How can I limit the cache used by copying so there is still memory available for other cache?

Question

Basic situation:

I am copying some NTFS disks in openSuSE. Each one is 2TB. When I do this, the system runs slow.

My guesses:

Answer 1

try using dd instead of cp .

Or mount the filesystem with the sync flag.

I'm not completely sure if these methods bypass the swap, but it may be worth giving a try.

Just my 2c.