How to copy large amounts of files in Windows, by Chris Titus Tech on YouTube. 14 min 36 s.
- Video length
- 14 min 36 s
- Time to do it
- 15 minutes
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Open Command Prompt as administrator by searching cmd in the Start menu, right-clicking Command Prompt and choosing Run as administrator.
Type robocopy followed by a space, then the full path of the source folder and the full path of the destination folder.
Add /E to copy all subfolders, including empty ones. Without it, empty folders are skipped.
Add /MIR if you want the destination to exactly mirror the source. Be careful: this deletes files in the destination that are not in the source.
Add /Z for restartable mode so an interrupted copy can resume, or /MT:16 to run 16 copy threads and speed up many small files.
Add /LOG:copy.txt to save a log of what was copied, skipped or failed, so you can check the results afterwards.
Press Enter to start the copy. Robocopy shows a summary table at the end with copied, skipped and failed counts.
Check the summary. If the failed count is above zero, read the log file to see which files were blocked or in use.
Tips and common mistakes
Test your command on a small folder first, especially before using /MIR, because it can delete destination files.
Quote paths that contain spaces, for example "C:\My Files".
Run the copy from an elevated prompt to avoid permission errors on protected folders.
Robocopy is much faster than File Explorer for thousands of small files.
Questions
Is Robocopy safe to use?
Yes, it is a built-in Windows tool. The risk is in the switches you choose, so avoid /MIR until you understand it deletes extra files in the destination.
How do I resume a copy that stopped?
Run the same command again with /Z. Robocopy skips files already copied and continues where it left off.
Can I copy to a network drive?
Yes. Use the network path as the destination, such as \\server\share, and make sure you have write access.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
