📂 Hidden Windows 11 Feature Makes File Copies 94% Faster

Tools & Scripts
, ,
1

:trophy: Best Free File Copy Tools Tested — FastCopy vs Robocopy vs Everything Else

:open_file_folder: Move Huge Files Without the Wait — Tier List of Every Tool Worth Using

:world_map: One-Line Flow: Turn your 10-minute file transfers into 81-second flex sessions using tools Windows doesn’t want you to know about.

:skull: Why This Exists (Read This First)

You’re copying 100GB. Windows says “4 hours remaining.” You alt-tab. You forget. You check back. “6 hours remaining.” What.

This guide makes that never happen again. Zero coding skills needed. Just copy commands, paste, feel like a hacker. Your files move at the actual speed your $200 NVMe is capable of — not the speed Microsoft’s 1998 copy dialog allows.

Real result from this guide: 115GB moved in 81 seconds. That’s 1,445 MB/s. That’s insane. That’s yours now.

image
image903×475 9.07 KB

⚡ THE CHEAT CODE (Start Here If You're Impatient)

Open Command Prompt as Admin and run this:

robocopy "C:\Your\Source\Folder" "Z:\Your\Destination" /MOVE /E /MT:32 /R:1 /W:1

That’s it. You just unlocked multi-threaded file transfers that Windows has hidden since Vista.

What each flag does:

Flag Translation
/MOVE Move files (deletes source after copy)
/E Include all subfolders
/MT:32 Use 32 parallel threads (the magic)
/R:1 /W:1 Don’t waste time retrying errors

For NVMe-to-NVMe? Push it: /MT:64 or /MT:128

Want to copy instead of move? Remove /MOVE

You’re welcome.

🏆 TIER LIST: Every Tool Ranked (Updated January 2026)

S-TIER: The Untouchables

1. FastCopy — THE Speed King :crown:

Link: https://fastcopy.jp/

Why it’s broken (in a good way):

  • Bypasses Windows API completely → talks directly to your drive
  • Zero OS cache usage → other apps stay fast while copying
  • Built-in SHA verification → know your files aren’t corrupted
  • Paths longer than 260 characters? No problem.

Latest Version: 5.11.2 (December 2025)

FastCopy.exe /cmd=move /speed=full /verify /auto_close "C:\source" /to="Z:\dest\"

Shell Integration: Settings → Shell Extension → Install
Now you get “Copy (FastCopy)” in your right-click menu. Chef’s kiss.

License: Free for personal use. Pro for workplace.

2. Robocopy — Already On Your PC

Built into Windows. You’ve had this the whole time.

Best command for speed:

robocopy source dest /E /MT:128 /R:1 /W:0 /NP /NDL /NFL /LOG:NUL

Translation:

  • /MT:128 — 128 threads (adjust to your CPU)
  • /NP /NDL /NFL /LOG:NUL — shut up and copy faster

For network transfers with resume:

robocopy "\\server\share" "D:\Local" /E /Z /MT:16 /R:5 /W:10

The /Z flag = restartable mode. Survives network drops like a cockroach.

3. rclone — The Swiss Army Nuke

Link: https://rclone.org/downloads/

Not just for cloud. Works local too. Multi-threaded. Verifies checksums automatically.

rclone copy C:\source Z:\dest --progress --transfers=32 --checkers=16

Jeff Geerling got 4x faster transfers using --multi-thread-streams=32 vs rsync. That’s not a typo.

A-TIER: Excellent Choices

4. TeraCopy — For Normal Humans

Link: https://www.codesector.com/teracopy

Pretty GUI. Drag and drop. Pause/resume. Skips bad files. Your mom could use this.

Slightly slower than FastCopy. Much easier to use. Free version is fully functional.

5. Ultracopier — Open Source Champion

Link: https://ultracopier.first-world.info/

Version: 3.0.1.5 | License: GPL3 (100% free forever)

Completely replaces Windows copy dialog. Pause/resume. Speed limiting. Error handling. No catch.

6. FreeFileSync — Best For Sync/Backup

Link: https://freefilesync.org/

Version: 14.6

Not just copying — intelligent sync. Compares folders first, only copies what changed. Multi-threaded in donation version. Cross-platform.

B-TIER: Specialized Tools

7. ExtremeCopy — The Underdog

GitHub: https://github.com/kevinwu1024/ExtremeCopy

Open source C++. Auto-optimizes for your hardware. 20-120% faster than Explorer. Pause on locked files, resume later.

