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Version 3.40
by
Roland Skinner
Copyright (c) 1992, 1993, 1994
RJS Software
TABLE OF CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. INTRODUCTION............................................2
1.1 What is QUIKCOPY?..................................3
1.2 What's New in QUIKCOPY?............................4
1.3 How to Use This Manual.............................6
2. REQUIREMENTS AND INSTALLATION...........................7
2.1 Environment Settings...............................7
2.1.1 RJSTEMP, TEMP and TMP Settings...............7
2.1.2 COPYCMD Setting..............................9
3. FILE COPYING...........................................10
3.1 QUIKCOPY with No Parameters.......................10
3.2 File Copying Parameters...........................10
3.2.1 Copy Subdirectories.........................11
3.2.2 Moving Files................................13
3.2.3 Copy All Files..............................14
3.2.4 Prompt Before Copying.......................15
3.2.5 Overwrite Checking..........................16
3.2.6 Slowing Down QUIKCOPY.......................16
3.2.7 Maximal Diskette Filling....................17
3.2.7.1 Wipe Diskettes........................17
3.2.7.2 Split Large Files into Cut-Files......18
3.2.7.3 QC_PASTE.EXE..........................19
3.2.7.4 Maximal Diskette Filling and
Subdirectories........................20
3.2.8 Copy Batch of Diskettes.....................21
3.2.9 Ignoring Cut-Files..........................21
3.3 Shelling to DOS...................................21
3.4 Cancelling Copy Process...........................22
4. DISKETTE COPYING.......................................23
4.1 BIOS vs Direct Access Copying......................23
4.2 Copy Multiple Diskettes............................24
4.3 Batch Copying of Diskette..........................25
4.4 Force Destination Formatting.......................25
4.5 Verifying Diskette Data............................25
4.6 Use of Disk Memory During Copying..................26
4.7 Ignore Copying Errors..............................26
4.8 Cancelling Copy Process............................26
5. TRULY-WILD WILD-CARDS..................................28
5.1 Truly-Wild Wild-Cards Explained....................28
5.2 Excluding Files....................................30
5.3 Multiple Source Files..............................31
6. QUIKCOPY PARAMETER LISTING.............................33
7. TIPS AND PROBLEM SHOOTING..............................36
8. REGISTRATION AND CORRESPONDENCE........................39
8.1 QUIKCOPY is Shareware..............................39
8.2 DISCLAIMER.........................................39
8.3 Contacting RJS Software and the Author.............40
1
1. INTRODUCTION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for trying QUIKCOPY.
This is the twentieth official public release of
QUIKCOPY. It has come a long way since its initial
public release in late 1992.
QUIKCOPY started off in the late 1980s as a personal
tool to recover files from both damaged diskettes and
diskettes that were in bad shape. Back then, it was
used on an XT, and did a remarkably good job of copying
files that DOS was unable to. In early 1992, it was
decided to rewrite QUIKCOPY, and take advantage of the
features of the Intel 80386 and i486 architectures.
QUIKCOPY made use of extended and expanded memory, via
the XMS and EMS specifications, and it soon became
apparent that it copied one's files more quickly than
DOS's utilities.
It was then that friends saw this little utility.
Giving out copies of what was then v1.00 and v1.01, I
soon got feedback that QUIKCOPY was a worthwhile and
heavily used utility. It was then realised that many
other users - not only a circle of friends - could
benefit from its use. A much revamped v2.00 of QUIKCOPY
was written, and this was released to the world of
bulletin boards. Users from all over started asking for
new features, multitasker-support and supplying the
all-important bug- reports. Within a year, over fifteen
releases of QUIKCOPY were released, and QUIKCOPY had
progressed from a personal system aid to a "serious"
utility.
This release, v3.40, is the result of a six month break
from the regular new-release pattern that QUIKCOPY users
became accustomed to. During this period, many new
features were recommended by users, and each and every
one being noted. Not all recommendations have been
included in this version of QUIKCOPY; a twelve month
break would be required for that. QUIKCOPY is now into
its third year as a public utility, and v3.40 is the
culmination of many hours of work, and it is hoped that
you, the user, will appreciate its features.
Currently, QUIKCOPY performs both file and diskette
copying. In file copying "mode", QUIKCOPY can copy or
move files, include subdirectories, copy any files,
maximally fill diskettes, split large files across
multiple diskettes and rejoin them later. In diskette
copying mode, diskettes may be copied in a single pass,
to diskette image-files and vice-versa, with diskette
access either being direct or through BIOS. These are
but a few of QUIKCOPY's capabilities; rest-assured,
there is a feature in QUIKCOPY that you'll find useful.
2
1.1 What is QUIKCOPY?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY is a quick file and diskette copier, with
numerous features. It is a utility to copy one or more
files, from one or more subdirectories on one or more
drives, to another drive and/or subdirectory. Also, one
or more diskettes may be copied to one or more other
diskettes, utilizing diskette image-files if necessary.
QUIKCOPY will not give up on read-errors, and will
attempt to read a damaged file/diskette until it
succeeds. No more "Abort, retry, ignore, fail" messages.
When copying diskettes, one may specify that QUIKCOPY
automatically ignore errors after a number of failures.
QUIKCOPY utilizes all available memory in a system -
conventional, EMS and XMS are supported - and uses
memory extensively to improve copy- performance. When
copying diskettes, QUIKCOPY may even utilize hard-disk
or ram-disk space to aid in the copying process.
When copying files, one has the ability to move those
files instead. Also, files may be specified from a
number of sources, as well as be excluded from a general
list of files. QUIKCOPY is one of the only utilities
that allows one to lock the destination directory. This
is useful when you want to copy or move all files of a
certain type, e.g. "*.BAK", to a specific directory
from where they can be used, deleted, etc.
QUIKCOPY allows one to copy or move the contents of one
or more subdirectories to a number of diskettes, in such
a way as to maximally fill them. Note that as of v3.40,
subdirectories within subdirectories are supported.
During this process, one may optionally split large
files - too big to fit on a single diskette - across
multiple diskettes. The reverse process is also
possible; files may be copied or moved from a number of
diskettes.
Overwrite checking is supported. If you're prone to
overwriting important files, this may prove useful.
Similarly, one may specify that QUIKCOPY prompt the user
before each file, as to whether or not that file should
be copied.
During file copying, a greatly improved and extended
wild-card system is supported. This system is backward
compatible with that of DOS, and is a superset of that
provided by 4DOS and NDOS.
When copying diskettes, QUIKCOPY allows one to copy a
single diskette to more than one diskette, without
having to re-read the source diskette each time.
QUIKCOPY allows access to the diskette drives in two
methods: through BIOS and through direct access to the
3
drives. The latter method is somewhat faster, but
requires fully compatible systems. Diskette image-files
- files that essentially contain the entire contents of
a diskette - are supported (both as source and target
"diskettes").
An important feature of QUIKCOPY is that it can copy
just about any diskette format. QUIKCOPY does not
however try to copy diskettes that use special
copy-protection formats.
QUIKCOPY has built-in support for various multitaskers,
especially DESQview and MS-Windows. It regularly
releases time-slices during its execution.
QUIKCOPY supports a couple of disk-caches. QUIKCOPY
currently support SMARTDRIVE (v4.00+), PC-CACHE (v8.0+)
and HYPERDISK. Disk-caches compatible with these caches
will also be supported.
1.2 What's New in QUIKCOPY?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This release, v3.40, introduces many new features into
QUIKCOPY. Most improvements were made to the file
copying component of QUIKCOPY. The following is an
outline of these new features, along with a brief
description of each:
* Performance of copying and moving of files has been
greatly improved since the last version. Speed
gains of as much as 300% can be gained, especially
on systems that do not run disk-caches. A related
topic, QUIKCOPY now chooses to use XMS memory
before EMS memory.
* Diskette copying has also seen improvements in
speed. As well as improving the speed of diskette
copying, a new approach to copying has been
included. Now, QUIKCOPY will, by default, directly
access the diskette drives of a system. This,
however, does require that the system is 100%
compatible with IBM's PC series. One can, if the
need arises, specify that QUIKCOPY revert to going
through BIOS while copying diskettes.
* Maximal diskette filling has seen many
improvements. The general diskette filling
algorithm has been improved and is somewhat faster.
