Copying/Moving which is faster?

[babadoctor]

Does anyone know if copying or moving is faster on a regular HDD?

[Flight1sim]

moving

[Marvzl1357]

Does anyone know if copying or moving is faster on a regular HDD?

Moving things around on the same hdd is always faster because nothing is actually being done, just the file directory being changed. 

If it's cut/paste onto a different hdd, both should be around the same, just cutting is a touch more risky since if the connection is lost, your half-copied file would be split into two across two hard drives with no way to recombine them

[ItsFTP]

Moving    -  Copy - Paste - Delete

Copying   - Copy - Paste

 

I should say about the same

[Lewellyn]

Moving simply changes the directory (within the same drive). Copying actually actually clones the data.

[cesrai]

Moving - Copy - Paste - Delete

Copying - Copy - Paste

I should say about the same

Not really, moving cut paste.

[amintha1992]

if you are asking about the transfer speed and time , then it depends on

• from where to where, like in the same partition or different hard drives or partitions,
• from what to what, from a USB drive to HDD
• what kind of data? sequential or random?  long video vs a game installation. 

so considering those things its not a straight answer.

 

• if moving  in the same drive/partition is the fastest, it only changes the index to point to the correct sector path
• moving with in the same HDD but different partitions is the second fastest. information have to be moved in to the new partition.
• moving between different drives, no matter what the interface is the slowest, USB to HDD being slowest
• copping in any of the above situation is slower than moving in the respective situation. 

[ItsFTP]

Moving simply changes the directory (on the same drive). Copying actually actually clones the data.

Isn't that BSD?

[amintha1992]

Moving simply changes the directory (on the same drive). Copying actually actually clones the data.

on if its in the same drive or partition.

[ItsFTP]

Not really, moving cut paste.

Either way somethings getting marked as delete or the path changed. 

[ReadyToGame]

Moving: Faster - Just changing directory

Making a copy - Slower than moving, as it is making a whole new exact copy, possibly in a new place/directory than the original file.

[babadoctor]

One last quesiton for you tech wizards,

I have a flash drive that i want to copy some things onto via single user mode. But when i go into (mac) single user mode, it does not see the drive. i did ls /Volumes and ls /dev/disk* and the only thing that changed during pluggining it in and out are 3 files: disk1, disk 1s1, and disk 1s2. Please help me with copying items via single user mode to a flash drive! (I cannot log into my computer via the graphical interface, due to an error. I am actually trying to back up a file of mine.)

[handruin]

When you move a file within the same physical drive and in the same formatted partition (assuming NTFS for this example), you're updating a reference in the Master File Table (MFT) which the filesystem uses to track every file and directory and this is very fast. 

 

When you copy and paste a file or directory, you are creating a clone of the data which takes a lot more time because you're duplicating the bits into your physical media as well as updating the filesystem to store the new information.  The OS, filesystem, and drive have to read and write out all the data.

 

If you Move a file or directory from one physical drive to another, then it is like a copy then delete of the original source because it has to traverse different physical media to a different MFT.

[handruin]

One last quesiton for you tech wizards,

I have a flash drive that i want to copy some things onto via single user mode. But when i go into (mac) single user mode, it does not see the drive. i did ls /Volumes and ls /dev/disk* and the only thing that changed during pluggining it in and out are 3 files: disk1, disk 1s1, and disk 1s2. Please help me with copying items via single user mode to a flash drive! (I cannot log into my computer via the graphical interface, due to an error. I am actually trying to back up a file of mine.)

 

 

I haven't tried this, but this was the first return from a Google search.  This was a second return from Google.

[babadoctor]

thanks so much!

[cesrai]

Either way somethings getting marked as delete or the path changed.

You said it's "copy paste delete" but it's changing the path or cut paste.

[ItsFTP]

You said it's "copy paste delete" but it's changing the path or cut paste.

If it's moving drive, it has to mark the old file as delete and it also needs to move the data.

[cesrai]

If it's moving drive, it has to mark the old file as delete and it also needs to move the data.

Then why doesn't it take no time at all ??