

Standard gigabit LAN, from a regular Win 10 or 11 PC, to a 7 year old QNAP TS-453a NAS.

 

[miogpsrocks]

No.
I am NOT using 'cutting edge enterprise' equipment.

Standard gigabit LAN, from a regular Win 10 or 11 PC, to a 7 year old QNAP TS-453a NAS.

One Synology is from 2015, another one from 2013 and one from 2012.
One has 18 drives, the other 2 have 12 drives each but they are 2 separate sysetm not connected.

One system has 6GB memory, the other has 4GB, and the other has 2GB.

MY PC is current.

 

[USAFRet]

One Synology is from 2015, another one from 2013 and one from 2012.
One has 18 drives, the other 2 have 12 drives each but they are 2 separate sysetm not connected.

One system has 6GB memory, the other has 4GB, and the other has 2GB.

MY PC is current.

In or USB attached to my QNAP is ~95TB of HDD space.

 

[miogpsrocks]

Network connected via cat 6 cables and a gigabit switch.

 

[Grobe]

FreeFileSync, or SyncBackFree, does NOT delete from the Source without selecting it to do that.

Probably not relevant to OP's original problem - but having used FreeFileSync a couple of years now, I've using its versioning feature so that old file versions moves to a separate directory (specified by user) upon delete/overwrite so that the user can get an overview of all old files before actually deleting.

 

[NedSmelly]

It's not done that often but I have noticed files missing which I an suspecious of maybe the " syncing" feature of freefilesync as deleting files even know I always select to update only to the target side. It makes me nervious that it even has the ability to delete files on one side. I think I would feel more confortable if I used a program that was copy only.

That’s achieved by configuring Freefilesync to “mirror’ instead of ‘synchronise’.