Copying from multiipe Source Hard Drives

[binar]

Fellow Forum Members,
Is the latest version of XYplorer able to do the following:
I have a USB external cradle holding two hard drives labeled as G: and H:. THe USB cradle is connected to my laptop via the USB port.
My goal is to select 10 folders from drive G: and 25 folders from drive H: and then copy the data over to drive C: on my laptop. Between all 35 folders I estimate there is around 80 Gigabytes of data.
In short, can XYPlorer copy 80 GB of data from two different source hard drives over to my C: drive unattended? I don't want to babysit the copy process and therefore need to know if XYplorer can copy using a script of some kind for automated unattended copying from multiple source hard drives? Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[acheton]

Yes it can you could script it or use the Custom Copy operation which allows queuing and copies running in the background along with automated decisions regarding collisions. (Take a look at the File Operations section of the Configuration screen).

[binar]

Yes it can you could script it or use the Custom Copy operation which allows queuing and copies running in the background along with automated decisions regarding collisions. (Take a look at the File Operations section of the Configuration screen).

Acheton,
I found the File Operations section and defined the parameters inside the Configuration screen.
However, I was not able to find the dialog window where I define my que list. I referred to the HELP files and they are badly written. The HELP files don't show screen captures where the Custom Copy menu is at.

I would be very grateful if you can post some basic steps on how I setup a que list from multiple hard drives and where does the Custom Copy menu reside? Any info will be greatly appreciated.

[j_c_hallgren]

However, I was not able to find the dialog window where I define my que list. I referred to the HELP files and they are badly written. The HELP files don't show screen captures where the Custom Copy menu is at.

Hi and welcome to the XY forums!

Have you looked at the XY website where new features are described for the release they appeared in, such as http://www.xyplorer.com/release_10.00.h ... pyfeatures? Those prior release pages can be quite useful as Don often puts screen shots in there (but not in Help files as easier done on web page).

[SkyFrontier]

Try this:

Code: Select all

   $tgt = inputfolder("c:\", "Please select the TARGET folder:");
   $re = "";

   while ($o != 0) {

   $src = inputfolder("%desktop%", "Please enter your SOURCE:<crlf>(one at a time or OK for an editable list to come later;<crlf>CANCEL here will end script!)");
   $re = "$re" . "$src<crlf>";
   $o = confirm("OK to select another SOURCE,<crlf>or press CANCEL to stop selecting and edit a list...");
   

                   }

   $a = input("Edit target items - here you can check your SOURCES or edit them appending more from clipboard, for instance...", "This list will be further sorted and deduped! Please observe the list format. You CAN cancel here, if you want (last chance!).", "$re", "m", , 800);
//validate...
   $reX = "";
   $reY = "";
   foreach($tk, "$a", "<crlf>") {

   $tst = exists("$tk");
   IF ($tst == 2) { $reX = "$reX" . "$tk|"; }
   ELSEIF ($tst != 2) { $reY = "$reY" . "$tk<crlf>"; }
   

                                  }
// step;
   IF ("$reY" == "" || "$reY" == "<crlf>") {   }
   ELSEIF ("$reY" != "") { text "the following item(s) is(are) NOT folder(s) or is(are) NOT AVAILABLE,<crlf>thus will NOT be used as SOURCES...<crlf 2>$reY", 700; }
   $reX = trim("$reX", "|");
   $reX = formatlist("$reX", sde, "|");
   $reZ = replace("$reX", "|", "<crlf>");
   text "The following will be used as SOURCE(S) to copy into<crlf>$tgt<crlf>...you CANNOT cancel any operation here! Sorry!<crlf 2>SOURCES:<crlf 2>$reZ";
//done: backupTo version...
//rename - 4, preserve dates - 1, log per cfg, stats - 0, no skip cfg, no verify, show progress - 0
//      backupto "$tgt, "$reX", 4, 1, , 0, , 0, 0; //optionally to copyto
   copyto "$tgt", "$reX"; //optionally to bkpto
   echo "all done!";

edit: the note on 'excluded' files could lead to confusion. Fixed.
edit: bakupTo implemented

[binar]

Thanks to all for your post. However, I find myself still in the same situation. The software documentation links that were posted are for text files that are not helpful for what I need to do. Doesn't this app have a well written PDF user guide with screen shots that provide steps on how to perform a Custom Copy operation from multiple source hard drives?

