Duplicating Files

[Skippybox]

How would someone duplicate some or all of the contents of several folders,
within those same folders all at once. What kind of program could I use for
this, preferrably freeware?

As an example, say I have three folders named 1, 2, and 3. Folder 1
contains files A, B and Z, folder 2 contains files C, D and Z, and folder 3
contains files E, F and Z:

1> A, B, Z
2> C, D, Z
3> E, F, Z

How would you select all at once, the six files A through F, in the three
folders 1 through 3, and end up with the following:

1> A, B, Copy of A, Copy of B, Z
2> C, D, Copy of C, Copy of D, Z
3> E, F, Copy of E, Copy of F, Z

I'm looking for something that makes this duplication task easier, as this
would be tedious for several hundred folders. Thanks in advance!

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Perhaps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SyncToy ??

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

How would someone duplicate some or all of the contents of several
folders,
within those same folders all at once. What kind of program could I use
for
this, preferrably freeware?

As an example, say I have three folders named 1, 2, and 3. Folder 1
contains files A, B and Z, folder 2 contains files C, D and Z, and folder
3
contains files E, F and Z:

1> A, B, Z
2> C, D, Z
3> E, F, Z

How would you select all at once, the six files A through F, in the three
folders 1 through 3, and end up with the following:

1> A, B, Copy of A, Copy of B, Z
2> C, D, Copy of C, Copy of D, Z
3> E, F, Copy of E, Copy of F, Z

I'm looking for something that makes this duplication task easier, as this
would be tedious for several hundred folders. Thanks in advance!

This seems a rather strange request . . . Anyway, you could use this batch
file:
@echo off
set Source=d:\test folder
for /F %%a in ('dir /ad /b "%Source%"') do call :Sub %%a
goto :eof

:Sub
for /F %%b in ('dir /a-d /b "%Source%\%*\*.*"') do ^
echo copy /y "%Source%\%*\%%b" "%Source%\%*\Copy of %%b"
pause

To activate the batch file, remove the word "pause" at the end and change
the line just above from

echo copy /y "%Source%\%*\%%b" "%Source%\%*\Copy of %%b"
to
copy /y "%Source%\%*\%%b" "%Source%\%*\Copy of %%b"

 

[Skippybox]

I appreciate your suggestion PA Bear [MS MVP]. I have SyncToy already, but
it would not be useful for my task. For one, I am not trying to synchronize
two folders. I am simply trying to copy select files within folders and
paste them in those same folders, but do it in batch. What I want to do is
similar to a batch rename. However, instead of overwriting the files with
new names, I want to make new copies of the files in the source folders.
SyncToy cannot maintain two copies of a changed file in the same folder. It
is also impossible to use the same folder for both the left and right in
SyncToy. Even if I somehow used SyncToy, I think I would have a problem
combining the folders. It's just not usable for this. Do you know of a
better solution? Thanks!

 

[Skippybox]

I'm trying to rename select files, but I don't want to actually rename them.
I want to retain the original named files, but create a second copy of them
in the same folder that can be renamed in another program. Most batch
renamer programs either output a copy of all the files to another folder or
overwrite the original files, neither of which I want. So, that is why I
need to create copies in the same folders, but for several folders in several
locations at once. Impossible? I tried your batch file Pegasus (MVP), but I
couldn't get it to work. I'm afraid I am not familiar with the syntax of
them. Unless you want to explain it, I would prefer to use a
copy/duplication program that may be available. I found a program caled
FileBoss which looks like it probably could do what I want, but I was hoping
for freeware. Any ideas? Thank-you.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Sorry, unless you post your modified version of the batch file plus a full
explanation of what exactly happened, I am unable to tell you what's
happened. Your reply "..couldn't get it to work" does not tell me anything.
Suffice it to say that I tested the program on my machine and it works as
expected.

Here is a brief explanation of each line of code:

set Source=d:\test folder
In this line you tell the program where the parent folder resides. The
parent folder is the home for your various subfolders containing the files
to be copied.

for /F %%a in ('dir /ad /b "%Source%"') do call :Sub %%a
This line picks up the various subfolders and tells the subroutine to
process one at a time

goto :eof
This line ends the main part of the batch file.

:Sub
This line says that we're now in a subroutine.

for /F %%b in ('dir /a-d /b "%Source%\%*\*.*"') do ^
echo copy /y "%Source%\%*\%%b" "%Source%\%*\Copy of %%b"
This is actually one long line, as indicated by the ^ continuation
character. It picks up one file at the time from the nominated folder and
creates a copy of it under a new name, by preceding its original name with
"Copy of". The word "echo" prevents anything permanent from happening, thus
forcing the batch file into a demo mode. To activate the batch file, this
double line must look like so:
for /F %%b in ('dir /a-d /b "%Source%\%*\*.*"') do ^
copy /y "%Source%\%*\%%b" "%Source%\%*\Copy of %%b"

pause
This line pauses the batch file so that you can see what's happening.

If you're not familiar with advanced batch files then there is not much
point in me explaining the exact syntax of each line. Just copy and paste
them as they are, and set the "Source" to suit your own environment.

 

[Skippybox]

OK, I fiddled with my folders and managed to get your batch file to run.
However, I discovered several problems. Initially, I got 'File Not Found',
and figured out that the batch file must not be able to process more than one
level of a directory. Upon changing it to a single level, the batch ran and
finished. But, when I looked in the folders, only certain files had copies.
I realized that the batch file only could make copies of files without spaces
in their names, which isn't very useful.

Thank you for explaining the batch file a little more. I think it is a nice
start, but would require more work. Although I'm not sure I want to use such
a basic tool for what could be a rather complex copying operation. I would
feel much more comfortable using something that is easy to use and more
capable under varying conditions. I really wouldn't have time building a
mini-program. As it stands, there is no way to select the files I want
copied, the batch file tries to copy the entire folders, which is only one
possiblity. Thanks for your solution though, it was quite a good try!