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INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING NXCOPY

Mike McIntyre


NXCOPY is a network utility for copying files. It is loosely based on
DOS's XCOPY (available starting with DOS 3.2), in that it copies files
in subdirectories as well as files in a given directory.

Unfortunately, DOS's XCOPY cannot handle file and directory names
longer than 8 characters (which can occur on the network), and cannot
preserve network information about files and directories. Worst of
all, if XCOPY encounters any problem it aborts the copy. For these
reasons, I decided to write a more robust file copier specifically for
Novell's Advanced NetWare.

Here are the parameters for NXCOPY:


NXCOPY d: d: [d:]filename[.ext] [/os]


Where the first parameter is the source drive, which must be a mapped
network drive. The second parameter is the destination drive (also a
mapped network drive). The third parameter is the filename to use for
the exception file generated by NXCOPY. Notice that this filename may
include a drive letter, but not a path. The fourth and final parameter
is optional. If present, NXCOPY will copy NET$OS.EXE and NET$OS.SYS,
otherwise these two files will not be copied.

Here are some things to note when using NXCOPY:

1) If you want to copy an entire volume, from the root, you must be a
supervisor (or equivalent) on both the source and destination
drives.

2) All files will be copied, there is no provision for selecting
files to be copied.

3) Hidden and system files are included in the copy.

4) The user must insure that the destination drive has enough unused
disk space to complete the copy.

5) If a file from the source drive exists on the destination drive,
the destination file will be overwritten by the source file, even
if the destination file is flagged read-only.

6) The names of files that are in use at the time of the copy will be
placed in the exception file and skipped over.

7) Always check the exception file after using NXCOPY.

8) When copying an entire volume, the following files always appear
in the exception file, but do not seem to matter: DIRSTAMP.SYS,
SYSTEM\NET$SPL.QUE, and SYSTEM\NET$MSG.SYS.