Why does moving files take so long?

Why Does Moving Files Take So Long? The Small File Problem

We’ve all been there. You’re trying to move a folder seemingly small in size, yet the progress bar crawls at a snail’s pace. Why does transferring a few gigabytes sometimes take minutes, while other times it feels like hours? The answer often lies not in the size of the data, but in the number of files.

While it seems counterintuitive, numerous small files take significantly longer to transfer than one large file of the same total size. This phenomenon isn’t about the raw data itself, but the overhead associated with each file. Think of it like this: moving a single large box is easier than moving hundreds of small boxes, even if the total weight is the same.

Every file, regardless of its size, requires a certain amount of administrative work. Your operating system needs to create or update file system entries, including metadata like file names, dates, and permissions. This process, often referred to as “metadata overhead,” takes a fixed amount of time per file. When dealing with thousands of small files, this overhead quickly accumulates, becoming the bottleneck in your transfer process.

Imagine moving a folder containing 10,000 tiny text files, each just a few bytes. While the total data size might be only a few megabytes, your system has to perform 10,000 individual operations. This involves repeatedly accessing the storage device, updating file tables, and verifying the integrity of each transfer. These operations, even individually minuscule, add up to a significant delay.

In contrast, transferring a single large file of the same total size requires only one set of these operations. The data streams continuously, minimizing the impact of metadata overhead and resulting in a much faster transfer.

So, what’s the solution? Compression. By archiving multiple small files into a single compressed archive, like a zip file, you drastically reduce the number of individual files the system has to handle. Instead of thousands of separate operations, the system only needs to process one larger file. This drastically reduces the metadata overhead and dramatically speeds up the transfer process.

Think of it as packing those hundreds of small boxes into a few larger containers before moving. The overall weight remains the same, but the process becomes much more efficient.

Therefore, the next time you’re faced with a slow file transfer, consider the number of files involved. If you’re dealing with a large quantity of small files, compressing them into an archive before moving is almost always the best strategy for a significantly faster and more efficient transfer.