GatherBird Copy Large Files



GatherBird Copy Large Files
Version 2.6
Document last updated on September 6th, 2009

Copy large files over unreliable and slow network connections.

Try it free for 45 days!

Upgrades are free after purchase.

Contents

What is Copy Large Files?
Why you need Copy Large Files?
Why you Don’t need Copy Large Files
Getting Started
Real Time Display
Options
Command Line
Resume
Behind the scenes
Update History
System Requirements
Difference between the free trial and the registered version
How to Register
Upgrade Policy
License Agreement
Company Information
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

What is Copy Large Files?
GatherBird Copy Large Files (CLF) allows you to copy files over unreliable and slow network connections and devices. It is particularly useful when copying files with Window Explorer fails due to the size of the file and instability of the network. CLF copies files up to 2 TB (Terabytes) in size (250 times as large as what a DVD can hold). CLF insures the copied file(s) are identical to the original. CLF is relentless in its attempts to copy your files, recover from errors, and automatically retries when necessary. CLF supports a resume feature and requires no intervention on your part to recover from problems. CLF also works great for over USB drive connections and other devices. CLF supports command line parameters for automation.

Just select the file you want to copy, the destination directory, and hit the Copy button.

Why you need Copy Large Files?
Sometimes copying files to network drives, especially large files, can work intermittently or lock up your Windows Explorer. Typically, in a business environment, some network drives and directories can be located anywhere across the country and be on a slower (cheaper) type connection. Copying large files can be impossible or take multiple attempts because of network glitches that cancel the operation before the copy is finished. In these unstable environments corrupt files are commonly produced. Copy Large Files overcomes all these problems. The files get there and are exactly the same as the original.

Why you Don’t need Copy Large Files

Copy Large Files is not a file splitter.

Over reliable networks Copy Large Files copies files more slowly than Windows Explorer.

Copy Large File can not overcome Operating System limitations for the maximum allowed file sizes.

Getting Started



To copy a file or files first hit one of the Add File buttons. The Add File(s) ... browse button allows you to select files from the standard Windows file selection box. You can select one or more files that you would like added to the copy list.



Once files have been added to the list then the Subtract button can be used to remove a file if you made a mistake.

Hint: You can drag files or directories from Windows Explorer to the Source File list box.
The Add File(s) ... directory button allows you to type in a file or directory name. This is useful when a file can’t currently be selected from a browse window because the file does not yet exist or the file resides on a network drive that is temporarily inaccessible. Copy Large Files will automatically begin to copy a file when the network becomes available or when the file appears (meaning another application just created the file or copied the file to your source directory).


Hint: Use the combo box to select file names you have entered previously.

Hint: Use the Browse button to help select a directory without needing to type it in.

It is possible to select multiple files from this screen by using a wild card character. When a wild card character is used then the include sub directories option can be selected. CLF will search the subdirectories for files that match the wild card parameter and select those files to be copied. CLF will create a matching sub directory structure under your destination directory when it is copying multiple files from different source directories.


The Destination Directory can be typed or selected with help of the browse button. Only the directory name should be entered. There is no reason to enter a file name in the Destination Directory field because copied files are always named after the original source files.

Hint: You can drag a directory from Windows Explorer to the Destination Directory field.

Hint: A history of your previous choices made in the Destination Directory field is kept and can be selected again in the drop down list box.
After the file name and destination directory have been entered, hit the Copy button.

Hint: When a copy is in progress you can add additional files to be copied. Just add more files to the Source File list as you did before, select a destination directory, and hit the Copy button again.

After experiencing problems, such as a long network outage, Copy Large File may only be retrying the copy at one minute intervals. If you are testing and know the network problem has been corrected it may take Copy Large Files up to a minute to resume. The same is true when Copy Large Files is waiting for a source file to “arrive”. It may take one minute for Copy Large Files to see the file and begin the copy.

Hint: This screen and columns are re-sizable. Your preferences are retained each time the program is run.

Real Time Display

As each file is being copied the status information is continually updated and displayed in a status list box.

Hint: When the copying is in progress you can minimize the Copy Large Files application and it will continue to copy the files.

The Pause, Resume, and Remove features can be used individually for each copy session. Each copy session is displayed in the status list box. To use these features select the copy session from the list then hit one of the buttons.

The Pause button will temporarily stop the file from being copied. You may want to do this if you feel other tasks on your computer temporarily need the extra attention from the processor. When a copy is in pause mode then the Resume button will be enabled and will allow you to continue the copy. After a file has a status of Finished then use the Remove button to remove it from the list.

The Remove button will also cancel a copy that is in progress. If you choose that option while a copy is in progress the following warning message will appear.


Options


When the Beep when finished copying option is selected then CLF will beep periodically and flash the window when a copy has completed. When the copy status line is removed the beeping will stop.

When the Enable Logging option is selected then CLF will create a text log file in the directory specified in the Logging Directory text box. The log file will be named CopyLargeFilesLog.txt and will contain information about files that were copied successfully or information about error conditions. Using a local logging directory (no a network drive) is recommended.

