Boost Your File Copy Speed: An Introduction to cpz, the Fast cp Alternative
If you’ve ever worked on a Linux or macOS system, you’ve undoubtedly used the cp command. It’s a fundamental utility for copying files and directories. But have you ever found yourself staring at a blinking cursor, waiting for a large file transfer to complete? The standard cp command, while reliable, can be surprisingly slow, especially on modern hardware.
The reason is simple: cp is single-threaded. It copies one chunk of a file at a time, in sequence, failing to take advantage of today’s multi-core processors and lightning-fast SSDs. This bottleneck becomes especially noticeable when copying large files or directories containing thousands of smaller files.
Fortunately, there’s a powerful, modern alternative designed to maximize your hardware’s potential: cpz.
What is cpz and Why is it Faster?
cpz is a command-line tool built as a direct, high-performance replacement for cp. It was created from the ground up to solve the speed problem by leveraging two key technologies:
Parallelism: Unlike
cp,cpzuses multiple threads to read from the source and write to the destination simultaneously. This means it can process multiple chunks of data at once, dramatically reducing copy times for large files.Asynchronous I/O:
cpzperforms read and write operations asynchronously. It doesn’t wait for one operation to finish before starting the next, allowing it to keep the data pipeline full and your storage devices working at maximum capacity.
This combination allows cpz to fully utilize the power of modern multi-core CPUs and fast storage like NVMe SSDs, making file copy operations significantly faster.
Key Features That Make cpz Stand Out
Beyond sheer speed, cpz offers several quality-of-life features that make it a superior tool for developers, system administrators, and power users.
An Intuitive Progress Bar: The default
cpcommand offers no feedback on progress.cpz, on the other hand, displays a clear, real-time progress bar, showing you the transfer speed, percentage complete, and estimated time remaining.Guaranteed Data Integrity: How can you be sure the copied file is an exact, uncorrupted duplicate of the original?
cpzincludes a crucial--verifyoption. When used, it calculates the checksum of both the source and destination files after the copy is complete to ensure the data is 100% identical. This is a vital security and reliability feature for critical data.Familiar, Easy-to-Use Syntax: Migrating to a new tool is effortless. The command structure for
cpzis designed to be a drop-in replacement forcp. If you know how to usecp, you already know how to usecpz.
Getting Started with cpz
Installing and using cpz is straightforward. If you have the Rust programming language’s toolchain installed, you can get it with a single command:
cargo install cpz
Alternatively, you can download pre-compiled binaries from the project’s official repository for easy installation on Linux and macOS.
Basic Usage Examples
Here’s how you can use cpz for common tasks.
1. Copy a single large file with a progress bar:
cpz large_video_file.mp4 /media/backups/
2. Copy a directory recursively:
The syntax is identical to cp -r.
cpz -r my_project_folder/ /mnt/nas/backups/
3. Copy a file and verify its integrity:
For important backups or system files, using the --verify flag is highly recommended.
cpz --verify critical_database.sql /var/backups/
When Should You Use cpz?
While the standard cp is fine for quick, small file operations, cpz truly shines in more demanding scenarios. Consider reaching for it when:
- Copying large files like virtual machine images, database dumps, or high-resolution videos.
- Backing up directories containing thousands or millions of small files, such as code repositories or photo collections.
- Migrating data between two fast storage devices, like from one NVMe SSD to another, where the standard
cpwould be a significant bottleneck.
In a world where data is growing and hardware is getting faster, our tools need to keep up. The cpz utility is a perfect example of a modern tool built to solve a classic problem. By intelligently using parallelism and asynchronous operations, it unlocks the full speed of your system, saving you valuable time and providing enhanced features like progress indicators and data verification. The next time you face a lengthy file copy, give cpz a try—you might not go back.
Source: https://www.linuxlinks.com/cpz-zippy-alternative-cp/
