Xcopy Notes
Xcopy Notes
Xcopy Notes
By Elton Keith Hammond Nov. 5/2003 The very simple and powerful XCOPY command has its roots back in the days of DOS, but can still be used by manually typing it in at a CMD.exe prompt or by placing it in a batch file (BACKUP.BAT) which is simply a special text file with an extension of .BAT. I use it every day to back up my computer hard drives automatically to an external Firewire Hard drive and USB Flash Drives. XCOPY has been Maxtor 250 Gb enhanced with recent releases of Windows! This has been a very Firewire Hard Drive reliable backup method for several years at EKHO now.
2 Gb USB Flash Drive
Start the DOS window up from the Windows "START" button, RUN and type in CMD.
The CMD.exe window is known also as a DOS box, Command prompt or DOS window to allow you to run traditional DOS commands, programs and batch files.
XCOPY SOURCE DESTINATION SWITCHES XCOPY C:\ACAD\PROJECT_A\*.DWG A:\ACAD\PROJECT_A /Y/D /Y this switch will answer Y(es) to Yes/No/All prompts automatically. /D this Date switch will only copy files that are newer than ones on the destination.
Examples:
To copy ALL files and sub-folders (/S) on C: drive to E: drive. XCOPY C:\*.* E:\ /D/S/H/V/C/F/K/Y
XCOPY NOTES.DOC 1 Gb Compact Flash Card
To get help with all the /switches; go to the DOS prompt (CMD.exe window) and type in the following: XCOPY /? To copy ALL AutoCAD drawings (*.dwg) in the PROJECT_X directory on C: drive to A: floppy drive. XCOPY C:\PROJECT_X\*.DWG A:\PROJECT_X /D/Y/C/V
/SWITCHES USED AS FOLLOWS:
/D - copies files over top of old ones if newer date found on source (This is a VERY important switch on large hard drives to eliminate hours of wasted time copying files already backed up) /S - COPIES DIRECTORIES AND SUB-DIRECTORIES EXCEPT EMPTY ONES /E - COPIES EMPTY DIRECTORIES /V - COPIES VERIFIES EACH NEW FILE /C - COPIES EVEN IF ERRORS OCCUR /F - COPIES DISPLAYS SOURCE AND DESINATION FILES WHILE COPYING /H - COPIES HIDDEN AND SYSTEM FILES /K - COPIES ATTRIBUTES /Y - STOP PROMPTING FOR PERMISSION TO OVERWRITE /EXCLUDE:FIREWIRE_EXCLUDE.TXT - STOPS COPYING OF .BAK,.BK1,.TMP FILES listed in the exclusion file. No wildcards allowed in the exclusion file.
EXAMPLE OF THE /EXCLUDE simple text file contents that eliminates the copying of .BAK and other undesirable files to your backup device such as a Firewire Drive. One file extension per line. .bak .tmp .bk1 .bk2 .bk3 .ac$ .SYS .mp3
Current Backup Devices that can be used with this XCOPY Batch file:
Hitachi Microdrive type II compact flash drive up to 4 Gb now. Toshiba 1.8 drives up to 40 Gb. Notebook 2.5 drives by Toshiba and Hitachi up to 80 Gb. Compact Flash Cards in capacities up to 6 Gb. USB Flash Drives up to 2 Gb. Firewire / USB Hard Drives up to 500 Gb Iomega Zip drives up to 750 Mb capacities. Internal hard drives up to 300 Gb.
XCOPY NOTES.DOC
Choose "Add Scheduled Task" to set up your backup batch file to run automatically.
Choose how often you want to backup your files with BACKUP.BAT.
XCOPY NOTES.DOC
Choose a suitable time of the day for the backup. Make sure the computer will be on at that time.
Don't forget to enter your user password or the scheduled task will not run! Verify the next day that it did back up your important files to your external drive.
XCOPY NOTES.DOC
Workstation class IBM A31P notebook computer has room for up to 3 x 80 Gb 2.5 drives + 2 x 40Gb 1.8 drives internally! (320 Gb total) Enough room to back up an entire server.
XCOPY NOTES.DOC