Copy and paste should be easy enough, but I know from experience when you try to copy files quickly, especially numerous files, Windows doesn’t always cooperate. If it’s not going well, We have got a few solutions to speed things along.
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- 1. Use the Built-in Tool Robocopy (Robust File Copy)
- 2. Upgrade Storage Drives and Update Drivers
- 3. Use a Third-Party Copying App
- 4. Compress Your Files Before Copying
- 5. Turn Off Search Indexing
- 6. Prevent Windows Freezing While Copying
1. Use the Built-in Tool Robocopy (Robust File Copy)
This is a built-in command line tool in Windows, which offers more power when you need to run repetitive and/or complicated file copy processes. It makes it much easier and faster, especially over a network.
To use Robocopy, open Start, type Command Prompt and click on Command Prompt from the search results. Alternately, press Win + X and select Terminal. This opens PowerShell, but the command works in here too. Or, use the drop-down arrow in Terminal to open Command Prompt.
robocopy /?
Press Enter to get instructions based on the copying parameters you want. I realize many users prefer a GUI versus command line, so this isn’t the only way to copy files quickly.
If you want to perform the same copying process regularly, you can create a batch file and double-click to run or set the script to run via Task Scheduler as an automated process. Batch files also help with reorganizing your PC.
2. Upgrade Storage Drives and Update Drivers
Trying to copy a large number of files on an older PC, or even to an older external hard drive? Good luck. You’re probably going to be waiting for a while.
Your hard drive plays a massive role in determining the copying speed. Ideally, solid-state drives (SSDs) are faster than older HDDs, so upgrading to an SSD might be worth it if you copy a large number of files regularly.
The same applies when copying from or to an external drive. If you use a flash drive with USB 2.0 or an older external HDD, the transfer speeds drag. Replace with a modern USB 3.0 drive that supports faster data transfers.
As an example, I performed a full PC backup with thousands of files, including large video files. On my USB 2.0 external HDD, this took almost six hours. With a USB 3.0 external SSD, it took less than three hours.
If you do upgrade your internal drive to SSD, make sure you do these things.
As one final note, check your USB ports when using external drives. Make sure you are using the USB 3.0 port to utilize the fastest possible transfer speed.
No matter what type of drives you have, keep the drivers updated. Press Win + X and select Device Manager. Expand Disk Drives, right-click your drive, and select Update driver. You can also check the manufacturer’s site for drivers.
3. Use a Third-Party Copying App
Windows does okay when copying a large number of files quickly, but third-party copying apps tend to optimize the process. My go-to is TeraCopy. It’s designed to dynamically adjust buffers to reduce seek times and speed up copying operations. The app even verifies files and alerts you if something isn’t correct.
My favorite part is it supports asynchronous copying, which accelerates file transfers between two hard drives. And, unlike when Windows freezes when finding problematic files, TeraCopy skips them and notifies you afterward. A premium version’s available, but I’ve never needed anything other than the free version.
If you don’t like TeraCopy, give FastCopy a try. I don’t like the interface as much, but if you’re using SSDs, it does offer up to a 30 percent speed increase. It also has a larger variety of settings for more complex backup scenarios. So, I’d recommend this one for doing backups.
4. Compress Your Files Before Copying
I have a folder with numerous sub-folders and several thousand files that I regularly backup. It’s almost 10GB. By compressing it, it shrinks to nearly 3GB, making it much faster to copy it. You can use the built-in compression tool in Windows or try WinRAR or 7zip. It takes a few minutes to compress your files, leaving you with one large file which copies very quickly.
The built-in tool doesn’t work as well for photos and videos, so I’d try one of the other tools for those types of files.
5. Turn Off Search Indexing
I know search indexing speeds up efficiency when searching, but it can wreak havoc on copying files quickly. I’ve tried turning off search indexing a few times and it has made a major difference in my speeds. You just have to turn it back on when you’re done.
Press Win + R and type services.msc. Press OK. Double-click Windows Search. Set the Startup Type to Disabled. Click Stop to immediately stop the service and click Apply.
6. Prevent Windows Freezing While Copying
Windows gets randomly angry and freezes when you try to copy files quickly, especially larger files or a large number of files. If you don’t want to spend your time starting over, keep the following in mind:
- Close all other apps and let Windows focus on copying. Since it’s a resource intensive process, running other apps slows the entire process down and even freezes the system.
- Check available space. Even if copying won’t completely fill the drive, if it’s low on space, Windows often freezes or gives an error about low space. Even though I had 50GB left, Windows refused to let me copy a 30GB set of videos to my drive.
- Check your hard drive health. Bad sectors or a failing drive slows down copying considerably.
- Ensure files aren’t corrupt. Corrupted files cause Windows to stop the copy process or freeze up. Pay attention to any errors and remove these files. Otherwise, you’ll never finish copying.
- Troubleshoot copy/paste problems. Sometimes, it’s not Windows freezing. It’s just an error with copying and pasting. If you can’t even copy/paste a single file, try these troubleshooting tips.
It’s not always easy to copy files quickly in Windows, but the above should speed things up. Before you copy anything else, check out all these ways to copy, cut, and paste in Windows.
Image credit: All images by Crystal Crowder
Crystal Crowder –
Staff Writer
Crystal Crowder has spent over 15 years working in the tech industry, first as an IT technician and then as a writer. She works to help teach others how to get the most from their devices, systems, and apps. She stays on top of the latest trends and is always finding solutions to common tech problems.
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