Previously published in the September/October 1991 issue of RUN and ReRUN, MultiCopy did not work with some versions of the 1541 disk drive. MultiCopy II is now compatible with all versions of the 1541.
For the benefit of anyone who hasn't used the program, MultiCopy works with a C-64 or a C-128 in 40- or 80-Column mode; accommodates one, two or three disk drives; and provides 12 commands, including Copy, Verify, Scratch, Rename and Format. It also time- and date-stamps files.
When starting the program, you must enter the date in mm/dd/yy format. The mm is a two-digit number from 01 to 12 representing the month, dd is a two-digit number from 01 to 31 representing the day, and yy is a two-digit number from 00 to 99 representing the year.
The program checks to see if the 24-hour clock has already been set in a previous MultiCopy II session. If the clock isn't running, you must enter the time in hh:mm:ss format, where hh is a two-digit number from 01 to 23 representing the hour, mm is a two-digit number from 00 to 59 representing the minute, and ss is a two-digit number from 00 to 59 representing the second.
The Main Screen
After you enter the date and time information, the MultiCopy II main screen appears, containing three boxes titled Current Devices, Commands, and Settings. A fourth box shows the time and date.
The Current Devices box lists the disk devices connected to the computer and the device number associated with each. MultiCopy II supports the 1541, 1571 and 1581 disk drives, and their compatibles, as well as the 1750 RAMdisk. The program automatically checks for connected disk devices when it starts up and determines the type of each--whether it's a 1541, 1571, 1581, or other type of drive.
The Settings box lists the current program settings. From Device indicates the device to load from when copying or verifying files. To Device indicates the destination device for files. The From and To Devices can be the same or different drives. Prompt = can be set to On or Off. When it's On, the program provides a warning when a file on the To disk is about to be scratched during a copy operation.
The Commands box lists the available commands. Use the cursor keys to move the cursor up and down until it's positioned on a command you want to execute, then press the return key to activate the function. If you select a command then change your mind, you can press the run/stop key to abort it. Here are descriptions of the commands:
Copy Files
Select this command to copy files from one disk to another, using either one or two disk devices. The files will be loaded from the From Device and written to the To Device. If there are no files on the From disk, no directory will be displayed.
If the From and To devices are the same, you must swap disks periodically. Also, when you're copying a file, a file of the same name could already exist on the To disk. If the Prompt = setting is On, the program will warn you not replace that file. If Prompt = is Off, the program will automatically scratch the file on the To disk while copying the new file to the disk.
After you press the return key, a box will appear listing all the files on the disk in the From Device. Use the cursor keys to position the cursor on a file you wish to copy, then press the space bar to tag that file. A checkmark appears beside tagged files. Select as many files as you need.
The _ key (in the upper-left corner of the keyboard) performs a special function. When it is pressed, any unmarked files become marked and any marked files become unmarked. Let's say you want to copy all the files on a disk except one. You can tag the one you don't want, then press the _ key to tag all the ones you do want.
Next, press the return key to load the files into the computer's memory. During the load operation, the cursor will indicate which file is currently in transit. After the program has loaded as many files as it can, it will write the files to the To disk.
If you're using just one disk drive, a prompt will tell you to insert the To disk before copying will take place. Just remove the From disk and insert the To disk, then press return. If you're using two drives, no prompt will appear. This process of loading and writing files will continue until all tagged files have been copied. Then MultiCopy II will read in the directory blocks of the To disk and stamp each file that was copied with the date and time.
Because Commodore didn't make the 1750 RAMDOS software 100-percent compatible with Commodore floppy drives such as the 1541, it's impossible to copy a relative file from a RAMdisk to a floppy. Time- and date-stamping isn't possible with RAMdisks either.
Prompt On/Off
After you select this command, the program will ask Prompt Before Replacing Files?. If you wish to be notified before files are scratched during copy operations, press y, then return. Otherwise press n and return.
Verify Files
Select this command to verify files on different disks. With two disk devices, files will be loaded from the From Device and compared to a file in the To Device. When the From and To devices are the same, you must swap disks before the compare can take place.
Press the return key and a box will appear listing all the files on the disk in the From Device. Use the cursor keys to place the cursor on the file you wish to verify, then press the space bar or the return key to select that file. A checkmark will appear beside the filename, and the file will be loaded into computer memory.
After the From file has been loaded, it must be compared to the To file. If you're using just one disk drive, a prompt will tell you to insert the To disk before verification can occur. Just remove the From disk, insert the To disk and press return. If you're using two disk drives, no prompt will appear and the files will be compared automatically. If the files are identical, a message will appear saying Files OK!. Otherwise the message will say Files Don't Verify!. In either case, press return to revert to the main screen.
Scratch Files
When you select this command, a prompt will ask for the device number of the disk drive you wish to use. Enter the number, press return, and a box will appear listing all the files in the specified device. Use the cursor keys to place the cursor on each file you wish to scratch, then press the space bar to tag the file. The _ key performs the same service here as with the Copy command.
Rename Files
This command also asks for the device number of the disk drive you wish to use. Enter the number, press return, and a box will appear listing all the files on the disk in the specified device. Use the cursor keys to place the cursor on a file you wish to rename, then press the space bar to tag the file. When a prompt asks Rename File To What?, enter the new filename and press return. After you've marked all the files you want, press the return key and they will be renamed.
Usage
The Usage command lets you define the From and To devices for copy and verify operations. Files will be loaded from the From Device and written to or compared with a file in to the To Device. Just enter the appropriate device numbers at the prompts as they appear.
Format Disk
To format a disk, at the first prompt enter the device number you wish to use and press return. At the second prompt, enter the disk name and press return. At the third prompt, enter the disk ID, which must be two characters long, and press return. The disk will then be formatted.
Erase Disk
The Erase command lets you scratch the contents of a disk. At the first prompt, enter the disk device number you wish to use and press return. At the second prompt, enter the new disk name and press return. All the files on the disk will be scratched.
Poll Devices
This command determines which disk devices are connected to the computer and displays them in the Current Devices box. MultiCopy II can recognize up to three devices and automatically checks for them when starting up. The Poll Devices command is provided in case you turn on another disk device while the program is running. Note that you may ha
