Transferring information[possible mild spoiler]

[rubixcube]

So here's a fundamental question about how data works in the world of computers:

Is the physical transfer of files actually possible? I honestly don't know, is every transfer of files on a computer just copy-paste-delete? Is there any way to physically move data in another way?

Can anyone with more computer education enlighten me?

[kojack]

hard drives, flash drives, cds, dvds, blurays, floppy disks, etc. All allow physical transfer of the data by unplugging/ejecting them, walking with them and plugging in somewhere else.

(Of course to get it on there in the first place and to use it at the other location at least some of the data must be copied to system ram for processing, so there's going to be at least partial duplication going on)

[Mudbill]

Most of the time, data is just formatted and converted differently depending on the media used. For a CD, it's formatted as binary laser scans (if I'm not mistaken), whereas an SSD is completely digital (well, not that a CD isn't but..), and although physical, it feels more like a normal copy/paste than a transfer to me. As kojack said, the data isn't really moved/transfered in that sense. It's copied and deleted. When you move a file from one drive to another, it copies the file and then deletes the original once done. This is why, if you cancel a move half way through, it doesn't end up with half a file in each location as that would be very unstable and unreliable.