xcopy command line for files and folders

[Terry R.]

I have a partition that stores video. I store folders with names like:
Tape 10
Tape 10 DL
Tape 11
Tape 11 DL

There are also files in the root with various extensions starting with:
tape 10.avi
tape 10.avi.index
tape 10.scn

What is the simplest xcopy command that will copy all the files in the
root and also copy all the folders to another drive? I would like to be
able to use wildcards for the tape numbers (1?) if possible.

Thanks,

Terry R.

 

[Guest]

Terry,

START | RUN | Type 'cmd' & press ENTER

Type 'xcopy /?' & press ENTER

Now you see a list of switches

Another way is to search Google yourself

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:11:21 PM, and on a
whim, SPAMCOP User pounded out on the keyboard:

Terry,

START | RUN | Type 'cmd' & press ENTER

Type 'xcopy /?' & press ENTER

Now you see a list of switches

Another way is to search Google yourself

If I hadn't already done that, I wouldn't be posting here. Maybe you
think asking a question is a first resort for some people. It's my last
resort.


Terry R.

 

[Jose]

I have a partition that stores video.  I store folders with names like:
Tape 10
Tape 10 DL
Tape 11
Tape 11 DL

There are also files in the root with various extensions starting with:
tape 10.avi
tape 10.avi.index
tape 10.scn

What is the simplest xcopy command that will copy all the files in the
root and also copy all the folders to another drive?  I would like to be
able to use wildcards for the tape numbers (1?) if possible.

Thanks,

Terry R.

Even though I use Windows Explorer with reluctance, have you thought
about using that - bring up your C drive, select (highlight) the
folders you want, copy, paste them to your new drive.

You can select multiple folders by holding down the CTRL key and
clicking them one at a time - do you know how to do stuff like that in
Windows Explorer?

If you select a folder(s), it will take everything under it when you
copy and paste it. Notice I am not saying cut and paste. If you want
to remove the source folders later, that is up to you.

I know how to use XCOPY, but in this case, I might have to go with
Windows Explorer... It is also an easier to comprehend visual
experience than XCOPY.

You might have to make a few passes to get everything - there may not
be a practical method to do it all in one fell swoop.

Unless there is some reason you think you need to use XCOPY, then
maybe you could explain that to better understand your goal.

 

[Robert Macy]

The date and time was Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:11:21 PM, and on a
whim, SPAMCOP User pounded out on the keyboard:
..snip...
If I hadn't already done that, I wouldn't be posting here.  Maybe you
think asking a question is a first resort for some people.  It's my last
resort.

Terry R.

I've had Windows Explorer file copy commands too often leave a copied
file corrupted, so...

For many applications, I also prefer XCOPY.

I've written several batch files and leave them on the Desktop. That
way, when I want 'backup', or synchronizing filesets; I simply double
click on the icon.

If you're interested in that type of approach...

an example of a batch file to only transfer files with new dates, or
are newly created::

filename D2F.bat

echo off
verify on
xcopy D:\AAA\$Contacts\*.* F:\AAA\$Contacts\*.* /D /E /C /H /Y
pause
echo on

'pause' stops WinXP from exiting [and blanking all the inofrmation of
what just happened] before you can read the list of files or see a
list of the activity.

Of important note with XCOPY, be sure to set VERIFY ON, else, and this
has happened to me more than once, Windows will copy and corrupt your
file and you'll never know until you go to use it.

Robert

 

[Jose]

The date and time was Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:11:21 PM, and on a
whim, SPAMCOP User pounded out on the keyboard:
..snip...
If I hadn't already done that, I wouldn't be posting here.  Maybe you
think asking a question is a first resort for some people.  It's my last
resort.

Terry R.

I've had Windows Explorer file copy commands too often leave a copied
file corrupted, so...

For many applications, I also prefer XCOPY.

I've written several batch files and leave them on the Desktop.  That
way, when I want 'backup', or synchronizing filesets; I simply double
click on the icon.

If you're interested in that type of approach...

an example of a batch file to only transfer files with new dates, or
are newly created::

filename D2F.bat

echo off
verify on
xcopy D:\AAA\$Contacts\*.*  F:\AAA\$Contacts\*.*  /D  /E  /C  /H  /Y
pause
echo on

'pause' stops WinXP from exiting [and blanking all the inofrmation of
what just happened] before you can read the list of files or see a
list of the activity.

Of important note with XCOPY, be sure to set VERIFY ON, else, and this
has happened to me more than once, Windows will copy and corrupt your
file and you'll never know until you go to use it.

Robert

Well, a copy through explorer is supposed to do some kind of verify
(move and cut/paste I am not sure), but it seems people have trouble
with it or just don't trust it from some bad experience usually with
manipulating large amounts of data.

I have no need to copy large amounts from here to there - I just put
it there to begin with.

It would seem that there is probably some third party alternative GUI
approach that has more verification things built in, but I have no
need to do the research.

In the long run you gotta go with what makes you feel the most
confident...

