Fastest way to transfer data from on premise server to Azure Virtual Desktop

For 120 GB, stop using the RDP redirected local drive for the main transfer. That path is slow for large copies, and clipboard copy/paste over RDP also has a hard limit for files larger than 2 GB.

Better options from the provided guidance:

1. Use drive redirection only if necessary, not clipboard copy/paste
   • Clipboard redirection supports only files smaller than 2 GB.
   • If transferring through an RDP session, drive redirection is the supported method for larger files.
   • In Remote Desktop Connection, go to Local Resources and choose the local drives to redirect.
2. If copying many files over a Windows path, use robocopy instead of manual drag-and-drop
   • robocopy is built into Windows.
   • Multi-threading with /MT improves throughput, especially for many files.
   • Redirect output to a log file instead of the console for better performance.
   • Example pattern:

          robocopy "\\tsclient\c\SourceFolder" "D:\TargetFolder" /MT:16 /LOG:C:\temp\copy.log
     

   • If the source is a redirected local drive in the remote session, \\tsclient\c\... is the path style shown for command-line copy over RDP.
3. If the data is going to Azure storage first, use AzCopy
   • For moving data to or from Azure, AzCopy is recommended and supports concurrency and performance optimizations.
   • This is generally a better fit than pushing 120 GB through an interactive RDP session.
4. If network bandwidth is limited or unreliable, use an offline transfer option
   • For large datasets where network transfer is too slow, the recommended options are Azure Data Box family or Azure Import/Export.
   • These are intended for cases where time, bandwidth, or reliability make online transfer impractical.
5. If the transfer is slow because there are many small files
   • Compress the files into a single archive first, copy the archive, then extract on the destination.
   • This can reduce overhead compared to copying many small files individually.

Practical path for this scenario:

1. In the RDP client, enable the local source drive under Local Resources.
2. Sign in to the Azure Virtual Desktop session.
3. Verify the redirected drive is visible, typically through \\tsclient\c\....
4. Run robocopy from the remote session instead of File Explorer copy:

      robocopy "\\tsclient\c\Data" "D:\Data" /MT:16 /R:2 /W:1 /LOG:C:\temp\copy.log
   

5. If performance is still unacceptable, switch to AzCopy or an offline transfer method rather than continuing over RDP.

Expected outcome:

• robocopy over the redirected drive should be better than manual copy.
• AzCopy is the better choice when Azure storage can be used as the transfer path.
• Data Box or Import/Export is the better choice when the internet path is too slow or unreliable.

References:

• Copying files larger than 2 GB over a Remote Desktop Services or Terminal Services session by using Clipboard redirection (copy and paste) fails silently
• Slow SMB files transfer speed
• Data transfer for large datasets with moderate to high network bandwidth
• Data transfer for large datasets with low or no network bandwidth
• Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) bandwidth requirements