Your question raises for me more questions.

• Windows or *nix ??
• do you really a need a copy of the file?
• are you copying to some kind of storage appliance (SAN?NAS?) what kind of bandwidth do you have?

I recommend

• Windows: create shortcut from source file in the target directory
• *nix: create link

And I'll tell you why. Unless you are going to scrap the original file, you do not want multiple copies of a file floating around your system. When one changes, you must change all the copies. Unless you document what you are doing very carefully, the coder who has to follow you will not be aware that there are copies or originals that need to be maintained.

Experience tells me that actions taken now will be complete surprises in X number of weeks. Save yourself the bother and embarrassment of unsightly system psoriasis by prevserving what you have and linking it to where you need it to be.

Of course, after careful and mature consideration, you can't see a way around physically copying the files, I think that native utilities (cp, copy) are likely to be the fastest. r,

Augie