- Improvement on /oD2 and /oD3
Although the /oD2 and /oD3 functions worked well on the console,
the files to be deleted by the /Z (and /ZY) switch were not listed
in the log file (by /oN or /oA) when the operation is for list-only (/L).
Starting with ver 2.96.3, the files to be deleted are also listed in
the log file.
- Data-Comparison functions added
Pprevious versions of XXCOPY supported the file data comparison on
a byte-by-byte basis as a verify operation immediately after the file
is copied. However, XXCOPY lacked the ability to compare file contents
in any other context. Starting with Ver 2.96.3, a new set of switches,
/CDM, /CDU, /CDX and /CD0 are added to address the needs that a number
of users requested in the past. These switches perform a file-selection
operation on their own, or in combination with other file-selection
switches.
/CDM // Compares file data and selects the file if matched.
/CDU // Compares file data and selects the file if unmatched.
/CDX // Selects the file if unmatched and brand new files.
/CD0 // Does not compare file data (default).
The three switches are mutually exclusive (if two or more such switches
are specified, the last one will prevail). They can be combined with
any other switches.
E.g.:
xxcopy \src\ \dst\ /bi /cdu // skip files that match exactly
xxcopy \src\ \dst\ /clone /cdu // combine with the popular switch
In the above examples, the addition of the /CDU switch makes
sure the incremental backup operation does not take chances in
determining files that are truly identical. A file in the
source directory that matches in the timestamp and the size to
its counterpart in the destination directory will be further
scrutinized by a byte-by-byte comparison before treated as
truly identical. Without the /CDU switch, the files with
matching timestamp and filesize will be skipped even though
there is a small possibility that the file contents vary.
Although the favorable assumption (without the use of /CDU)
is reasonable and necessary for speedy operation, the new
feature satisifies demainding users' needs.
xxcopy \src\ \dst\ /bs /cdu /l // select files that differ in data
This command makes a list of files that would be erroneously
treated identical to their backup copy even though their
contents are different. If the operation generates a null list,
that validates that the operation without the time-consuming
data comparison is good.
xxcopy \src\ \dst\ /rs /bs /cdm // deletes truly identical files
This command deletes files from the source directory only when
there is a perfect backup copy in the destination directory.
The /CDX function is a more generalized than /CDM where /CDX
does not exclude the brand new files. That is, /CDX is to exclude
the files strictly by the result of file-data comparison that
does not exclude files that are not subjected to data comparison.
In other words, the /CDX/U combination is equivalent to /CDM.
(/CDX is rarely useful but is provided mostly for symmetry's sake.)
XXTB #45 (http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy45.htm) explains the detail.
- With Ver 2.96.0, supports Windows Vista.
XXCOPY's program image comes with a built-in manifest that complies
with the User Access Control (UAC) scheme. It elevates the privilege
from the Standard user to the Administrator Aproval mode
(via the mandatory user prompt).
For those who want an XXCOPY that remains a Standard User application
which does not elevate the privilege (and will not access the
Administative control resources such as the root and the Windows
directories without causing the system to limit such accesses to
be confined into a system-imposed virtualized objects (in sandbox).
For detailed discussion with UAC-related topic, see XXTB #42.
- The File share mode setting is made more conservative than before.
Prior to Ver 2.96.0, XXCOPY used to open the source file with file share
for both read and write operations. We found a rare case where
this practice result in an invalid file copied, XXCOPY no longer shares
the source file when the program is being modified.
To manually control the file-share setting of the source file, the
following new switches are added.
/SHR // Enables read-share (default)
/SHW // Enables write-share
/SHRW or /SHWR // Enables rd/wr-share (old default)
/SH0 // Disables file share (most conservative)
By enabling a concurrent access with another program, the /SHR setting
somewhat speeds up the operations (or avoid mostly unnecessary delay).
However, there are very rare cases of corrupted file as a result of
concurrent access of file that is being modified. The default setting
(/SHR) seems to strike a fair balance of pro and con for most users.
See XXTB #44 for details.
- With Ver 2.95.1, output control functions were extended
- Addition of three more format control parameters
(used in /FM:xxxx and /L:xxx).
R // Relative Pathname
N // Name (Long Filename without its path)
P // Parent Directory Pathname
E.g., xxcopy c:\mydir\*.txt /S /L:N
For more information, run the following command
xxcopy /L /HELP
- New switch /oQ to surround pathnames and filenames with
a pair of quotation marks (/oQ0 to disable)
E.g., xxcopy c:\mydir\*.txt /S /oQ /L:R
- Starting with Ver 2.95.0, the compression attribute for file and
directory is supported.
