MASS COPYING AND MOVING

Moving a file is a two-stage process. Where the source and destination directories are on the same disk, the stages are merely altering entries in the destination and source directories. A cross-disk move, on the other hand, involves making a copy of the file on the destination disk and then deleting the original. XTree of course handles this effortlessly: the command is M.

To copy or move multiple files, tag all the files and ensure that they are all displayed by selecting B(ranch), S(howall) or G(lobal) if necessary. Then start the process by Ctrl-C, Ctrl-M, Alt-C or Alt-M.

Ctrl-C and Ctrl-M copy or move all tagged files to a single target directory. Alt-C and Alt-M copy or move to a destination directory while keeping the original directory structure beneath the designated destination; directories will be created if they do not already exist. A useful option is offered if you invoke Alt-C or Alt-M from the Branch window: you can duplicate either full paths or partial branch paths. The latter are paths relative to the current parent directory.

This can be useful for making a copy of a floppy with a complex directory structure on a hard disk and later re-exporting all the files to another floppy. First of all log in the source floppy, select S(howall) and Ctrl-T to tag all files, then Alt-C to the hard disk in a directory called, say, DISK-1. To export this to a floppy, log in DISK-1 as a Branch, then Ctrl-T, Alt-C and select partial branch paths. The target floppy will be a faithful copy of the original.

When mass copying or moving and the destination disk becomes full, XTree beeps and prompts you to insert a new disk. If you do not have a formatted disk to hand, you can now select Alt-F2 and format one or more disks, and then resume copying where you left off.

Tom Ruben

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