Is There A Dos Copy Program

[Dave]

Hi Guys,

I need to copy files from an old floppy disc to another new one, but its not as simple as it sounds. I need to copy the files using DOS, as normal copying methods does not work.

As I lose all bowel control at the very thought of dos, <smile> I was wondering if anyone knows of a program (free...obviously) that can do the job for me, if so can you please point me in the right direction.

Many many thanks guys....................

Dave.

 

[Donald G. Davis]

I need to copy files from an old floppy disc to another new one, but its =
not as simple as it sounds. I need to copy the files using DOS, as =
normal copying methods does not work.=20

As I lose all bowel control at the very thought of dos, <smile> I was =
wondering if anyone knows of a program (free...obviously) that can do =
the job for me, if so can you please point me in the right direction.

You don't mention your operating system, but in Win9x or earlier,
several DOS commands should do this, without needing a third-party program
(unless you have complications that explain why "normal copying methods"
don't work, in which case DOS methods may not work either). The most
basic, built into DOS's command interpreter, is simply COPY--e.g., enter
COPY A:\*.* [destination], wait for the copying to finish, switch the
floppy disks, then COPY [destination] *.* A: (where [destination] stands
for a directory on the hard drive where you will temporarily store the
files). XCOPY, a separate program that's part of DOS, does the same
thing, but with more complex options. A third option is DISKCOPY, if you
want to clone an exact copy of a floppy (usually used when it's a bootable
disk). Enter DISKCOPY A: A: (assuming there is only one floppy drive) and
follow the prompts. For the syntax and switches of any of these commands,
enter the command name followed by /? for information. I don't use WinXP
or earlier NT-line Windows versions, but their DOS-like command line
probably has similar commands.

 

[REM]

"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Guys,

I need to copy files from an old floppy disc to another
new one, but its not as simple as it sounds. I need to
copy the files using DOS, as normal copying methods
does not work.

As I lose all bowel control at the very thought of dos,
<smile> I was wondering if anyone knows of a program
(free...obviously) that can do the job for me, if so can
you please point me in the right direction.

What OS are you running?

I suspect that your floppy might be corrupted if a regular copy does
not work. I've bought 20 packs and found only 12 good before. They are
made so cheaply now that they have very little quality. Try scandisk
first (thorough) if you think the original is bad and it might be able
to move data to uncorrupted space if there is any.

Assumong [A:] is your floppy:

Go into DOS and type: diskcopy A: A: /V

This is an old DOS disk copy utility that is in XP. I'm not sure if
9x-ME have it or not. It will read the floppy and copy it into memory
(if it's not corrupted) and ask you to insert a blank floppy in
afterwards and write to it. The /V switch verifies the write.

If your OS version doesn't have diskcopy, try xcopy:

md c:\temp
xxcopy /s/h/v a:\*.* c:\temp
put in a new floppy
xxcopy /s/h/v c:\temp\*.* a:


diskcopy /? to get help screen.
xxcopy /? to get help screen.

 

[John Rampling]

If your 'normal copying methods' do not work this suggests two possible
problems:
1 You have Windows XP and are trying to recover data from old 1.0 mB (720
kB) diskettes no longer supported
2 You have corrupt diskettes.

The answer to 1 is to copy your diskettes using someone else's computer.
Frankly I don't know if WinXP can Copy read these old diskettes from a
command prompt.
If your problem is 2, there is software that might help e.g. Isobuster or
BadCopy, but these are not freeware AFAIK. There might be a free download of
a trial version if you Google for it.

HTH
John

Hi Guys,

I need to copy files from an old floppy disc to another new one, but its not
as simple as it sounds. I need to copy the files using DOS, as normal
copying methods does not work.

As I lose all bowel control at the very thought of dos, <smile> I was
wondering if anyone knows of a program (free...obviously) that can do the
job for me, if so can you please point me in the right direction.

Many many thanks guys....................

Dave.

 

[Jörg Schneider]

Dave wrote:


[DOS file copy]

Have a look at VGA-Copy:

http://tinyurl.com/4cnfx

HTH,
Jörg

 

[Gabriele Neukam]

On that special day, Dave, ([email protected]) said...

I need to copy files from an old floppy disc to another new one, but its not as simple as it sounds. I need to copy the files using DOS, as normal copying methods does not work.

VGACOPY is extremely good at copying files and whole disks. But I am
afraid, the problem lies elsewhere. Old floppy drives have a tendency to
lose focus, and needed to be re-calibrated. The drive itself can still
read what it had written onto disks, but the tracks are so much out of
range, other drives cannot pick them up any more.

Try to copy by other means, if possible. A *very* ancient method is the
null device modem, which requires a fully connected serial or parallel
cable (and of course, matching plugs on the computers) and some
microsoft programs (which are provided with the respective DOS/Windows
versions) for the data transfer.

For DOS, there is the Interlink system. You have to boot up one machine
with the line
DEVICE=[Laufwerk:][Path]INTERLNK.EXE [/DRIVES:n] [/NOPRINTER]
[/COM[:][n|Adress]] [/LPT[:][n|Adress]] [/AUTO] [/NOSCAN] [/LOW ]
[/BAUD:Rate] [/V]
in the CONFIG.SYS (I just copied this from the dos help), and the run
the other machine, using the command
INTERSVR [drive:[...]] [/X=drive:[...]] [/LPT:[n|Adress]]
[/COM:[n|Adress]] [/BAUD:Rate] [/B] [/V]
on the command line. Then you can define
INTERLNK [Client[:]=[Server][:]]
(because you need a drive letter for the remote machine)

After this, you can issue copy commands from the client, and copy the
files needed, provided they are still readable on the old floppy drive.
If you have got an old Norton Commander, it might help to navigate the
directories.

