SOLVED: Copy massive folder/file directory....

[nkormanik]

Task seems pretty straight-forward:

One hard disk.  Two partitions.

On Partition 1 is folder PF1.  On Partition 2 is folder PF2.

In PF2 resides a complicated folder-file-structure set totaling 400 gigabytes.

Challenge:

Copy contents of PF2 to PF1.

Results must be PF2=PF1.  No errors.  Same total number of files and folders, as seen in Windows Explorer, Properties.

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System is Windows 7, 64-bit.  8 gigs memory.  Plenty of room on hard disk.

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Problem is, Windows chokes.  Gets part way through the task, then stops.  Computer sometimes automatically reboots (what an a**hole!).

As you can imagine, unless the task gets 100% completed, with some final message saying so, trust and confidence is shattered.

I've been searching for answers and other possible programs to use.  So still hopeful.

Just wanted to put this thread out there.  Any thoughts and observations welcome.

Nicholas Kormanik

[lanux128]

there are several file-copy tools that can do this. have you tried any of these: teracopy, robocopy, xxcopy?

[mouser]

Don't forget supercopier/ultracopier:
http://ultracopier.f...nfo/supercopier.html
http://ultracopier.first-world.info/

[nkormanik]

Teracopy chokes after as little as 10 gig.  Consistently.  Every time.

Just tried FastCopy.  Went into the other room to eat dinner.  Came back and computer had rebooted.

Good grief.

[tomos]

A sync programme?
I use Syncovery, cant say I've ever copied such a large/complex amount, but I'd be surprised if it didnt manage.
Not sure how the free offers would cope.

[lanux128]

just a thought, check both partitions with scandisk before any copy attempts.

[skwire]

All this computer-rebooting has me thinking that something is wrong with the computer or, at the very least, with the drives you're messing with.

Have you tried to determine what is causing the computer to reboot?  Is this one of those cases where a blue screen is causing an automatic reboot?  If so, that "feature" can be turned off so the blue screen stays there, possibly enabling you to get some clues as to why this is rebooting.

[nkormanik]

Good idea, Skwire.  I sure could use a clue or two.

And, lanux128, disk scan seems totally reasonable.  What I'm actually copying from, though, is a mounted Acronis backup (disk image from another computer, old XP system).

[skwire]

mounted Acronis backup

-nkormanik (June 23, 2014, 12:15 AM)

Ahhh...that's key.  I've never used this product myself but I have heard the stories over the years of how it works for some folks and not at all for others.  It seems very finicky.  Knowing this, and knowing what sort of low-level file system drivers are at play, I wouldn't be surprised if your rebooting is due to a bad Acronis-related file system driver causing a blue screen.  That's my guess anyway.

[Target]

I don't know what your folder structure looks like but could you break it up into smaller lots?

[x16wda]

I've used FreeFileSync for similar tasks, although never quite 400gb worth (~50 was my max) and never from an Acronis disk (although I've copied 10gb over a vpn connection, and smaller amounts to TrueCrypt volumes). FWIW.

[MilesAhead]

I would give RichCopy a try.

I used it to copy Windows.old folder.  I forget the size.  But I remember there were more than 256,000 files/folders in it.  The target was a mapped network drive.  Virtual drive to same physical disk may be a bit tougher.  But this freebie was written by an MS employee no doubt dismayed by existing OS copy tools.

Edit:  What I noticed when I tried to use Explorer was I ran out of patience as it counted how many files it was going to copy.  RichCopy is multithreaded and starts copying right away.  Also it has a pause/resume mechanism.

[Renegade]

All this computer-rebooting has me thinking that something is wrong with the computer or, at the very least, with the drives you're messing with.

Have you tried to determine what is causing the computer to reboot?  Is this one of those cases where a blue screen is causing an automatic reboot?  If so, that "feature" can be turned off so the blue screen stays there, possibly enabling you to get some clues as to why this is rebooting.

-skwire (June 23, 2014, 12:03 AM)

That.

Windows pukes on large copies, but doesn't reboot.

mounted Acronis backup

-nkormanik (June 23, 2014, 12:15 AM)

Ahhh...that's key.  I've never used this product myself but I have heard the stories over the years of how it works for some folks and not at all for others.  It seems very finicky.  Knowing this, and knowing what sort of low-level file system drives are at play, I wouldn't be surprised if your rebooting is due to a bad Acronis-related file system driver causing a blue screen.  That's my guess anyway.

-skwire (June 23, 2014, 12:38 AM)

Another thing to try is turning off Acronis temporarily.

I had this exact problem before. And I use Acronis. I forget the details now as it was a while back, but I did get it solved... Now if only I could remember... I'm not sure if I wrote some software to do the job... I'll check later when I have time, but that will likely be a day or 2.

[40hz]

+1 w/Miles on RichCopy. I do some massive file moves for clients. It's never failed me.

However, I think part of the problem might be going from partition to partition on the same drive. You might be maxing the data buss or some internal scratch file Windows is using to keep track of what's going on. If that's what's actually happening, Windows is doing another one of those "graceful degradation & fails" you sometimes hear about.



You might try dumping the file onto an external drive first and then copying back over to the partition you want it on.

Another alternative might be to boot off a Windows or Linux 'live' rescue-type CD/DVD and see if you can get the copy operation to work that way. Since they're running as minimalist OSes, these tools have very little overhead and few if any 'distractions' running in the background. That may allow your copy to complete without interruption.

Luck!

[nkormanik]

Mission accomplished.

FastCopy did the trick.  Using following parameters:  Buffer Size=64 MB; Max I/O Size=8 MB; Use OS buffer for reading.

No hiccups.  "Job Finished" message at end.

Thanks for all the input above, folks.  Greatly appreciate it.

[David.P]

Hi @all,

Has someone already found a copier tool that is simple -- and that simply works?

It should preserve the modification date of folders, and also copy hidden folders as hidden.

Thanks heaps!

[David.P]

Okay, I'm done.

I shall look no further and simply use the ingenious Freefile Sync, which does everything those st00pid specialized file copiers can't do properly -- and then even much more.