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I just copied very large folder from my portable drive to my laptop running win 10. For these two folders (in different locations) file explorer shows same size, but different size on disk. Everything else i.e. number of files and subfolder is the same. Can I be confident that I copied folder completely?

user1700890
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2 Answers2

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Space taken by each file would be the multiple of allocation unit size. That means, there will be a standard space allotted for each file. Whether it is used completely or not the file is being saved to the allotted standard space.

In short whether the file is large enough to fit in the space or not, that will be saved to that standard allotted space. So the file space would be lesser than the disk space (standard space). E.g: You are given a room even if you are not using the whole space of that particular room.

rrobben
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voxforem technologies
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Yes you can be confident that you have copied the whole folder. If the size attribute of the folders are the same, because that is essentially the size of the contents.

The size attribute is the actual byte count of the file(s). The size on disk attribute is the actual byte count that the file(s) was given by the operating system.

The size on disk can be bigger than the actual file but if you use a drive compression it can also be smaller.

Here's a good answer regarding the difference between the two if you are interested: What is the difference between size and size on disk?

rrobben
  • 979