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--Not sure what you mean by "file transfers" but if you mean copying files to another location on the same drive, try Teracopy. It's a free utility that either works with or replaces Explorer's file copy.

http://www.codesector.com/tera...

/ standard disclaimer, I have nothing to do with Teracopy - just have used the software and found it to be useful for me

>A flashy UI that is actually very nice, very useful in many ways (Aero peek, preview, etc.) and doesn't look like Microsoft subcontracted PlaySkool to design it.

In both XP and Win7 I've set the theme to "Windows 2000", and then turned off the theme service. Unsurprisingly, this makes both OSes look like Windows 2000. Aero and all other effects are turned off (in System -> Properties -> Advanced -> Performance, set to "Adjust for best performance"). While bland, this saves system resources (no theme manager running) and offers the fastest and most responsive GUI.

I've now done the same to Windows 8, although I kept the start screen launcher because it's actually not too bad (despite scrolling sideways). The magic corners are super annoying though.

>File operations that actually handle errors properly instead of just, "aw, fuck it, there's one error in a copy operation of a thousand files, I'll just drop them all..."

Teracopy

I do like Win7 (and Win8) better than XP, but there's also no denying that XP is much lighter-weight, or that Win7/8 in their default config is rather visually different from XP. People don't like change, and non-techie users will never care about file operations or GUI features they'll never use (like Aero peek) except by accident (and which will then result in them freaking out).

I drive the I-10 through West Texas, and see a huge (250-foot?) cell tower every mile or so.

But it's worth fuck-all to me if I can't get Google Maps to work because they refuse to put new equipment on those towers to handle data services.

There are two ways to go about this.

If you want a "just works" solution, go and buy CoPilot for your smartphone (iPhone/Android). It's your run-of-the-mill GPS navigation software, with UI like the hardware units, and offline maps. The version with North America maps is $30.

If you don't mind wasting time, you can get any of several apps that can display preloaded offline maps. For Android, I use Maverick. Then you take something like Mobile Atlas Creator, which downloads Google (Bing, ...) maps on your PC and prepackages them for offline use, and upload them to the phone. Voila! Though, given the effort, I mostly use this approach when going hiking - preloading the particular region with terrain and satellite layers in highest detail.

For that matter when a copy or move fails in Explorer, why can't I simply resume it once I've fixed whatever the problem

Try TotalCopy which adds a copy/move in the right click menu; or Teracopy commercial (free version available, supports Win7) complete replacement for the sucky Windows copy system.

USB/Network freezes and file copying isn't a fault of CPU cores like you say, Windows is just a sucky OS. Multicore stuff gets complicated, but this isn't going to be a panacea for Microsoft, it's another marketing opportunity.

I find Teracopy to be an excellent Windows copy dialog replacement. Gives you per-file and per-batch progress bars, better filename collision options, and a status list. Good from XP through to Win7.

You may want to try teracopy

Sorry, bad link, http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php.

I'm assuming you want something scriptable, but as a regular GUI replacement for Windows' file copy stuff, TeraCopy (http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php) is quite nice. It's sort of like a GUI version of Robocopy.

FYI, the 32-bit version integrates perfectly with the Windows shell, but the 64-bit version's integration was a complete pile the last time I tried it (a while ago). It didn't work automatically after the installation, and even the manual integration instructions didn't get it working. TeraCopy is much less useful when you specifically have to open the app and select the source and destination to start the copy.

The poster didn't say anything about scripting but I have noticed that the pro version of teracopy has a original/destination CRC value listed next to each file copied. I don't actually have the pro version and you'd have to get creative with script host (or whatever) to script it but this could very well fullfill your requirements.

Also, XCOPY has a "verify" flag...better than nothing I suppose...

Uhh... Easy.... Teracopy

http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php

-Josh

Another issue I wish they'd fix is remembering the last save directory when doing a "Save As..."...

If you're in Windows, Direct Folders fixes that problem in almost every program. I'm not one to install a lot of add-ons, but since I discovered Direct Folders, I can't live without it.

You might want to try TeraCopy. Great little program. It allows you to manually adjust the copy/paste/move buffer cache on the fly, pause and resume copy/move functions, and even performs error checking after completion. There are both Free and Pro versions.

        * 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.

The Pro version has these extra features with more features coming in later versions:

# Select files with the same extension/same folder
# Remove selected files from the copy queue

I've installed it and have never looked back at using Explorer for those functions again. This program is a real gem for people who perform a lot of copy/paste/move in Windows and don't want to install something like Total Commander.

I hope it helps.

As for Seagate drives, well, I used to like their SCSI drives back in the day, but anymore, I stick to Hitachi/Samsung/WD and I even own a Maxtor external drive that has now functioned for over a month without dying (I think it's a new record for Maxtor drives, those things are well-known for tanking within one month - I think Seagate was a positive influence on their manufacturing process).

I reverted to Robocopy, which works fine.