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Questions tagged [file-transfer]

Transferring files from one storage to another local or remote storage.

Questions within this tag should be about problems that occur while transferring files from one storage to another local or remote storage. At least one of both storage should involve a computer, so this tag could also be interpreted as problems occurring while transferring between computer data storage.

Before asking a question you could look whether intelligent file copy move software solves your problem. If you need to transfer a big file over the internet, looking into FTP or P2P is a must; or you make your own internet connection when the provided bandwidth is not feasible.

Take a look through the most useful questions in this tag for more...

1580 questions
204
votes
5 answers

What's the difference between SCP and SFTP?

Usually, I use the scp command to transfer files on *nixes. What's the difference between SFTP and SCP? Don't they both work on SSH?
nos
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190
votes
24 answers

What are some options for transferring large files without using the Internet?

My employer's Internet connection is extremely slow. It's $6,000 a month, 9 Mb, bonded T1, shared by over 150 users. It's not untypical to see regular file transfer speeds of 20-100 KBps. And that was after I convinced upper management to upgrade…
Kyle Lowry
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184
votes
16 answers

How to move VirtualBox files?

By default VirtualBox stores all data in a directory below the home directory. I know how to change it but how can I change the location of existing images (without editing VirtualBox.xml manually)? I'm working on Windows and don't want to try using…
maaartinus
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178
votes
1 answer

What is the purpose/function of ".ßßß" files?

While trying to copy the contents of a 16GB usb drive, I got a warning that there was not enough free space. Checking the properties of the folder tree on the usb drive, I found a large number of ".ßßß" files that claim to be around 3.5GB each, for…
Arne
  • 1,280
104
votes
12 answers

Best way to transfer files over a LAN between two Linux computers

I want to transfer files (a music folder) between two Linux computers. After searching for the best way to do this, I've seen that there are lots of ways of doing this. I know this has been asked a lot, everywhere and all the time. The main problem…
jonallard
  • 1,396
69
votes
5 answers

How do I move files out of nested subdirectories into another folder in ubuntu? (Trying to strip off many subfolders)

How do I move files and not directories into another folder/parent folder? I have a folder structure that is extremely ugly, with some .mp3 files buried 6 levels deep in a sub-folder. I want to end up with all of the files (mostly .mp3 but not…
Chris
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66
votes
6 answers

How to copy files that have too long of a filepath in Windows?

I need to make backups of some files on a network share. However, I need to copy those files to my local drive before burning the disks because those files might be in use. Some of the files won't copy because the file path is too long. Is there any…
Brian Sturm
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55
votes
10 answers

Transferring "large" file off of MS-DOS 5.0 Machine (without removing HDD)

As part of some sort of legal record-keeping thing, my father's business lawyers has requested a copy of the database of customers from a work computer. The core issue is that this work computer is a circa 1988 AOpen...thing, running what looks to…
Tarkenfire
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44
votes
6 answers

Why do file copy operations in Linux get slower over time?

I have 12 ~200 MB files. Copying one of them to another drive takes 20 seconds. When I try to copy all of them at once, it first says it's going to take 5 minutes, then it keeps slowing down into the hours and days. I'm copying the files through…
User not found
  • 623
43
votes
18 answers

Windows file copy dialog: Why is the estimation so... BAD?

xkcd I know that the Windows copy dialog (in Windows XP) stores the copy in memory first, and it is still copying after the dialog closes, so the time is off, but why is the estimation of the time it will take to make a copy so inaccurate, even…
Maxim Zaslavsky
  • 1,850
43
votes
5 answers

What is the benefit of copy over xcopy on the command line?

I know that xcopy has more options however are there any benefits to using copy rather than xcopy?
Phil Hannent
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43
votes
9 answers

Is there a way to transfer thousand of small files faster on Windows 7?

I noticed that if I transfer a few large files between two hard drives, it's pretty speedy, at around at least 30 MB per second, but if I transfer thousands of files less than 5 KB, it is pretty damn too slow.. around 1 to 2 MB per second. Is there…
netrox
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42
votes
9 answers

Windows Alternative to Rsync?

I'm trying to setup a file sync between the file server at my house and the one at my brother's so that we each have offsite backups of important data. Both systems are running Windows (XP on one, 7 on the other). I like the fact that rsync will…
Adam Haile
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42
votes
4 answers

If I copy a bootable USB drive to another USB, will it create a duplicate bootable drive?

I thought it's kind of a dumb question but a search with Google seems to indicate that it is not even possible to copy/paste data on a bootable drive to another USB? But even if we were able to copy it, why should it not work? (that is creating a…
zar
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40
votes
13 answers

How long would it take to transfer 1TB over USB 2.0?

This might be a completely stupid question because it is conceivably highly dependent on the respective disk speeds. But I am thinking that there is a speed cap that is specific to USB 2.0 that would by itself define a lower limit. How long would it…
Ron Tuffin
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