A move/copy interface is provided with a pause feature that allows the user to pause and subsequently resume a move or copy command. In one embodiment, the pause, tool saves an index, source file name, target file name, block size and block number so that the operation can be subsequently resumed. After a pause has been requested, a "resume" command button appears on the, user interface that is selected by the user to resume processing. Extended periods between a pause and subsequent resume are provided by saving the pause data to a data file. Another embodiment pauses a copy operation over a computer network, such as the Internet, suspending the source computer's sending of blocks of data comprising the source file until the resume operation is requested. The user can repeatedly pause and resume the copy operation in order to free system resources in order to perform other operations.