Introduction
Hard drives are becoming larger with each advance made in the hardware industry. With the increase in storage size available the amount of files the average user keeps on their computer has also greatly expanded. But when you want to backup those files safely to either another partition or an external hard drive you need a copy utility that will not run into problems. I used my own music collection at 21.7GB and used several free copy utility programs to see which of them was the fastest, most reliable and easy to use.
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Other File Copiers
Besides the recommended file copy utilities, I'd also mention SuperCopier and KillCopy since both are stable and reliable. Both are faster than the built-in Windows copier.
They run from the system tray and are light on resources. KillCopy is quite a bit faster on transfers and has a plethora of options for the advanced user. It gets a hard time for its looks but it has many skins available on its webpage if you do decide to go that route. None that make it as attractive as UltraCopier, in my opinion, but it does help.
Related Products and Links
You might want to check out these articles too:
- Best Free File Manager
- Best Free File Archiver/Zip Utility
- Best Free File Rename Utility
- Best Free Search and Replace Utility
- Best Free Data Recovery/File Un-delete Utility
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Comments
Interesting that there is no mention of RoboCopy (built in to Windows 7 and newer, and available for download for older versions). Several GUIs exist for it that provide various types of assistance. I was just reading about RichCopy, written by a Microsoft engineer, and it seems to have some features asked for in other comments (select folder to copy, for one). Apparently, a new version of RichCopy is expected shortly as of this writing...
Someone wrote today suggesting a program that is the 'bees knees' for copying.
I came to comment on his poo hoo'ing of XP, and to tell him he is lucky he does not have only one PC that is stuck in a timeless loop failing to update W10 (like my W10 PC is doing). However I digress.
The program he mentioned did look pretty fantastic, BUT is commercial. Thus explaining why his post never made it on to this page.
I searched for a free program that has most of the same features. I believe I have found that best free equivalent.
That program is TeraCopy which is one of the ones reviewed by the editor of this page.
It is the lowest rated above, presumably because of slower speed.
I firmly believe we all should be more worried about reliability, rather than speed.
Rob
PS There is also a free program called "Direct Folders', which looks to be worth checking out.
Regarding Unstoppable
I am not sure if it Verifies the result, as I cannot see a setting or checkbox for that.
And there is something I find irritating - If I have a folder C:\Temp and I place that (C:\Temp or C:\Temp\) in the From box
The copy does not copy Temp, it just copies the contents of Temp.
I expect computers do do exactly what I ask, and that ain't doing what I asked.
This thread might be a little old for this question, but has anybody had trouble with FastCopy dropping files? I tried several times to copy a directory from one drive to a backup drive across my network. File counts match in the log match the source directory, but when I check the destination, a handful of files are missing. No errors in the log file, and the files were not in use when FastCopy was running. Tried several times, with option Copy Overwrite selected each time, but the same files seem to come up missing. FastCopy says it copied all 277, but in reality it only got 269.
Did you activate the 'Verify' option ?
After a short test between Ultracopier and Teracopy, I have to admit that Ultracopier is faster. Even though if it is faster, I still hate the delay it has when it starts to copy something.
Be it a lot of small files or large files, when I compared the two, Ultracopier was much faster, with both of them have activated the checksum test. Actually, Ultracopier does not seem to get much if any at all slower when the checksum test is activated. It does make me feel a bit uneasy that is passes it so fast, but then again, I doubt they would add such an option without it being working right.
Even though Ultracopier in speed is better, I still abhor how when I try to copy/move any kind of files, even if it is a shortcut or a textfile less than a kb, I have to wait for a couple of seconds before Ultracopier will decide to work. If I rush it and start moving a lot of small files around at the same time, the app goes in a "not responding" state, and I have to wait a bit more.
Most of my everyday move/copy actions are of smaller files and I definitely prefer to wait longer when I transfer really large files, rather than have to wait for the copy program to every time start the copy.
If anything I prefer to have teracopy to replace my windows default copier and use another copier for special cases of really huge transfers. The reason I post this is because Ultracopier gets 5 stars and absolutely no negatives.
As a sidenote, I am using an SSD, so it is not my HDD taking it's time.
Like with another post 2 years back, I think you should state if each utility Verifies the destination matches the source bit-by-bit 100% ! The only reason I look for a Copy Utility, is I am not happy with the Copy cmd in Windows, as it does not report copy errors when copying bulk data/drives. Therefore a primary feature I seek is Verification. BTW, when I perused your link for Ultracopier I could not even find a reference to Verification, so I guess it may not do that all-important function. Your review would benefit from including a at-a-glance table of vital Copy features for each Utility.
As a past used for Ultracopier I can tell you that it can actually verify checksums if you want it to, like Fastcopy and Teracopy. The only one I can't talk about is unstoppable copier. Used it only once to test it and never again in the past. All three of the programs though need the user to actually go by himself/herself and activate that option.
Trying out FastCopy, but can't get Help to open correctly. Looks like it's supposed to be HTML, but clicking the Help (?) button opens what looks like the old-style Windows Help dialog, which can't render HTML. I get a TOC on the left, but no text on the right for any items in the TOC. Anybody else experiencing this?
I have used fast copy only twice in my life, so I can't remember precisely how the interface looks. I do remember though that when I used it to copy, it did give me an option to tick to calculate the estimated time of arrival, which twice I did not use, since I would leave the PC open and leave. Maybe you have not checked that option?
