Some files/folders causing immense lag in explorer

I recently backed up files from my C: (SSD, on which Windows is installed) to my E: (HDD for storage), to prepare for a clean Windows 10 re-install. But, after re-installing, when trying to copy back the files, it gets stuck at a certain point, with extremely slow transfer speeds. I've tried to check on the backed up folder containing the items that have slow transfer speeds, but explorer just endlessly hangs, not responding to anything when I do.

Eventually, the files do transfer over and they seem to work when they do (I opened up some audio files that took ages to copy, and they opened just fine after the transfer), but it's taking like 30+ minutes per file, and I've got thousands to copy back, so I'm looking for a potential solution.

Windows version: 2004 (OS Build 19041.329)

How are you copying the files?

Drag and drop?

Copy and paste?

Robocopy? (I would recommend using it for a large number of files).

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...mands/robocopy

I'm selecting them in Explorer, then copy and paste them where I want them.

I've tried opening robocopy, but it immediately closes each time.

Use Event Viewer to look in the Windows Event Logs to see if there are clues as to why.

Where in Event Viewer?

Just so you know, Robocopy is not run by double-clicking on the .exe file.

You run it in a Command prompt.

So open a Command prompt and run robocopy /? which should display all the options.

You can also view them line by line after the first page is displayed by running robocopy /? | more.

If you want a text file that you can print, run robocopy /? > "%userprofile%\Desktop\RoboformOptions.txt"

You can copy and paste each one of the above commands in the Command prompt.

If that fails, look in the Administrative Events (under Custom Views) for errors around that time. There might also be clues in the Application and System logs (under Windows Logs).

Applies to any kind of error you're getting.

Nothing new pops-up under there. Robocopy shows for a split second as a blank program on the taskbar before closing after I attempt to open it, either normally or as administrator.

Read my updated post #6.

Milennin said:

Edit: Okay, I removed the spaces in the directories, and it started copying, however it is stuck on a file now. This is like the line at the bottom:

New Dir New File 90405 8bit - Yes.ogg

I've let it running for some time now, and it's copied less than 30 small files so far, just getting stuck for a long time on every new one. It's not going to finish within a lifetime at this rate.

Would you be able to try the transfer in safe mode? I know that Windows Defender can be very, very picky sometimes about what it does and doesn't allow on the system. Maybe try disabling Defender.