Re: Archive bit on directories

["Patricia M. Godfrey" priscamg@xxxxxxxx]

Harry Binswanger wrote:
> What does that accomplish that isn't already done by:
> xcopy c:\*.* /c /e /f /d /y E:\
> I have that line as part of a .BAT file, that does a little cleanup
> before copying (deleting stuff in \windows\temp for example).

It makes sure that everything changed since the date of the last
backup (which you don't have to remember, because the batchfile
is written after the last backup is done, automatically, and
incorporates that date as the /d: parameter in the batch file)
gets copied. In 98 at least, the docs for xcopy say that without
a date, only those files are copied whose source file is newer
than the destination file. But does that include nonexistent
files? And suppose the destination is a CR/DVD-RW, or a flash
drive, and the backup copy has been looked at or otherwise
modified, but you still want it to be overridden? (Actually, I
usually do each backup into a directory of its own, so that I
keep an archive of all earlier versions of files. And then can
never find the one I want!).

Have I mentioned that Vista actually does something right? But
why did it take this long? When you drag and drop a file from one
disk or directory to another, and a file of the same name exists
on the target, it asks you if you want to not copy, copy and
overwrite, or keep both copies, renaming one.

--
Patricia M. Godfrey
PriscaMG@xxxxxxxx