How to do simple multitasked loop processing over filenames with PowerShell?

Question

I'm batch transcoding some 50 GB of video files on a USB hard disk which is connected to a wlan router. The drive is mapped as a network drive on my Windows 7 laptop.

The speed handicap of the wlan causes some parts of the processing to become unnecessarily slow, so I would like to do the following with PowerShell:

1. List the names of the files on the network drive to be transcoded
2. Copy the first file to a temporary folder on my laptop
3. Simultaneously
   • Transcode the file in the folder
   • Begin copying the next file from the network drive to the temporary folder
4. After transcoding and copy have both ended,
   • Delete the file which has been transcoded from the temporary folder
   • Begin transcoding next file in the temporary folder
5. Loop until all files have been processed

How would I be able to do this with PowerShell? The multitasking part is an obstacle for my skill/persistence combination.

Answer 1

You could look at the support for Jobs in PSH 2.

help about_jobs

to get an introduction.