SkyFrontier, thanks for the code. Can you please also post some brief steps on how I'm suppose to use your script within xyplorer?

I would be very appreciative if anybody out there can post some basic steps on how to perform a Custom Copy operation from multiple source hard drives using a que list. I have been trying to figure this out for a couple of days now with no success. Once again, thanks to all who have posted in this thread.

[j_c_hallgren]

Doesn't this app have a well written PDF user guide with screen shots that provide steps on how to perform a Custom Copy operation from multiple source hard drives?

As with many solo software developers, Don has to spend most all his time coding and thus documentation generally takes a bit of back seat..he does the best he can but I think most of the regulars here on forum understand his dilemma and thus we work with what's available...we tried a user supported wiki a while back to help with documentation but it got outdated SO quickly that we had to abandon it.

Also, there are literally hundreds of different functions/operations that can be done with XY so trying to provide screen shots of all those would be a never ending task...Don has even had trouble just keeping shots on his website for sales purposes current..I'm not trying to say that current situation is ideal but we as power/long-term users of XY much prefer having Don provide the constant updates to functions/features over current documentation...

I've never done the particular operation you're needing so I'm sorry that i can't give any actual help so just tried to explain why the docs are not as complete as you'd like.

[binar]

Just a followup. The brickwall I seem to be hitting is how this app does not allow you to select multiple folders residing on two external hard drives. I have pressed on the CNTRL, SHIFT, and ALT button while click selecting folders with my left button mouse and folders don't remain selected. This app does not seem to allow one to multi select one folder located in Drive G: and another folder located in Drive H: and then drag them to my C: drive. If I try doing this through the Copy\Move dialog window it's the same thing which is I can't select two folders at the same time. Again, I would be grateful if someone can posts some basic steps that provide instruction on how to perform a Custom Copy operation from multiple source hard drives over to a C: drive.

[SkyFrontier]

SkyFrontier, thanks for the code. Can you please also post some brief steps on how I'm suppose to use your script within xyplorer?

Sure.

1. Copy (CTRL+C) the entire code into clipboard;
2. Paste it (CTRL+V) into the Scripting > Run Script... dialog and press OK;
3. Everything else will be guided by the script itself, which will prompt you for each source individually or a whole list on a further dialog. So it's useful to get a base list at hand when you are about to start using the script.

In my understanding, you are asking for an easy way to select multiple source folders on multiple drives so they are parsed into a single copy operation, so this is what my script aims to deliver: first, a one-after-each-other dialog asking for individual folders, which can be feed one at a time but anywhere on multiple disks/locations; then, it pops a confirm box in which you can check the initial choices plus feeding a list of several other folders (assuming some of those sources can be listed on a pane, ie, they share a same parent folder, so it's easy for you to press ctrl+p to gather them at once - or edit them any other way).

http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9595 mentions a concept (Virtual Folder) which I tried to imitate to help another user - it's a mess, as I thought I had mastered FindTemplates ini files but after some upgrades my scripts on this went broken for some reasons I had no time to investigate yet (partially because some functions were forced to work as commands only, recently).

The script is full of error check and some smartness but let me know what you find about it - usability sux, I'm aware, but it's the best I could do. As always, opened to suggestions.

But then you may want to go anywhere and queue your file ops yourself (which seems NOT to be what you want, per OP), so...

quoting Help on

Queue file operations

Check to process background file operations sequentially, in a queue, where successive operations are lined up in sequence and completed one after the other. If unchecked then background file operations are processed in parallel.

E.g. if you initiate a job, say a Copy operation, while another one is still in progress, the new one will be delayed until the other one is finished. One job is triggered after the next, until all pending jobs are completed. A copy queue, also known as asynchronous copy, avoids inefficient pseudo-parallel processing and undue stress on your HD head.

Notes

· This option is applied on a per-job basis in the moment the jobs are initiated by the user, so while one or more jobs are running in the background you can change the setting of "Queue file operations" to control how the next job is handled; running or pending jobs are not affected.

· There's no explicit limit applied to the number of parallel processes.

· Move operations within volume boundaries (see above Note on Move operations) are always processed in parallel (= not queued) regardless of the setting of Queue file operations, because they are usually fast and you rather expect immediate action.

· There is also a toolbar button for this setting.

...are you aware that there's a 'Enable BG Processing' and a 'Queue File Ops' couple of toolbar buttons, right? Right clicking them can bring you some options, either.