Hint: When viewing the CopyLargeFilesLog.txt with a text editor search for the key words “SUCCESS” and “ERROR” to quickly see the most valuable information.

If the Don’t copy if identically named destination file with same or later date already exists is checked then CLF will check for the existence of the destination file before attempting the copy. If a file with the identical name of the source file already exists and that file is dated the same or newer than the source file CLF will NOT copy the file. If NOT checked then the file will always be copied, time and date checking will not take place.
When “Overwrite identically named destination files” is selected CLF will copy over files with the same name if they exist in the destination directory. If the other option Create “Copy (2) of” file if identically named destination file exists is selected then existing files with the same name will not be replaced. Instead, the source file will be copied and named with the standard Windows “Copy (2)” convention.

Enable Fast Mode can increase copy speed up to 15% under some circumstances. Some systems may experience delays in other applications running in Windows when CLF is in fast mode. Also, closing CLF or using the pause feature while a copy is in progress may take longer to complete when files are being copied in fast mode.
When the CRC option is checked CLF will read back the copied file during the copy process and check its accuracy against the original. This is a “double check” that Windows accurately reported a successful copy and is not usually needed. Checking this option will reduce the speed of CLF by half.

When the “Other programs may change the source files” option is checked CLF verifies that the source files have not been changed by another program while the copy is taking place. Most people do not have this problem. Note: If the destination file is deleted by another application during the copy then CLF will restart the copy regardless of this setting.

You have the option to disable many message boxes at the time they are viewed. This is
useful when you feel that you no longer need to see an informational or warning message. The Enable all “Don’t ask me again” warning messages option allows you to see all the message boxes again when you have previously chosen “Don’t ask me again”. Here is an example of one of the “Don’t ask me again” warnings:


Command Line

Copy Large Files supports command line options which allow Copy Large Files to be called from an automated or batch process. When Copy Large Files is run in this manner it will automatically exit when the copy has finished. The command line supports two different styles of copies. The first is copying a single file and the second is copying multiple files from a directory. The syntax for the first is:
CopyLargeFiles.exe -SOURCE:"<file name>” -DESTINATION:"<destination directory> -OPTIONS:”<options>” -LOGDIRECTORY:”<directory name>”

The <file name>, <destination directory>, <options>, and <directory name> must be fully enclosed with quotes. The < and > characters are shown above for notation purposes, do not include them in your command line. There is no space between the – and the SOURCE:, DESTINATION:, OPTIONS:, or LOGDIRECTORY: keywords.

Example 1: CopyLargeFiles.exe -SOURCE:"c:\backup1\backup_9.zip" -DESTINATION:"N:\" -LOGDIRECTORY:"c:\"

Example 2: CopyLargeFiles.exe -SOURCE:"d:\GatherBird_data.mdb" -DESTINATION:"c:\dev\data" –OPTIONS:"DVFCP"


The command line for the directory copy is:

CopyLargeFiles.exe -SOURCEDIRECTORY:"<directory name> -EXTENSION:"<wildcard extension>" -DESTINATION:"<destination directory>" -OPTIONS:”<options>” -LOGDIRECTORY:"<directory name>"

The <directory name>, <wildcard extension>, <destination directory>, and <options> must be fully enclosed with quotes. The < and > characters are shown above for notation purposes, do not include them in your command line. There is no space between the – and the SOURCEDIRECTORY:,EXTENSION:,-DESTINATION:, OPTIONS:, or LOGDIRECTORY: keywords.

The -EXTENSION can contain one or more wildcard extensions separated by commas. Example of valid extensions are –EXTENSION:”*.zip” and –EXTENSION:”*.zip,*.doc”

The -OPTIONS parameter is optional. The option choices mirror the choices available in the options screen of CLF. If –OPTIONS is not specified the default behavior is used.

"D" will select the option Don’t copy if identically named destination file with same or later date already exists. If not specified (default) always copy the file.
"V" will select the option to Overwrite identically named destination files. If missing (default) then Create “Copy (2) of” file if identically named destination file exists will be selected.
“F” will Enable Fast Mode.
“C” will enable CRC checking.
“P” will check the “Other programs may change the source files” option.
“S” will tell CLF to copy all files in subdirectories.

The “S” parameter indicates that Copy Large Files should not only copy files from the source directory but all of it’s subdirectories as well. The SUB parameter (subdirectories) defaults to NO if not specified.

Example 1: CopyLargeFiles.exe -SOURCEDIRECTORY:"c:\my documents" -EXTENSION:"*.doc" -DESTINATION:"N:\docsbackup"

Example 2: CopyLargeFiles.exe -SOURCEDIRECTORY:"c:\backup" -EXTENSION:"*.doc,*.zip,*.txt” -DESTINATION:"c:\dev\data" –OPTIONS:”DSVFCP”

The -LOGGINGDIRECTORY parameter is optional. The option specifies the directory where CLF should create a log file.

Resume

If a copy was in progress and for some reason was interrupted then the next time you run Copy Large Files a prompt will ask you whether you would like to resume those copies.


