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Number   :  43
Date     :  2001-05-16
Author   :  Kan Yabumoto
Subject  :  Re: xxcopy switches, etc.
Size(KB) :  3


At 2001-05-16 13:52, James Sadler wrote:>
I would like to back up my entire hard drive to
>CDRW. Of course this would span severla CDs. What is
>the best sntax with xxcopy to do this job. Secondly if
>I want to do daily updates to that backup what
>switches should I use?
> Jim
========================================================

Dear Jim:

The CD-RW based backup is getting increasingly popular.
So far, the only extra feature in XXCOPY which specifically
addresses the CD-RW based backup is the /SP switch (for span).

I assume that you are using Adaptec's DirectCD. Unfortunately,
DirectCD does not use the same SFN scheme as with the
standard Win9x or WinNT/2000 file system scheme. That is,
you cannot save the same SFN in the DirectCD (you can
easily examine how the SFN look like by using the DIR command.

So, for now, one cannot expect any CD-RW based backup to
preserve everything. If you are expecting something which
is a true backup which allows a complete system restoration,
you would be disappointed.

Incidentally, I heard some good thing about NERO which is
a competing product to Adaptec (Roxio) DirectCD from Germany.
I made a contact to them but they are basically ignoring me.
My understanding of the NERO stuff is quite limited and so far,
I'm not in the position to endorse this one. But, according
to their claims, they can create a bootable CD for Win9x and
Win2000. But, since they did not let me use any functional
package (despite their promise, and since I've been too busy
to play with their stuff), I have not had chance to evaluate
the NERO stuff. One thing which sets the NERO package apart
is that although they have a product similar to DirectCD,
their emphasis in the product is mostly Music related and
the pure file system aspect (for which we and the rest of
the XXCOPY user community are interested in) is not stressed.
It is quite strange, as if they are not aware of the
significance of that feature as a serious backup medium.
So, I'm puzzled with NERO's stuff.

Now, back to the DirectCD thing. The XXCOPY /SP switch
is a very rudimentary (quick-and-dirty) implementation
and much to be desired. All it does is to pause with
a brief message on the screen to let you swap the diskette
(or the CD-RW disc) whenever the current volume becomes full.
When you hit a key, it will first discard all of the
existing files in the volume (treats as a blank disk),
and start copying. The spanning feature works well but
it is good only for a full (first-time) backup and not
designed to handle a incremental backup situation. For
that purpose, we would need to create a "catalog file"
which we have not implemented yet. So, we have to wait
for XXCOPY to support a catalog file scheme to keep track
of the entire virtual volume (which spans multiple media)
and that's where the true SFN preservation feature will
be supported. We have not even started this work. But,
we are keenly aware that an incremental backup for CD-RW
(and future DVD-RW) will be very important in the future.

To answer your question,

XXCOPY c:\ X:\ /CLONE /NX0 /SP

will do the job.







Kan Yabumoto

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