How To Use Disk Copy Utilities

Several different DOS, Mac OS, and Windows utilities are available to copy part or all of a floppy disk. The best one to use depends upon your operating system, how many files you want to copy, and how many floppy drives your computer has. Here are some details on the pros & cons of each of these utilities, and how to use them...

COPY: This command is available in every version of DOS and Windows (at the command prompt). It is good for moving files around on a hard drive, but requires a lot of disk-swapping to copy from one floppy disk directly to another. In Windows XP, you must have two disk drives (A:, B:) to copy straight from one to the other with this command. Example:

A:\> COPY A:\BUDGET.WKS B:\BUDGET.BAK

DISKCOPY: This DOS command, which is also available in every version of Windows, is more convenient for copying one entire disk directly to another (including hidden files, such as those needed for a boot disk). It also doesn't require two floppy drives, or lots of disk swapping. However, it will overwrite any data on the disk being copied to. Example:

A:\> DISKCOPY A: B:

MY COMPUTER: In the "My Computer" feature in Windows XP, you can right-click on "3 1/2 Floppy (A:)" after inserting a disk, and select "Copy" from the menu. Then locate the destination (drive B:, a directory on the hard disk, etc.), right click, and select "Paste." This works somewhat differently in Windows 95; a menu letting you choose which disk drives to copy to/from pops up. Diskcopy is a better option if you have one drive and want to copy one floppy to another.

XCOPY: Another one of the DOS/Windows utilities which can be used at the command prompt, XCOPY is more versatile than COPY and accepts a wider variety of command switches (enter "XCOPY /?" for a full list of them). Some early versions of DOS do not include XCOPY with their utilities. Example:

A:\> XCOPY A: B: /D:01-01-2008 /H

MAC OS: A few different utilities are available for copying disks in the Macintosh operating systems. One method is similar to the "My Computer" technique in Windows. The Indiana University web site has details on how to use each of them...

Two options for Mac OS, one for pre-8.5 only:

http://kb.iu.edu/data/aeby.html

Entire disk copying in Mac OS X, pre-10.3 versions:

http://kb.iu.edu/data/ahdj.html

Entire disk copy in Mac OS X 10.3 and later:

http://kb.iu.edu/data/aoxp.html

OTHER: If you have a computer with an older DOS-based GUI, there are probably equivalent disk copy utilities built into it. In most versions of Tandy DeskMate, you can press F4 at the desktop, select "Diskcopy", and enter the drive letters to copy to/from. In Windows 1.x and 2.x, you can use "MS-DOS Executive", and "File Manager" in 3.x.