Powerful File Copy & Move Utility for Ubuntu Linux – UltraCopier

When it comes with dealing with file copy & move operations in Ubuntu Linux the built in tool (Nautilus file manager) does a decent job. And in Ubuntu even if it couldn’t copy the full content of a file, it’ll still save the partially copied content where Windows would simply delete it.

But if you usually deal with a lot of mass file copying & moving operations then having a dedicated utility does makes sense as it lets you somewhat automate the task (by letting you add files to a queue for instance) and comes with additional features.

So if you’re looking for a free an open source utility that you can use in Ubuntu then try ‘UltraCopier’. It also supports Windows and Mac OS X too.

UltraCopier-in-Ubuntu-11.10-300x171
Although it wasn’t like stunningly fast but did a better job than than the built in tool (for the record: the speed reading in the screenshot is small but this is because it changes quite quickly and updates few times within a second. In simple terms, the average speeds are way higher than shown in the image  …)

Main features …

*. I don’t know how it’s under other OS platforms, but in Ubuntu it won’t however replace your file copy manager. So whenever you want to copy or move a file, you’ll have to manually add them into UltraCopier.

simple-mode-300x83

*. You can add or remove files & folders to its queue for easily dealing with mass file operations.

*. Runs in the system notification area for easy access.

system-tray-menu-300x98

*. If it encounters errors while copying then the partially copied file will be saved.

*. Pause/Resume or Skip.

*. Limit copy speed.

*. Shows basic states of the file (percentage, progress bar, file name, speed, time left etc).

*. Lets you change priority level and the ‘block size’.

*. Pre-allocate file sizes.

*. Enable/Disable keeping certain meta-data values such as “dates”.

*. Few built in themes.

*. Tries to read few times before giving up if a read error occurs.

*. Close to the system tray (can be disabled of course).. these are some of its main features to mention.

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You can do a bit of a tweaking using the options window …

You can install UltraCopier in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot, 11.04 Natty Narwhal, 10.10 and 10.04 by using the below command in your Terminal window.

sudo apt-get install ultracopier

For other OS users, please get it from this official UltraCopier home page. It has a separate zipped version (only for Windows) so you can use it as a portable app too. Good luck.

An RHCE, 'Linux' user with 14+ years of experience. Extreme lover of Linux and FOSS. He is passionate to test every Linux distribution & compare with the previous release to write in-depth articles to help the FOSS community.

23 thoughts on “Powerful File Copy & Move Utility for Ubuntu Linux – UltraCopier”

    • That's great news!. If you could provide Ubuntu pre-built packages (I can see there are 0.3 ones for Windows though), I'm willing to test it! :D.

      Reply
    • I'd love to test your beta 0.3. A deb package would be nice, but I guess I can compile it if need be.

      I'm running Mint 11 as Ubuntu seems to be headed into a Microsoft like candyland.

      I've been using TeraCopy for years. I run a MS powered workstation for my graphics work. I use my linux box to venture forth into the net twilight-zone.

      You might like to read Mel Gorman's " [PATCH] mm: Do not stall in synchronous compaction for THP allocations " article at http://lwn.net/Articles/467332/ it might give you an idea of some of linux's file copying problems.

      Reply
    • Hey! teracopy.

      If you are the developer of Ultracopy, let me give you a bit of advice on how open source works. You should not block releases in anticipation of donations (or at the very least not advertise like this :D). This frustrates and turns the users off and also drives away volunteers. For example look at the neo-office project for mac: http://www.neooffice.org

      But just a thought 😀

      Reply
  1. I need to copy the whole external drive to another external and I don't want to select it file by file. It takes too long. Can I select all the folders on the drive at once somehow?

    Reply
    • Hello 'myvinespace',

      Well, there is no such option that lets you directly choose all the partitions at once in 'Ultracopier' (as far as I know).

      But, if you haven't done already, you can try the following method:

      1. Open 'Ultracopier' window and click on the 'More' button.

      2. Under the 'Copylist' tab, click on the 'down arrow' with the 'plus (+)' sign and from the new menu choose 'open_folder'.

      3. Now, you can open a single partition from the dialog box that you get next.

      Just select the partition that you want fom the left and then click on the 'Open' button. After that, 'Ultracopier' will ask you to select the destination folder, then select where you want it to be copied and it will be added to the 'Copylist'.

      This way, you can easily copy a whole partition, but if you have few partitions, then you'll have to perform those steps to each one, separately and add them to the 'Queue'.

      Though it's not entirely helpful, but I guess, unless you have like a lot of partitions, this is one 'easier' way to do it. Hope it helped :).

      Reply
  2. Can I use Ultracopier as my default copier?.I am not interested in moving/copying files within the application.The default copier in ubuntu is slow and without much features.

    Reply
    • Hey 'Paul',

      There are no 0.3 packages for Ubuntu at the moment it seems and I cannot even find a PPA either. So unless you're willing to compile and install it manually, there's no way of installing it …

      Reply
  3. It’s seems like Teracopy, but it can’t copy from network share folder.
    The source say “/home/administrator/” not the actual one.
    I’m using Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit.

    Btw, It’s a nice app… Thx.

    Reply
    • Hi Scott,

      You can use the below PPA, but it’s does not contain the latest packages though :/.

      https://launchpad.net/~wynter/+archive/ppa

      I’m sure you know how to use a PPA, but just in case, use the below commands to use it.

      sudo apt-add-repository ppa:wynter/ppa

      sudo apt-get update

      sudo apt-get install ultracopier

      It’s a shame that we can’t get the latest updates, because the recently released versions, according to the developer, are much efficient & faster at handling file copy/move operations due to a new algorithm.

      Reply
  4. Why do you have to go through the hustle of having to do all of that? If it is not available in the ubuntu repository, then there is really nothing to do but to search for an alternative. And a great alternative would be GS RichCopy 360. A lot of people are now discovering this amazing tool and if you are not one of them then I suggest you start checking it out and start comparing the difference.

    Reply
  5. Nautilus does a decent job you say. Well I have to call bullshit on that! It may be better than the Windows file manager, but that still does not make it any damn good! It’s like saying getting punched in the face is better than being kicked in the testicles. Sure it probably won’t hurt as much, but it’ll still hurts and is still something that one would be wise to avoid.

    Reply
  6. I have installed ultracopier with command sudo apt-get install ultracopier.
    But I am still unable to use it.
    When I try to open this it shows following message:
    “Ultracopier seam have crashed, do you want save the previous report for report it to the forum?”
    What I should do?

    Reply

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