Can You Control File Copy Priority?

I basically copied 276 GB from my hard drive to another external backup drive that is connected via eSATA on my computer. My motherboard and the hard drive support SATA II. File transfer took, I don't know how long I'm guessing 1 1/2 hours.

During the file transfer, my whole system halted to a crawl, well, worse than that. According to my resource manager, the CPU usage wasn't too high, and the RAM usage was 100%, with 15%-25% of my memory being used for "Standby" memory. The Disk usage was 100%. I was unable to open or close applications while the file transfer was in progress. I couldn't even type.

Is there a way to set priority while you're doing file transfers, thus leaving resources open to still use your computer?

karlsnooks said:

Use Robocopy.

run cmd.exe and type robocopy x: y: to backup all of x to y.

How do I set it so it's not monopolizing my computer while copying?

I completely agree with Karlsnooks.

Since discovering Robocopy and all it's different commands I use nothing else for copying now.

Please help me understand how to use Robocopy.

I want to set up a batch file for backing up my data. Instead of 'recopying' old data, I'd like to make sure only new files get backed up. Again, this is onto a 500 GB HDD.

That said, I watched a YouTube video on Robocopy. The person that made the video used the /MIR switch. I don't know what that really means. He then went on and created a batch file. I've modified the batch file to suit my needs and have saved it as a "CMD" file. (Note: I've never used the CMD extension, only BAT).

Code:

robocopy "C:\Users\Josh\Documents\Backup Files" "F:\Backup Files" MIR
robocopy "C:\Users\Public\Libraries\RecordedTV.library-ms" "F:\Recorded TV" MIR

The example in the video did not have quotations, but the paths used in the example also did not include spaces. Based on what I know about using the "CD" command, I added in the quotations.

Hello JOSHSKORN,
Have a look at this tutorial.

ROBOCOPY - Create Backup Script

Just read it thoroughly and take your time. Be careful when using the /mir command. It will tell you about it on the tutorial.

Also if you don't like using commands there is another programme called freefilesync which works well.

It may look a bit confusing at first with all the commands but once you're used to them you'll realise how good robocopy is!

Burdus32 said:

Hello JOSHSKORN,
Have a look at this tutorial.

ROBOCOPY - Create Backup Script

Just read it thoroughly and take your time. Be careful when using the /mir command. It will tell you about it on the tutorial.

Also if you don't like using commands there is another programme called freefilesync which works well.

I actually saw that a couple hours ago. I setup a robocopy but I noticed that it didn't copy my Recorded TV directory. Apparently, Robocopy ignores hidden folders. Is there a way around this? I tried searching the thread you mentioned, no luck. Any suggestions?

This is the exact line of code that isn't being executed:

Code:

robocopy "C:\Users\Public\Libraries\RecordedTV.library-ms" "F:\Recorded TV" /e /mir /np /log+:backup_log.txt

Whereas Libraries is a hidden folder.