[Solved] What's the best way to copy a large amount of data?

[fs0ciety]

I've got a little over 1 TB of data I need to copy from an external hard disk to an internal hard disk. I tried just dragging and dropping, but it's been at 12% for a while now and I feel like it's stuck.

[fstjohn]

I've got a little over 1 TB of data I need to copy from an external hard disk to an internal hard disk. I tried just dragging and dropping, but it's been at 12% for a while now and I feel like it's stuck.

Be patient. It may not be stuck but just transferring a full buffer. That's a lot of data, so it may take a while. Go have a beer or two and come back.

[Larry78723]

A 1TB drive can take 3 hours to copy, sometimes more depending on the method used. Be patient.

[bob466]

You can always copy and paste in smaller increments but what ever you do it takes time...Mint will tell you when it's done.

[Flemur]

I would definitely use "cp" or "rsync" in a terminal to copy that much data. There are issues - as in this forum** - with at least some file-browsers and copying large amounts of data especially to/from USB drives.

** Edit: internet search this -

Code: Select all

site:forums.linuxmint.com "copy" "large"

[fs0ciety]

You guys were right, I was a bit too impatient haha. I first tried to copy everything from the terminal by doing cp -r * /targetdirectory/, because I'm trying to learn terminal stuff. But my issue with that was that I couldn't see the progress. So then I did it the old fashioned way instead.

[Pjotr]

Double Commander is a fine stand-alone file manager that has never bogged down on me. You might give it a try.

[pbear]

I first tried to copy everything from the terminal by doing cp -r * /targetdirectory/, because I'm trying to learn terminal stuff. But my issue with that was that I couldn't see the progress.

For future reference, one way you can do that is to add the "v" tag (verbose), so cp -rv /source/ /target/, which will scroll the file names as copied. For more info on cp or any terminal command, look at the man page (short for manual), e.g., man cp.

[Lord Boltar]

You can also use Krusader

[deepakdeshp]

dd command with bs=102400000 will copy 100 mb in one read operation.

[fs0ciety]

I first tried to copy everything from the terminal by doing cp -r * /targetdirectory/, because I'm trying to learn terminal stuff. But my issue with that was that I couldn't see the progress.

For future reference, one way you can do that is to add the "v" tag (verbose), so cp -rv /source/ /target/, which will scroll the file names as copied. For more info on cp or any terminal command, look at the man page (short for manual), e.g., man cp.

Thanks, I'll try that out next time

[jimallyn]

Double Commander is a fine stand-alone file manager that has never bogged down on me.

Just used Double Commander the other day to copy from an old install to a USB drive. It may not be pretty, but it sure works good!

[Pierre]

Double Commander is a fine stand-alone file manager that has never bogged down on me.

Just used Double Commander the other day to copy from an old install to a USB drive. It may not be pretty, but it sure works good!

my favourite is the Gnome Commander & which is also in the repositories.
- - they all have their own quirks, and some work better than others do.
when copying a lots of files, I'll generally do that directory by directory,
& in case of any file failure - - I've had a few, when doing bulk file transferring .. .. ..