Windows 10 Copy Operations Sequential, not Parallel

[blksith0]

If you start multiple copy operations to a seperate drive, windows will start doing them simultaneously. The problem with this is that the sum of those speeds is less than it would be if I had selected all the folders and done one single (sequential/series) copy.

Is there a simple registry edit to change this behavior? Or would I need to replace the entire windows copy program?

 

[Neemobeer]

If you're copying multiple files to a single spinning disk then yes the speed will be reduced because of the limitations of the hardware. The platter needs time to spin and the arm time to move as the copy operation changes between files. The disk can only write one file at a time.

 

[blksith0]

We would think that windows devs would know this, and that they would detect the disk source and then use a sequential order.
But I guess they're too busy collecting telemetry.

 

[Neemobeer]

I imagine they are using a fairly efficient algorithm in their I/O management. Of course you can use replacement programs that work differently than the built-in copy program. Best Tools for Copying a Large Number of Files in Windows

 

[ussnorway]

You need to take into account that the user may copy files to different drives at the same time as well... ime the windows system works best but a 3rd party option will not replace it no, only work around it.

 

[Mike]

Is this a removable drive? If so, asynchronous transfer may be disabled if you have Quick Removal enabled under Windows.

Depending on how many files on the drive, you may want to ensure that "Better performance" is enabled and that this is formatted as NTFS.