Transfering files from windows.old to public folder, odd issue

I was transfering files from my C:\Windows.old\Users\Public to my new \\PATRICK-DESKTOP\Users\Public folder. I noticed the transfer was going to take like 20 minutes and this didn't seem right to me. I canceled the transfer and instead transfered the files to C:\Users\Public to see if it made a difference, and in fact it almost instantly transfered the files over?

So what is going on here, aren't these locations are both the same thing? Why was it taking a long to to transfer when it was going to \\PATRICK-DESKTOP\Users\Public?

Is it actually sending the data over the network in order to locate the \\PATRICK-DESKTOP\Users\Public share and then just coming back over the network and therefor becoming a network transfer instead of a local transfer?

Yes. That's right. What you said is correct.

For local transfer always give the directory path instead of UNC path.

For local transfer, the files are copied from one folder to another folder as a normal copy.

For network transfer, the files are copied over the TCP/IP protocol which sends the files as packets even though it is within the same machine. This has attributed for the delay in copying the files.

Thank you for your confirmation.