So one of the things that comes with network attached storage is copying data, it might be because you’re allocating a new D drive which has double the space, or migrating data from one filer to the other.

The key things to watch out for are:

• Amount of data to copy in mb/gb
• Number of files
• Type of files
• Fragmentation
• How you’re copying them.

So say you’ve got 100gb to copy the time taken to copy this data will depend on a few factors, how busy your network is, what speed it is, but more importantly, how fragmented the disk is, how many files there are and in how many folders and sub folders, crucially their size.

Windows is rather shocking at handling large numbers of small 1k files, particularly if they are all in sub folders d:\data\folder1\folder1.1\folder1.1.1/folder1.111 etc, also
So let’s do the basics, when presented with a new volume, format the disk taking a close look at the cluster size when formatting it, if you know the volume is going to be mainly small 1k files, then set the cluster size to 1k, if it’s going to be sql, you might want to select a larger cluster size - Microsoft covers all this anyway.

Log on to either the server you’re copying from or the server you’re copying too: (if using terminal services remember timeout settings might apply)
Map a drive to the server you need to copy to:

• net use p: \\servername\sharename

Make sure all the paths are correct then run your robocopy:

• Robocopy p:\data\copyfiles d:\data\copyfiles /s /sec

Run a test at a convenient time and see how long it takes, 100gb can take anything from a few hours to a few days dependent on the number, size of files, if you’ve got compression turned on and if the drive is fragmented.

Any comments? Get in touch…