Behind the scenes

This easy to use interface hides the extensive work done by Copy Large Files which ensures the copy is the same as the original. Copy Large Files and does not require your attention to employ any of its error recovery algorithms. There are many network problems overcome by Copy Large Files that you don’t need to know about but might be of interest.

Some of these behind the scenes features are:

(If enabled) A CRC check of all data written to the destination file ensures file integrity.
Depending on the network errors encountered and the speed of the network Copy Large Files automatically adjusts the size of the data packets that travel over the network to avoid repeating those errors.
Copy Large Files automatically adjusts the speed of the copy to allow Windows to perform other tasks smoothly while the copy takes place.
The resume feature recovers from Windows lockup problems or when Windows was shutdown while Copy Large Files is copying.
Copy Large Files recovers even when the network goes down in total. When the network becomes usable again Copy Large Files continues to copy where it left off without any intervention required on your part.
(If enabled) Copy Large files detects if other programs have changed the source file or the destination file while it is copying.

Update History
: Version 2.6 Released September 6^th, 2009; The installer has been rewritten for more trouble free installations in Windows Vista and Windows 7.; The applications setup options and logging files are now stored in the standard application data folders for Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Version 2.5 Released January 2^nd, 2009

A potential problem was fixed were the status column on the main page could display uninitialized memory. This issue was not reported by any users as causing a problem.

System Requirements
Compatible operating system versions: All Windows desktop and server operating systems XP through Windows 7.
Disk space needed to install: 2 megabytes

Difference between the free trial and the registered version

The free trial version expires after 45 days. After 45 day you must register to copy files larger than 1 megabyte.

How to Register
You can register by going to www.gatherbird.com and choosing the register option for GatherBird Copy Large Files. The payment procedure is handled by PayPal. PayPal is a popular service owned by eBay that handles credit card and other transactions on a secure server. After paying you will immediately receive a registration key by email which will enable all the features of the software.

10% of your purchase price is donated to Children's Mercy Hospital. http://www.childrensmercy.org

Upgrade Policy

After paying you will also immediately be emailed a login name and password that allows access to our website member’s area. From the member’s area you will be able to retrieve new registration keys at any time. The registration keys will allow you to re-install the application in the event you upgrade your computer or you would like to upgrade to a newer version of the software.

License Agreement
Copy Large Files
GatherBird

License Agreement
You should carefully read the following terms and conditions before using this software.

Unless you have a different license agreement signed by GatherBird your use of this software indicates your acceptance of this license agreement and warranty.

Registered Version
One registered copy of Copy Large Files may be used by a single person and immediate family for non business use on up to 5 computers or installed on a single workstation used non-simultaneously by multiple people in a business environment, or both.

You may access the registered version of Copy Large Files through a network, provided that you have obtained individual licenses for the software covering all workstations that will access the software through the network. For instance, if 8 different workstations will access Copy Large Files on the network, each workstation must have its own Copy Large Files license, regardless of whether they use Copy Large Files at different times or concurrently.

Governing Law
This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Kansas.
Disclaimer of Warranty
THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE SOLD ""AS IS"" AND
WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OR MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. Because of the various hardware and software environments into which Copy Large Files may be put, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. Good data processing procedure dictates that any program be thoroughly tested with non-critical data before relying on it. The user must assume the entire risk of using the program. ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.

Demo Version.
This is not free software. Subject to the terms below, you are hereby licensed to use this software for evaluation purposes without charge for a period of 45 days. If you use this software after the 45 day evaluation period a registration fee is required. Unregistered use of Copy Large Files after the 45-day evaluation period is in violation of U.S. and international copyright laws.

Distribution
Provided that you verify that you are distributing the evaluation version you are hereby licensed to make as many copies of the evaluation version of this software and documentation as you wish; give exact copies of the original evaluation version to anyone; and distribute the evaluation version of the software and documentation in its unmodified form via electronic means. There is no charge for any of the above.

You are specifically prohibited from charging, or requesting donations, for any such copies, however made; and from distributing the software and/or documentation with other products (commercial or otherwise) without prior written permission.

Company Information
Internet Web Page
www.gatherbird.com

Contact Kaleen Fields for help on any product installation, usage, or the registration procedure at:
support@gatherbird.com

Send product suggestions to Ben Fields at
president@gatherbird.com


FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

I am copying a file from a Windows 2000 computer to a Windows 98 computer and Copy Large Files stops copying the file at 2 GB.

Windows Operating Systems have a maximum file size limitation which can vary depending on how the hard drive is formatted and the BIOS setting of the computer. CLF can not workaround this Operating System limitation.

Basically, Windows 98 computers have a maximum file size limitation of either 2GB or 4 GB depending on if the hard drive is formatted as FAT16 or FAT32. The BIOS on the computer can also affect the limit. Windows NT based systems will have a have a maximum file size limitation of either 4GB or 2 TB (which is huge) depending on whether the hard drive is formatted as FAT32 or NTFS.