Martin wrote:
I've recently switched from 98 to XP and have noticed that the archive
bits on some of my directories keep getting re-set. I've just diagnosed
the problem: xcopy between directories sets the archive bit on the target
directory (though xcopy for a specific file does not). Maybe this is well
known, though I couldn't find it in the archives. (I regularly transfer
files between two computers via a portable HD using
xcopy e:\xy c:\xy\ /M/Y/S
to get the files from the portable drive.)
Is it a problem with your switches? XCOPY /? says:
"/M Copies only files with the archive attribute set, turns off the archive
attribute."
I wonder if what it really does is *toggles* the archive attribute, and
that would work fine for copy files, but not directories.
Note also:
/K Copies attributes. Normal Xcopy will reset read-only attributes.
I wonder if this syntax is supported: /-K
since they do support: /-Y
At any rate, I'd recommend using XCOPY as I do: ignore attributes and go by
file date.
xcopy c:\*.* /c /e /f /d /y E:\
(if E: is your other drive).
Harry Binswanger
hb@xxxxxxxx