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#1
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Saving files without repeating
I know this is a basic thing in saving files, but please help.
I have hundreds document files in a folder and I add some more every now and then. Just in case the computer crashes irrecoverably, I save the whole folder in another partition or another disk. If I use the usual COPY command, it copies one by one taking a long time. In old times and in somewhere, I recall, there was a way to save files by picking only newly added files ignorering previously saved files. But I no longer remember where it was and what software it was. Can someone tell me where I can find it or how I can do it with existing Windows functions. Thanks. * My graphic software transfers only picture files from the memory card in my digital camera if they were not already transfered previously. But this function is a part of the graphic software and thus I cannot use the function for general use. I am looking for a small utility software which does a similar job for a folder or its contents. |
#2
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Saving files without repeating
You can use the XCOPY command in a command prompt window.
-- Stefan Blom Microsoft Word MVP "Beyond X" wrote in message ... I know this is a basic thing in saving files, but please help. I have hundreds document files in a folder and I add some more every now and then. Just in case the computer crashes irrecoverably, I save the whole folder in another partition or another disk. If I use the usual COPY command, it copies one by one taking a long time. In old times and in somewhere, I recall, there was a way to save files by picking only newly added files ignorering previously saved files. But I no longer remember where it was and what software it was. Can someone tell me where I can find it or how I can do it with existing Windows functions. Thanks. * My graphic software transfers only picture files from the memory card in my digital camera if they were not already transfered previously. But this function is a part of the graphic software and thus I cannot use the function for general use. I am looking for a small utility software which does a similar job for a folder or its contents. |
#3
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Saving files without repeating
Here's how to do what you want with a command line or a batch file.
Every file has a set of "attributes" or flags. The one that indicates a new file is the Archive attribute. (If you like, you can choose to have the Windows Explorer / My Computer window show file attributes, in which case you see an A in that column for files that haven't been backed up yet.) If your backup is currently up to date, first prepare the folder by turning off the Archive attribute of all the files in it with these commands: CD path of folder ATTRIB -A *.* (If the backup is not up to date, skip that step; the first run of the next step will copy all the files and also turn off all the Archive attributes, so all other runs will only copy new files.) Now enter (or put into a batch file) these commands: CD path of folder XCOPY *.* path of backup /M/Y The XCOPY command has many more capabilities than the plain old COPY command. The /M switch tells it to copy only files that have the Archive attribute turned on, and at the same time turn it off. The /Y switch tells it not to ask you before overwriting files that already exist at the destination. After all that, I'll suggest that there is a simple way to do this in the Windows Explorer / My Computer window: As mentioned before, you can go to the View menu, click Choose Columns, and select the Attributes column to display in Details view. Then click the header of the Attributes column in the Details list, which will sort the files so all the ones with an A in that column are together. You can click the first one, Shift+click the last one, and copy / paste them to the backup destination. -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:12:22 +0900, Beyond X wrote: I know this is a basic thing in saving files, but please help. I have hundreds document files in a folder and I add some more every now and then. Just in case the computer crashes irrecoverably, I save the whole folder in another partition or another disk. If I use the usual COPY command, it copies one by one taking a long time. In old times and in somewhere, I recall, there was a way to save files by picking only newly added files ignorering previously saved files. But I no longer remember where it was and what software it was. Can someone tell me where I can find it or how I can do it with existing Windows functions. Thanks. * My graphic software transfers only picture files from the memory card in my digital camera if they were not already transfered previously. But this function is a part of the graphic software and thus I cannot use the function for general use. I am looking for a small utility software which does a similar job for a folder or its contents. |
#4
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Saving files without repeating
Stephan and Jay,