* Subdirectories are now supported when maximally
filling diskettes. Subdirectories within
subdirectories can now be copied onto diskettes,
and QUIKCOPY will create the necessary directory
paths.
4
* QUIKCOPY will now split large files, too big to fit
on a single diskette, across multiple diskettes.
File splitting is optional, and has to be enabled
in order to utilize this feature. Optionally,
QUIKCOPY can copy a small program, QC_PASTE.EXE,
onto the diskette that contains the first
"cut-file" of the files that make up the original
file. This program is capable of rejoining the
cut-files together again. QUIKCOPY is capable of
joining these files together, by default. (This may
be disabled.)
* When filling diskettes, one may specify that each
diskette inserted to be filled may be erased, being
the filling process begins.
* QUIKCOPY now performs the reciprocal function of
diskette filling. It can copy the contents of a
number of diskettes.
* During diskette filling, while joining cut-files or
copying from multiple diskettes, when QUIKCOPY
prompts for the next disk, one may temporarily
shell to DOS.
* Prompting being copying or moving each file has now
been added. QUIKCOPY will prompt the user before
each file, after which a simple "yes" or "no"
answer is required.
* QUIKCOPY now performs overwrite checking. If
enabled and a file being copied already exists on
the destination, then the user will be prompted
whether or not to overwrite the file. By default,
overwrite checking is disabled; this provides
backward compatibility with previous versions of
QUIKCOPY. In keeping with DOS 6.20 conventions,
QUIKCOPY supports the "COPYCMD" environment
setting.
* A far improved wild-card system has been
incorporated into QUIKCOPY. QUIKCOPY has "truly
wild wild-cards". This wild-card system is
backward compatible with that of DOS, and is a
super-set of that provided with 4DOS and NDOS.
File-exclusions are supported, and multiple source
parameters may be specified.
* The command-line parser has been improved. No
longer are spaces required between options passed
to QUIKCOPY (except, of course, between source and
destination parameters).
* Beeps and bells have been added during diskette
copying and while filling diskettes.
5
* Numerous problems inherent in previous versions of
QUIKCOPY have been removed. Also, screen output has
been tuned to produce less flicker - especially
under multitasking environments, such as in a
Windows DOS-box - and screen output is also
somewhat faster. Extra long filename paths will no
longer make QUIKCOPY's output look quite unsightly.
* QUIKCOPY's diskette-filling and multiple diskette
batch-copying facilities may be used to perform
BACKUP and RESTORE functions.
* Finally, as users familiar with QUIKCOPY have
probably noticed, the documentation has been
totally rewritten.
1.3 How to Use This Manual
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This manual is broken up into a number of sections.
Section 1, this section, gives a brief introduction to
QUIKCOPY and outlines its various capabilities. A list
of new features in the current release is also given.
Section 2, is a short section describing the
requirements of QUIKCOPY, and gives a few
recommendations on how it should be installed.
Section 3 is a rather lengthy section. It describes the
various file copying features, and how they can (and at
times, should not) be used. Various examples are
included.
Section 4 describes the disk copying features of
QUIKCOPY.
Section 5 gives a detailed description on how the
wild-card system works. Many examples are included to
clarify its various benefits.
Section 6 contains a listing, in alphabetical order, of
the various options available with QUIKCOPY.
Section 7 contains a short section on common problem
shooting questions, and way to eliminate them.
Finally, Section 8 contains information on how to
register QUIKCOPY, contact the author or RJS Software,
and other related information.
At times, the left margin of this documentation contains
"NB". This indicates that an important warning, related
to some aspect of QUIKCOPY is given in the text
alongside.
6
2. REQUIREMENTS AND INSTALLATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY will work on any PC containing one of the Intel
80x86 family of processors (or compatibles), ranging
from a bare-boned XT to a power-house Pentium.
A realistic minimum amount of memory for QUIKCOPY is
256K, however 640K is recommended. The more memory
available in the system, the more beneficial QUIKCOPY
will be. QUIKCOPY will access additional memory via the
XMS and EMS memory specifications.
The system must be running DOS 3.20 or higher. QUIKCOPY
has been tested with DR DOS 6.0 and found to worked
successfully.
If an EMS memory manager is operational in the system,
it must support the EMS v4.00 (or above) specification.
It is recommended that QUIKCOPY be installed in a
directory that is included in your computer's PATH
setting. Alternatively, one may set one or more aliases
to QUIKCOPY and/or its various options. (Some users set
an alias "DISKCOPY" for "QUIKCOPY /D".)
2.1 Environment Settings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A number of environment settings may be used to improve
the execution of QUIKCOPY, or eliminate problems that
may arise while executing QUIKCOPY.
2.1.1 RJSTEMP, TEMP and TMP Settings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Probably the most important environment setting used
when during QUIKCOPY's execution is that specified in
either of the "RJSTEMP", "TEMP" or "TMP" environment
settings. All temporary files are created and stored in
the directory specified by these settings.
QUIKCOPY will first try to use the directory specified
by the "RJSTEMP" environment variable. If that fails,
the directory pointed to by "TEMP" will be used.
Otherwise, the directory pointed to by "TMP" will be
used. If neither of these three environment variables
exist in the environment, then QUIKCOPY will try to
create these temporary files in the current directory.
It is recommended that you do add one of these settings
to your environment. Often, these environment variables
are already present in one's environment block, and no
modifications need to be made. For example, Windows and
many other programs create such an environment setting,
by default, during their installation. Check whether
your system includes such a setting in your AUTOEXEC.BAT
file. If one exists, you need not worry about it anymore
7
(unless of course QUIKCOPY complains).
To install one of these environment variables, simply
add a line similar to the following in your AUTOEXEC.BAT
file:
SET RJSTEMP=C:\TEMP
In this case, the "RJSTEMP" environment variable is set
in the AUTOEXEC.BAT. The temporary directory is
"C:\TEMP". Note that there is no need to add a trailing
backslash ("\"). In general these environment variables
are set as:
SET RJSTEMP=d:path
or
SET TEMP=d:path
or
SET TMP=d:path
where "d:path" is the drive and directory path of the
temporary directory.
It is recommended that you do not set one of the
temporary directory environment variables to refer to a
diskette drive, or other form of removable medium.
Also, if it can be avoided, try not to use a remote
drive (for example, in a networked environment). If you
have sufficient memory, and a large enough ram-drive,
the temporary directory may be set to that ram-drive.
Here, sufficient memory is somewhere in the range of
1.5M to 2M of free space (enough to store a diskette
image).
Be sure that the temporary directly specified in either
of these environment variables exists.
One use of a temporary file is during diskette copying.
If there is insufficient memory to store the entire
contents of a diskette, QUIKCOPY will try to store the
remaining contents of the diskette in a temporary data
file.
NB One important reason to install one of these
temporary variables in your environment is that
QUIKCOPY includes a file manager that allows
it to effectively open more files than allowable
by the system on which it is running. It
creates a temporary file as a sort of insurance
policy against it ever not being able to
open/create a file. If QUIKCOPY is unable to
create such a temporary file, it will
8
unceremoniously halt displaying the error-message:
ERROR - Could not install file manager!
This error commonly arises when there is no such
temporary variable in the environment, and the current
directory belongs to a read-only drive, e.g. CD-rom,
write-protected diskette or read-only access network
drive. Another cause of this problem is if the directory
path specified in the particular environment variable
does not exist.
2.1.2 COPYCMD Setting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The "COPYCMD" environment variable is used to set one's
overwrite action preferences, when copying or moving
files. This variable was introduced with DOS 6.20, and
QUIKCOPY follows its specification.
There are two settings for this variable:
* /Y - Always overwrite file, if it already exists
on the destination.
* /-Y - If a file already exists on the destination,
prompt user whether or not file may be
overwritten.
To set this environment variable, simply add the lines:
SET COPYCMD=/Y
or
SET COPYCMD=/-Y
to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Because QUIKCOPY overwrites
files by default, it is not necessary to include "/Y"
setting. However, if using DOS 6.20, you may already
have it set for use with DOS's file copying and moving
commands.
For more information about various overwrite options,
see Section 3.2.5.
9
3. FILE COPYING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY contains a number of file copying options and
features. By default, QUIKCOPY goes into file copying
mode.
