Slave drive - copying files

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

I am running Windows XP and have installed a second hard
drive as a slave. The purpose of the second drive is to
serve as a backup in the event the master crashes.

Question: What is the best way to copy the files on the
master to the slave. Drag and drop is too slow. Can I
boot up in command prompt mode and use a x copy or disk
copy command? If so, how should the command be written?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

You can NOT use either drag&drop or XCOPY, since these do NOT work on some
critical files that are locked while XP is running. (See suggestions
further down.) However, XCOPY is very good for backing up personal files
like DOC, XLS, JPG, etc. I use the following options with XCOPY:

/S copy all files and sub-driectories
/V verify that the copy matches the original
/H copy hidden files
/R copy read-only files; without /R XCOPY will stop at the first
read-only-file
/D copy a file only if it has changed or is new; this makes the second,
third, etc usage of XCOPY go very fast.

The format of the command, all on one line, looks like:

XCOPY C:\old_directory D:\new_directory /S /V /D /R /H

If you drives are not C:\ and D:\, then change them as appropriate.

But, for the operating system and programs, do not use XCOPY. Instead, get
a good third-party backup program like Norton GHOST or Acronis TrueImage. I
personally prefer TrueImage, since it is easier to use, and the backup can
be made while XP is running. (Yes, even those locked files will be
backedup.) Further, TrueImage can backup to and restore from USB and
firewire disks. GHOST has more limitated abilities in this area. Finally,
TrueImage works with the newer serial ATA (SATA/150) disks, whereas GHOST
does not officially support them. Still, for a pair of internal IDE (ATA)
disks, GHOST will also work fine.


"Loyd" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:10ebf01c4410d$9384f100$a001280a@phx.gbl...
> I am running Windows XP and have installed a second hard
> drive as a slave. The purpose of the second drive is to
> serve as a backup in the event the master crashes.
>
> Question: What is the best way to copy the files on the
> master to the slave. Drag and drop is too slow. Can I
> boot up in command prompt mode and use a x copy or disk
> copy command? If so, how should the command be written?