Re: Synchronizing 2 computers ?

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Date: 28 May 2004 01:36:08 -0700

"Peter Curach" <curach_p@ihug.co.nz> wrote in message news:<c8msjo$6l0$1@lust.ihug.co.nz>...
> Hi HAAK
> I wanted 2 do something similar, but found nothing really reliable.
> But this was about 2 years ago.
>
> I did find some software on the net. Directory Compare and Synchronise and
> Synchronize It! But I found them more trouble than it was worth. But then
> again I was trying to synchronise more than 5GB of data (work/project) data.
> In the end, I use a little piece of shareware called XXCOPY
> (www.xxcopy.com). As I run my own business, I purchased it but it is free
> for personal use.
>
> XXCOPY is like the old DOS XCOPY command but with a lot more switches. I
> use:
> xxcopy source destination
> /s/e/v/y/tcc/da/bi/Foc:\copylog.txt/oNc:\errlog.txt
>
> This copies sub-directories (/s), even empty ones (/e), verifies (/v), don't
> stop for errors (/y), copies destination with same date/time stamp as
> orginal (/tcc), only copies files which are older (/da) and files which do
> not exist (/bi), create a log of files copied (/Foc:\copylog.txt) and create
> an error log (/oNc:\errlog.txt)
>
> IMPORTANT !!!
> XXCOPY only copies it does not synchronise !!!
>
> I be interested if you find anything that would be simple to use.
>
>
> Peter
>

Let me clarify a few things in XXCOPY.

If the definition of "synchronization" is to make a pair of
directories the virtually the same by transfering newer files
from one of the directory to the other, one should *NOT* use
the /BI switch. Rather /BN or /D should be used.

Since XXCOPY's command line syntax rule stipulates that the
file-transfer direction is always in one direction, it takes
two simple commands (we suggest a batch file to combine
two or more XXCOPY operations into one script. E.g.,

   dosync1.bat
  ------------------------------------------------
   xxcopy \dir1\ \dir2\ /bu/bn
   xxcopy \dir2\ \dir1\ /bu/bn
  ------------------------------------------------

This batch file will copy newer files from one directory
to the other. A new file that exists only in one of the
two directories will be duplicated in the other directory.
If a file exists in both directories, then, the newer of
the two will replace the older one in the other directory.
When a subdirectory exists in one of the two, then, the
whole contents of the subdirectory will be duplicated in
the other one. Either of the directories can be the root
directory (but you may synchronize the root directory of
one volume into a subdirectory of the other).

The /BU switch is a shortcut of /K/S/H/E/R/Q/Y/BI.
The /BI (backup-incremental) component of the /BU switch
will be overwritten by /BN (Backup newer files).

Make sure /BU/BN is specified in this order.

Due to the very large number of variations in such operations,
we chose not to make the two step operations into one command.
We feel there is practically nothing to gain to merge the
above two steps into one. The drawback will be a new set
of rules in the expanded command syntax which will force
users to digest a complex set of rules. That is, in order
to retain all the flexibility XXCOPY offers in the
synchronization operation, it is best that the user specify
two steps separately.

I think the above batch file are quite simple. But it can
be just a starting point for further customization.

E.g.,

  /DA#0 // select only files that were written today (since midnight)
  /DA#1 // select only files that were written yesterday or today
  /DA#6H // select only files that were written within 6 hours
  /DA#30M // select only files that were written within 30 minutes

  /TS+1 // adjust one hour (inter-timezone synchronization)
  /FF // ignore timestamp difference within 2 seconds (NTFS <-> FAT)

  /SZ:-1M // select only files that is 1MB or less
  /SZ:1-100M // select files that is 100MB or less, skip 0-byte files
 
  /X:\win386.swp // exclude the swap file
  /X:*.MP3 // exclude MP3 files

The file-selection switches above are applied to only the source
directory. The command line with these switches would require
a new set of complex syntax rules if the two steps were merged
into one command line (XXCOPY already has 300+ switches).

/TS+1 is just a rarely used switch that ilustrates XXCOPY's
extreme versatility. /FF allows for a mismatch in the timestamp
granularity between the two volumes (e.g., NTFS vs. FAT).

Everyone wants a simple tool. Yet, everyone's need is different.
As the number of files is growing fast in most people's disk,
if you stay with a simple tool (with a limited set of modifiable
parameters), you will eventually want to be "cleaver" to be
more efficient (e.g., by skipping huge files that you are not
interested).

XXCOPY's design philosophy is to provide a rich set of file
management operations while the assiciated complexity is kept
to a minimum.

Kan Yabumoto
The author of XXCopy

• Previous message: Harry: "Can't network XP Pro"
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