With a /FM:C (or /L:C) switch, the C-bit (Compress mode) will be shown.
/AS:C and /AR:C are also supported (to set or reset the C-bit).
The /AS and /AR functions are extended with /ASD and /ARD that act on
directories rather than on files.
The Manifest is linked into the executable file for Vista UAC.
- Desktop Icon for XXCopy on Installation.
In order to help novice users who are not familiar with the DOS Box,
the installation procedure will create a shortcut icon of XXCopy on
the Desktop.
This feature may be disabled with /IDI0 (in conjunction with /INSTALL).
- Bug fix with a blocked file.
With previous versions, when XXCOPY encounters a file whose contents
are blocked by another process (that usually results in a failed copy),
the destination file (to be overwritten) will be deleted as a result.
Starting with v.2.93.0, XXCOPY will defer the opening of the
destination file until the first successful read from the source file.
This method prevents the rare situation of an undesirable deletion of
a destination file due to the failure in file-overwrite.
- Security Information including the directory ownership can be
backed up correctly starting with v.2.92.9.
We removed a bug that prevented the ownership to be properly
assigned to destination directories with /SC and /SF.
- The directory timestamps are now preserved (in NT/2K/XP).
A bug has prevented the directory timestamps to be preserved
with the /TC switch. Now, it should work.
- Starting with v.2.92.9, one more variation in display format.
/FMH (or /LH) shows the three flavors of timestamps
Although many people are aware of the three types in timestamps,
there are few tools to show them convenently (Windows Explorer
is extremely cumbersome for this purpose).
Try XXCOPY \src\ /LH
The order of the three timestamps in this command is always
Creation-time, Last-Write-time, Last-Access-time
(hint: these happen to be in chronological order in most cases).
- /Z disabled when a /AA, /AZ, /AN, /AR, /AS, /ARD, or /ARD operation
is in effect.
Starting with ver 2.92.8, /Z (or /ZY) will be automatically
disabled with /AA (and its variations) operations.
Since the /AA /Z combination is not useful in most cases,
we decided that the /Z function be automatically disabled
in an /AA operation (and its variations). This is consistent
with other similar circumstances (e.g., /SX or /SG) where
the /Z function is disabled.
- /PP and /PP0 added
With ver 2.92.7, the space bar function to toggle the console-output
action is now documented and the user has control on enabling or
disabling the feature by the new /PP and /PP0 switches.
/PP enables the space bar press-for-pause function (default)
/PP0 disables the space bar press-for-pause function
In /PP (default) mode, XXCOPY's console output can be toggled by
pressing the space bar (alternative to the Ctrl-S/Ctrl-Q feature).
Prior to this, XXCOPY's output control function by the space bar
has not been officially documented. We felt that this feature
was simply an extension to the archaic X-ON/X-FF (Ctrl-Q/Ctrl-S)
protocol that seldom mentioned in Microsoft's documentation.
Some time ago, we added a message that alert the unsuspecting
user why the console output is suspended. But, we hear users
wanting to disable this feature entirely. (The X-ON/X-OFF
protocol that quietly toggles the console output is left
untouched.)
- The Exit code with /ER when no-file selected is now changed.
Starting with v2.92.5, in the Win NT/2K/XP environments,
XXCOPY will return an exit code of 0 with the /ER switch
when no files are selected in the operation. Without /ER,
the exit code is still 100. This change is to emulate XCOPY's
inconsistent behavior with the exit code (treating differently
depending on the Windows version). We chose to implement
the same scheme even in XXCOPY16 which now returns an exit code
0 with /ER when no files are selected in the operation.
XXCOPY still returns an exit code of 1 in Windows 9x/ME in
such an occasion.
- Progress Bar Updated.
With ver.2.92.4, the Halt/Abort button in the progress bar window can
be disabled with the /PBH0 switch (default: /PBH enables the button).
- More efficient use of memory.
With ver.2.92.3, some memory allocation scheme was optimized
to reduce the memory demnad even more.
- /PZ warning message made more threatening
In order to reduce an inadvertent invocation of a /CLONE operation
by novice users (who do not read docs), the wording now includes
the consequence of the operation.
- DATMAN-support eliminated (Memory usage reduced).
