copy with noreplace option

gymeejet · Post by **gymeejet** » 2004 Nov 11, 18:49

i am running windows xp-pro. i can't seem to do the above, so i was hoping that i could find a program to do the following very basic copy option, and that is:

i am copying files from 1 folder to a backup folder on the same disk. during the copy process, if it finds a file of the same name in the destination folder, then do not replace it. it is basically a way to back up whatever new files one has added, without backing up the full folder, since the other files have not changed.

can i do this with this program ?

thanks.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Nov 11, 18:59

you can, but you need the pro version
the latest build 1.1 comes with a confirmation dialog that includes a "no to all" button plus many other useful options

this is called "robust copy" in spin

gymeejet · Post by **gymeejet** » 2004 Nov 11, 20:04

hi nikos,
i downloaded the pro for trial. i see an option that is also good - that of copying it if it is newer, which is probably what i will do.

however, it does not seem to be working for me. i deleted 2 files from the backup folder, for testing.

it is finding the files, because it prompts me each time, as i say "no". but if i hit the "no to all" button, it does not copy the 2 files to the destination folder, but it is still on the from folder.

this is an itunes folder, with folders within folders, and then the actual files are all mp3 files, 1 file per song. since one can have thousands of songs, you can see why i want to copy just those since i last backed them up.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Nov 11, 20:09

i cannot understand the situation you are describing
can you be more specific?

tell me about the exact file names left and right (can be a small hypothetical example) and copy options you are using, then I can tell you whether this is a bug or not

gymeejet · Post by **gymeejet** » 2004 Nov 11, 20:23

hi nikos, i suspect that it is my misunderstanding of how to run the program, since i am just new to learning it.

the screen has a left and a right pane. i click on the left pane and the name of the folder. i then click the "copy to" button, and it comes up with another screen. i check the "here" box, and then it lets me browse for the backup folder name. i then click "copy".

it then gives me the message "this folder already contains the file such and such. do you wish to replace the existing file with this new file".

i answer "no", and it proceeds onto the next song, until i say "no to all", and it then finishes very quickly. which it should do, since out of several hundred song files, only the 2 that i manually deleted, actually would be copied.

i don't use the right pane at all.

gymeejet · Post by **gymeejet** » 2004 Nov 11, 20:45

hi nikos, perhaps this may be some sort of clue for you.

instead of starting with the root of itunes music, i actually went to the name of the folder that contains the 2 files that i deleted. this folder has 4 song files, and of course only 2 of them are left on the backup folder.

but when i went to copy this folder to the backup folder, instead of adding just the 2 songs to the folder, it added the complete folder within the folder, leaving the 2 songs also there.

so now i have a folder, let's call it "A". within "A", i have a folder, also called "A", with all 4 songs, plus the original 2 songs that i had before the copy.

and it never asked me the "no" option, since it added a completely new folder, it never found duplicates.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Nov 12, 08:11

i can't say that i'm completely clear, so i'll try explaining what the command tries to do by design

it copies files and folders selected in the active pane to a target folder, either in the inactive pane or somewhere else you specify in the Here field

normally it will copy files without asking you, unless...

if while copying a file it detects that a file with the same name exists in the target folder then it checks its overwrite options. If you have "overwrite newer", it uses the date information and doesn't ask you. If this automatic mode is not on, it always asks you what to do for each file to be overwritten

now to the final part of the puzzle: if you get sick of answering yes or no for each individual file you have these options to stop questions for the remaining of the files

* yes to all: it will overwrite all, like as if you clicked "yes" for all subsequent conflicts

* no to all: it will not overwrite any more files, like as if you clicked "no" for all subsequent conflicts

* cancel: it will stop copying altogether

after this small tutorial, you can go back and reinterpret your copying experiences. If you still believe there's some sort of bug, let me know!

gymeejet · Post by **gymeejet** » 2004 Nov 12, 18:58

hi nikos,

that is how i was understanding it to work. i am now of the opinion that it is a bug, instead of my ineptness.

for the most part, it does seem to find the duplicate file, and ask me the question. but the "no to all" would not copy the 2 files that it should have, being that they were not duplicate.

as an old-time programmer, it behaved as if it either stopped looking, or there was some flag set that caused it to bypass the 2 good files. it is hard to tell, because without the actual copying, either of the 2 would have occurred almost instantaneously.

i don't know if it may be operating system/computer dependent, though. see if you can get that option to work for you. (i am using files that are indexed by a few layers of folders, so you would need to include that in your trials).

even if i can't get it to work for me, i appreciate your looking into it.

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Nov 12, 19:42

what's the smallest (simplest) possible arrangement of files that will manifest this problem? Lets get a test case so that we know what we're talking about

gymeejet · Post by **gymeejet** » 2004 Nov 12, 23:08

hi nikos,
well i created a folder with a few files, and then another test folder to copy them. it did work in this simple case, so the option does at least work some of the time. i need to play around with it some more, when i have more time.

btw, why are these copies slower than when you simply drag and drop from the operating system ?

Post by **nikos** » 2004 Nov 13, 07:35

in my experience they are a little bit faster compared to explorer, but not by much. The whole point is flexibility though, not speed

if you ever manage to reproduce the problem let me know