Actually 2 questions:

1. I need to backup the Documents and Settings folder and all of its
subfolders. I also have some other, larger folders that I need to backup.
I've tried a couple backup products to do this and for a variety of reasons
have not been successful -- which may be the subject for another thread. For
now I'm resigned to making a copy on the hard drive and then using Windows
Explorer copy function to copy them to CD(s).

When I try to copy Documents and Settings I get this error message -- and of
course the whole thing terminates (neat design). "Cannot copy NTUSER: It is
being used by another person or program". Is there a way for me to identify
what program is using this file? OR, is there a way to do the copy that says
to ignore this type of condition? OR, is there a way to identify the files
that may trigger this condition and exclude them from the copy?

I notice that NTUSER.DAT (this must have been the file that caused the
termination, but the error message does not show the extension) has the 'A'
attribute and most other file do not. What does the 'A' mean?

2. Can the copy command's output span to multiple CDs? (Don't think so<sigh)

TIA,

Phil

I will try to answer your question on NTUser.Dat

that is the registry hive you as login user is using and hence can not be
copied by normal means.
you could try schedule ntbackup to run with another admin ID that you don't
care about backup it back

or use shadow copy. Sorry I don't have the info on Shadow copy but I am
sure you can look that up from Microsoft or with Google

"pwrichcreek" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:8233C121-4ABB-48AF-9402-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Actually 2 questions:
>
> 1. I need to backup the Documents and Settings folder and all of its
> subfolders. I also have some other, larger folders that I need to backup.
> I've tried a couple backup products to do this and for a variety of
> reasons
> have not been successful -- which may be the subject for another thread.
> For
> now I'm resigned to making a copy on the hard drive and then using Windows
> Explorer copy function to copy them to CD(s).
>
> When I try to copy Documents and Settings I get this error message -- and
> of
> course the whole thing terminates (neat design). "Cannot copy NTUSER: It
> is
> being used by another person or program". Is there a way for me to
> identify
> what program is using this file? OR, is there a way to do the copy that
> says
> to ignore this type of condition? OR, is there a way to identify the files
> that may trigger this condition and exclude them from the copy?
>
> I notice that NTUSER.DAT (this must have been the file that caused the
> termination, but the error message does not show the extension) has the
> 'A'
> attribute and most other file do not. What does the 'A' mean?
>
> 2. Can the copy command's output span to multiple CDs? (Don't think
> so<sigh)
>
> TIA,
>
> Phil
>
>

do this from the the command line using xcopy and specify the /c switch which
will continue copying even if there is an error.

shadow copy is an api that programs such as windows backup use, not an
explicit program.

"pwrichcreek" wrote:

> Actually 2 questions:
>
> 1. I need to backup the Documents and Settings folder and all of its
> subfolders. I also have some other, larger folders that I need to backup.
> I've tried a couple backup products to do this and for a variety of reasons
> have not been successful -- which may be the subject for another thread. For
> now I'm resigned to making a copy on the hard drive and then using Windows
> Explorer copy function to copy them to CD(s).
>
> When I try to copy Documents and Settings I get this error message -- and of
> course the whole thing terminates (neat design). "Cannot copy NTUSER: It is
> being used by another person or program". Is there a way for me to identify
> what program is using this file? OR, is there a way to do the copy that says
> to ignore this type of condition? OR, is there a way to identify the files
> that may trigger this condition and exclude them from the copy?
>
> I notice that NTUSER.DAT (this must have been the file that caused the
> termination, but the error message does not show the extension) has the 'A'
> attribute and most other file do not. What does the 'A' mean?
>
> 2. Can the copy command's output span to multiple CDs? (Don't think so<sigh)
>
> TIA,
>
> Phil
>
>

Thanks for the reply gs and auser.

auser, does xcopy also enable spanning output CDs?

Thanks,

Phil

"auser" wrote:

> do this from the the command line using xcopy and specify the /c switch which
> will continue copying even if there is an error.
>
> shadow copy is an api that programs such as windows backup use, not an
> explicit program.
>
> "pwrichcreek" wrote:
>
> > Actually 2 questions:
> >
> > 1. I need to backup the Documents and Settings folder and all of its
> > subfolders. I also have some other, larger folders that I need to backup.
> > I've tried a couple backup products to do this and for a variety of reasons
> > have not been successful -- which may be the subject for another thread. For
> > now I'm resigned to making a copy on the hard drive and then using Windows
> > Explorer copy function to copy them to CD(s).
> >
> > When I try to copy Documents and Settings I get this error message -- and of
> > course the whole thing terminates (neat design). "Cannot copy NTUSER: It is
> > being used by another person or program". Is there a way for me to identify
> > what program is using this file? OR, is there a way to do the copy that says
> > to ignore this type of condition? OR, is there a way to identify the files
> > that may trigger this condition and exclude them from the copy?
> >
> > I notice that NTUSER.DAT (this must have been the file that caused the
> > termination, but the error message does not show the extension) has the 'A'
> > attribute and most other file do not. What does the 'A' mean?
> >
> > 2. Can the copy command's output span to multiple CDs? (Don't think so<sigh)
> >
> > TIA,
> >
> > Phil
> >
> >