3.1 QUIKCOPY with No Parameters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If no parameters are given, a short description of the
various command-line parameters is given. It looks
something like the following:
QUIKCOPY [[d:][path]source [[d:][path]destination]
[<</S | /E> [/L]> [/F [/C [/IP]] [/W]]
[/B] [/M] [/A] [/NJ] [/P<Y|N>]]
[/DELAY[:ms]] [</O[<Y|N>[A]] | /Y | /-Y>]
] |
[/D [/BIOS] [/M<+|->] [/B] [/F]
[/V<F|W|A|N>] [/N] [/I[:num]]
]
] | [/HELP | /?]
This is essentially a summary of all command-line
parameters available. Options in square brackets, such
as "[/L]", are optional. Options between "<" and ">",
such as "<+|->" in "/M<+|->", are required. Anything two
or more options separated by a vertical bar ("|")
require that one of the options be used. For example,
with "</S | /E>", either "/S" or "/E" may be used (never
both). These "rules" may be applied recursively, as
indicated in the parameter summary above.
3.2 File Copying Parameters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If any of the first group of parameters, as shown in the
summary above, then QUIKCOPY will copy (or move) a
number of files. In all cases, the source-parameter must
be included. The source parameter may be any combination
of allowable source specifications allowable by the
wild-card system (see Section 5). If a source parameter
is not specified, QUIKCOPY will terminate displaying an
appropriate error.
Optionally, one may specify a destination to which to
copy the files. If no destination is specified, then
QUIKCOPY will assume that the current directory is the
destination for any files to be copied or moved.
NB The destination parameter does not follow the wild-card
convention described in Section 5. Standard DOS
wild-cards are, however, allowed. QUIKCOPY will insert
any necessary characters where wild-card characters "*"
or "?" appear in the destination parameter. Note that if
no character can be substituted for a particular
10
wild-card character, QUIKCOPY will replace that
character with an underscore ("_").
All other file copying parameters may be added
optionally. The following subsections describe the use
of these parameters.
3.2.1 Copy Subdirectories
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY offers three command-line parameters, that are
related to copying subdirectories and their files.
Specifying either "/S" or "/E" will indicate that
QUIKCOPY should copy (or move) included in the
subdirectories within the source subdirectory (or
subdirectories). If either of the two parameters ("/S"
or "/E") is used, the other parameter cannot be used.
Specifying "/S" on the command-line indicates that
QUIKCOPY should copy subdirectories, but only those that
contain files to be copied (or moved). "/E" on the other
hand, specifies that QUIKCOPY must copy all
subdirectories, regardless of whether or not there are
any files in these subdirectories to be copied.
For example, suppose you have the following directory
structure:
C:\MYFILES
│
├──DOCUMENT
│ │
│ ├──TXTFILES
│ │ file0001.txt
│ │ file0002.txt
│ │ file0001.tex
│ ├──DOCFILES
│ │ file0001.doc
│ │ file0002.doc
│ └──BAKFILES
└──EXEFILES
file0001.exe
file0002.exe
and execute the following command:
QUIKCOPY C:\MYFILES /S
Suppose that the destination (the current directory in
this case) is "D:\HISFILES". Suppose also that the
destination was empty. After copying, the destination
will have the following structure:
11
D:\HISFILES
│
├──DOCUMENT
│ │
│ ├──TXTFILES
│ │ file0001.txt
│ │ file0002.txt
│ │ file0001.tex
│ └──DOCFILES
│ file0001.doc
│ file0002.doc
└──EXEFILES
file0001.exe
file0002.exe
Notice that the empty subdirectory "BAKFILES" was not
copied.
Now, suppose we had typed:
QUIKCOPY C:\MYFILES D:\HERFILES /E
Again, suppose that the destination was empty. After
copying, the destination will have the following
structure:
D:\HERFILES
│
├──DOCUMENT
│ │
│ ├──TXTFILES
│ │ file0001.txt
│ │ file0002.txt
│ │ file0001.tex
│ ├──DOCFILES
│ │ file0001.doc
│ │ file0002.doc
│ └──BAKFILES
└──EXEFILES
file0001.exe
file0002.exe
Notice that this time the empty directory was also
copied.
When copying subdirectories, you may wish to copy the
files from a number of subdirectories, but store them in
a single subdirectory. To do this, you specify either of
the include subdirectory parameters ("/S" or "/E"), and
add the "/L" command-line parameter. This parameter
indicates that you are locking the destination
subdirectory. All files will be copied to the locked
subdirectory.
For example, suppose again that we have the directory
structure "C:\MYFILES" as shown above. This time we wish
12
to copy all document files ("C:\MYFILES\DOCUMENT"), and
copy them to a new directory "C:\MYFILES\MYDOCS". Also,
suppose that the current subdirectory is "C:\MYFILES".
We execute the following command:
QUIKCOPY DOCUMENT\*.TXT;DOCUMENT\*.DOC MYDOCS /S/L
After QUIKCOPY completes execution, the directory
structures will look something like:
C:\MYFILES
│
├──DOCUMENT
│ │
│ ├──TXTFILES
│ │ file0001.txt
│ │ file0002.txt
│ │ file0001.tex
│ ├──DOCFILES
│ │ file0001.doc
│ │ file0002.doc
│ └──BAKFILES
├──EXEFILES
│ file0001.exe
│ file0002.exe
└──MYDOCS
file0001.txt
file0002.txt
file0001.doc
file0002.doc
Now, a few things have to be noted here. QUIKCOPY will
create a subdirectory is it doesn't exist, and expects
more than one file to be copied. In this case, it
created the subdirectory "C:\MYFILES\MYDOCS". Notice
also that we specified two source parameters. Source
parameters are separated by a semi-colon (";"); no
spaces are allowed. All the *.TXT and *.DOC files were
copied to "C:\MYFILES\MYDOCS".
3.2.2 Moving Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY has the ability to move files, instead of
copying them. By adding the "/M" parameter, QUIKCOPY
will move file from the source to the destination. When
copying subdirectories, if QUIKCOPY moves all the files
(and subdirectories) within a subdirectory, that
subdirectory will be deleted from the source.
If the files are being moved from one subdirectory on a
drive to another directory on the same drive, then
QUIKCOPY will do a fast move, in which it doesn't
actually read the contents of the files, but simply
moves them. When moving to a different drive, the files
are first copied to the destination, them deleted from
the source.
13
For example, suppose that our directory structure is
that which resulted from the locked subdirectory copy
above. Suppose that we are in the root directory of
drive "C:". This time we execute:
QUIKCOPY MYFILES\*.T* MYTEXTS /S/M
After execution, the directories will have the following
structure:
C:\
│
├──MYFILES
│ │
│ ├──DOCUMENT
│ │ │
│ │ ├──DOCFILES
│ │ │ file0001.doc
│ │ │ file0002.doc
│ │ └──BAKFILES
│ ├──EXEFILES
│ │ file0001.exe
│ │ file0002.exe
│ └──MYDOCS
│ file0001.doc
│ file0002.doc
└──MYTEXTS
│
├──DOCUMENT
│ │
│ └──TXTFILES
│ file0001.txt
│ file0002.txt
│ file0001.tex
└──MYDOCS
file0001.txt
file0002.txt
As can be seen, the QUIKCOPY created the necessary
subdirectories "C:\MYTEXTS", "C:\MYDOCS" and
"C:\MYTEXTS\DOCUMENT\TXTFILES". The "*.TXT" and "*.TEX"
files were moved to the newly created subdirectories.
Also, QUIKCOPY deleted the original subdirectory
"C:\MYFILES\DOCUMENT\TXTFILES".
3.2.3 Copy All Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By default, QUIKCOPY will not copy files or
subdirectories that have their "hidden" and "system"
attributes set. In order to copy all files and
subdirectories, including hidden and system, simply add
the "/A" parameter.
