Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Things you’d like to miss in the future...
Post Reply
tedy
Posts: 323
Joined: 17 Jun 2009 21:48

Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by tedy »

Just noticed something that could be improved.
I copied a virtual machine, consisting of one very big file (vmdk) and few hundred (600) very small files, I guess they were some small caches.
Up until the end of the copy operation the Time Remaining label was way out, showing 5-6 minutes and sometimes increasing. It seems Custom Copy started with the big file first.
1 second before the end (where the small files were reached) those 5 minutes plummeted to few seconds and then the Copy operation ended (successfully).
It seems to me that taking into account the total bytes being copied would be more consistent than the sheer number of files found, so Time Remaining stays relatively on track.

What do you think?

admin
Site Admin
Posts: 60357
Joined: 22 May 2004 16:48
Location: Win8.1 @100%, Win10 @100%
Contact:

Re: Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by admin »

Well, it's done like this already.

[Topic moved to Tips & Tricks, Questions & Answers]

tedy
Posts: 323
Joined: 17 Jun 2009 21:48

Re: Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by tedy »

Well, there are clearly bugs in this. And it manifests with 2 files as well.
Maybe "it's done like this" is a good intention, but the end results is what I see.

I copied two big files (5-7GB each) between two (physical, if that's relevant) HDDs. During the entire copy of the first file the Remaining Time stays at "1:02 min" or between 1:01 to 1:03!
By the time when the second file starts copying, the Remaining Time instantly goes down to about 0:30 min and up until the end of the process it decreases normally.
I think the two behaviors are connected somehow and it's clearly a bug.
Just as a reminder - I use unbiffered copy flag activated, if that's relevant.
I don't know why this bugreport is so easily moved away from Bug Reports section though. Maybe you tested it once but as always, bugs are bugs because different users have different settings or usage patterns where this or that will show up bit not "in my system".
The Remaining Time is an important clue for many I guess.

admin
Site Admin
Posts: 60357
Joined: 22 May 2004 16:48
Location: Win8.1 @100%, Win10 @100%
Contact:

Re: Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by admin »

:oops:

You were right! (I did mind the bytes, but there was a bug in how I did it.)

Fix cometh.

[Topic moved back to Bug Reports]

tedy
Posts: 323
Joined: 17 Jun 2009 21:48

Re: Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by tedy »

Yeah, it seems fixed now. Nice :) .

tedy
Posts: 323
Joined: 17 Jun 2009 21:48

Re: Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by tedy »

Hm, no, not fixed.
Copying again a virtual machine. I made series of screenshots during the process of copying.
See the process with series of screenshots. 5th out of 200 files, while copying, Remaining Time increasing progressivel to over 20 minutes! until 99% when it plummets in a matter of milliseconds (when the small files come).
Copy speed is constant from start to finish (unbuffered copy).
xycopy1.png
xycopy1.png (14.17 KiB) Viewed 1414 times
xycopy2.png
xycopy2.png (14.19 KiB) Viewed 1414 times
xycopy3.png
xycopy3.png (14.24 KiB) Viewed 1414 times
xycopy4.png
xycopy4.png (14.24 KiB) Viewed 1414 times
xycopy5.png
xycopy5.png (14.35 KiB) Viewed 1414 times
xycopy6.png
xycopy6.png (14.28 KiB) Viewed 1414 times

admin
Site Admin
Posts: 60357
Joined: 22 May 2004 16:48
Location: Win8.1 @100%, Win10 @100%
Contact:

Re: Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by admin »

There are many factors affecting the actual current speed, some of which are not foreseeable. E.g. file size, or Windows caching, or other parallel activities.

Note that the "Transfer Rate" is calculated of over the whole job (from start to now), so it will tend to stabilize with time.

tedy
Posts: 323
Joined: 17 Jun 2009 21:48

Re: Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by tedy »

I did not understand.
You say this is not fixable? Just asking. Before your recent fix (after this topic) it was more acceptable, but 24 minutes at 98% constantly increasing to 99.9% when the other 200 files (totalling about few kilobytes) come and they copy so fast, the dialog barely seen Time Remaining plummet to < 1 sec...
Windows Explorer and other explorers are always correct and show expected behavior, time decreasing with time, or increasing just a little in the beginning to account for few seconds when the copy speed may "shake".
Nothing else was done on the computer when copy progressed.
I still see a bug here :) . This time much more deflecting than it was.

As I see it, it should be very easy to use this 133MB/s speed to calculate the remaining time with great precision when you know the total task size. The current readings are ridiculously increasing to 24 min at the end.
If at some point the speed deviates largely due to any reason, it's normal to expect then a great deviataion in Remaining Time but not when the speed is totally constant (because it is unbuffered copy anyway).

admin
Site Admin
Posts: 60357
Joined: 22 May 2004 16:48
Location: Win8.1 @100%, Win10 @100%
Contact:

Re: Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by admin »

I will look into it again. I was wrong one time so why not two times? :)

But your screenshots are curious. Is that 1 big file and 217 small files?

tedy
Posts: 323
Joined: 17 Jun 2009 21:48

Re: Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by tedy »

Yes :) . Virtual machine folder. 1 big vmdk file (32GB) and 200+ small files (maybe some caches). Obviously XY starts by copying 4 small files first, then the 5th is the big one, then the other ~200 at the end (they are in subfolder(s)).

tedy
Posts: 323
Joined: 17 Jun 2009 21:48

Re: Custom copy Time Remaining issue

Post by tedy »

Finally, this seems fixed, with the same set of files/folders now Time Remaining is completely plausible and real from start to finish. :tup:

Post Reply