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Number   :  5455
Date     :  2003-09-03
Author   :  Kan Yabumoto
Subject  :  Re: /SP option
Size(KB) :  2


wilnerjoe wrote:



> Question: Had I pressed "any key" would xxcopy have zapped
> my C drive or would an additional test have been made as
> to whether the drive was a removeable media drive.

When XXCOPY gives you a warning, it means it.

The /SP switch is to prompt you to insert a "blank" diskette
(or any other media) before the operation begins (resumes).
The warning says:

------------------------------------------------------------------
Caution: Insert a *new* floppy/CD and press any key to continue.
Caution: Existing files on the entire volume will be discarded!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------

It will wipe out the entire volume of the destination before
it starts its job. I just confirmed this behavior on my
real hard disk. Yes, it is quite dangerous. I'm glad that
you were alert and did not lose anything.

I believe XXCOPY users are quite sick of myriad of warning
prompts and we won't give redundant prompts even if its
dangerous.

To come to think of it, the /SP switch has little use when
the destination volume is not a removable media, XXCOPY should
not allow the /SP command if the destination is not removable.
We will probably make the /SP operation either refuse to
run the command, or at the least, when XXCOPY finds the
destination non-removable, it should not perform the zapping
operation. But, we really have to give some thoughts before
we jump for the change. For example, we use external USB disks
for a number of purposes; it is extremely convenient. Although
the USB-disk is usually treated as "non-removable", we
could use it as "removable". As a matter of fact, the
"hot-pluggable" USB-disk behaves very much like removable
medium. So, someone may want /SP to clean up the media
before writing. Actually, our new version (in-house use
for now) has two variations in /SP (/SPB for blank out
the media before resuming, and /SPA for appending without
zapping the contents). In that case, /SPB should proceed
with zapping.

For now, don't use /SP on any destination other than
floppy/CD-RW.

Kan Yabumoto



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