Quickest way to move files between two external drives

external hard drivefile-transferusb

I am aware of this question, and this one, but my circumstances are different as I do not have a USB hub.

I have two USB 3 external hard-drives, one 4tB and one 8gB and a laptop with two USB 3 ports. I have no USB hub.

Would transfer (move, not copy) be quicker if I :

  1. connect both hard-drives to the laptop and move files between them
  2. connect one drive, move files from it to the laptop, then from there to the other hard-drive

Let us assume that I have enough space on the laptop to do 2) in one pass, If not, I can live with doing it in multiple operations.

The laptop has an i7 processors with 16gB RAM – would it be best to close all apps while moving? I would prefer not to, obviously.

The laptopalso has an internal SSD, but there is only about 50gB free there; I note this, because it might speed up option 2 if done in multiple passes.

While I am looking for a solution to suit my own configuration, feel free to help others by additionally mentioning the generic case of two drives & one PC, with no mention of processor type, amount of RAM, SSD drive, etc

Best Answer

Connect both drives and move from one to the other.

But, don't use Windows file Explorer to do it. Use anything else. TeraCopy (most popular on Lifehacker), FastCopy, CopyHandler, Robocopy, UltraCopier, UnstoppableCopier. I've used used SuperCopier on Windows 7.

Related Question