Try that one: http://www.briggsoft.com/fmdos.htm (so we are on topic
again)

With Windows 95, things changed. The Interlink system was replaced by
the "PC-Direct-Connection", which works quite similar to the Interlink,
but now you can define which machine is supposed to be server or client,
while Windows has already booted. But beware: this direct connection is
based on the NETBEUI protocol, and only Windows 95 installs that by
default, all other windowses will have to setup NETBEUI first, before
you can use the connection.

The copying works similar to the Interlink.


Gabriele Neukam

(e-mail address removed)

 

[Donald G. Davis]

For DOS, there is the Interlink system. You have to boot up one machine
with the line
DEVICE=[Laufwerk:][Path]INTERLNK.EXE [/DRIVES:n] [/NOPRINTER]
[/COM[:][n|Adress]] [/LPT[:][n|Adress]] [/AUTO] [/NOSCAN] [/LOW ]
[/BAUD:Rate] [/V]
in the CONFIG.SYS (I just copied this from the dos help), and the run
the other machine, using the command
INTERSVR [drive:[...]] [/X=drive:[...]] [/LPT:[n|Adress]]
[/COM:[n|Adress]] [/BAUD:Rate] [/B] [/V]
on the command line. Then you can define
INTERLNK [Client[:]=[Server][:]]
(because you need a drive letter for the remote machine)

A warning about INTERLNK/INTERSVR: They are designed for the FAT16
file system, and can corrupt data if writing to a FAT32 drive. Also, they
don't handle long filenames correctly unless run in a Windows DOS session
(which, in my experience, doesn't work well). IF INTERLNK/INTERSVR must
be used, a workaround for long filenames is to compress the files, under
Windows, with a zip program that supports long filenames, then transfer
the zip files under DOS and uncompress under Windows.

 

[Conor]

Hi Guys,

I need to copy files from an old floppy disc to another new one, but its not as simple as it sounds. I need to copy the files using DOS, as normal copying methods does not work.

As I lose all bowel control at the very thought of dos, <smile> I was wondering if anyone knows of a program (free...obviously) that can do the job for me, if so can you please point me in the right direction.

Many many thanks guys....................

Dave.

DOS already has a copy command in it.

Goes as follows:

copy <source> <destination>

So...

copy a:\myfile.txt c:\files

would copy the file myfile.txt from the floppy to the files folder on
C:

Using *.* instead of a sourcefile name copies all the files in that
directory.

use copy /? to get a full list of switches.

--
Conor

Greedo shot first. Greedo ALWAYS shot first. You did not see Solo shoot
first.
It never happened. Never, ever. Not in any version. Remember: Greedo
shot first.

 

[Conor]

Dave wrote:


[DOS file copy]

Have a look at VGA-Copy:

I've never understood this so can you please explain why there is the
need to use an application when the copy command already exists?


--
Conor

Greedo shot first. Greedo ALWAYS shot first. You did not see Solo shoot
first.
It never happened. Never, ever. Not in any version. Remember: Greedo
shot first.

 

[Dave]

Many thanks for your very informative suggestions guys, I really do appreciate your valuable advice and help. I am going to try out your suggestions on my day off (Sunday) and I will let you know how I got on.

Once again, thank you.

Dave.
Hi Guys,

I need to copy files from an old floppy disc to another new one, but its not as simple as it sounds. I need to copy the files using DOS, as normal copying methods does not work.

As I lose all bowel control at the very thought of dos, <smile> I was wondering if anyone knows of a program (free...obviously) that can do the job for me, if so can you please point me in the right direction.

Many many thanks guys....................

Dave.

 

[Doc]

Hi Guys,

I need to copy files from an old floppy disc to another new one, but
its not as simple as it sounds. I need to copy the files using DOS, as
normal copying methods does not work.

Possibly the diskette you wish to copy is copy-protected and has a
special format to prevent copying.

2 or 3 programs spring to mind, all freeware IIRC.

My first choice is EMT4WIN. Help section says .... NOT freeware ... but
also .... This version of this program can be got from me for free ....
rather ambigious !
<quote>
EMT4WIN/EMT4PM is a self restorable, password protected disk image
builder.
Disk images are files built from a disk. These files can be sent to
another place through the internet. Using these files and the appropriate
disk image unpacker, you are able to get disks which are identical to the
original disks.

You must accept the license conditions once to be able to run the
program. You must be aware that this program is NOT freeware nor
shareware.
This version of this program can be got from me for free, but you cannot
distribute it.
Files built with this program can be distributed without limitation.

EMT for Windows help (c) Daniel Valot
<end-quote>

My 2nd choice is RawWrite
<quote>
It should be very easy to use, just select the drive you want
to use, select the image file and hit read or write.

This verson supports reading an image from a disk. Only
1.44 disks is supported at this time. Writing to 1.2 drives
might work.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation
<end-quote>

I do have a really old shareware program called Disk Cloner by North
Beach Labs. 1993 vintage, but its the one that I used to backup all my
floppies to hard disk images over the years.

 

[Gabriele Neukam]

On that special day, Conor, ([email protected]) said...

I've never understood this so can you please explain why there is the
need to use an application when the copy command already exists?

VGAcopy is specialized in unusual floppy formatting; ie you can store
more on such a disk than normally would fit in. But as it has to be more
precise, it might also help reading data which isn't readable with the
standard format command. only maybe.


Gabriele Neukam

(e-mail address removed)