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Friday, June 12, 2009 7:29:24 AM, and on a whim,
Robert Macy pounded out on the keyboard:

The date and time was Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:11:21 PM, and on a
whim, SPAMCOP User pounded out on the keyboard:
..snip...
If I hadn't already done that, I wouldn't be posting here. Maybe you
think asking a question is a first resort for some people. It's my last
resort.

Terry R.

I've had Windows Explorer file copy commands too often leave a copied
file corrupted, so...

For many applications, I also prefer XCOPY.

I've written several batch files and leave them on the Desktop. That
way, when I want 'backup', or synchronizing filesets; I simply double
click on the icon.

If you're interested in that type of approach...

an example of a batch file to only transfer files with new dates, or
are newly created::

filename D2F.bat

echo off
verify on
xcopy D:\AAA\$Contacts\*.* F:\AAA\$Contacts\*.* /D /E /C /H /Y
pause
echo on

'pause' stops WinXP from exiting [and blanking all the inofrmation of
what just happened] before you can read the list of files or see a
list of the activity.

Of important note with XCOPY, be sure to set VERIFY ON, else, and this
has happened to me more than once, Windows will copy and corrupt your
file and you'll never know until you go to use it.

Robert

Hi Robert,

I have been using WE for a long time. Since I have files in more than
one location, I thought it would be more useful to create a batch file
with everything being copied within one script, rather than waiting 45
minutes for the first copy to complete, then grab another set of
files/folders and copy again, then repeat the processes to yet another
external drive (I create 2 backup copies on external drives before
removing the files from the internal drives). These are large video
files and take a long time to copy.

I use xcopy to backup my data each day to another internal drive, so I'm
familiar with using it, and I'm also an old DOS batch file user. It's
just the commands I used copied the files, but not the folders. And
every variation I tried didn't resolve it. That's why I finally asked
in here.

I also read that VERIFY doesn't matter in xcopy. It's used only for
compatibility.


Terry R.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Friday, June 12, 2009 7:15:02 AM, and on a whim,
Jose pounded out on the keyboard:

Even though I use Windows Explorer with reluctance, have you thought
about using that - bring up your C drive, select (highlight) the
folders you want, copy, paste them to your new drive.

That's the way I've been doing it for the last few months.

You can select multiple folders by holding down the CTRL key and
clicking them one at a time - do you know how to do stuff like that in
Windows Explorer?
Yes.


If you select a folder(s), it will take everything under it when you
copy and paste it. Notice I am not saying cut and paste. If you want
to remove the source folders later, that is up to you.

I know how to use XCOPY, but in this case, I might have to go with
Windows Explorer... It is also an easier to comprehend visual
experience than XCOPY.

You might have to make a few passes to get everything - there may not
be a practical method to do it all in one fell swoop.

That's why I wanted to implement a batch file instead. Doing all the
copying of different files/folders to 2 different external drives takes
a very long time, and if I'm not there when one operation ends, it sits
there idle until I start the next copy.

Unless there is some reason you think you need to use XCOPY, then
maybe you could explain that to better understand your goal.

The above should explain it.

Terry R.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

I have a partition that stores video. I store folders with names like:
Tape 10
Tape 10 DL
Tape 11
Tape 11 DL

There are also files in the root with various extensions starting with:
tape 10.avi
tape 10.avi.index
tape 10.scn

What is the simplest xcopy command that will copy all the files in the
root and also copy all the folders to another drive? I would like to be
able to use wildcards for the tape numbers (1?) if possible.

Thanks,

Terry R.

Maybe I'm missing something important, in particular since you're an
experienced batch file programmer, but I would have thought that this
two-liner would do the trick:
Line1=@echo off
Line2=for /d %%a in (U:\tape*.*) do echo xcopy /s /c /d /y "%%a\*.*"
"\\RemoteServer\SomeShare\SomeFolder%%~pa%%~na\"
Line3=echo xcopy /s /c /d /y U:\tape*.*
"\\RemoteServer\SomeShare\SomeFolder\"

Remove the word "echo" in lines 2 and 3 to activate the batch file.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Friday, June 12, 2009 10:57:07 AM, and on a whim,
Pegasus [MVP] pounded out on the keyboard:

Maybe I'm missing something important, in particular since you're an
experienced batch file programmer, but I would have thought that this
two-liner would do the trick:
Line1=@echo off
Line2=for /d %%a in (U:\tape*.*) do echo xcopy /s /c /d /y "%%a\*.*"
"\\RemoteServer\SomeShare\SomeFolder%%~pa%%~na\"
Line3=echo xcopy /s /c /d /y U:\tape*.*
"\\RemoteServer\SomeShare\SomeFolder\"

Remove the word "echo" in lines 2 and 3 to activate the batch file.

Thanks Pegasus, I'll give that a try. I had tried tape*.* with xcopy,
but not using FOR. It would copy what was in the root folder, but not
the folders and data themselves.




Terry R.