The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Advanced batchfile for backup

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by mcfee, Jun 4, 2012.

  1. mcfee

    mcfee Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hi,

    I'd like to create an advanced batch file that I will use to backup a folder. I'm using windows 7.

    I'm using xcopy with this command

    xcopy C:\Users\Xuser\Desktop\OC C:\Users\Xuser\Desktop\TEST \s \d

    My question is- is it possible to copy locked files (ie MSword/excel docs while I'm working on them)?


    Thanks
     
  2. Pirx

    Pirx Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    3,001
    Messages:
    3,005
    Likes Received:
    416
    Trophy Points:
    151
    You cannot do this with the built-in copy or xcopy commands. Robocopy sometimes works for this in backup mode, but it cannot copy locked Outlook databases either. There's a number of third-party tools that can do what you want that make use of Windows' Volume Shadow Copy service. Just google "copy locked files" to find one you like.
     
  3. mcfee

    mcfee Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Ok cheers. I'm going to try something called "Hobocopy"... Has anyone had experience with it?
     
  4. pcunite

    pcunite Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    27
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    No, I'm using something called FileBackupEX ... it reports on files that are locked. It is my understanding that locked files are so for a reason and getting them in an incomplete state is not a good idea. Better to signal the software locking them to shutdown instead.