What is your favorite command-line copy utility?

[S.T.A.R.S.]

Hey folks!

I have tryed many command-line copy utilities through my life and they all rule!Some more,some less...
Sometimes I just can't decide so I decided that my favorite one is the one I use the most and that is "xcopy.exe" from Microsoft Windows XP computer operating system.

It exists since 2001. so it's pretty old...and considering how old it is...I think it still does a freaking great job!

And "xcopy.exe" still exists in the newest Microsoft Windows 8.1!
I did notice however that some switches/parameters in "xcopy.exe" from Microsoft Windows 8.1 are a little bit different than they are in "xcopy.exe" from Microsoft Windows XP...
But the differences are so damn small so nothing is really changed anyway...
Most of the people today use "robocopy.exe" instead of "xcopy.exe" anyway which first came out with Microsoft Windows Vista.

Also...every time when I copy huge amounts of data,I ALWAYS do it using command-line copy utility rather than doing it directly from Windows explorer.It's simply faster and more stable.Everything would work just fine from Windows explorer also,but I prefer doing it by using command-line copy utility because it's faster and more stable.Plus you can modify the copy process a lot more than you would be able to do it from Windows explorer.And a lot more...

Also I have to say that "xxcopy.exe" on the other hand is so freaking great.
It has TONS of switches/parameters...if not too many if I may add...

SO...

What is YOUR favorite command-line copy utility?

I have created the poll which contains 8 the most used command-line copy utilities so vote on the poll!
If you do not use ANY of the command-line copy utilities showed on the poll then just select "Other.Specify which..." and tell us which one YOU use and more importantly...WHY! :good:

 

[strollin]

STARS - Hate to tell you this but xcopy has been around for a lot longer than since 2001. It was first introduced in DOS 3.3 back in 1987! I believe that was before you were born so xcopy is older than you are.

Regardless, it's still a very useful utility. Personally, I rarely bother with command-line copying as I find using Windows Explorer meets my needs. It may not be as fast (I've never done a performance comparison) but nothing beats the convenience of simply selecting the exact files you want with the mouse then dragging/dropping them in the target location.

 

[spirit]

Personally, I rarely bother with command-line copying as I find using Windows Explorer meets my needs. It may not be as fast (I've never done a performance comparison) but nothing beats the convenience of simply selecting the exact files you want with the mouse then dragging/dropping them in the target location.

I think he's asking what command programmers like to use when writing code to copy files, not how you copy files within Windows.

 

[strollin]

I think he's asking what command programmers like to use when writing code to copy files, not how you copy files within Windows.

Here's what he said, "Also...every time when I copy huge amounts of data,I ALWAYS do it using command-line copy utility rather than doing it directly from Windows explorer.It's simply faster and more stable.Everything would work just fine from Windows explorer also,but I prefer doing it by using command-line copy utility because it's faster and more stable.Plus you can modify the copy process a lot more than you would be able to do it from Windows explorer.And a lot more..."

Within a program, you could shell out to the OS to use xcopy but most programmers would simply include their own copy routine based on file functions provided by whatever language they're programming in.

 

[S.T.A.R.S.]

STARS - Hate to tell you this but xcopy has been around for a lot longer than since 2001. It was first introduced in DOS 3.3 back in 1987! I believe that was before you were born so xcopy is older than you are.

Regardless, it's still a very useful utility. Personally, I rarely bother with command-line copying as I find using Windows Explorer meets my needs. It may not be as fast (I've never done a performance comparison) but nothing beats the convenience of simply selecting the exact files you want with the mouse then dragging/dropping them in the target location.

Yea I know xcopy exists longer than that lol.I used DOS many times in the past.I don't want to even tell you how much I hated some things back then...such as short 8.3 file names...God...I really hated that!
But anyway...I was refering to the xcopy which came with XP (and later ones).
Nobody today uses the one from DOS days lol so I just thought it's not even worth the mention.They are just ancient! (I can't believe I just said that hahaha).

Anyway the MAIN reason why I use command-line copy utility rather than Windows explorer is because on Windows XP when you copy the data (the capacity doesn't really matter),when just ONE freaking file cannot be copied,you just get an error message box with just one button...the freaking..."OK" button.And when you click it,the copy process terminates...
In short...on Windows XP explorer there IS NO option to skip the file which cannot be copied (whatever the reason is) and just continue the copy process.You will need to start the entire copy process from the beginning again.And that sucks lol!
Here is what I mean:

On Windows Vista (and later) on the other hand the Windows explorer is improved and when an error occurs,you are asked wether you want to skip the certain file (and also do the same for all current items too) and simply continue the copy process or not.
Definetely better than it is on XP lol.
Here is what I mean:

And also when you said:

"I find using Windows Explorer meets my needs. It may not be as fast (I've never done a performance comparison) but nothing beats the convenience of simply selecting the exact files you want with the mouse then dragging/dropping them in the target location."

And that IS TRUE!
It is a lot more simple ESPECIALLY for the average users and I agree with you on that (just like I agree with everything else you said lol).
But you see...if you have a VERY old and VERY weak computer like the one I am still using...then the performance is very important lol...

Here's what he said, "Also...every time when I copy huge amounts of data,I ALWAYS do it using command-line copy utility rather than doing it directly from Windows explorer.It's simply faster and more stable.Everything would work just fine from Windows explorer also,but I prefer doing it by using command-line copy utility because it's faster and more stable.Plus you can modify the copy process a lot more than you would be able to do it from Windows explorer.And a lot more..."

Within a program, you could shell out to the OS to use xcopy but most programmers would simply include their own copy routine based on file functions provided by whatever language they're programming in.

And again as always...this is COMPLETELY CORRECT. :good:
In the past 10 years I have made tons of different programs which copied the data.
Sometimes I used Windows EXE files to do the job,sometimes I used API,sometimes I used classes provided by the language,sometimes I would make my own EXE as a console based one and then I would use THAT EXE file,sometimes I would make my own method which would do the job,sometimes I would use a reference to other language...and so on...
I can't even remember how MANY different ways I used in programming to perform the data copy during the past 10 years,but I used MANY.

But yea I agree with you...most programmers WILL include their own copy routine based on file functions provided by whatever language they're programming in.That is how I do it most of the time anyway.

 

[strollin]

Until recently, I had collection of about 25 vintage DOS era machines so did my share of command-line copying.

Your point of using an older machine with less cpu, slower disks and Win XP is well taken and I can see where you would want to use xcopy to extract a little more performance. The slowest machine I have nowadays has a core 2 duo cpu, Win 7 and SATA hdd so I don't deal with the same issues that you do.

 

[Cromewell]

I've always been a fan of the cp command. It copies and like stuff.

 

[Troncoso]

I've always been a fan of the cp command. It copies and like stuff.

I approve of this answer.

 

[voyagerfan99]

I see no point to this thread. Copying is copying. Though I will say I install TeraCopy on all my machines.

 

[TrainTrackHack]

rsync for large amounts of data.

Otherwise, yea, cp.

 

[S.T.A.R.S.]

I see no point to this thread. Copying is copying. Though I will say I install TeraCopy on all my machines.

TeraCopy also exists as a GUI application too right?
So I read at least...never really tryed the GUI version,but I liked the command-line one.

rsync for large amounts of data.

Otherwise, yea, cp.

I heard that some people really do use rsync for large amounts of data.
Never tryed it myself though...