Need to transfer 3.47TB, do I Copy and Paste or clone?

pete_agreatguy

pete_agreatguy

pete_agreatguy

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Hi all,

I need to transfer 3.47TB of data from a mechanical 8TB to a 8TB SSD.

Should I ...
(a) copy and paste all the data via windows file explorer
(b) copy and paste small amounts at a time using the latter ... or ...
(c) Use something like macrium reflect to clone the drive?

Thank you in advance :)
 
Use Macrium Reflect Free to clone the drive.

If you dont have Macrium Reflect Free file then it no longer free on Macrium website. Below is alternative mirror link.

www.majorgeeks.com

Download Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - MajorGeeks

With Macrium Reflect Free Edition you'll be able to easily make an accurate and reliable image of your HDD or individual partitions. Using this image you can restore the entire disk, partition or...
www.majorgeeks.com
 
Depends what's on the drive. If it's just a data drive then just copy the root folders. If it's a system drive then clone it. Keep the mechanical drive as backup for at least a few days in case there is an issue.
With system drives you might as well keep it as a backup for longer, if you can. At least until the system on there becomes really out of date.
 
Last edited:
I would use a sync/backup tool of some sort and run a job to sync from the HDD to the SSD. Then that way, if it bombs out with an error, it'll be able to re-start from where it left off automatically. My experience over the years has been that if you data has been here there and everywhere across different machines, it can get attributes and ownerships that windows copy/paste doesn't like.
 
nightwish said:
robocopy is quicker than copy and paste IME, particularly if dealing with many small files
Click to expand...
No. FastCopy is fastest and much quicker than both robocopy and copy and paste accorded to file copy benchmarks.

www.raymond.cc

WhatSoftware Blog

WhatSoftware, a daily updated Tech Blog with basic and advanced, unbiased software reviews, computer tips news and more!
www.raymond.cc www.raymond.cc

FastCopy

FastCopy Official site
fastcopy.jp

10 years ago I tested WinRobocopy and TeraCopy but didnt see any different compared to Windows 8 and uninstalled both craps then I heard about FastCopy and tested it was the fastest file copy ever put both Robocopy and TeraCopy to shame. :cool:
 
Many thanks for all your replies. I used Macrium Reflect Free to clone the drive as I already was familiar with the software.

It only took 6 hours to clone it :-o, was expecting much longer.
 
pete_agreatguy said:
Hi all,

I need to transfer 3.47TB of data from a mechanical 8TB to a 8TB SSD.

Should I ...
(a) copy and paste all the data via windows file explorer
(b) copy and paste small amounts at a time using the latter ... or ...
(c) Use something like macrium reflect to clone the drive?

Thank you in advance :)
Click to expand...
Just out of interest, which 8tb ssd did you go for? im likely to be doing something similar in the next few months, im hoping it will ensure i no longer have time to brew and drink a cuppa whilst wiaitng for Warhammer IE to load!
 
pete_agreatguy said:
I went with the Samsung 870 QVO 8TB.

You want to consider the pcie nvme interface if it is for gaming.
Click to expand...
will do many thanks! The hdd my steam directory is on is 6tb, was looking for something similar size but the largest/affordable pcie nvme i saw was in the 4tb range. tbf that could work, im up to nearly 2tb used on my current drive, i prob wont buy any more big ticket games, and by time i do ideally some extra bright spark somewhere will have invested a larger capacity drive for less!
 
AthlonXP1800 said:
No. FastCopy is fastest and much quicker than both robocopy and copy and paste accorded to file copy benchmarks.

www.raymond.cc

WhatSoftware Blog

WhatSoftware, a daily updated Tech Blog with basic and advanced, unbiased software reviews, computer tips news and more!
www.raymond.cc www.raymond.cc

FastCopy

FastCopy Official site
fastcopy.jp

10 years ago I tested WinRobocopy and TeraCopy but didnt see any different compared to Windows 8 and uninstalled both craps then I heard about FastCopy and tested it was the fastest file copy ever put both Robocopy and TeraCopy to shame. :cool:
Click to expand...

FastCopy is great, have used it many times when migrating drives etc and it's always done it at great speeds and with no errors.
 
AthlonXP1800 said:
No. FastCopy is fastest and much quicker than both robocopy and copy and paste accorded to file copy benchmarks.

www.raymond.cc

WhatSoftware Blog

WhatSoftware, a daily updated Tech Blog with basic and advanced, unbiased software reviews, computer tips news and more!
www.raymond.cc www.raymond.cc

FastCopy

FastCopy Official site
fastcopy.jp

10 years ago I tested WinRobocopy and TeraCopy but didnt see any different compared to Windows 8 and uninstalled both craps then I heard about FastCopy and tested it was the fastest file copy ever put both Robocopy and TeraCopy to shame. :cool:
Click to expand...
I tested FastCopy and while it was around 25% faster than TeraCopy at copying a load of small files (photos) to a hard drive, the UI is shockingly bad. It also has no option to show notifications or play sounds when a transfer has completed, and when you queue transfers it opens new instances instead of keeping everything together in the same window. I'll stick to TeraCopy which has a nice UI and has worked flawlessly for me over many years, speed when copying large files is the same and I don't copy a load of tiny files often enough for it to be worth using FastCopy.
 
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