WOT: Copying Files From Disk A to Disk B

Jay Gladwell wrote on 9/17/2011, 7:12 AM

I've looked but can't find anything...

Is there a simple program available that will enable one to schedule the task of copying files from one drive to another?

I'm not talking about programs like Acronis (I have that) that does backups that are compressed and have to be unpacked in order to get to the files. I'm taking about a simple, straight forward, direct copying of files--no compression, nothing. I'm looking for something that would do just what you would do if it were being done manually, drag folders/files from drive A and drop into drive B.

TIA

Comments

amendegw wrote on 9/17/2011, 7:14 AM

xcopy.exe ?

Copies files and directory trees.



XCOPY source [destination] [/A | /M] [/D[:date]] [/P] [/S [/E]] [/V] [/W]

                           [/C] [/I] [/Q] [/F] [/L] [/G] [/H] [/R] [/T] [/U]

                           [/K] [/N] [/O] [/X] [/Y] [/-Y] [/Z] [/B]

                           [/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...]



  source       Specifies the file(s) to copy.

  destination  Specifies the location and/or name of new files.

  /A           Copies only files with the archive attribute set,

               doesn't change the attribute.

  /M           Copies only files with the archive attribute set,

               turns off the archive attribute.

  /D:m-d-y     Copies files changed on or after the specified date.

               If no date is given, copies only those files whose

               source time is newer than the destination time.

  /EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...

               Specifies a list of files containing strings.  Each string

               should be in a separate line in the files.  When any of the

               strings match any part of the absolute path of the file to be

               copied, that file will be excluded from being copied.  For

               example, specifying a string like \obj\ or .obj will exclude

               all files underneath the directory obj or all files with the

               .obj extension respectively.

  /P           Prompts you before creating each destination file.

  /S           Copies directories and subdirectories except empty ones.

  /E           Copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.

               Same as /S /E. May be used to modify /T.

  /V           Verifies the size of each new file.

  /W           Prompts you to press a key before copying.

  /C           Continues copying even if errors occur.

  /I           If destination does not exist and copying more than one file,

               assumes that destination must be a directory.

  /Q           Does not display file names while copying.

  /F           Displays full source and destination file names while copying.

  /L           Displays files that would be copied.

  /G           Allows the copying of encrypted files to destination that does

               not support encryption.

  /H           Copies hidden and system files also.

  /R           Overwrites read-only files.

  /T           Creates directory structure, but does not copy files. Does not

               include empty directories or subdirectories. /T /E includes

               empty directories and subdirectories.

  /U           Copies only files that already exist in destination.

  /K           Copies attributes. Normal Xcopy will reset read-only attributes.

  /N           Copies using the generated short names.

  /O           Copies file ownership and ACL information.

  /X           Copies file audit settings (implies /O).

  /Y           Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an

               existing destination file.

  /-Y          Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an

               existing destination file.

  /Z           Copies networked files in restartable mode.

  /B           Copies the Symbolic Link itself versus the target of the link.

  /J           Copies using unbuffered I/O. Recommended for very large files.



The switch /Y may be preset in the COPYCMD environment variable.

This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line.

...Jerry

Edit: Forgot to include the other critical piece of this post. You'll want to make a batch file and schedule it via the Task Scheduler.

craftech wrote on 9/17/2011, 8:00 AM

Jay,

Does it have to be "automatic"?

The simplest way to do this is to get something like a BlacX.

Then insert a formatted hard drive and when Windows recognizes it, drag and drop the files onto the other drive.

John

EDIT: Since moving large uncompressed files (presumably video files) is a resource hog anyway, it is doubtful that you would want to do anything else during that process.

amendegw wrote on 9/17/2011, 8:22 AM

Forgot about Robocopy. Presumably a new & improved version of xcopy. Never used it, but maybe others in this forum have.

...Jerry

PeterDuke wrote on 9/17/2011, 8:33 AM

"Acronis (I have that) that does backups that are compressed and have to be unpacked in order to get to the files"

If you mean that you have to unpack the whole archive to get to a file, that is not true. You can access an individual file in an archive but it does have to be extracted on the fly, which is slower than accessing a normal file.

goodrichm wrote on 9/17/2011, 8:44 AM

Maybe you'll like the following freeware prog I use:

http://synchronicity.sourceforge.net/

Kit wrote on 9/17/2011, 8:54 AM

I used to use Karen Kenworthy's' Replicator:

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp

Sadly, she died. Currently I use:

FreefileSync: http://freefilesync.sourceforge.net/

Hope this helps,

Kit

monoparadox wrote on 9/17/2011, 9:50 AM

Xcopy=bingo. It saved my fanny once by making an exact copy of a system drive.

Also, a great utility is the Microsoft SyncToy. It's available in both 32 and 64 bit versions.

johnmeyer wrote on 9/17/2011, 1:10 PM

Is there a simple program available that will enable one to

I think you may find what you are looking for by using a product called Second Copy:

Second Copy

The program will copy files in the background, at whatever interval you wish. It can be set to only copy newer files, so you don't waste time copying files that haven't changed. It has many, many other settings and options. I have dealt directly with the author/developer on many occasions, and he is a really great guy. This is a well-known program that has been around a long time.

Here's the description from the first page of their web site:

Second Copy® is the perfect automatic backup software designed for Windows XP and above. It makes a backup of your data files to another directory, internal or external hard disk or to a computer across the network.

Just to be clear, this program copies your files, just like drag 'n drop, xcopy, etc.

Second Copy Tour

P.S. I forgot one neat feature: the program can keep as many older versions of the files as you like. Thus, you can create "snapshots" of your files and go back "n" generations to earlier files. This might be a really useful feature for those of you afflicted with the Vegas corrupted VEG file bug. Just set Second Copy to create copies of just the VEG files every ten minutes, and keep ten generations of backup files.

Steve Mann wrote on 9/17/2011, 4:16 PM

Sadly, she died.

That's sad. I learned a lot from her. I met her at a PC expo in San Jose - very down-to-earth person.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 9/19/2011, 6:33 AM

My sincere 'thank you' to everyone who contributed to this thread. You all provided valuable insight into my query.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 9/20/2011, 7:09 AM

In case there is a remote chance anyone is interest, I wound up going with Second Copy, suggested by John Meyer.

Second Copy does exactly what I need done, and it does it in a simple, straight forward fashion. It copies the folders and files from drive A to drive B, just as one would if he were to click and drag. However, Second Copy does this automatically, allowing me to schedule when this task is completed. The program offers several options as to "what," "which," "where," "when," and "how" this operation is done, some of which can be fine-tuned with "advanced" adjustments.

Again, I thank all those who participated in this thread.

John Gordon wrote on 9/20/2011, 9:01 AM

xxcopy is what we use at my day job to backup the servers every night. simply make a command file to run xxcopy with the parameters you need and put in the task scheduler. It's an automatic process.

VidMus wrote on 9/20/2011, 7:37 PM

Casper

http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/

I have been using this for quite some time and it works perfectly!

It does have the ability to schedule regular backups. After the initial backup (clone) it will make smart clones that updates only what has changed and takes approx 6 minutes to do it. It can be scheduled for low computer use times and can shut down or 'sleep' the computer when done if desired.

I have multiple backups (clones) of my boot drive.

If my active boot drive fails to boot I install a recent backup and am back in business.

Also, and this is important, when I want to test install a software and/or associated hardware I always use a test boot drive. If things go terribly wrong and/or I want to get back to as if I never did anything it is easy to do by putting my normal boot drive back in and then refresh the test boot by making a clone to it.

Hope this helps.