What Does It Do - The Essentials?

TeraCopy is a freeware file copying and moving utility form Code Sector that integrates with Windows Explorer. Not only does it give you more control over copying and moving files but also provides some additional functions as well as significantly higher file transfer rates. (It also has features to integrate it with Total Commander and Directory Opus but these have not been tested as both these utilities are not Freeware). TeraCopy is Freeware for Home Users, there is also a paid version, TeraCopy Pro which has not been tested.

N.B The version tested is 2.0 beta 2, the final version may behave differently and address some of the issues raised in the review.

TeraCopy has had beta versions since Sept 2007 (1.25) and Nov 2007 (2.0).

TeraCopy 1.2 (not beta) was released 22 June 2007.

N.B. This is a review of a beta stage version and therefore some comments and conclusions may not apply to the final release version.

Summary:

• Copy and Move files selected in Windows Explorer
• File transfer rates are significantly faster than Windows Explorer
• Transfers between folders, drives and over a LAN
• Integrates into Windows Shell
• Runs at Startup

Pros: What’s Good?

• Freeware (Home Use Only)

• Faster file transfers
• Shell Integration
  (Explorer Context Menu or replace native file copy/move functions)
• Pause/Resume Transfers
• Visual information on transfers, file list and operation “log”
• Simple and intuitive to use

Cons:What’s Not So Good?

• Sometimes hangs on network transfers if network connection is temporarily lost
• Error Recovery does not always work (in above situation)

* These may be fixed in the final (non-beta) version and are linked to an unusual network problem on one of my PC’s (see later)

More About What it Does in Detail:

Quote from the Code Sector website:

TeraCopy is a compact program designed to copy and move files at the maximum possible speed, providing the user a lot of features:

• Copy files faster. TeraCopy uses dynamically adjusted buffers to reduce seek times. Asynchronous copy speeds up file transfer between two physical hard drives.
• Pause and resume file transfers. Pause copy process at any time to free up system resources and continue with a single click.
• Error recovery. In case of copy error, TeraCopy will try several times and in the worse case just skips the file, not terminating the entire transfer.
• Interactive file list. TeraCopy shows failed file transfers and lets you fix the problem and recopy only problem files.
• Shell integration. TeraCopy can completely replace Explorer copy and move functions, allowing you work with files as usual.
• Full Unicode support.

Main Window

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

This is the main application window which will appear if the utility is started from the Windows “Start Menu” or from the desktop (or other) shortcut

Clicking on the More” button expands the window to show the file list area and more function buttons.

Clicking on the “No target folder” text line (operates like a button) shows a dialog to select the target folder.

Files can now be selected in Windows Explorer or other utilities that use standard windows functions to display files then dragged and dropped on to the TeraCopy window. Files can then be moved or copied by using the “Move” or “Copy” button.

While this is a perfectly acceptable way to use TeraCopy it is not the easiest.

If the target folder is not selected before the files are added to the main window then the following dialog is displayed on clicking either the “Move” or “Copy” buttons:

Intuitive Use

For me (and I should imagine most users) the best way to use TeraCopy is in the same way as you would normally select files for copying and moving in windows explorer.

This can be by:-

1. Selecting single or multiple files using the keyboard or mouse then marking them for move or copy (Ctrl-c, Ctrl-x or right click context menu) .
2. Selecting the folder to copy/move the files to and using Ctrl-V or the right context menu.
3. Selecting files using the mouse or keyboard and then dragging and dropping them using the right mouse button. Then selection TeraCopy or TeraMove from the context menu when they are dropped. This can be seen in the screenshot taken from Windows Explorer below:Having selected files, dragged and dropped or invoked copy or move through the other methods described the application main window shows the following:
4. Selecting Files and then right clicking brings up the following context menu:

As you can see there are many ways to move and copy files but they all fit in with standard windows methods some or all of which will be familiar to most experienced Windows users.

If the files already exist in the target folder the following dialog is displayed giving options to Overwrite, Rename, Resume or Skip for single or All files.

Progress Information

Plenty of information is provided:

• Total amount to be moved/copied
• Amount moved/copied
• Number of files to be transferred and number completed
• Progress as a %
• Visual progress bar

Visual Information

There is good information provided in the form of icons in the list as well as descriptive text.

The functions (and text) on some buttons changes to suit the current state of the job.

Log Information

There is a dropdown at the bottom of the “More” expanded screen that shows the various operations logged:

The Menu Button

All fairly obvious as the following screenshots show:

The help files are provided with the download and the website provides some information as well.

The reports function allows you to capture the current Move or Copy “batch” and then to recover this to run it again. I haven’t experimented with this, but if you had to repeat the same copy or move it could be useful. Alternatively it could be used if you wanted a record of what had been done.

Options

This selects the Preferences dialog:

I prefer not to have TeraCopy as the default copy handler as this retains the default Windows functionality. This is useful if you are moving or copying within the same drive. I always select “Add to Explorer context menu”. I have not tried integration with the other utilities as they are not Freeware

If you start several batch jobs with TeraCopy they will be executed one after the other. This can be overridden

Other Functionality

There are several other functions available from the displayed buttons or from the “hidden” text buttons.

The buttons and “hidden” text buttons are grayed out when they are not operational.

Clean Up- Removes skipped files from the list and allows a restart for the rest

Test - Checks CRC’s (Unique file identifiers)

Delete - Deletes files in file list

What are the Technical Details & Compatibility?

What is the My Free Review Experience?

I use TeraCopy for nearly all of my file transfers and moves. It is so much faster than the standard windows system functions. It has some bugs and imperfect operation in this beta version but the good far outweighs the inconveniences that currently exist. I feel I should say more as personally I rate this very highly as:

Simple - Powerful - Fast - Intuitive

What Could Make it be Better?

Deal with deleting of moved files from source directory as each one is completed

Tidy up cancelled batches (partially/copied moved files are not removed)

Show Target folder in the file list

Allow deselecting of files in the file list
(Yes I know it’s in the paid version)

Make sure the minor bugs and inconsistencies are sorted for the release candidate version.

What Other Posts are Relevant?

Why I decided to Write This Blog, MoveOut - Auto File Move - DonationCoder Utility

What are the Tags?

Technorati Tags: beta version, explorer context menu, file handling, file transfer, Freeware, Impartial Review, Independent Review, move files, My Free Review, network transfers, productivity, Programs, Programs review, Reviews, shell integration, software, teracopy, Utilities, Windows, Windows Explorer, windows shell, Windows XP, Pro Reviewer

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 6:18 am and is filed under Freeware. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.