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Date:	Sat, 19 Oct 2002 23:07:13 PST7
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: XCOPY failures (was: Using Infozip to backup)

Content Type: text/plain

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Info2SYNass.NET wrote:
>
> Aren't you starting from floppy or Maintenenace Partition for
> your XCOPY ?

No. I'm running a backup. I don't boot to my maintenance partition
when I run backups.

> Why is this database helpfile not accessable [by XCOPY] ???
> Is the system and the DB application running ??

Heck if I know. The files which XCOPY won't copy are probably "locked"
by the applications which are using them. A program can be written so
that it will open and read locked files but I forget how to do it.

> I do start my system from the Maintenance System (D:) and
> do an "hotserved" XCOPY from my primary C: partition

My systems are 24x7 and rebooting to the maintenance partition would
require that I shut down all the programs that are running. Thus, I run
my backups while the system is hot.

> If a file is not accessable means the application is running !

Not necessarily.

The programmer decides whether the file should be locked or not.
Programs A and B can be written to access a file but not lock it, and
program C can be written to open a file and lock it, and you can then
run programs A and B together but you can't run A, B and then C (you get
a "can't lock the file" error) and you can't run C and then A or B (you
get a "file not accessible" error).

To prove this, open a text file with E.EXE and then open the *same* file
with EPM.EXE. Since neither program locks the file, both can have the
file open at the same time.

You can also lock just a portion of a file, though I can't remember how
OS/2 supports this (or maybe it's a function of DB2, I'm getting so
confused by the constant time zone change between Los Angeles and San
Diego).

> I am still unable to agree with you !?
> Could you explain better how and what you are doing, please ?

Sure. I'm doing a backup by making an exact copy (a "mirror") of each
of my partitions. No compression, just a straight copy. And I *only*
copy files which have changed, and I delete files from the backup which
are no longer on the original partitions.

XCOPY doesn't delete files which no longer exist on the original
partitions. Thus, if I have a file named MessageToSvobi.txt and I back
it up with XCOPY, and then some day I rename it to MessageToSvobi-1.txt
because I send you a second message (MessageToSvobi-2.txt), after I run
XCOPY there will be both MessageToSvobi.txt *and* MessageToSvobi-1.txt
-- XCOPY won't delete the file from the "mirror" copy. But mirroring
programs such as dSync will do this.

Also, XCOPY copies *everything* even if it hasn't changed, a big
time-waster.

As for agreeing or disagreeing with me, try XCOPYing the example file I
gave in my earlier message. It doesn't work here and I suspect it won't
work on your machine either (unless you boot to your maintenance
partition, of course).

> Have a nice Sunday

I'll be dreaming of the balmy sun-soaked beaches of outer Mongolia,
where no one has ever heard of San Diego.

- Peter

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