Eli5: Why does downloading files take so long, but copying and pasting them on the same device takes seconds?
In: Technology
A download is bottlenecked either by the maximum bandwidth the server is willing or able to allocate to your or by your downstream connection.
A copy/paste operation on the same device is bottlenecked by the R/W speed of the storage medium used.
A **cut**/paste operation on the same device is instant, because your operating system does not physically move around data. It simply assigns the existing data a new path. Think of it as changing labels in a warehouse – instead of moving a box from row 1 to row 4, you simply look at row 1 and say “this is now row 4”.
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