I've got to move around 320,000 files, 80,000 folders (only 100 Gb) of data. Some files are > 1GB but most are < 1kB.
I've had a look at Fastest method of copying files but I'm not sure how useful any of these will be, my problem is not about pure transfer rate speeds but really about how quickly Windows can deal with the IO of 320,000 files.
Do you think I will see speed benefits using either xcopy, robocopy, teracopy or fastcopy?
It took us long (12 hours+) to copy them once (using robocopy), and I hate to have to do that again. What can I do to speed it up?
The stuff is on a USB 2.0 External Drive.
Best Answer
Something like robocopy will be your best bet. USB drives can't handle a whole lot of IO to begin with.
I've pushed millions of small files to and from USB drives using robocopy. It takes time, but it gets the job done.