dsc@drutx.UUCP (DavisCS) (04/29/86)
Have I overlooked something obvious??? My pc is configured with a floppy (a:) and a hard disk (c:). Frequently I need to copy files SELECTIVELY from one floppy to another. The procedure I use is to first copy them from drive (a) to (c) and then from drive (c) to the "new floppy" in drive (a). Seems like there should be a variation of "copy" that will move the files from drive (a) into a memory buffer until full, prompt me to insert the "copy to" diskette, write out the buffer, and so on till done. Did I miss something in MS-DOS? If not, seems like a good candidate for another utility (maybe it already exists). Thanks, Scott Davis
cramer@kontron.UUCP (04/30/86)
> Have I overlooked something obvious??? > > My pc is configured with a floppy (a:) and a hard disk (c:). Frequently > I need to copy files SELECTIVELY from one floppy to another. The > procedure I use is to first copy them from drive (a) to (c) and then > from drive (c) to the "new floppy" in drive (a). > > Seems like there should be a variation of "copy" that will move the > files from drive (a) into a memory buffer until full, prompt me to > insert the "copy to" diskette, write out the buffer, and so on till > done. > > Did I miss something in MS-DOS? If not, seems like a good candidate for > another utility (maybe it already exists). > > Thanks, > Scott Davis Try using COPY A:GLOB A: At least on a one-drive PC, this works. I'm not sure if PC-DOS checks the number of drives before doing this type of COPY or not. Worth experimenting with, though.
kneller@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Don Kneller%Langridge) (05/01/86)
In article <233@drutx.UUCP> dsc@drutx.UUCP (DavisCS) writes: >Have I overlooked something obvious??? > >My pc is configured with a floppy (a:) and a hard disk (c:). Frequently >I need to copy files SELECTIVELY from one floppy to another. The >procedure I use is to first copy them from drive (a) to (c) and then >from drive (c) to the "new floppy" in drive (a). > It's not really obvious, but even when you have only one floppy drive, DOS maps 2 logical drives to it, A and B. So you can do: copy a:*.c b: and DOS will copy some of the *.c files on the floppy on A: into memory, then prompt you to strike any key when drive B: is ready. Change the floppy in your floppy drive, strike any key, then DOS will copy what's in memory to the floppy in drive A:. You will get prompted again to strike any key when drive A: is ready. Put the source floppy back in again, and strike any key. Repeat until done. I'm not sure, but I think copy only uses a maximum of 64K of memory when doing the copy (possibly the DMA limitation), so if you have a lot to copy it would be faster to use your current method. Don Kneller UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!kneller ARPA: kneller@ucsf-cgl.ARPA BITNET: kneller@ucsfcgl.BITNET PS. Anyone know why IBM is now advertising "fixed disks" as "hard files"? -- Don Kneller UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!kneller ARPA: kneller@ucsf-cgl.ARPA BITNET: kneller@ucsfcgl.BITNET
john@musocs.UUCP (John Kirkpatrick) (05/03/86)
In article <233@drutx.UUCP>, dsc@drutx.UUCP (DavisCS) writes: > > My pc is configured with a floppy (a:) and a hard disk (c:). Frequently > I need to copy files SELECTIVELY from one floppy to another. The > procedure I use is to first copy them from drive (a) to (c) and then > from drive (c) to the "new floppy" in drive (a). > > Seems like there should be a variation of "copy" that will move the > files from drive (a) into a memory buffer until full, prompt me to > insert the "copy to" diskette, write out the buffer, and so on till > done. > Seems to me that with this configuration, you should be able to type copy a:filename b: to get the job done. DOS treats the one floppy drive as both a: and b: and will prompt you to change diskettes when it needs to write to the other drive. Hope this helps.
johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine) (05/07/86)
In article <233@drutx.UUCP> dsc@drutx.UUCP (DavisCS) writes: >Have I overlooked something obvious??? > >My pc is configured with a floppy (a:) and a hard disk (c:). Frequently >I need to copy files SELECTIVELY from one floppy to another. The >procedure I use is to first copy them from drive (a) to (c) and then >from drive (c) to the "new floppy" in drive (a). It's easy to do what you want, though perhaps not obvious. All MS-DOS machines have two diskette drives, even when they don't. If they don't, the one real drive is time-shared between A: and B:. That means that to copy a file from one floppy to another, merely type: copy a:file.ext b: and it will copy the file, prompting you to put in the A: disk and then the B: disk. Copy reads big chunks so usually one disk swap per file is enough. -- John R. Levine, Javelin Software Corp., Cambridge MA +1 617 494 1400 { ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.EDU The opinions expressed herein are solely those of a 12-year-old hacker who has broken into my account and not those of any person or organization.
farmer@ico (05/07/86)
About copying files between floppies with only one drive. I think the original poster was wanting to copy multiple selected files at a time. The problem with copy a:GLOB to b: is that dos makes you swap the disk for every file. The only solution that I have found better than copying to the hard disk is to use a ram disk. David Farmer Usual disclaimers.
peter@baylor.UUCP (05/09/86)
> > Have I overlooked something obvious??? > > > > Seems like there should be a variation of "copy" that will move the > > files from drive (a) into a memory buffer until full, prompt me to > > insert the "copy to" diskette, write out the buffer, and so on till > > done. COPY A: B: On a one-drive PC A: and B: are seperate logical drives. It will prompt you to switch disks (after every file, alas). -- -- Peter da Silva -- UUCP: ...!shell!{baylor,graffiti}!peter; MCI: PDASILVA; CIS: 70216,1076