Starting with v2.92.0, XXCOPY no longer supports DATMAN.
A number of people reported a heavy memory usage by XXCOPY that
would result in "out-of-memory" condition when the job is very large.
They wanted the "memory leak" to be fixed. Well, it's not a leak.
Due to XXCOPY's lineage going back to DATMAN (tape-control software),
XXCOPY constructed a directry tree in memory that resembles the
directory structure as it traversed the source directory.
The operational assumtions when the original code was written
no longer hold true (ten years ago, we never anticipated a job
as large as a million files in one job).
Now, we decided to abandon XXCOPY's support for DATMAN. This
removes the "heavy" memory usage that was related to DATMAN.
This change will improve the performacne of XXCOPY in a very
large job with hopefully, no more out-of-memory conditions.
- Improved monitoring of network connection status
A new mechanism is now in place to detect the loss of network
connection at the earliest possible time. This new scheme should
eliminate the rare occurrence of inadvertent deletion of
files/directories in the destination with the /Z (and /RX)
operation (deletion of extra items).
The new exit code, 49 is defined for "Problem in network"
(previously, XXCOPY did not have network-related exit code).
- Now, ready for Windows XP SP2.
Microsoft started to ship Windows XP, Service Pack 2 (SP2).
XXCOPY Version 2.85.8 supports Win XP SP2
- New mechanism to detect the OS (Windows) environment.
Starting with V.2.85.7, XXCOPY no longer tests the
OS (Windows) environment using the timestamp of
key DLL files (KERNEL32.DLL, USER32.DLL). Rather,
it checks the Microsoft Windows Service Pack number.
When XXCOPY is invoked, it compares the Service Pack number
of the system against the list of the highest SP numbers that
it has been tested with. If the current SP number is not
supported by the version, XXCOPY will display a warning message
for a while (2 minutes). You may terminate the program by the
<ESC> key, or let it automatically resume the operation.
The latest release, v.2.85.7 expressly supports the following
Windows Versions:
Windows 95 4.00.0950
Windows 95 OSR2 4.00.1111
Windows 98 4.10.1998
Windows 98 SE 4.10.2222
Windows ME 4.90.3000
Windows NT 4 4.0.1381 SP6a
Windows 2000 5.0.2195 SP4
Windows XP 5.1.2600 SP2 (Release Candidate 2)
Windows 2003 5.2.3790 SP1
This new scheme eliminates the uncertainty faced by the
user after installing a new Microsoft security patch.
The previous versions with the default /WV switch generated
a user-prompt that had to be answered by the user. Although
the /WV0 switch could suppress the version-mismatch warning,
it would deprive the user of the benefit of seeing the warning.
Finally, when a brand new version of Windows is encountered
(a Windows version not listed above, e.g., Windows Longhorn),
the default behavior (absence of a user response in time) is
to terminate the operation.
- Bugfix on /A/H which did not process hidden directories
Starting with v.2.85.6, file selection via /AT/AX should not be
mixed with the simpler method using /H/Ho/H0. Unless an uncommon
combination of attribute bits is used, the simpler scheme is
recommended. When the /AT/AX specifier is used, /H/Ho/H0 scheme
should not be used to avoid confusion.
- Now, /RC can be combined with the /SX, /SL, /SR operations
In earlier versions, the /RC (Remove-after-Copy) switch would
disable a directory-flattening operation. This restriction is
now removed.
- Volume confirmation feature
/ILS<name> Runs the command if name matches the src volume label
/ILD<name> Runs the command if name matches the dst volume label
These switches allows you to make your backup batch files immune
from inadvertent changes in drive letter assignments.
(A driver letter may change when a disk fails or in a dual-boot
environment which may cause a catastrophic loss of files.)
- The new cache control feature
/CA Enables all cache. Same as /CA7 (default).
/CA0 Cache control: src-rd = OFF dst-wr = OFF dst-rd = OFF
/CA1 Cache control: src-rd = OFF dst-wr = OFF dst-rd = ON
/CA2 Cache control: src-rd = OFF dst-wr = ON dst-rd = OFF
/CA3 Cache control: src-rd = OFF dst-wr = ON dst-rd = ON
/CA4 Cache control: src-rd = ON dst-wr = OFF dst-rd = OFF
/CA5 Cache control: src-rd = ON dst-wr = OFF dst-rd = ON
/CA6 Cache control: src-rd = ON dst-wr = ON dst-rd = OFF
/CA7 Cache control: src-rd = ON dst-wr = ON dst-rd = ON
Hint: you may add /CA4/V2 when you record a CD-R using XXCOPY.
