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CUT or COPY ???

Runelight
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Go to solution Solved by Enderman,

Cut will only move the pointer to the file location (if cutting to a place on the same drive) which is usually only a few KB or MB.

Copy will duplicate every single byte in the new location.

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Hey everyone , when i copied the setup of GTA V on PC to another folder , it took likeabove 15 mins . But when I cut it as well as several setup files of several games totaling of 125 GB , it didnt even took 5 sec . Why is that and what is the technical definition ????

Thanks in advance :) 

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Modern file systems are advanced, and folders are not locations on drives, files point to locations. If you move a file to a separate folder on the same drive, the file transfer is almost instant, because all it is doing is updating the files to show that they are in different folders, not moving it's position on the drive.

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5 minutes ago, Runelight said:

Hey everyone , when i copied the setup of GTA V on PC to another folder , it took likeabove 15 mins . But when I cut it as well as several setup files of several games totaling of 125 GB , it didnt even took 5 sec . Why is that and what is the technical definition ????

Thanks in advance :) 

When you cut it just links it, it doesn't move any sectors.

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  • Solution

Cut will only move the pointer to the file location (if cutting to a place on the same drive) which is usually only a few KB or MB.

Copy will duplicate every single byte in the new location.

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On 7/26/2016 at 10:26 PM, spidsepttk said:

Modern file systems are advanced, and folders are not locations on drives, files point to locations. If you move a file to a separate folder on the same drive, the file transfer is almost instant, because all it is doing is updating the files to show that they are in different folders, not moving it's position on the drive.

Thanks for taking time to help me . ;) 

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4 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Cut will only move the pointer to the file location (if cutting to a place on the same drive) which is usually only a few KB or MB.

Copy will duplicate every single byte in the new location.

Depends on files system. Some will link for copy and only write changes, like btrfs, zfs and refs.

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Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Depends on files system. Some will link for copy and only write changes, like btrfs, zfs and refs.

That sounds really bad....

What if you modify the original file?

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8 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Only writes changes.

Well how does it know it has changed if it has no reference file to compare it to?

NEW PC build: Blank Heaven   minimalist white and black PC     Old S340 build log "White Heaven"        The "LIGHTCANON" flashlight build log        Project AntiRoll (prototype)        Custom speaker project

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Ryzen 3950X | AMD Vega Frontier Edition | ASUS X570 Pro WS | Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB | NZXT H500 | Seasonic Prime Fanless TX-700 | Custom loop | Coolermaster SK630 White | Logitech MX Master 2S | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Pro 512GB | Samsung 58" 4k TV | Scarlett 2i4 | 2x AT2020

 

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