For example, suppose there was a hidden subdirectory
"C:\MYFILES\DOCUMENT\SECRETS" that contained a number of
confidential documents. The actual directory structure
14
already presented in Section 3.2.1 is as follows:
C:\MYFILES
│
├──DOCUMENT
│ │
│ ├──TXTFILES
│ │ file0001.txt
│ │ file0002.txt
│ │ file0001.tex
│ ├──DOCFILES
│ │ file0001.doc
│ │ file0002.doc
│ ├──SECRETS
│ │ secret01.doc
│ │ secret02.doc
│ └──BAKFILES
└──EXEFILES
file0001.exe
file0002.exe
This time, we want to all (and we mean all) "*.DOC"
files into the "D:\HISFILES" subdirectory. We assume
this subdirectory is empty. The following command is
executed:
QUIKCOPY C:\MYFILES\*.DOC D:\HISFILES /S/L/A
After execution, the destination directory structure is
as follows:
D:\HISFILES
file0001.doc
file0002.doc
secret01.doc
secret02.doc
3.2.4 Prompt Before Copying
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Often, one cannot quite remember the name of the file
that you wish to copy. At the same time you wish to copy
a number of other files; these files' names too, you
cannot quite remember. This is where QUIKCOPY's
"prompt-before-you-copy" parameter can help. By
specifying "/P", "/PY" or "/PN" you specify that
QUIKCOPY should ask you whether to copy a file or not.
Specifying either "/P" or "/PY" will allow these
prompts, along with a default answer of "yes". "/PN"
allows these prompts, but with a default answer of "no".
NB Note that only one of these parameters may be chosen at
a time.
Choosing which of these parameters to use, is up to the
user's discretion. Probably, a good approach would be to
15
use "/P" or "/PY" when you wish to copy most of the
files, whereas "/PN" would be used when only a few of
the files are to be copied.
3.2.5 Overwrite Checking
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY has four methods with which to handle overwrite
checking:
* Always overwrite a file. This is the default
approach.
* Never overwrite a file.
* Check with user before overwriting file. Default
answer to question will be "yes".
* Check with user before overwriting file. Default
answer will be "no".
Specifying "/OYA" or "/Y" will cause QUIKCOPY to always
overwrite a file if it already exists on the
destination. Note, that this is the default approach
taken, unless of course the "COPYCMD" environment
variable is otherwise set (see Section 2.1.2).
Specifying "/ONA" informs QUIKCOPY never to overwrite a
file that already exists on the destination.
Specifying either of "/O", "/OY" or "/-Y" tells QUIKCOPY
to check with the user in case a file is to be
overwritten. The default answer to the question will be
"yes".
Specifying "/ON" specifies that QUIKCOPY should prompt
the user for permission to overwrite a file. Default
answer will be "no".
NB Note that the "/Y" and "/-Y" parameters are added for
compatibility with DOS 6.20.
NB Only one of these parameters may be specified at once.
NB Note that if a file on the destination is read-only,
QUIKCOPY will not overwrite it.
3.2.6 Slowing Down QUIKCOPY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Often, users of QUIKCOPY "suffer" from the "hand is
quicker than the eye" syndrome. As requested by some
users, people want to know what is going on, and if
QUIKCOPY is rapidly copying files, the screen will
scroll so fast that only the last few files copied or
moved will be seen.
If one wants to "control the hand", the "/DELAY" or
"/DELAY:ms" parameters may be used. "/DELAY" specifies
that a delay of 500ms should occur after copying (or
moving) each file. To specify a custom (preferred)
16
delay, "/DELAY:ms" can be specified, where "ms" is in
the range of 1 to 1000.
3.2.7 Maximal Diskette Filling
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of QUIKCOPY's most attractive features is its
ability to copy or move the contents of one or more
subdirectories to a number of diskettes, leaving as
little space as possible on the diskettes. With the
release of v3.40, QUIKCOPY supports filling these
diskettes with subdirectories and their files.
To enable maximal diskette filling, all one need do is
add the "/F" parameter to the command-line. The
destination must be diskette drive. QUIKCOPY will
terminate with an appropriate error if the destination
is not a diskette drive.
QUIKCOPY will then proceed with copying or moving files
to the diskettes. When a diskette is full, QUIKCOPY will
prompt the user to insert another diskette to be filled.
At this prompt, one may optionally shell to DOS (see
Section 3.3). When the next diskette is ready to be
filled, simply press any key other than [ALT-D], [Esc],
[Ctrl-C] or [Ctrl-Break] and QUIKCOPY will proceed to
fill the next diskette. This process continues until all
files have been copied (or moved) or the user cancels
the process.
3.2.7.1 Wipe Diskettes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Often, when filling diskettes, one may run out of blank
diskettes. Usually, a person has a number of diskettes
lying around that contain useless information. It would
then be desirable to use these diskettes by erasing
their contents and filling them with other files.
Sure, you can shell out to DOS, erase the diskette,
return to QUIKCOPY and resume the diskette filling
process. This is quite time-consuming, and thus,
QUIKCOPY allows one to specify that it wipes the
contents of diskettes before filling them. By adding
"/W" to the command-line, QUIKCOPY will automate this
process.
NB It is important that you use this parameter with care
during the diskette process. If one were to accidentally
erase a diskette previously filled, you would have to
restart the diskette filling process. If moving files,
this action could result in loss of important data.
NB The "/W" parameter can only be used when maximally
filling diskettes.
17
3.2.7.2 Split Large Files into Cut-Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Often, when maximally filling diskettes, one may have
one or more files that are way too large to fit on a
single diskette. With versions of QUIKCOPY prior to
v3.40, these files simply could not be copied across.
QUIKCOPY can now optionally split-up these large files,
and write them across multiple diskettes.
QUIKCOPY does this by creating "cut-files". A cut-file
is essentially a portion of one of these large files,
and a group of these cut-files is required to restore
the original file to its previous state. When splitting
a file, QUIKCOPY creates a number of these cut-files, as
well as a "stub-file". This stub-file has the same name
as the original file that was split. It is the first
file copied to the first diskette that contains a
cut-file of the file that is split-up.
NB Do not erase the stub-file. Without it, QUIKCOPY and
QC_PASTE.EXE (see Section 3.2.7.3) cannot restore the
original file to its "former glory".
The cut-files created by QUIKCOPY are of the form
"QCOPYCUT.###" where "###" is a number from 0 to 999,
padded with zeros. At the beginning of each cut-file,
QUIKCOPY stores important information about the
cut-file, including the original file's name. This is to
ensure one does not reconstruct previously split files
from incorrect cut-files.
NB One cannot restore a previously split file, by simply
appending the cut-files together (in order).
To enable file-splitting, add the "/C" parameter to the
command-line.
NB The "/C" parameter can only be specified when maximally
filling diskettes.
One can use maximal diskette filling, together with this
ability to split large files, to copy a single large
file to a diskette. Simply give the file's name as the
source parameter, and add the "/F" and "/S" parameters.
QUIKCOPY can automatically detect files that were
previously split. It will automatically reconstruct
these files at a later stage. During this reconstruction
process, QUIKCOPY also provides the ability to shell to
DOS, between swapping diskettes.
NB Note that QUIKCOPY will not erase stub-files and
cut-files when reconstructing a previously split file,
and files are being moved. This is to ensure that if a
problem occurs one or more cut-files later, the initial
portions of the file being reconstructed are not lost.
18
NB When maximally filling diskettes, QUIKCOPY will not
reconstruct the various constituent portions of a file.
They will be copied (or moved), just as if the "/NJ"
option is in effect (see Section 3.2.9).
3.2.7.3 QC_PASTE.EXE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Using QUIKCOPY to split large files across multiple
diskettes is all "well and fine", but take a look at the
following scenario.
You are in charge of a large database, for which the
main database file is never smaller than ten megabytes
(10M). Now, your boss has asked that you supply a number
of your company's branches, spread across the country,
with a copy of the data contained in that database. Now,
the various branches all use different brands of PCs,
different software tools, and as usual, are running
different versions of DOS itself. DOS, true to its form,
does not like backups from different versions of DOS,
especially if they're different OEM versions; so backing
up is out. Well, QUIKCOPY comes to the rescue. Or does
it? Do the other branches have a copy of QUIKCOPY? How
will they reconstruct the files that were split?
This is where QC_PASTE.EXE comes into play. QC_PASTE is
a small utility whose soul task is to reconstruct files
that were previously split-up by QUIKCOPY. By adding the
"/IP" parameter, QUIKCOPY will copy QC_PASTE.EXE to the
diskette containing the stub-file. It will be copied
before the stub-file on the first destination diskette.
If you're uncertain whether or not the recipient of your
data-files has a copy of QUIKCOPY, and you're using the
file-splitting capabilities, simply specify that
QUIKCOPY copy QC_PASTE.EXE to the destination diskettes
containing these files.
