I like how when I do a copy and paste in windows, teracopy intercedes.
can I get it to do what /M of xcopy does and /A ?
turning off the archive bit at source end.. after a copy. and only copying files whose archive bit is set.
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looks like perhaps it can't– barlopNov 23, 2010 at 23:34
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2 Answers
It can't and currently has nothing similar to that feature either [correction/update - see user's comment/answer copying if newer at source would do the same thing, and user mentions that teracopy has such an option]. Alternatively, there is Fastcopy, and Fastcopy while lacking the shell integration to intercept a copy/paste of files, it does have an option to copy changed files from one location to another. And you can see a listing of files that'd be copied before doing the copy. This "diff" feature is better than the archive bit option of xcopy since it doesn't rely on a bit/the archive bit that'd be changed if you copied to 2 different destinations.
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@user1016274 btw, out of interest what would you do if the structure changes a bit at source? (like a directory is renamed..) then a copy would cause two directories with the same files. One could delete all at dest then copy src over fresh, but then the backup at dest is gone prior to copying src, which seems risky.– barlopDec 18, 2016 at 17:03
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changes in file system structure will result in duplicate trees. I'd use my favorite tool for synchronization, namely SynchronizeIt!, to handle this, using a GUI with preview. On the CLI robocopy stands out as being fast and universally available. This kind of task is named 'duplication' or 'mirroring'; both source and destination need to be checked for this whereas copying only looks at the source. None of these tools are able to track file or directory name changes though. If you want to avoid redundant copies you have to resort to deduplication software. Dec 18, 2016 at 18:30
This behavior of Fastcopy can be reproduced with Teracopy as well: just copy the files, and on request choose to 'skip existing file' & 'only if newer' (reasoning setting the archive bit and modification time are happening at the same event, which doesn't need to be).
Basically, Teracopy is not a diff tool but a copy tool assuring exact copies by comparing original and copy using hashes. Integrity comes before speed but even speed is enhanced by using internal buffering and large file system calls. Thus, best practise would be to set the option 'Always test after copy'.
