CPU PEGGED on File Copy?

[Rob]

Hi Folks.. In my In office network I am copying a group of 650 Meg
files (70 of them) across a Cisco Gigabit switch, using two Giagabit
nics... On the Copying machine the CPU is Pegged at 100% for the
entire copy..I turn off antivirus and all the xtranous stuff... On
the Machine the files reside on the CPU usage is about 15-25% and
fluctuates... And that is being used with three browesr windows
open .. Does anyone know what I can do to free up 50% CPU usage on
a straight Copy over the Network?? Windows XP Pro machines (Both) ..

Thanks!

Rob

 

[Chuck]

Hi Folks.. In my In office network I am copying a group of 650 Meg
files (70 of them) across a Cisco Gigabit switch, using two Giagabit
nics... On the Copying machine the CPU is Pegged at 100% for the
entire copy..I turn off antivirus and all the xtranous stuff... On
the Machine the files reside on the CPU usage is about 15-25% and
fluctuates... And that is being used with three browesr windows
open .. Does anyone know what I can do to free up 50% CPU usage on
a straight Copy over the Network?? Windows XP Pro machines (Both) ..

Thanks!

Rob

Rob,

There are up to 7 metrics involved in a file copy that might interest you.
# Source server - CPU and disk utilisation.
# Copying computer - CPU utilisation.
# Target server - CPU and disk utilisation.
# Network between source and copying computer - utilisation.
# Network between copying computer and target - utilisation.

If the copying computer is either the source or the target, you'll have 2 less
metrics. But however many metrics you have, somewhere there will be a
bottleneck, and run at 100%.

That said, you may be able to improve things a bit.

Are you doing the copy using the Windows Explorer GUI? Use xcopy instead, or
FTP would be better yet. Windows Networking provides access to named resources.
It's intended for GUI use, which is inefficient. XCopy or FTP is a better
choice.

 

[Rob]

Thanks Chuck..I will give Xcopy a try,,, I have been using the GUI for
the copy process..and yes ..the Copying Computer is the Target PC..
(and my work PC..which makes no work possible when the CPU decides to
dedicate itself to the process..)

Rob

 

[Chuck]

Thanks Chuck..I will give Xcopy a try,,, I have been using the GUI for
the copy process..and yes ..the Copying Computer is the Target PC..
(and my work PC..which makes no work possible when the CPU decides to
dedicate itself to the process..)

Rob

Well, Rob, XCopy should make it go faster. But if the network and disks are up
to it, the bottleneck may still be the CPU on the target.

If this is going to be a repeated job, you might want to try using a third
computer to do the copying. Make the target computer into a server too. That
won't be as efficient, but it might decrease the CPU load on your computer.

 

[Rob]

Well, XCopy (and Copy) didn't do it unfortunately ..and I had a thrid
machine do the coping to my Target but my Target still spikes aout at
100% .. It's an Older P4 CPU (like 2.2Ghz) witha Gig of RAM.. I
wonder.. Could settings on my Network card affect the CPU processing?

I also killed my antivirus just to see if that was causing the
issue..but it 's did't seem to matter..
I didn't realize that the Basic Copy process was such a resource
hog...

Thanks for your help..
Rob