[binar]

SkyFrontier, thanks for the code. Can you please also post some brief steps on how I'm suppose to use your script within xyplorer?

Sure.

1. Copy (CTRL+C) the entire code into clipboard;
2. Paste it (CTRL+V) into the Scripting > Run Script... dialog and press OK;
3. Everything else will be guided by the script itself, which will prompt you for each source individually or a whole list on a further dialog. So it's useful to get a base list at hand when you are about to start using the script.

In my understanding, you are asking for an easy way to select multiple source folders on multiple drives so they are parsed into a single copy operation, so this is what my script aims to deliver: first, a one-after-each-other dialog asking for individual folders, which can be feed one at a time but anywhere on multiple disks/locations; then, it pops a confirm box in which you can check the initial choices plus feeding a list of several other folders (assuming some of those sources can be listed on a pane, ie, they share a same parent folder, so it's easy for you to press ctrl+p to gather them at once - or edit them any other way).

http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9595 mentions a concept (Virtual Folder) which I tried to imitate to help another user - it's a mess, as I thought I had mastered FindTemplates ini files but after some upgrades my scripts on this went broken for some reasons I had no time to investigate yet (partially because some functions were forced to work as commands only, recently).

The script is full of error check and some smartness but let me know what you find about it - usability sux, I'm aware, but it's the best I could do. As always, opened to suggestions.

But then you may want to go anywhere and queue your file ops yourself (which seems NOT to be what you want, per OP), so...

quoting Help on

Queue file operations

Check to process background file operations sequentially, in a queue, where successive operations are lined up in sequence and completed one after the other. If unchecked then background file operations are processed in parallel.

E.g. if you initiate a job, say a Copy operation, while another one is still in progress, the new one will be delayed until the other one is finished. One job is triggered after the next, until all pending jobs are completed. A copy queue, also known as asynchronous copy, avoids inefficient pseudo-parallel processing and undue stress on your HD head.

Notes

· This option is applied on a per-job basis in the moment the jobs are initiated by the user, so while one or more jobs are running in the background you can change the setting of "Queue file operations" to control how the next job is handled; running or pending jobs are not affected.

· There's no explicit limit applied to the number of parallel processes.

· Move operations within volume boundaries (see above Note on Move operations) are always processed in parallel (= not queued) regardless of the setting of Queue file operations, because they are usually fast and you rather expect immediate action.

· There is also a toolbar button for this setting.

...are you aware that there's a 'Enable BG Processing' and a 'Queue File Ops' couple of toolbar buttons, right? Right clicking them can bring you some options, either.

SkyFrontier,
Thanks a million for sharing your script and then being kind enough to post again with some instructional steps on how to use the script. I followed your steps and happy to report your script works beautifully. I did a mock test with two folders originating from two different external USB hard drives and both were successfully copied over to my laptop C: Drive. Your script does exactly what I needed. I hope it performs just as well when I get down to serious business and attempt an 80GB copy operation.

However, trying to do the same thing your script does directly within the XYplorer GUI is something that still eludes me. I was able to add the Enable BG Processing and Queue File Ops button to my toolbar. However, when I clicked on them nothing seems to happen. From your post I understand these two buttons are involved if I want to do what your script does using the app GUI. Nevertheless, I can't figure out the steps.

I am happy with using your script (so far), however if you or anyone out there knows how to do what your script does by using he app GUI by all means feel free to post some basic instructional steps. I'm sure it will be much appreciated by everyone who frequents this forum. Thanks again to everyone who posted in this thread.

[j_c_hallgren]

However, when I clicked on them nothing seems to happen. From your post I understand these two buttons are involved if I want to do what your script does using the app GUI.

Just a note: Remember that options/functions differ based on whether it's a right or left click so be sure you're using the proper one...others here have occasionaly not found desired item because they used wrong click (I've even done it now and then).

BTW, just as a request from fellow forum user: please try to limit quoting of prior replies to minimal needed to reduce thread clutter, ok? thanks much!

[RalphM]

I don't understand why you need to select the folders on two different external drives at the same time to initiate a copy operation.
As I understood your last post, you configured the custom copy/move operations to be backgrounded and therefore they are queued.
So just initiate the operation of one drive with the folders you want, then switch to the other drive and do the same there.
Your jobs are queued and processed one after the other?!?