QC_PASTE takes either one or two parameters when
executed:
QC_PASTE [d:][path]source [[d:][path]destination]
As with QUIKCOPY, if no destination is given, QC_PASTE
assumes the current directory is the destination; also,
reconstructed file will have the same name as the
original file. QC_PASTE will not reconstruct a file if
it already exists on the destination. The source
parameter is the stub-file's name (same name as the file
to be reconstructed).
NB Do not rename a stub-file. QC_PASTE (and QUIKCOPY) will
not be able to reconstruct the file. If you want to
reconstruct a file to a file with a different name,
specify the new file's name as the destination
parameter.
19
NB Unlike QUIKCOPY, QC_PASTE does not support wild-cards.
Full filename specifications must be given.
NB The "/IP" parameter may only be used when maximally
filling diskettes and when it has been decided to split
large files; when "/F" and "/C" are being used.
3.2.7.4 Maximal Diskette Filling and Subdirectories
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A short discussion is required to clarify some aspects
of how QUIKCOPY maximally fills diskettes with the
contents of subdirectories.
At the outset, it is important to note that when
subdirectories are involved ("/S" or "/E" specified),
QUIKCOPY does not perform an optimal fill. In order to
ensure that no more time is lost calculating a viable
fill, than when it optimally fills diskettes will a
single directory's files, heuristics are employed to
speed up the process.
The number of combinations to consider when
subdirectories are involved would increase the
computation time required by a number of orders of
magnitude. Thus, the heuristics used by QUIKCOPY try to
over-estimate the amount of space required, and then
fill in what's free thereafter. One will notice that
QUIKCOPY takes a number of passes reading from the
source drive, compared with the single pass when copying
a single directory's files.
NB When the diskette is almost full - when only a few
clusters are free (usually one or two) - QUIKCOPY
performs a linear search trying to find a file that it
can fit into the remaining free diskette-space. One will
often see the following message:
Calculating optimal diskette-fill settings...
At this time, QUIKCOPY seem to have slowed down, or
worse, crashed. This has not happened. You should notice
disk access. QUIKCOPY is searching for the file to fill
the free space. (See Section 7 for a tip on how to speed
up this process.)
NB Note, the implications discussed in this section do not
apply when using a locked destination, i.e. "/L" in
conjunction with "/S" and "/E".
NB When the destination specified is a subdirectory on the
diskette, QUIKCOPY does take some precautions similar to
those applied with subdirectories.
20
3.2.8 Copy Batch of Diskettes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY has the ability to perform the opposite of
process of maximally filling diskettes. It can copy (or
move) the files from a number of source diskettes, to a
single destination.
By adding the "/B" parameter, QUIKCOPY will copy all the
files that match the source-specification from each
diskette. Once a diskette has been copied, QUIKCOPY will
prompt the user to insert the next diskette to copy
from. As with diskette filling, one may shell to DOS at
this stage (see Section 3.3).
If all the diskettes that were to be copied (or moved)
have been used, by pressing [Esc], [Ctrl-C] or
[Ctrl-Break], this process may be stopped (cancelled).
Note that this feature need not be used only with
diskettes that were previously maximally filled. Any
batch of diskettes can be used.
NB The source drive must be a diskette drive when using
this parameter. If not, QUIKCOPY will simply ignore this
parameter.
3.2.9 Ignoring Cut-Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At times, one may wish to ignore the fact the the
stub-file, cut-files and optional QC_PASTE.EXE file
"belong" to a previously split-up file; for whatever
reason, one may wish to copy the files themselves.
By adding the "/NJ" parameter, QUIKCOPY will ignore
these files' special status, and simply copy them.
Note that by default, QUIKCOPY will simply reconstruct
files, ignoring QC_PASTE.EXE if it exists.
3.3 Shelling to DOS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As described in some of the previous section, QUIKCOPY
provides the ability to shell to DOS. This feature
provides the uses with the ability to perform
maintenance tasks, such as formatting diskettes required
for diskette filling, erase files to free disk-space,
and many other tasks.
While in a DOS shell, QUIKCOPY may be re-executed to
perform special tasks, etc. QUIKCOPY does modify your
command-prompt, so you'll know that it is still lurking
in the background.
QUIKCOPY tries to release as much memory as possible for
other utilities executed in the DOS shell. Swapping
21
technology is used to further increase the amount of
memory QUIKCOPY frees up for other software. In fact,
under favourable circumstances, QUIKCOPY will shrink
itself to as little as 688 bytes along with additional
bytes used by the environment. QUIKCOPY also releases
most of the XMS and/or EMS memory it previously had for
its use (if any).
NB Be sure not to run TSRs, and other programs that
similarly allocate memory, and do not release it after
returning to the command-prompt. If you do run such
programs, be sure that they return the system to the
state it was in when QUIKCOPY shelled to DOS. If
QUIKCOPY cannot successfully restore itself to its
previous state, it will unceremoniously terminate
itself, without any warning. Worse still, your system
may crash under these circumstances.
Remember to type in "EXIT" to return to QUIKCOPY, after
shelling to DOS.
3.4 Cancelling Copy Process
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At any stage during the copying process, QUIKCOPY may be
terminated by pressing [Esc], [Ctrl-C] or [Ctrl-Break].
Often, one may be prompted whether to continue copying
or moving other files. At times, QUIKCOPY will simply
terminate displaying a summary of its success.
It may be necessary to press either of these
key-combinations if QUIKCOPY is taking too long to copy
(or move) a particular (often damaged) file. The
"Abort, Ignore, Retry, Fail" message is not displayed
while QUIKCOPY is running. After pressing one of these
keys, a message indicating that a certain file was not
copied will be displayed, and will ask whether or not to
continue copying with other files. Pressing [Y] will
continue; otherwise, pressing [Enter], [Esc], [N],
[Ctrl-C] or [Ctrl-Break] will stop the copying process.
Note that this message may also be displayed if an
error, such as the destination being full, occurs. A
similar response will be required.
22
4. DISKETTE COPYING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Diskette copying mode is enabled by specifying the "/D"
parameter. QUIKCOPY has a number of diskette copying
features. This section and its sub-sections describe
these features.
QUIKCOPY is a single pass diskette copier. This
eliminates the need to continually swap diskettes,
especially in single diskette drive systems. If there is
insufficient available memory to store the contents of a
particular diskette, QUIKCOPY will create a temporary
file that will contain the remainder of the diskette's
image (see Section 2.1.1). If QUIKCOPY runs out of
memory, and cannot successfully utilize diskette space
to store the remainder of the diskette's image, it will
revert into a multi-pass diskette copier.
QUIKCOPY will not attempt to write to write-protected
diskettes. Precautions are taken to ensure that a
diskette is not write-protected.
Within diskette copying mode, QUIKCOPY has two different
approaches to copying diskettes, viz. through BIOS and
by directly accessing the diskette drives. The pros and
cons of these methods are discussed in Section 4.1.
QUIKCOPY can utilize and create diskette image files.
These are essentially files that contain an exact copy
of the entire contents of a diskette. This is especially
useful when wishing to transfer a diskette across
electronic communications media, e.g. a modem and
telecommunication lines, to someone situated a great
distance away. Sending a diskette via mail, may take
much longer than using a simple telephone call.
QUIKCOPY is capable of copying just about any diskette.
Non-standard formats such 1.72M 3.5" diskettes, 800K
low-density diskettes, as well as many other formats
created by programs such as MAXI Form and FDFormat are
supported. QUIKCOPY can also copy 1.44M 3.5" diskettes
onto 1.2M 5.25" diskettes, formatting them to 1.44M.
QUIKCOPY does perform precautionary checks to ensure
that a particular format is "safe" for a particular
diskette drive; for example, one cannot possibly expect
to create a 1.44M diskette in a 360K drive.
4.1 BIOS vs Direct Access Copying
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two methods of diskette copying at QUIKCOPY's
disposal both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Essentially, what is involved is a trade-off between
speed and compatibility.
Going through BIOS, QUIKCOPY is (virtually) guaranteed
23
to be able to work with a particular system. It does,
however, mean that QUIKCOPY is no longer in control of
how it accesses the diskettes.
Accessing the diskette drives directly, QUIKCOPY is able
to gain speed from eliminating much of the redundant
diskette-access performed by BIOS and its various
functions. However, incompatibilities inherent in
particular systems may creep in, and as a result, going
directly to the hardware will be a futile attempt.