8. BITS (Built into Windows)

Import-Module BitsTransfer
Start-BitsTransfer -Source "\\server\file.iso" -Destination "C:\local\" -Asynchronous

Survives reboots. Best for network transfers.

AVOID THESE :skull_and_crossbones:

Tool Why
RichCopy Dead since 2009
Kill Copy Abandoned
Copy Handler Last update 2016
SuperCopier2 Just use Ultracopier
GS RichCopy 360 $$$$ enterprise only
🧠 HIDDEN DISCOVERY: Windows 11 Dev Drive (Up to 94% Faster Copies)

Microsoft quietly added ReFS Block Cloning to Windows 11 24H2. This is Windows Server tech that nobody told consumers about.

What Block Cloning Actually Does

Instead of copying every byte:

  1. Creates a metadata pointer to original data
  2. Both files share the same physical blocks
  3. Only creates new blocks when you modify one file
  4. Result: Copies become nearly instant

Microsoft’s Own Numbers

Operation NTFS ReFS Block Cloning Improvement
10GB file copy X seconds X/10 seconds Up to 94%
Code builds baseline -28% 28% faster
Delete node_modules 24.5s 9.2s 62% faster

How To Create One

Settings → System → Storage → Advanced storage settings → Disks & volumes → Create new VHD → Format as Dev Drive (ReFS)

Requirements:

  • Windows 11 24H2+
  • Cannot be boot drive
  • 50GB minimum recommended
  • 16GB RAM recommended

Best for: Source code, node_modules, build outputs, working copies of large files

Caveat: No compression, no encryption, no quotas. Use for specific workflows, not general storage.

🛡️ Windows Defender: The Silent Speed Killer

Every. Single. File. Operation. Gets. Scanned.

For thousands of small files, this adds up to… pain.

Check If It’s Affecting You

Get-MpComputerStatus | Select RealTimeProtectionEnabled, IoavProtectionEnabled

Add Exclusions (Run As Admin)

# Exclude folders:
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath "Z:\MyWorkFolder"
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath "C:\Dev"

# Exclude tools:
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess "fastcopy.exe"
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess "robocopy.exe"

# Check what you've excluded:
Get-MpPreference | Select ExclusionPath, ExclusionProcess

Dev Drive Bonus

Dev Drives automatically get Defender Performance Mode — async scanning that doesn’t block file operations. Free 30%+ speed boost.

💾 RAM Disks: When NVMe Isn't Fast Enough

Yes, this is a real thing. Yes, it’s ridiculous. Yes, it works.

Speed Reality Check

Storage Read Write 4K Random
SATA SSD ~550 MB/s ~520 MB/s ~50K IOPS
NVMe Gen3 ~3,500 MB/s ~3,000 MB/s ~500K IOPS
NVMe Gen4 ~7,000 MB/s ~5,000 MB/s ~1M IOPS
RAM Disk ~15,000+ MB/s ~15,000+ MB/s ~3M+ IOPS

Best Free RAM Disk Tools (Benchmarked)

:1st_place_medal: OSFMount — Best Overall
https://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html
Free, unlimited size, consistent speeds.

:2nd_place_medal: ImDisk Toolkit — Best Features
https://sourceforge.net/projects/imdisk-toolkit/
Dynamic memory allocation. Save on shutdown. 100% free, open source.

:3rd_place_medal: SoftPerfect RAM Disk — Best 4K Performance
https://www.softperfect.com/products/ramdisk/
Older version free (4GB limit). Excellent for small file operations.

Perfect Use Cases

  • Redirect Windows TEMP folder → instant temp file operations
  • Browser cache → actually fast browsing
  • Build artifacts → compiler goes brrr
  • Photoshop scratch disk → no more disk bottleneck

Redirect TEMP to RAM Disk

setx TEMP R:\Temp
setx TMP R:\Temp

(Where R: is your RAM disk)

🔧 NVMe Optimization: Why Your Fast Drive Feels Slow

Problem 1: SLC Cache Exhaustion

Most SSDs have a small fast cache (~10-50GB). After that fills, speed drops 50-80%.

Fix: Keep 10-20% free. Let drive idle between large transfers.

Problem 2: Thermal Throttling

NVMe controllers get HOT. They slow down to survive.

Check temps: CrystalDiskInfo or your vendor’s tool

State Healthy
Idle <45°C
Load <70°C

Fix: Add heatsink. Improve airflow.

