When copying hundreds of small files/folders on Windows, the calculating phase of Windows often takes a really long time before anything starts actually being copied. Is there a setting to tell Windows to start copying right away and/or skip the whole pre-calculation phase?
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4Even with utilities like TerCopy the calculation takes place before the actual copying occurs. E.g. TeraCopy will sit there doing nothing but the led on the flashdrive is blinking like crazy. I am unable to understand the logic behind this practice, apparently Windows is as stupid as an OS can get. The best solution is what Zachary is suggesting, i.e. use the cmd line. All other "answers" are wrong.– user116883Commented Feb 5, 2012 at 5:20
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Like it or not, the purpose of the calculation is to provide a more accurate status bar and time estimate. Lets say you have 100 files in a directory with 99 files that are 1MB in size and 1 file that is 10GB in size, the first 99 files are copied and the status bar shows that 99% for a prolonged period of time because of the large file - most users are going to think the copy operation has frozen and abort the process even though it's working properly on the large file. It can be irritating for small files but when it comes to large files, it can manage time expectations.– Dustin G.Commented Feb 5, 2012 at 6:42
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1It is especially terrible with Media Transfer Protocol (MTP).– neverMind9Commented Aug 1, 2019 at 7:11
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Just use the built in robocopy.exe command. It can handle both local and network drive copying and you can enable transfer status but by default it shows the progress of each file being copied.– anthonymawCommented Jul 3, 2022 at 3:11
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I interpret the question as "Can I setup explorer.exe to avoid doing this and that when copying files".– Anders LindénCommented May 29, 2023 at 12:43
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7 Answers
Don't use Explorer.
Whether that means using a 3rd party file manager, a copy handler, or the command line is up to you.
A copy handler is a shell extension that intercepts any attempts to copy/move files and implements the operations itself. Normally these copy handlers are made to implement features that Explorer doesn't have, like queuing up multiple operations, different overwriting semantics or synchronization, speed throttling, etc. Some tools you can look at include FastCopy, TeraCopy, SuperCopier, and the imaginatively named Copy Handler.
Personally, I use FastCopy because it maintains the semantics of Explorer's copying the best. For example, the last time I tried TeraCopy to update a file with multiple hardlinks, it didn't do the same thing Explorer did.
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2Out of curiosity, why do you have files with multiple hardlinks? Commented Apr 28, 2010 at 1:10
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6Because they're useful. For example, the top of my download folder has sub-folders for each PC I own. I'll hardlink programs that need installed on each system into that system's folder. I use junctions and hardlinks for all kinds of things, and Link Shell Extension makes them easier to create, see, and manage.– afrazierCommented Apr 28, 2010 at 3:14
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1@gizmo MTP drives are special and Windows doesn't let you mount them. Also you can't even list the directories when the copy is taking place. Commented Nov 22, 2022 at 19:48
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1I would argue this does not answer the question, as the question specifically says Windows Explorer. Answering that with "give up" is glib.– Jay MCommented Sep 25, 2023 at 11:14
robocopy is the best tool for large copies of tiny files.
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1This answer is in my opinion the best, and for two reasons. Whilst there may be many third party tools to handle and copy your data, robocopy is the tool that's built-in to Windows. By name and by nature, robocopy is extremely robust and I wouldn't trust important file copies with anything else.– hazymatCommented Feb 3, 2021 at 1:29
There are two phases in the calculation of remaining time of Windows Vista/7’s file-operation dialog. There is an initial phase in which the files and folders to be copied or moved are enumerated, and a second phase in which the remaining time is estimated. The first phase does indeed happen before any file operations are actually performed, but the second one happens while the files are being copied/moved and constantly updated as it progresses (thus the remaining time may go up or down).
If your issue is with the second part, then there is no need to worry. The Time remaining line will be updated once it has finished calculating, but the files are already being moved/copied. (In fact, it must copy or move some files so that it can gauge the average read/write speed for use in the estimate calculation; merely knowing the number of files/folders is not sufficient).
If your problem is with the first part, then as others have mentioned, you could use a third-party tool to just copy/move files and folders right away, but be aware that there are some advantages to using the built-in method (ie, pre-enumeration) instead of doing it blindly like how it was done in previous versions of Windows. By knowing the status of the files and folders (eg file/dir-names, attributes, sizes, etc.), Windows is able to provide you with options for handling conflicts and hidden/system files. If it does not first make a complete list of files and folders, it cannot ask you about merging or overwriting/renaming objects. (Technically, it can, but by building a list first, it makes the process faster and easier to manage, especially if you click the always/do for all box.) Like some have said here, even third-party tools usually build a list.
Open powershell, type this replacing your source and destination, you can also use network paths here
Copy-Item "c:\\sourcefolder\*" "C:\destinationfolder" -Recurse -Force -verbose
If you you copy/move folders using the command line, the process proceeds without the calculation.
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Yes, but it is essentially useless for things like copying or moving groups of files, or folders to other volumes. (That’s why I wrote a command-line tool that performs file-operations via the shell.)
;-)– SynetechCommented Feb 5, 2012 at 7:20
TLDR: Use something like OneDrive as a conduit.
As infuriating as this is (after all, File Explorer under Windows 10 in 2019 should just work, whether locally, across a network, between internal and external devices, etc.--shame on Microsoft!), another idea is to use OneDrive (or other similar cloud-based repo) as the conduit through you make small file copies and moves. Here's the workflow:
- Copy/move the files in question to OneDrive on the source computer.
- Copy the files from OneDrive on the target computer.
- Optionally delete the files in question from OneDriver when you're done.
Of course there will be small variations to the above workflow depending on your requirements.
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2Please NEVER recommend OneDrive without recommending to encrypt the files in question, or at least without explaining the implications regarding privacy and data protection rules. Furthermore, try that with 10 GB of data ... This is a really bad solution IMHO.– BinarusCommented Oct 21, 2020 at 15:11
Hold the Ctrl key while left-clicking to drag-and-drop. It seems to get started copying without the worthless precalculation phase.
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5Holding
Ctrlmeans copy, as opposed to the default of moving if it's within the same partition. It should not affect how the copying is done...– BobCommented Jun 17, 2012 at 7:56 -
1Let's be clear: It's not that it "should not affect how the copying is done" (I agree, it shouldn't!), it absolutely DOES NOT affect how the copying is done. :)– JazimovCommented Oct 9, 2019 at 17:48
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