Fastest way to move files on a Windows System

windows performance batch-file copy-paste
Andreas Grech picture Andreas Grech · Dec 12, 2008 · Viewed 43.7k times · Source

I want to move about 800gb of data from an NTFS storage device to a FAT32 device (both are external hard drives), on a Windows System.

What is the best way to achieve this?

  1. Simply using cut-paste?
  2. Using the command prompt ? (move)
  3. Writing a batch file to copy a small chunks of data on a given interval ?
  4. Use some specific application that does the job for me?
  5. Or any better idea...?

What is the most safe, efficient and fast way to achieve such a time consuming process?

Answer

Pyrolistical picture Pyrolistical · Dec 12, 2008

Robocopy

You can restart the command and it'll resume. I use it all the time over the network. Works on large files as well.

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