Windows 7: 100,000 files to copy - faster way?

First - I just realized that this forum is for Windows 7 and I happen to be using Xp - so flame away if you like. I think the fundamentals still apply.

I have DVDs with data files (inspection data) that I need to copy to the network. I can also copy to a USB2 external drive.

The issue is speed. I am using xcopy /s. It is taking almost 45 minutes to copy the DVD to my hard drive. I have over a hundred DVDs. If I was getting paid by the hour this would be a great job!

I have try making disk images but the speed is about the same - same for internal HD or Eternal HD.

I am using a new dell quad 6500. I realize that the cd read speed is going to be a factor - however after getting the files off the DVD to my C: it takes over 30 min to copy from my machine to the USB drive.

Am I doomed?

Basically, you are doomed. Hardware is only as good as it's original design can take it, there is no way to make the transfer speed any faster.

If you have esata it will be much faster. You should also be able to copy the DVD directly to the external esata.

If you don't have esata but have a desktop, something like this adaptor and this external enclosure will make your job much easier.

EDIT: to give you an idea. I used copy and paste and transfered a 51GB file from an internal drive to an external esata drive in 7 minutes.

eSATA is not going to help him copy 100,000 files from a DVD to his hard drive.

It will copy it faster from his hard drive to his external drive.

He's still limited to the speed of the CD/DVD drive. Copying from DVD to a drive then copying to another drive doesn't make sense. He's still copying FROM a DVD drive.

If you have access to a faster DVD drive, that might help.

robocopy is your friend

No place did I say that esata would make his DVD faster. However he said it was taking 30 minutes to copy from the C drive to a USB 2.0 drive. I don't think there is any argument that esata would do the transfer much faster than USB. With that many files, if he saved 15-20 minutes each transfer it would certainly help the process. Plus, if he could copy from the DVD directly to the external drive, he could save the 30 minutes. He could add an internal drive to his machine and copy the files directly to that. I'm sure there are ways to do copy the DVD's faster, I don't know what they are.