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I am new and slowly learning the world of Linux and some things I prefer over Windows, some things I don't.

Yesterday, I started a huge backup (~200k files, 800GB) with right-click copy/paste. The ETA was around 16 hours... kinda slow because my external drive is kinda slow... But so far, nothing unusual here.

Today, I log back to my machine and I have that popup telling me there was a transfer error on a file (unable to copy) asking me if I want to skip/retry/cancel/etc... You know, the kind of annoying feature we had in previous versions of Windows more than a decade ago that halted a whole process just because of an insignificant file?

Now don't get me wrong, I am not asking the machine to make a decision for me and choose what to do in case a file doesn't copy... But why did it stop copying the other files that were fine? Do I have to stay 16 hours in front of my computer just in case there is a problem with a file. Will my backup take 1 week just because it stops on a few small files? Since so many years, Windows continues copying the files that are fine and at the ends asks for all the problematic files in one bunch... Did I just travel back in time 20 years?

CLEAR QUESTION: Is this behavior normal and intended?

Marc L
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  • The question was in the title, but I edited the post to make it clearer. Is this intended behavior? Do I have to stay 16 hours in front of my computer in case the backup halts on a file? (And by the way, there may ALSO be a bit of a tirade there, because I really think this behavior is ridiculous in 2020) – Marc L Dec 19 '20 at 14:23
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    Well...you probably could have asked it better instead of complaining about it. After all, you want replies, right? You want to grab people's attention so that they answer you about your problem and not about something in your question that isn't part of the problem... No? – Ray Dec 19 '20 at 14:35
  • It seems to have grabbed your attention... I believe I can ask a question and express my frustration about a bug and/or feature at the same time. When I logged back to my computer after 20 hours just to see that the backup paused no even halfway through it, I was frustrated. Knowing that this might happen again in the process and not being in front of this machine 24/7 makes me even more frustrated and pulls me back 15 years ago when I had this problem with Windows and doing big copy/pastes was a nightmare. – Marc L Dec 19 '20 at 14:59

1 Answers1

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The file manager is there for daily copying. There are much better tools, like xcopy to perform unattended mass copying like you are doing.

I recently upgraded my archive storage with a 6 GB drive. I place all files from the old 2 GB drives with three commands I put in a small text file copies:

xcopy -av /media/username/2GBdrive1 /media/username/new8gbdrive/drive1 2>>errorlog.txt
xcopy -av /media/username/2GBdrive2 /media/username/new8gbdrive/drive2 2>>errorlog.txt
xcopy -av /media/username/2GBdrive3 /media/username/new8gbdrive/drive3 2>>errorlog.txt

Then I source the text file, so the commands contained in it will consecutively be executed:

. copies

Then I am off. I come back later, and when it is done, problems will have been recorded in the errorlog.txt file. If I need to interrupt the process, I can. I can just repeat the commands, and the copying will continue where it was aborted.

vanadium
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  • Awesome! I will do that next time :-D But, just out of curiosity, if I was to right-click copy/paste again, would you happen to know if the halt on a problem file was an isolated thing that rarely happens, or if it's something I always should be worried about when using the right-click copy/paste? Thanks for help! – Marc L Dec 19 '20 at 17:49
  • A transfer error is reflecting a hardware problem: maybe a failing drive. Very low change to happen if your hardware is OK. – vanadium Dec 20 '20 at 14:47
  • Alright, thank you so much! – Marc L Dec 20 '20 at 16:49