Does "More Details" slow down file transfers in Windows 7?

[techs]

When copying files Windows 7 gives you a drop down arrow that lets you view "more details" and show more info like gigabytes or megabytes remaining in your transfer.

Does this slow down the transfer?

 

[biostud]

it probably uses the same data to show the progress bar, so my guess would be no.

 

[corkyg]

No. The transfer includes all that regardless of whether or not you choose to view it in the display.

 

[GundamF91]

It probably does impact it, since OS does have to show what's going on. But the impact should be very very minimally. The data is already there, it just takes milliseconds for the OS to decide what's been transferred to list on the transfer details on screen.

 

[Voo]

No. The transfer includes all that regardless of whether or not you choose to view it in the display.

Wrong. Updating the screen is a significant cost when you update continously and determining the filename isn't a trivial operation either (physical filename != displayed filename).. obviously both things aren't much of a problem if you copy one large file, but when it's mostly small files those things do matter.

 

[Nothinman]

Wrong. Updating the screen is a significant cost when you update continously and determining the filename isn't a trivial operation either (physical filename != displayed filename).. obviously both things aren't much of a problem if you copy one large file, but when it's mostly small files those things do matter.

If you somehow manage to have a machine where truncating a string and updating the contents of a text box have an appreciable affect on anything, I doubt you'd run Win7 and if you did you'd already have the most patience of anyone I know.

 

[BoozeCompany]

NO.

maybe it will, but it will be very minimalistic and it wont be significant

 

[Voo]

If you somehow manage to have a machine where truncating a string and updating the contents of a text box have an appreciable affect on anything, I doubt you'd run Win7 and if you did you'd already have the most patience of anyone I know.

And there I even mentioned "(physical filename != displayed filename)", but alas some people really need everything in exhausting detail: Showing a filename in Windows isn't just a truncate file operation, because you really don't want to show someone with a chinese localisation a file called "notepad.lnk" (or much more fun, the french filename to a german user [yeah that could happen, ultimate versions are great]), because well they're used to seeing the correct name. So we have to check if someone called this nice function here on the specific file and if yes get the localized name.

And updating a textbox a thousand times per second (we're talking small files here as I already mentioned) doesn't cost any resources? Yep, sure.

We're not talking about from 1minute to an hour changes, but loosing an amount of time larger than a few ms if you copy a large folder with lots of small files? Completely possible.


Iiirc Raymond Chen actually blogged about all this stuff some time ago and also had some code that demonstrated the principle. But I'm sure one of the most experienced people on the MS shell team also just has no idea what he's talking about, right?

Let's see if I can find it.

Edit: Ok, that was way easier than expected. Featured by my almighty googling skills: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2010/05/25/10014185.aspx
You're more than welcome to compile the small program there and look at the results yourself - just set the counter a bit higher since we're talking about lots of files here and that example was written 4 years ago..

 

[Nothinman]

And there I even mentioned "(physical filename != displayed filename)", but alas some people really need everything in exhausting detail: Showing a filename in Windows isn't just a truncate file operation, because you really don't want to show someone with a chinese localisation a file called "notepad.lnk" (or much more fun, the french filename to a german user [yeah that could happen, ultimate versions are great]), because well they're used to seeing the correct name. So we have to check if someone called this nice function here on the specific file and if yes get the localized name.

And updating a textbox a thousand times per second (we're talking small files here as I already mentioned) doesn't cost any resources? Yep, sure.

We're not talking about from 1minute to an hour changes, but loosing an amount of time larger than a few ms if you copy a large folder with lots of small files? Completely possible.


Iiirc Raymond Chen actually blogged about all this stuff some time ago and also had some code that demonstrated the principle. But I'm sure one of the most experienced people on the MS shell team also just has no idea what he's talking about, right?

Let's see if I can find it.

Edit: Ok, that was way easier than expected. Featured by my almighty googling skills: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2010/05/25/10014185.aspx
You're more than welcome to compile the small program there and look at the results yourself - just set the counter a bit higher since we're talking about lots of files here and that example was written 4 years ago..

I understand why there's some affect, although I forgot about internationalization, but that's why I said appreciable affect and I never said it took no resources. You'd probably need to be copying millions of tiny files for it to make a difference that even the most impatient person would care about.

 

[Diogenes2]

.....
Edit: Ok, that was way easier than expected. Featured by my almighty googling skills: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2010/05/25/10014185.aspx
You're more than welcome to compile the small program there and look at the results yourself - just set the counter a bit higher since we're talking about lots of files here and that example was written 4 years ago..

But your article clearly shows that the small program you would have us compile, is not what is happening when Win7 displays " More information "..

A simple test would be to copy a large group of files both ways and see which is slower.
Chances are, unless you are running a real crippled system, you won't be able to tell the difference..

To answer the OP:
For any conceivable practical application - No .

 

[Voo]

But your article clearly shows that the small program you would have us compile, is not what is happening when Win7 displays " More information "..

Wait, where does it show that? The small program shows the effect of redrawing the screen excessively, which is exactly the same for the copy dialog. Not more not less. We ignore the problem of checking/getting localized file names, but that can at best make the program faster not slower.

And the problem with just copying a large amount of small files several times is, that that's extremely hard to bench reliable with all those caches in between.

 

[HeXen]

ok i think we need to step back out of the glass ball, and take a good look at what were really debating about here. cause this is some super deep geek think stuff here. i can't see how its effect or lack there of could be remotely noticable to give a damn....or do we all need to just go back to DOS 1.0 so we can transfer files with peace of mind?

 

[Diogenes2]

Wait, where does it show that? The small program shows the effect of redrawing the screen excessively, which is exactly the same for the copy dialog. Not more not less. We ignore the problem of checking/getting localized file names, but that can at best make the program faster not slower.

And the problem with just copying a large amount of small files several times is, that that's extremely hard to bench reliable with all those caches in between.

If you don't have anything to do but watch the screen while files transfer, what difference does a few seconds matter, much less a few milliseconds ?

If you can't bench it reliably, where is the significance ?


The answer for the OP is still - No ...

 

[WildW]

Does this slow down the transfer?

Not if your Heisenberg Compensators are properly alligned.

 

[techs]

Not if your Heisenberg Compensators are properly alligned.

I believe they are. However, I am wearing a red shirt. Does that mean anything?

 

[FallenHero]

I believe they are. However, I am wearing a red shirt. Does that mean anything?

Don't go on away missions.