Problem 3: TRIM Not Running

# Check status:
fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify
# 0 = enabled (good)
# 1 = disabled (fix this)

# Force optimize now:
defrag C: /O

Problem 4: Write Cache Disabled

Device Manager → Disk drives → Your NVMe → Properties → Policies → :check_box_with_check: Enable write caching

Vendor Tools (Use These)

Brand Tool
Samsung Samsung Magician
WD WD Dashboard
Crucial Storage Executive
Intel Intel Memory and Storage Tool
🐧 Sector-Level Tools: Raw Power

dd (via WSL or Linux USB)

Bit-perfect copies. No filesystem overhead. Pure speed.

# Clone entire drive (DESTRUCTIVE to target):
sudo dd if=/dev/nvme0n1 of=/dev/nvme0n2 bs=64K status=progress conv=noerror,sync

# Create disk image:
sudo dd if=/dev/nvme0n1 of=/path/to/image.img bs=64K status=progress

Block size tuning:

  • bs=64K — balanced
  • bs=1M — faster for large sequential
  • bs=4K — better error recovery

Clonezilla — Enterprise-Grade Free Cloning

Link: https://clonezilla.org/

Boot from USB. Sector-level or filesystem-aware. Compression on-the-fly. Used by actual IT departments.

HDClone Free Edition

Link: https://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html

Supports NVMe, M.2, SATA. SmartCopy skips empty sectors. Bootable for offline cloning.

⚡ Advanced Robocopy Commands (Copy-Paste Ready)

Maximum NVMe Speed

robocopy "C:\Source" "Z:\Dest" /E /MT:128 /R:1 /W:0 /NP /NDL /NFL /NS /NC /LOG:NUL

Network With Resume

robocopy "\\server\share" "D:\Local" /E /Z /MT:16 /R:5 /W:10 /LOG:transfer.log

Mirror Mode (Make Destination = Source)

robocopy "C:\Source" "Z:\Mirror" /MIR /MT:32 /R:1 /W:1

:warning: /MIR deletes files in destination that don’t exist in source

Copy + Progress Only

robocopy "C:\Source" "Z:\Dest" /E /MT:32 /ETA
📊 Quick Decision Matrix
Situation Use This
Just need fast copy, don’t care how FastCopy with shell integration
Already know command line robocopy /MT:64
Thousands of tiny files RAM Disk → FastCopy
Development/builds Dev Drive (ReFS)
Regular backups/sync FreeFileSync
Full drive clone Clonezilla or vendor tool
Network transfers rclone --transfers=16
Don’t want to think TeraCopy
🧪 Benchmark Your Setup

CrystalDiskMark

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskmark/

Tests sequential and random I/O. Compare to your drive’s specs.

DiskSpd (Microsoft’s Tool)

# Sequential read:
diskspd -b1M -d30 -o4 -t4 -W0 -r -L -w0 C:\testfile.dat

# Sequential write:
diskspd -b1M -d30 -o4 -t4 -W0 -r -L -w100 C:\testfile.dat

Measure Your Copy Speed

Measure-Command { robocopy "C:\Test" "Z:\Test" /E /MT:32 }
🏁 The Ultimate Setup (If You're Extra)
  1. Boot Drive: NVMe Gen4+ with good sustained writes
  2. Dev Drive: Second NVMe as ReFS Dev Drive
  3. RAM Disk: 16GB ImDisk for temp/cache
  4. Defender Exclusions: Dev folders, RAM disk, tool executables
  5. Tools:
    • FastCopy (shell integration) for manual copies
    • Robocopy scripts for scheduled copies
    • rclone for cloud/network
    • FreeFileSync for sync workflows

Each layer removes a bottleneck. Stack them all = basically instant.

:paperclip: Quick Links

Tool Link
FastCopy https://fastcopy.jp/
TeraCopy https://www.codesector.com/teracopy
Ultracopier https://ultracopier.first-world.info/
FreeFileSync https://freefilesync.org/
rclone https://rclone.org/downloads/
ImDisk Toolkit https://sourceforge.net/projects/imdisk-toolkit/
OSFMount https://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html
Clonezilla https://clonezilla.org/
CrystalDiskMark https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskmark/

Windows Explorer copy dialog is just a progress bar for your patience dying.

Robocopy has been free since 2008. You’re 17 years late. Start now.

robocopy /MT:32 — shorter than your WiFi password, saves more time.

Your NVMe cost $200. Make it act like it.

16 Likes
2

@Aina - Amazing Share! Moved things all over now, so much improvments. I considered myself an expert on all of this stuff, but some great “tips & tricks” here. Much Props for the share! :saluting_face:

2 Likes