- A few new macro keywords were added.
Some users had need to use a date string which does not allow
a leading zero. So the following new keywords are added.
/$M$ // 1 or 2 digit month (without leading zero)
/$D$ // 1 or 2 digit day (without leading zero)
/$H$ // 1 or 2 digit hour (without leading zero)
/$N$ // 1 or 2 digit minute (without leading zero)
/$S$ // 1 or 2 digit second (without leading zero)
Now, you may combine
/$M-D-YY$ // 7-4-03 for July 4th 2003 in the US convention
/$IIII-IWK-K$ // ISO-8601 Week-Date notation
Also, the computer name can be specified by macro
/$HOST$ // the computer name (up to 15 characters)
- Improved /NX (SFN-preservation) operation
The SFN-preservation algorithm that was used in the
previous versions of XXCOPY suffered a serious
performance penalty in NT/2000/XP/2003 platforms.
This version uses an improved method which runs
more efficiently.
- Supports Windows XP SP1 and Windows 2000 SP3.
When you install Windows XP Service Pack 1 or
Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, one of the key DLL
files is replaced. XXCOPY detects this change
when it checks the OS version and generates a warning prompt.
The current version (v.2.82.4 or higher) eliminates this warning.
- Context-sensitive help for Prompt buster switch.
When you encounter a user-prmpt, typically (Y/N) ?
You may respond to it by typing "?".
XXCOPY will provide a short help text that tells
you what switch would disable the particular user-prompt.
- Command Switch accepts an optional colon as delimiter.
Once upon a time (before /CF (command File) was introduced),
the command line was such a precisous space, the command syntax
could not afford a delimiter between the command letter(s) and
its parameter. Now, we can talk about readability.
To improve the readability of command text (in both the command
line and in the text for the /CF file), XXCOPY now accepts an
optional colon that can be placed immediately after the switch
letter(s).
e.g., /WS5 -> /WS:5
/X*.dir -> /X:*.dir
/INn* -> /IN:N*
/oNc:\mylog.txt -> /oN:c:\mylog.txt
Note: XXCOPY already accepts a comment // like this
A comment may appear either on the command line or
in the command file text (in /CF file).
- New switch /IA:
- and /IP:
-
An improvement of the /IA (If-Absent) and /IP (IF-Present) switches
with the name of a file/directory.
/IA:mystuff // Continue only if "mystuff" is absent.
/IP:mystuf // Continue only if "mystuff" is present.
/IA // Continue only if the dst directory is absent
/IP // Continue only if the dst directory is present
Note: the item for absence/presence may be a directory or a file.
-
New macro item added:
/$WWW$ // Day of the week in three-letter (e.g., SUN)
/$W$ // Day of the week in ordinal value (0-6 for Sun-Sat)
/$HOST$ // The name of the host (current) computer
-
Improvements on /W; Now, /WS and /WE accept a delay value.
/$WS<n> // Waits for n seconds at the start of the program.
/$WE<n> // waits for n seconds at the end of the program.
Note: n is in seconds by default; you may add a sufix letter
for S(econds), M(inutes), H(ours), or D(ays).
The following existing switches are still supported.
/W // Same as /WS (compatible with XCOPY).
/WS // Waits for a user key at the start of the program.
/WE // Waits for a user key at the end of the program.
=-=- The following items are from recent updates -=-=
-
A few bugs were removed.
Versions between 2.80.0 and 2.80.3 were affected by the bug.
/DB#xxH /DB#xxM /DB#xxS did not compute the right age.
Now these switches should work correctly.
Due to inconsistent implementations by Microsoft among the
various Win32 platforms, XXCOPY encountered problems when
a read-only file with the H (hidden) and/or S (system)
attributes was to be overwritten, under Windows NT/2K/XP/2003
(no problems under Windows 9X/ME). This problem is now fixed.
- File selection by the file timestamp
/DA: and /DB: are enhanced with a time value in addition to
the date value (add T or @ followed by a time value).
Examples:
/DA:2001-10-25T13:15:30 (conform to the ISO 8601 standard).
/DB:2001-10-25@13:15 (@ may be used between date and time)
/DB:2001-10-25@13 (sec and/or min can be omitted)
- New security related features, /SC and /SF are added.
