Ultracopier 2.2.4.14

Overview

Bored with the same ol’ windows copy function? Want something newer and faster? Introducing, Ultracopier, an open source software that replaces Explorer’s copy feature. It has several additional features, such as pause and resume buttons, transfer speed limit, two bars for showing current and general file copy progress, error log and error management, support for skins, plugins and command line arguments, as well as many other features.

Installation

Three different versions of Ultracopier are available: 32-bit, 64-bit and portable. After downloading the right one for you, simply run the installer and follow the instructions. It is a very quick and easy process, with no special settings. The package doesn’t contain any malware/spyware, or extra software (e.g. toolbars).

Supported operating systems are Windows 2000 and newer. There is a version for Mac OS X and Linux, but you have to do some digging to find it.

Interface

The program mainly runs on the background, and you can access its window using its system tray icon. By clicking on it you can disable it or enable it.

The interface of the main program is not something special, but it is neat and uncluttered. It has two progress bars, one for the transfer of the current file (if copying multiple files) and one for the general progress. You can also view information such as time remaining, file size info, and you have the option to skip a file or pause/cancel the whole process as well.

By clicking on the “More” button the window can be expanded to show 4 tabs: Copy list, Options, Interface and Copy Engine. The first tab displays a list of all the files to be transferred, along with some useful functions like moving up or down files in the list, save or load it, find files in it etc. The rest of the tabs have various settings for you to configure.

Pros

First of all, you can pause and resume a task at any given moment. For example, if you’re copying big files that will take a while to transfer, you might want to pause it in case you want to perform an action that requires many system resources in order to complete quickly. Then you can resume copying the files.

The two bars showing the status of the task (one for the current file and one for the overall process), the file size, time remaining and transfer speed, are all useful and accurate. You can apply a speed limit if you wish, from the Options tab.

The copy list can be edited. You can change the order of the files to be copied, or save the list and import it at a later time.

If any errors are encountered while copying the files, the program will ask you what action to take: retry copying the file that the error appeared, skip that file, place it in the end of the list or cancel the whole process. In case of file collisions you can overwrite the existing file, rename the current file or skip it. Setting the program to take a specific action instead of asking you every time is also possible.

Changing skin and adding plugins is supported too, but unfortunately not many of them exist.

Cons

Regarding the functionality of the program itself, we haven’t run into any problems.

Alternatives

Some alternatives with the exact same purpose are Supercopier (free), TeraCopy (free, Pro version available), Unstoppable Copier (free) and ExtremeCopy (Free, Pro version available). Most of them share about the same features (pausing/resuming transfer, copy files list etc.), but the one that stands out is TeraCopy, due to its ability to transfer files faster and integrate itself within Explorer and replace the old copy function. Moreover, it has a simple interface, supports Unicode and is compatible with Windows 8.

Conclusion

In Ultracopier there’s more than what meets the eye. It may not seem as a professional tool, but it does the job, and it does it good. Give it a try and you won’t be disappointed.