Thank you very much for your prompt responses. The idea offered is a bit above my head and I will probably need some time for digesting and experimenting. I will come back later and report the results. Thanks so much again. Jay Freedman wrote: Here's how to do what you want with a command line or a batch file. Every file has a set of "attributes" or flags. The one that indicates a new file is the Archive attribute. (If you like, you can choose to have the Windows Explorer / My Computer window show file attributes, in which case you see an A in that column for files that haven't been backed up yet.) If your backup is currently up to date, first prepare the folder by turning off the Archive attribute of all the files in it with these commands: CD path of folder ATTRIB -A *.* (If the backup is not up to date, skip that step; the first run of the next step will copy all the files and also turn off all the Archive attributes, so all other runs will only copy new files.) Now enter (or put into a batch file) these commands: CD path of folder XCOPY *.* path of backup /M/Y The XCOPY command has many more capabilities than the plain old COPY command. The /M switch tells it to copy only files that have the Archive attribute turned on, and at the same time turn it off. The /Y switch tells it not to ask you before overwriting files that already exist at the destination. After all that, I'll suggest that there is a simple way to do this in the Windows Explorer / My Computer window: As mentioned before, you can go to the View menu, click Choose Columns, and select the Attributes column to display in Details view. Then click the header of the Attributes column in the Details list, which will sort the files so all the ones with an A in that column are together. You can click the first one, Shift+click the last one, and copy / paste them to the backup destination. -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:12:22 +0900, Beyond X wrote: I know this is a basic thing in saving files, but please help. I have hundreds document files in a folder and I add some more every now and then. Just in case the computer crashes irrecoverably, I save the whole folder in another partition or another disk. If I use the usual COPY command, it copies one by one taking a long time. In old times and in somewhere, I recall, there was a way to save files by picking only newly added files ignorering previously saved files. But I no longer remember where it was and what software it was. Can someone tell me where I can find it or how I can do it with existing Windows functions. Thanks. * My graphic software transfers only picture files from the memory card in my digital camera if they were not already transfered previously. But this function is a part of the graphic software and thus I cannot use the function for general use. I am looking for a small utility software which does a similar job for a folder or its contents. |
#5
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Saving files without repeating
Start a command prompt window, for example via Start | Run: type cmd and
press Enter. You can use xcopy /? to get help with the syntax. Do post back if you need additional assistance. -- Stefan Blom Microsoft Word MVP "Beyond X" wrote in message ... Stephan and Jay, Thank you very much for your prompt responses. The idea offered is a bit above my head and I will probably need some time for digesting and experimenting. I will come back later and report the results. Thanks so much again. Jay Freedman wrote: Here's how to do what you want with a command line or a batch file. Every file has a set of "attributes" or flags. The one that indicates a new file is the Archive attribute. (If you like, you can choose to have the Windows Explorer / My Computer window show file attributes, in which case you see an A in that column for files that haven't been backed up yet.) If your backup is currently up to date, first prepare the folder by turning off the Archive attribute of all the files in it with these commands: CD path of folder ATTRIB -A *.* (If the backup is not up to date, skip that step; the first run of the next step will copy all the files and also turn off all the Archive attributes, so all other runs will only copy new files.) Now enter (or put into a batch file) these commands: CD path of folder XCOPY *.* path of backup /M/Y The XCOPY command has many more capabilities than the plain old COPY command. The /M switch tells it to copy only files that have the Archive attribute turned on, and at the same time turn it off. The /Y switch tells it not to ask you before overwriting files that already exist at the destination. After all that, I'll suggest that there is a simple way to do this in the Windows Explorer / My Computer window: As mentioned before, you can go to the View menu, click Choose Columns, and select the Attributes column to display in Details view. Then click the header of the Attributes column in the Details list, which will sort the files so all the ones with an A in that column are together. You can click the first one, Shift+click the last one, and copy / paste them to the backup destination. -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:12:22 +0900, Beyond X wrote: I know this is a basic thing in saving files, but please help. I have hundreds document files in a folder and I add some more every now and then. Just in case the computer crashes irrecoverably, I save the whole folder in another partition or another disk. If I use the usual COPY command, it copies one by one taking a long time. In old times and in somewhere, I recall, there was a way to save files by picking only newly added files ignorering previously saved files. But I no longer remember where it was and what software it was. Can someone tell me where I can find it or how I can do it with existing Windows functions. Thanks. * My graphic software transfers only picture files from the memory card in my digital camera if they were not already transfered previously. But this function is a part of the graphic software and thus I cannot use the function for general use. I am looking for a small utility software which does a similar job for a folder or its contents. |
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