This is for a copy operation from an NTFS volume to another.
With the /SC (Security Copy) switch, when a file (or a
directory) is copied, its security information (permissions
and/or auditing info) will also be copied.
With the /SF (Security Fixup) switch, only the security info
in the source will be copied to their corresponding items in
the destination (if present) without changes in any other
aspects (no file contents and other attributes are affected).
In both the /SC and /SF cases, you may fine-tune the
scope of the security information to handle by appending
a digit (1 - 3) as shown below:
/SC /SF // same as /SC3 and /SF3 respectively
/SC3 /SF3 // both permissions and auditing.
/SC2 /SF2 // only with auditing (SACL)
/SC1 /SF1 // only with permissions (DACL)
/SC0 /SF0 // cancel /SC or /SF switch
Note: the user must log on with the Administrator's privilege
to use /SC and /SF.
- New /INSTALL:<directory> to specify XXCOPY's home
directroy.
- The Progress Bar (/PB) has been completely reworked. The
older method of displaying the bar graph on the DOS Box
screen was discarded. The new method utilizes a pop-up
window which no longer relies on the ANSI-compatible DOS Box
setting. As a bonus feature, the Halt/Resume/Abort buttons
are provided. The /PB switch now works on Win9x and NT/2000/XP.
- The new /LTREE switch allows you to list directories only. It
supports exclusion and also timestamp parameters applied to
the directory (/DA /DB /DO) which are otherwise applied to
files only.
- Two new switches are added.
/PC Prompts on Creating a new file
/Po Prompts on Overwriting an existing file (same as /Y)
These pair now handles each of the two cases in writing
a file. Previsously, the /Y switch was responsible for
the user-prompt on the file-overwrite case, but, there was
no counterpart on file-creation. The /Po switch was created
to form a symmetry: it is equivalent to /Y switch with the
opposite polarity (i.e., /Po is the same as /-Y which is
the default).
- The new /FF switch is added for "Fuzzy Filetime" match.
It provides more flexible control of the leeway in filetime
matching. It improves upon the /FT (Filetime Truncate)
and /FR (Filetime Round-Up). The new /FF switch accepts
an optional parameter to specify direction and magnitude
of the slack value in S(econds), M(inutes), H(our), or even
D(ays). The default /FF (without any parameter) is useful
for incremental backup between a FAT and an NTFS file system.
- As a totally redesigned scheme as an advanced XXCOPY-PRO feature,
the control of the console display and log file output are
organized with a total of seven related switches in the new
/o switch group (/oP, /oI, /oX, /oF, /oS, /oD, /oE). Each of
these switches can be independently controled for the console
and the log file output.
- The new /FM switch allows you to specify the output format
for the log file output (/oF) and for console display (/L).
- A few more /X parameter cases which were not previously
articulated in the documentation are now officially supported.
e.g., /Xabc\*\ and /Xabc\?\ which are equivalent to
/Xabc\*\* and /Xabc\?\* respectively.
- The debut of XXCOPY-PRO which is now specifically targeted for
professional users who accesses networked computers.
It allows a 60-day free test drive for new users.
The popular XXCOPY-Freeware is still available for home users
with a stand-alone computer. Advanced features are still
available in the Freeware version as a demonstration.
- The new /CF (Command File) feature allows you to store the
XXCOPY command line in a text file. It allows you to add
comments, connects lines for a very long filename.
- The log output is now cleaned up. Now, you have more control
on the log file contents. ( /OP, /OI, /OX, /OF, /OS, /OD)
Highlights of recent releases:
- The long-awaited Progress Bar is finally here. Add the /PB
switch to a large XXCOPY job to display a progress bar at the
top of the screen. Another progress bar will be shown for
an individual copy for files larger than 1 MB (customizable).
- File age parameters (/DA# /DB# /Do#) now accept a value in
days, hours, minutes, or even seconds. Now you can say,
XXCOPY C:\ D:\ /DA#30M /S // files 30 minutes or younger
XXCOPY \my\*JPG /DB#12H /RS // delete *.JPG, 12 hrs or older
We have archived over 9000 messages that appeared in the XXCOPY
discussion group over the past four years. The following
search form helps you locate answers that you are looking for.
Click the button below to reach the XARC Main page where
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The DOS Box display (the short-help text).
The progress bar pop-up window.
XXCOPY is a trademark of Pixelab, Inc.