Although the performance of the diskette copying process
has been improved in BIOS mode, more gains in speed are
to be obtained by going directly to the hardware.
NB It is recommended that one first test whether or not
one's system is compatible with QUIKCOPY's direct access
method of diskette copying. Most systems will be
compatible, but one cannot blindly expect to be a
"member of the masses".
By default, QUIKCOPY adopts its direct access mode of
copying. Some systems will fail to work in this mode.
Common examples, are systems that do not have their
diskette controllers installed with the hardware ports
set at 03FXh. Also, it is assumed that the diskette
controller uses DMA channel #2. QUIKCOPY should not have
any problems with different interrupts being used by
various diskette controllers.
NB On systems that cannot be used with the direct access
approach, the "/BIOS" parameter should be added to the
command-line.
4.2 Copy Multiple Diskettes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By default, QUIKCOPY allows the user to copy multiple
diskettes. After copying a diskette, QUIKCOPY will ask
the user whether or not to copy another diskette.
The "/M+" parameter enables multiple diskette copying.
If one wishes to only copy a single diskette, the "/M-"
can be specified. QUIKCOPY will terminate after copying
a single diskette.
When copying to a diskette image file, QUIKCOPY assumes
the "/M-" state; QUIKCOPY will only copy the diskette
once.
NB Note that only one of these parameters ("/M+" and "/M-")
may be specified.
24
4.3 Batch Copying of Diskette
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY has the ability to copy a single diskette to
more than one other diskette, without having to reread
the source diskette.
By adding the "/B" parameter, one enables this batch
copying. QUIKCOPY will copy a diskette to completion,
and ask whether or not to the same source diskette to
another diskette.
Note that even if multiple diskette copying is disabled,
one may still perform batch copying; but only of a
single source diskette.
4.4 Force Destination Formatting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY will, by default, inspect the diskette to
determine whether or not a diskette format is required.
This process is fallable, especially if a diskette was
only partially formatted previously.
Also, one may wish to format a diskette to ensure that
it is correctly formatted. One may force QUIKCOPY to
format destination diskettes, by adding the "/F"
parameter.
4.5 Verifying Diskette Data
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY provides four levels of data verification that
may be performed when writing to a destination diskette.
These are:
* Always verify. After both formatting and writing to
the diskette, QUIKCOPY will verify that the data on
the diskette is in a stable state.
* Verify after formatting. This is the default
setting. QUIKCOPY will verify that formats are
successful, but will not verify that writes to the
diskette succeed.
* Verify after writing. QUIKCOPY will verify data
after writing to the diskette, but not after
formatting.
* Never verify. No verification, at all, will be
performed.
By adding the "/VA" parameter, QUIKCOPY will always
verify. Specifying the "/VF" parameter indicates that it
verify only after formatting. "/VW" indicates that
verification only be performed after writing. The "/VN"
parameter may be used to disable all verification.
It is up to the user's discretion which level of data
security should be adopted. A speed vs security tradeoff
25
is involved. Maximum security is obtained using the
"/VA" parameter, however diskette copying will be a
lengthy process. Fastest copying is obtained using the
"/VN" parameter, however minimal security (if any) is
obtained. It is up to the user to strike a balance.
NB Note that only one of these verify parameter may be
specified.
4.6 Use of Disk Memory During Copying
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As indicated in the introduction of Section 4, QUIKCOPY
will make use of available disk-space if there is
insufficient memory to store the image of a diskette
being copied. At times, however, one may not wish to use
this disk-space; e.g. perhaps there is insufficient
disk-space, you have a diskette only system, or the
hard-drive is too slow.
By adding the "/N" parameter to the command-line, one
can effectively disable QUIKCOPY's use of disk-space as
virtual memory.
Note that if copying to or from a diskette image file,
QUIKCOPY will automatically disable its usage of
disk-space.
4.7 Ignore Copy Errors
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By default, QUIKCOPY will read the contents of a
diskette, retrying on failures until it succeeds. Often,
QUIKCOPY is able to recover the contents of the bad
sectors on these diskettes. However, some diskettes may
be so badly damaged that it cannot possibly recover the
data. One may specify that QUIKCOPY ignore errors after
a number of failures.
By adding the "/I" or "/I:num" parameters, one may
specify that QUIKCOPY ignore such errors after a certain
number of failures. With the "/I" option, QUIKCOPY will
ignore an error if it fails to succeed after 9=3*3
retries. With the "/I:num" option, QUIKCOPY will ignore
an error if it fails after 3*num retries. Here, "num" is
in the range 1 to 100.
NB Note that only one of these parameters may be specified
at once.
4.8 Cancelling Copy Process
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At any stage during the copying process, QUIKCOPY may be
terminated by pressing [Esc], [Ctrl-C] or [Ctrl-Break].
Often, one may be prompted whether to continue copying
26
other diskettes.
It may be necessary to press either of these
key-combinations if QUIKCOPY is taking too long to copy
a particular (often damaged) diskette. The
"Abort, Ignore, Retry, Fail" message is not displayed
while QUIKCOPY is running. After pressing one of these
keys, a message indicating that a certain diskette was
not copied will be displayed, and will ask whether or
not to continue copying with other diskettes. Pressing
[Y] will continue; otherwise, pressing [Enter], [Esc],
[N], [Ctrl-C] or [Ctrl-Break] will stop the copying
process.
Note that this message may also be displayed if an
error, such as the destination diskette being
write-protected, occurs. A similar response will be
required.
27
5. TRULY WILD WILD-CARDS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As of v3.40, QUIKCOPY supports an extensively improved
set of wild-cards. The new wild-cards are backward
compatible with those supported by DOS, and are a
superset of that included in 4DOS and NDOS. Many of the
improvements of this wild-card system are
straight-forward, however there are equally as many
features of this system are quite complicated. This
section will try to describe this system, and try to
eliminate any misunderstandings as to how to use them.
The best way to describe and explain the use of this
wild-card system, is by way of example. Users already
familiar with the wild-cards of 4DOS and NDOS will find
the transition process a breeze. Others users will
quickly learn with experience and the help of the
examples included here. This section essentially teaches
by example.
Note that any combination of what is discussed in the
following three sub-sections may be used.
5.1 Truly-Wild Wild-Cards Explained
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXAMPLE 1:
Suppose you wish to copy all files containing "S"
somewhere in the name-part of the filename, simply use:
*S*.*
as a source parameter. Files such as "S.TXT", "RJS.EXE"
and "MYSALES.WKS" will all be accepted.
EXAMPLE 2:
Suppose you wish to copy all files that have the phrase
"COPY" somewhere in the name-part of the filename. In
this case you would use:
*COPY*.*
as a source parameter.
EXAMPLE 3:
Suppose you wish to copy all files starting with either
"A", "B", "C", or "D". In this can you could use:
[A-D]*.*
as a source parameter. This is equivalent as saying:
A*.*;B*.*;C*.*;D*.*
28
as the source parameter. (These multiple source
parameters are discussed in Section 5.3.)
EXAMPLE 4:
If you wish to copy all files starting with "A", "E",
"I", "O" or "U", then use:
[AEIOU]*.*
as a source parameter. Again, this is equivalent to
saying:
A*.*;E*.*;I*.*;O*.*;U*.*
EXAMPLE 5:
Combinations of the above are also allowed. Suppose you
wish to copy all files that have "R", "J" or "S"
somewhere in the extension-part of the filename. Simply
use:
*.*[RJS]*
as a source parameter. This is equivalent to:
*.*R*;*.*J*;*.*S*
EXAMPLE 6:
As well as being able to specify certain characters that
must appear somewhere in a filename, you may also
specify certain characters that do not appear somewhere
in a filename, by using the "!" character in front of
them.
Suppose you wish to copy all files that do not start
with "A" or "B", then you would use:
[!A-B]*.*
or
[!AB]*.*
as a source parameter. Notice that these two parameters
are equivalent. Probably, the latter parameter would be
preferred.
EXAMPLE 7:
Suppose you wished to copy all files whose name-parts
were three characters long, and start with "AB". One
may think of using
AB?.*
29
yet this will copy files of the type "AB.*" as well.
Instead, one should use:
AB[?].*
as a source parameter.
