Useing Filecopy.exe

[ronach]

OK, it's been awhile, in the past I was able to use filecopy.exe to copy all data from one drive to the other. In this day and age with XP as my OS, is this still possible? I know a lot of guys use other programs to do this, but filecopy was a down and dirty, one function proggy that worked. I will be copying all the data from a 30 gig, 4 partitioned drive to a 200 gig 4 partioned drive. thanks. ronach

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: ronach
OK, it's been awhile, in the past I was able to use filecopy.exe to copy all data from one drive to the other. In this day and age with XP as my OS, is this still possible? I know a lot of guys use other programs to do this, but filecopy was a down and dirty, one function proggy that worked. I will be copying all the data from a 30 gig, 4 partitioned drive to a 200 gig 4 partioned drive. thanks. ronach

use XCOPY.

when i use this command, I typically do xcopy [source drive] [destination folder] /e /y /c.

i forget what each of the switches does offhand, there's over a dozen possibile switches with xcopy. a simple xcopy /? will enlighten you.

one of them tells xcopy to keep the directory structure intact, even if some folders are empty. another says to continue copying even if errors occur, and i THINK the last supressed read-only and overwrite confirmation.

 

[Childs]

Can you not just select all, copy and paste through explorer? xcopy is nice and all, but if you're using a gui based OS why not use it?

 

[ronach]

Heh, I forgot about Xcopy, double heh, unfortunately that's not ALL I forgot these last few years. Thanks for the reminder zugz. Now, does childs have a point, will his method retain all the integrity of my files, copy the registry, and all that good stuff ? Back in the day, childs method would not copy ALL the files AND data from a drive, but now, maybe. I just have it in my head that a good data transfer has to be done from DOS, useing Xcopy or Filecopy, or, use a commercial proggy to copy from within the OS.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: Childs
Can you not just select all, copy and paste through explorer? xcopy is nice and all, but if you're using a gui based OS why not use it?

If files are being locked exclusive, the use of copy/paste or drag may fail.
That will then fail the rest5 of the operation.

Use of XCopy allows the copy operation to continue even if a file is unable to be processed.

It also seems that the Xcopy is faster.

 

[Childs]

Originally posted by: ronach
Heh, I forgot about Xcopy, double heh, unfortunately that's not ALL I forgot these last few years. Thanks for the reminder zugz. Now, does childs have a point, will his method retain all the integrity of my files, copy the registry, and all that good stuff ? Back in the day, childs method would not copy ALL the files AND data from a drive, but now, maybe. I just have it in my head that a good data transfer has to be done from DOS, useing Xcopy or Filecopy, or, use a commercial proggy to copy from within the OS.

Well, I didnt know you wanted to copy all files on an OS partition thats in use. By data I thought you meant..well, data, not OS data. xcopy will work. maybe even the file transfer wizard.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: Childs

Originally posted by: ronach
Heh, I forgot about Xcopy, double heh, unfortunately that's not ALL I forgot these last few years. Thanks for the reminder zugz. Now, does childs have a point, will his method retain all the integrity of my files, copy the registry, and all that good stuff ? Back in the day, childs method would not copy ALL the files AND data from a drive, but now, maybe. I just have it in my head that a good data transfer has to be done from DOS, useing Xcopy or Filecopy, or, use a commercial proggy to copy from within the OS.

Well, I didnt know you wanted to copy all files on an OS partition thats in use. By data I thought you meant..well, data, not OS data. xcopy will work. maybe even the file transfer wizard.

err, xcopy will not work on an OS partition. xcopy will allow copying to proceed even though errors occur. some windows files do not like to be touched at all while in use. xcopy will NOT copy these files, it will just ignore them and move on if used with the switches i suggested. if you need to move everything from an OS partition, use drive imaging software like Norton Ghost, or use xcopy from a DOS environment.

 

[ronach]

Thanks people for your input, I have some time on my hands so I will try a DOS environment [ complete disk copy, OS and all ] useing Xcopy, then do it with Filecopy.exe. And check the functionality of the new drive after of course. I get a kick out of useing some of the older, yet still functional methods of doing things, usually cheaper as well. Thanks again. ronach

 

[Bleep]

usually cheaper as well.

What could be cheaper than free? all of the hard drive manifactures have a FREE utility to copy one drive to another. You can get them all on a CD by downloadind ultimate boot disk from their website. Or just going to the website of the hd and downloading the utility from them, all retail hard drives come with the utility.

Bleep

 

[Childs]

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: Childs

Originally posted by: ronach
Heh, I forgot about Xcopy, double heh, unfortunately that's not ALL I forgot these last few years. Thanks for the reminder zugz. Now, does childs have a point, will his method retain all the integrity of my files, copy the registry, and all that good stuff ? Back in the day, childs method would not copy ALL the files AND data from a drive, but now, maybe. I just have it in my head that a good data transfer has to be done from DOS, useing Xcopy or Filecopy, or, use a commercial proggy to copy from within the OS.

Well, I didnt know you wanted to copy all files on an OS partition thats in use. By data I thought you meant..well, data, not OS data. xcopy will work. maybe even the file transfer wizard.

err, xcopy will not work on an OS partition. xcopy will allow copying to proceed even though errors occur. some windows files do not like to be touched at all while in use. xcopy will NOT copy these files, it will just ignore them and move on if used with the switches i suggested. if you need to move everything from an OS partition, use drive imaging software like Norton Ghost, or use xcopy from a DOS environment.

The problem with DOS is you'd need an NTFS driver if thats the filesystem you used. I have a link to a linux boot utility disk for XP that lets you do anything. Hopefully I'll find it when I get home.

 

[Joemonkey]

download the ultimate boot cd, it has at least 2 free disk cloning programs

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: Childs

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152

Originally posted by: Childs

Originally posted by: ronach
Heh, I forgot about Xcopy, double heh, unfortunately that's not ALL I forgot these last few years. Thanks for the reminder zugz. Now, does childs have a point, will his method retain all the integrity of my files, copy the registry, and all that good stuff ? Back in the day, childs method would not copy ALL the files AND data from a drive, but now, maybe. I just have it in my head that a good data transfer has to be done from DOS, useing Xcopy or Filecopy, or, use a commercial proggy to copy from within the OS.

Well, I didnt know you wanted to copy all files on an OS partition thats in use. By data I thought you meant..well, data, not OS data. xcopy will work. maybe even the file transfer wizard.

err, xcopy will not work on an OS partition. xcopy will allow copying to proceed even though errors occur. some windows files do not like to be touched at all while in use. xcopy will NOT copy these files, it will just ignore them and move on if used with the switches i suggested. if you need to move everything from an OS partition, use drive imaging software like Norton Ghost, or use xcopy from a DOS environment.

The problem with DOS is you'd need an NTFS driver if thats the filesystem you used. I have a link to a linux boot utility disk for XP that lets you do anything. Hopefully I'll find it when I get home.

there's actually NTFS DOS readers available free for download. Myabe NTFS.org or whatever the site is? Googling for NTFS reader will defintely bring it up.