TerraCopy has released V3
They have decided to NOT make it work in XP, and their site gives scant warning about this (TCH! TCH!)
Their arrogant attitude in a recent giveaway site is -
95% of users, use more recent OS (Vista, W7 etc), so the 5% should get rid of their XP
Rob
PS whilst rummaging around looking for confirmation that XP users should all 'snap out of it', I also came across mutterings from some users about reliability.
If any program took thrice as long as others BUT was guaranteed to not falter, that would be the program I would use.
You should have specified that version 3.0 is in alpha.. nowhere near final stage.
Also, many software developers have stopped supporting XP now, so why not TeraCopy too? XP support has ended, and slowly it will phase out... although many people still use it.
They were selling version 3 half price on a giveaway site (Bits....our).
The author was answering questions from members who had v2.3 and were debating whether to purchase v3
He and members were also discussing that v3 will not work in XP
The Bits.....our site is now selling it for full price.
But I must confess the TerraCopy site is very vague about version numbers, even when I added it to the shopping cart (briefly)
Rob
PS maybe the author is using the Bits....our 'offer' as a means to get people using the alpha (Naughty)
PPS I just studied the Bits....our page, and it too is vague about the version. It may be they are flogging v2.3
Life is confusing enough for the elderly and the feeble minded, without both of those sites adding to the confusion.
Windows XP support stopped one and a half year ago. Creating new software that supports an OS that has been abandoned by the company that created and developed it, is weird. I do not say that since XP are gone they should be forgotten. V2 IMO works just fine and I have and I am using it for many long years now. But why would they create a new piece of software and afar from windows 7, 8 and 10 they would have to give support and fix bugs on an abandoned OS? I do not understand why there should be given a warning, when Windows XP are no more.
PS: I still use Windows XP on one of my laptops, since it can't work well with anything else. I am though using logic, rather than personal needs about my old system.
I was surprised to see that Best Free Folder Synchronization Utility is not included in the related articles list for file copying. The main difference with a synchronizer is that it checks what is in the destination and compares it with the source files before copying. Maybe that is an option for you.
I use FreeFileSync for both synchronizing and copying files. It is free for commercial uses and runs on Windows (XP upwards), Mac OS/X and Linux. Reliability has been excellent although I've never checked to see if there is a verify option. One caveat is that it come with an OpenCandy installer which is less than ideal.
Probably because it is not specifically for copying. I mean sure there are image editors that are great image viewers, but to suggest one as an image viewer, to a person that would not like the extra image editing capabilities, would be weird. At least to me.
I tried your link for FastCopy v3-0-6 32bit, but that took me to strange (and foreign) places.
Our readers may prefer this link -
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/FastCopy.shtml
Why is taking so long for Windows 10 software to come out of its shell?
FastCopy has been updated to version 3.03 (full changelog at http://ipmsg.org/tools/fastcopy.html.en#history).
I'm looking for a copier that can copy from several sources to one destination. That is, browse to a file or folder somewhere, mark it, repeat until done, then copy all to destinatioin location. I don't much care where in this process the destination location is specified, or how it's specified. I just want something with the capability of marking several things and sending them (either copying or moving them) to a destination. Anyone remember XTree or ZTree? I'd love something like that, but with a GUI, not the horrible pseudo-GUI run in a DOS window.
Thanks for the pointer George : )
I have trouble with TeraCopy on large jobs ... for me it tends to hang my system when left alone to copy files for several hours. I was just DuckDuckGo-ing for an alternative that has a pause option, and your comment here popped up which has made my day. I find FastCopy much more reliable than TeraCopy and the only thing missing for me was a pause function. It hadn't even occured to me try using the speed slider.
Thank you!
Do all of the reviewed programs VERIFY the copied files ?
I am not too fussed about which program is the fastest.
Thanks. I have W/8.1 on new PC (ASRock 970 EXTREME3; AMD 6350 3.9ghz; 8bg ram) and since 8.1 installed, every time i try to copy files to every USB stick i tried, and in different ports, Windows only copies some and then ends up saying the files i am copying (from a internal sata HD) no longer exist - but they do. And then it no longer recognizes the USB stick, or shows it but cannot do anything with it.
Going into sleep/suspend and waking up again enables me to get a reinserted stick recognized sometimes, but the same issue is replicated.
However, FastCopy works file and full in copying them, even if the interface looks like W/95. Thank God for alternatives as this. Even the latest Windows needs them.
Hi Raymond,
Do you know if Fast Copy will spans disks?
i.e. Copying multiple files or simply one gigantic file to a cd or dvd where the files or file will not "fit" on one disk.
Now Supercopier 4 based on Ultracopier. And Ultracopier 1.0.1.2!
Hi, all....
The revue of FastCopy mentions it can be used without being installed. Boy, do I feel dumb for asking, but could someone tell me how I go about doing that?
Also, I have an older rig running WinXP 32-bit Pro that seems to have caught a "virus" (that somehow got by my always-updated, real-time-scanning, McAfee anti-virus software) that won't let me connect to the internet, won't let McAfee run a virus scan, and won't let me copy any files (the "Copy" command is there, but the "Paste" command is absent after I highlight files and click on "Copy").
Given the situation above, can anyone suggest how I can copy the files on my C: hard drive to an external hard drive, in an effort to save them, before I (apparently have to) re-format my C: drive?
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, guys.