5.2 Excluding Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As of v3.40, QUIKCOPY allows one to exclude certain
files, while copying. The sequence [!"...."] should be
used. Again, examples follow:
EXAMPLE 1:
Suppose you wish to copy all files, except "*.BAK"
files. You would use:
[!"*.BAK"]
as a source parameter.
EXAMPLE 2:
Suppose you wish to copy all files that do not start
with "R", "J" or "S", then you would use:
[!"[RJS]*.*"]
as a source parameter.
EXAMPLE 3:
One should be careful how you specify files that should
be excluded. Often what seems intuitively correct at
first will not work.
Suppose you wish to copy all files that do not contain
an "S", anywhere, in the name-part of the filename. One
might think that
*[!S]*.*
will "do the trick", however one will copy files
containing one or more "S"'s in the name-part of the
filename. In fact, the only files that will be excluded
are files of the form "SSSSSSSS.*". Instead, one should
use:
[!"*S*.*"]
as a source parameter. What at first may have seemed to
be intuitively correct, is in fact not. The former means
that any file which does not contain an "S" in one of
the name-part positions in the filename may be copied,
30
whilst the latter means that only files that don't
contain an "S" in the name-part will be copied.
EXAMPLE 4:
It is important to note that these wild-cards and
file-exclusions apply only to the filename part of a
path. Thus, one should not include the directory-part of
a path within these wild-cards and file-exclusions. This
has particular implications with file-exclusions.
Suppose you are copying all your source-code for
programs you have written over the years onto diskette.
However, you have long since realized that BASIC is not
such a useful programming language, and would rather not
copy those source-files. You have your files
interspersed within many subdirectories within the
"C:\MYSOURCE" subdirectory. You only ever used BASIC
when writing the "MYAPP" application, which has its
source-code in the "C:\MYSOURCE\MYAPP" subdirectory.
This subdirectory does, however, contain some assembler
code that you may find useful with future programs you
write in Pascal or C++. So, it seems a good choice would
be to specify
C:\MYSOURCE\*.*;[!"C:\MYSOURCE\MYAPP\*.BAS"]
as the source parameter. However, there are no files
that have backslashes in their names, so the *.BAS files
will end up being copied. Instead, you should use:
C:\MYSOURCE\*.*;C:\MYSOURCE\MYAPP\[!"*.BAS"]
as the source parameter.
5.3 Multiple Source Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With the release of v3.40 of QUIKCOPY, you may now
specify multiple source parameters. By simply separating
each source "mask" with a semi-colon (";"), you can have
multiple source files.
EXAMPLE 1:
Suppose you wish to copy all ".EXE", ".BAT" and ".COM"
files. The follow source parameter would do the trick:
*.EXE;*.BAT;*.COM
NB Note that no spaces are allowed between masks making up
the source parameter.
31
EXAMPLE 2:
One may take advantage of being able to specify multiple
source files, and apply it copying files from multiple
disk-drives.
Suppose you wish to copy of "*.DOC" files from drives
"C:" and "D:" to current subdirectory on drive "E:".
The command-line for QUIKCOPY would look something like
follows:
QUIKCOPY C:*.DOC;D:*.DOC E: /S/L
32
6. QUIKCOPY PARAMETER LISTING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This section contains a listing of the various
parameters available in QUIKCOPY, listed in alphabetical
order. Short descriptions of each parameter are given.
For more detailed discussions on these parameters, refer
to sections 3 and 4.
/A (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Specify that QUIKCOPY copy (or move) all files and
subdirectories, including those with their hidden and
system attributes set.
/B (diskette copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Specify that QUIKCOPY may copy a single diskette to a
batch of destination diskettes.
/B (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Specify that QUIKCOPY may copy (or move) files from a
batch of multiple diskettes.
/BIOS (diskette copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Specify that QUIKCOPY perform diskette copying by going
through BIOS, and not by directly accessing the
diskette. See Section 4.1 for a discussion on when this
parameter should be used.
/C (file copying - diskette filling)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indicates that during maximal diskette filling, files
too large to fit on a diskette should be split across
multiple diskettes.
/D (diskette copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Invoke diskette copying mode of QUIKCOPY.
/DELAY and /DELAY:ms (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slow down file copying (or moving). (See Section 3.2.6.)
/E (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copy (or move) all subdirectories, including empty
subdirectories.
/F (diskette copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Specify that QUIKCOPY always format destination
diskettes before writing to them.
33
/F (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indicate that QUIKCOPY should maximally fill a number of
diskettes with the contents of one or more
subdirectories.
/HELP and /?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
When either of these parameter are specified, QUIKCOPY
will display a short summary of all the parameters and
briefly describe their functions. Note that only one of
these parameters should be used at once, and that no
other parameters are allowed when asking for help.
/I and /I:num (diskette copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Specify that QUIKCOPY should ignore errors after a
number of failures, when copying diskettes. (See Section
4.7.)
/IP (file copying - diskette filling - splitting files)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tell QUIKCOPY to copy the QC_PASTE.EXE utility onto
diskettes when splitting large files across multiple
diskettes.
/L (file copying - subdirectories)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Specify that QUIKCOPY is to lock the destination
subdirectory, and copy all files to that subdirectory.
/M (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indicate that instead of copying files, QUIKCOPY should
rather move them from source to destination.
/M+ and /M- (diskette copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Specify whether or not QUIKCOPY is to copy multiple
diskettes. (See Section 4.2.)
/N (diskette copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indicate that QUIKCOPY may not utilize disk-space as
virtual memory when copying diskettes.
/NJ (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indicate that QUIKCOPY should ignore the special status
of QC_PASTE.EXE, stub-files and cut-files (see Section
3.2.7), and simply copy (or move) them.
34
/O, /OY and /-Y (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ensure that QUIKCOPY perform overwrite checking of files
on the destination. Default answer to prompts will be
"yes".
/ON (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ensure that QUIKCOPY perform overwrite checking of files
on the destination. Default answer to prompts will be
"no".
/ONA (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Specify that QUIKCOPY never overwrite files that already
exist on the destination.
/OYA and /Y (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indicate that QUIKCOPY should always overwrite files
that already exist on the destination.
/P, /PY and /PN (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prompt user for permission to copy (or move) each file
that matches the source specification. (See Section
3.2.4.)
/S (file copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copy (or move) subdirectories, but exclude
subdirectories that are empty.
/VF, /VW, /VA and /VN (diskette copying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Specify level of diskette verification required. (See
Section 4.5.)
/W (file copying - diskette filling)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indicate that QUIKCOPY should wipe the contents of each
and every diskette used when maximally filling
diskettes.
35
7. TIPS AND TROUBLE SHOOTING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This section will discuss a few tips that are
advantageous to adopt when using QUIKCOPY, in that they
will improve copying performance or make the process of
copying more fluent. Also, various problems that may
arise are also discussed, and possible solutions are
given.
This section will be presented as a number of questions
and answers. The question part will ask how to overcome a
problem or how to perform a particular task, and the
answer part will give a possible solution. Many of these
questions were commonly posed by current users of
QUIKCOPY.
Q: How do I copy to/from a diskette image file?
A: Simply specify the filename as the source or
destination option.
Q: Can QUIKCOPY copy non-standard diskette formats? If
so, since when?
A: Yes. Since v3.00.
Q: Do I need FDREAD, SMAX or similar programs when
copying copying non-standard diskettes?
A: No. QUIKCOPY will copy these diskettes without the
need for special TSRs or device-drivers.
Q: How do I invoke QUIKCOPY's diskette copying
facilities?
A: Simply add the "/D" parameter to the command-line.
Q: Do I need to enter "QUIKCOPY A: A: /D" when copying
diskettes in drive A only, as with DOS's DISKCOPY?
A: No, if you only specify a source parameter, then
QUIKCOPY will assume that the destination is the same
drive as the source drive. This, of course, does not
hold for diskette image files.
Q: Is there any specific order in which I should specify
command-line parameters?
A: No, any order may be used. Just ensure that a source
parameter is given. Also, if a destination parameter
is specified, ensure that it is listed after the
source parameter.
Q: Can QUIKCOPY copy 1.44M diskettes onto 1.2M
diskettes? Is so, since when?
A: Yes. Since v3.00.
Q: I ran QUIKCOPY the other day, and it said that it was
possibly infected by a virus, and that I should
contact you. What is wrong? What should I do?
A: Firstly, something or someone has tried to change
QUIKCOPY. Do not execute this copy of QUIKCOPY.
36
Ascertain whether or not QUIKCOPY is indeed infected.
Clean-up your system, removing the virus. Then,
re-install an uninfected (or unchanged) version of
QUIKCOPY.
Note that many anti-virus software programs do not
restore a previously infected version of QUIKCOPY to
its original state. That is why you need to
re-install QUIKCOPY.
Q: I ran QUIKCOPY, and it terminated with the following
message:
ERROR - Could not install file manager!
What is the problem?
A: Section 2.1.1 has an extensive discussion on this
problem. Refer to this section on how to circumvent
this problem.
Q: I ran QUIKCOPY, and it terminated with the following
message:
ERROR - Problem with system timer.
What is the problem?
A: When it first starts executing, QUIKCOPY calibrates
itself to the speed of your system. This calibration
depends upon the system timer. If a faulty or
incompatible system timer is present in the system,
then QUIKCOPY will not work with your computer. This
error should never occur. However, if it does occur,
retry running QUIKCOPY, to see if it was only a
temporary error.
Q: The documentation mentions that the performance of
the maximal diskette filling process may be improved.
How do I go about doing this?
A: It is highly recommended that you run a disk-caching
program on your system. Not only will QUIKCOPY's
performance be improved but your entire system, in
general. Choice of a disk-cache is rather personal,
however, a good choice would be a disk-cache that has
"write-back" or "write-delay" facilities. Most good
modern disk-caches have this ability. Enabling this
feature of your disk-cache will greatly improve
disk-performance. This is where the benefits for
QUIKCOPY arise.
When filling diskettes (especially), the presence of
a disk-cache that does write-caching greatly improves
QUIKCOPY's performance, especially if filling
diskettes with multiple subdirectories and their
files. QUIKCOPY performs disk-cache flushing, so no
data-loss will arise (unless of course external
phenomena, such as power-outs, occur).
File-moving will also be somewhat faster if a
disk-cache capable of caching disk-writes is present
in the system.
37
Q: Do you have any special recommendations that would
further improving the diskette filling process?
A: Yes, one. It may prove useful, if you plan to fill
diskettes of varying sizes, that you order these
diskettes in diskette order of capacity. Thus, a
smaller number of diskettes will be required, and
also, less files will (possibly) need to be split
across multiple diskettes.
Q: In the documentation, it is mentioned that QUIKCOPY
could be used as a backup and restore system. How
would I go about doing this?
A: Simply create two batch files, say BACKUP.BAT and
RESTORE.BAT, that can perform this process. The
former would utilize QUIKCOPY's diskette filling
capabilities (including large-file splitting) along
with subdirectory inclusion to backup the data to
multiple diskettes. The latter could simply utilize
QUIKCOPY's multiple diskette batch copying capability
to restore the data.
See the files BACKUP.BAT and RESTORE.BAT included
with this program. These are examples of how one
could perform this process.
Q: Do you have any plans for a menu-driven version of
QUIKCOPY?
A: Yes. It will be called QUIKCOPY Professional (QCPRO).
It should be released sometime this year (1994). It
will be commercial though. At the same time when
QCPRO is becomes available, QUIKCOPY v4.00 will be
released. This will still be released as shareware.
QUIKCOPY will be a heavily watered-down version of
QCPRO. Many of QCPRO's features will either be
disabled in the shareware edition of QUIKCOPY, or
simply not be included. QCPRO will be available for
both the DOS and Windows platforms.
38
8. REGISTRATION AND CORRESPONDENCE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This section contains information about registering
QUIKCOPY, your rights as a user of this software, how to
contact the author or RJS Software, as well as other
important information recarding QUIKCOPY.
8.1 QUIKCOPY is Shareware
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY is NOT a free program. It is being released as
shareware. This means that you allowed to try out
QUIKCOPY and its various features for a limited amount
of time, in which you may evaluate the suitability of
this software to your use.
QUIKCOPY has not been disabled in any way in the
shareware version. It just contains a message that
reflects that it is not free, and must be registered.
One is granted a 14 day period in which to evaluate the
suitability of QUIKCOPY to one's needs. If you use
QUIKCOPY for a period longer than this evaluation
period, it is assumed that QUIKCOPY is of use to you,
and that you will register it.
One may register QUIKCOPY by sending a fee of R25 to the
address below, if you are a resident of South Africa, or
one of its neighbouring states. Users outside of South
Africa, may register QUIKCOPY by sending $20 US to the
address given in Section 8.3. (A registration form is
included with this program.) All postage and packaging
is included in this fee.
Registration may be paid in the form of postal order,
cheque or by credit card. If paying by credit card,
registration by FAX is allowed. Please print out and
fill in registration form, which is contained in the
file QUIKCOPY.ORD.
Registered users will receive the latest version of
QUIKCOPY, without the unregistered message. After
registering, one may upgrade to the next five versions
of QUIKCOPY for free, and there-after one is entitled to
an upgrade price of R10 or $10 US for the next three
versions. Registered users will also receive a unique
serial-number that they must quote on all correspondence
after they have received their registered version of
QUIKCOPY.
8.2 DISCLAIMER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUIKCOPY is provided as is. It has been tested
extensively, and has proven to fulfill the task it has
been designed to do. The author or RJS Software do not
accept any responsibility for damage that may be
39
incurred out of the use of, or abuse of, or the
inability to use the features provided by this program.
This program may not be modified, reverse-engineered,
hacked (!!!), etc. in any way whatsoever. It may not be
sold for profit by any party, without prior written
permission from the author, Roland Skinner, and RJS
Software.
The unregistered version may not be distributed without
this documentation (QUIKCOPY.DOC), the order-form
(QUIKCOPY.ORD), the history-list (HISTORY.LST),
thank-you list (THANKYOU.LST), or any other file
originally included with this software.
This program does perform an integrity check on
execution. "Modified" versions could have disastrous
effects on a system - BE WARNED! Do not attempt to
compress this file, in executable form, using programs
such as LZEXE or PKLITE - QUIKCOPY will refuse to work.
People using QUIKCOPY have a 14 day evaluation period in
which to use the unregistered version. People using
QUIKCOPY in a commercial environment must register
QUIKCOPY in order to use it. (Cheaper rates are
available for registering multiple copies of QUIKCOPY;
contact the author or RJS Software for more
information.)
By having read this, one agrees to abide by the above.
By using this software one acknowledges having read this
file, and agree to the clauses above.
8.3 Contacting RJS Software or the Author
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Any correspondence may be forwarded to the address
below.
Send your recommendations, bug-reports, requests,
registrations, or any other correspondence to Roland
Skinner, or RJS Software, at:
P.O. Box 14134
Bredell
1623
Republic of South Africa
The above address is not a residential address; only a
box number.
FAX support is provided by calling the following number:
+27-11-792-4874 (International)
(011) 792-4874 (within South Africa)
40
Anybody who is the first to recommend a feature that is
later added to QUIKCOPY, or is the first to report an
error in the working of QUIKCOPY, will have his/her name
added to the THANK YOU list accompanying this
documentation.
Users requesting faster replies, etc. may send an Email
message to Roland Skinner in one of the echomail
conferences in South Africa. I recommend either
"RsaSOFT" or "TP_Shareware". In the world-wide Ilink
network, I may be contacted in the Ilink SHAREWARE
conference.
I may also be contacted through FIDONET netmail or
through Internet Email. Preferably, try to reach me via
Internet.
I may be contacted at the following Email addresses
(listed in order of preference). Also, the echomail
conferences are included here. The FAX number is also
repeated here.
Email:
Internet: roland.skinner@leclub.proxima.alt.za
roland@concave.cs.wits.ac.za
roland.skinner@p1.f12.n7107.z5.fidonet.org
FIDONET: Roland Skinner @ 5:7107/12.1
Echomail:
RsaNET: RsaSOFT conference (Roland Skinner)
TopNet: TP_Shareware conference (Roland Skinner)
Ilink: SHAREWARE conference (Roland Skinner)
FAX:
+27-(0)11-792-4874
I trust that you'll find QUIKCOPY to be a useful
utility. Hopefully, you too, as many other users already
have will benefit frmo the various features QUIKCOPY
provides.
Yours faithfully,
Roland Skinner
41
