How To Batch...??

[TwoRails]

Hi All,

Have to admit, being a Win 98.2 guy, that I know nothing about XP.

What I need to do is time certain things, like a large file copy, on two different machines. On my 98.2 box, it's easily done with a batch file, but how do you do it on the XP box (which I do Not have access to)??

My understanding is XP doesn't do DOS, and therefore doesn't do batch (.bat) files.

Whatever method that works has to work the same on both machines.

Any Ideas??

Thanks,

TwoRails

[TheOldMan]

Hi TwoRails,

XP (and NT and Win2K) is not built on DOS but it has a command prompt instead of a DOS window. It's the same functionality. Instead of BAT files, you use command (.CMD) files.

Depending on how you did the timing, the same file may work on XP. You just change the extension to CMD.

Hope that helps.
The Old Man

[reboot]

If the path to the files is the same in 98 as XP, then the same .bat file should work.
Put it in task manager to run at the scheduled time.
I've never had to rename the extention to .cmd though...that's a new one for me.

[doctorgonzo]

Even though XP doesn't have DOS, it still has a command line interface, and you can use the standard DOS commands there (copy, del, ren) and stick them in a batch file. I use batch files for defragging, backups, etc.

[Statica]

Or if you'd like it timed you can use the at command to schedule it .. and it will do it even on a remote computer. Do a at /? to view the help.

[cobra]

Originally posted by Statica Or if you'd like it timed you can use the at command to schedule it .. and it will do it even on a remote computer. Do a at /? to view the help.

or new for win2k
the soon command which I have started to like a lot.

[newme]

could one of you experts tell me line by line exactly how to create a batch file to run scandisk defrag at a certain tme i would surely appreciate it .With windows xp
thankyou

[TwoRails]

Hi All,

Thanks for the tips. Sorry I wasn't clear with the word time. I was wanting to see how long it took to complete something on each box.

Below is a batch file that works on a 98 box; would it work on an XP box? The rem / comments added here for clarity (I hope )::


rem Time needs the Enter keypress. enter.txt is the required Enter keypress
time < enter.txt

rem I don't want the displayed time to scroll off the screen, so turn off "echo,"
rem and use the /Q (Quite) switch with the xcopy command
echo off
xcopy d:\thisDirectory\*.avi d:\thatDirectory\*.avi /Q

rem turn echo back on and show the time of completion
echo on
time < enter.txt


Now I can subtract the two times and see how long this took.

From what I read above, I believe all I have to do is change the .bat to .cmd on an XP box and it should run??



TwoRails

[lil Jimmie]

Hi TwoRails, I tried the batch file you have posted, I only edited the file/folder locations and it did copy the files, but didn't give any time for the process and exited upon completion.

BTW I saved it as a .bat file

[TwoRails]

Hi lil Jimmie,

Since it appears to work pretty close to Win 98.2, add:

Pause

as the last line in the batch file. This will require any keypress to continue.

If you still don't see the time, you can redirect the output by appending this to the Time command line:

> time1.txt

so it will now look like:

time < enter.txt > time1.txt
echo off
xcopy source destination /Q
echo on
time < enter.txt > time2.txt


then you can look at the two time text files to see the times.

TwoRails

PS: I don't know if XP's Time requires the enter.txt part.
Also, you can (in Win 98.2, anyway) type "/?" after any command to see what switches are availible. Try, "Time /?". In Win 98, there are no Time switches.

[newme]

i dont get it ,how could i do this with defrag and scandisk or can you?

[TheOldMan]

Tworails,

To display the date or time to the display, just use
date /t
or
time /t.

As others have mentioned, it looks like there is backwards compatability so you can use the BAT extension also.

Newme,

- Use any text editor and create a new file. Call it DailyScan.cmd or something like that.
- Enter the commands, one per line, as you would have entered them on the command line. Something like defrag defrag C: -a -v as an example.
- If you want to window to stay open when finished, use a pause command. This will cause it to wait for a key to be struck. You can also pipe the output fro the commands to a text file so you can see the results.
- Save the file and close the editor.
- Depending on the editor used, you may need to remove the txt extension from the file
- Test the file by double-clicking it
- If all works as desired, you can schedule the task. Go into XP Help and Support and look up Scheduled tasks for a step by step procedure.

Hope that helps.
The Old Man

[newme]

i went directly to the command prompt to see what the command for defrag is. i tried defrag C:defrag[f] the f for force doesnt work.what do i put in the command line to make the defrag program work.
thankyou

[TwoRails]

Thanks TheOldMan and Everybody for the assistance !!



TwoRails

[TheOldMan]

newme,

It should read defrag C: -f

Sorry for typo in original message.

The Old Man

[doctorgonzo]

Here is my scheduled defrage batch file:

cd \
defrag c: -v >defrag1.txt

The report is saved in a file called "C:\defrag1.txt" that I can look over later.

[lil Jimmie]

Ok I used the "pause" and the "/t" and it seems to work, but shows the time in hh:mm am/pm how can I change the time format to show hh:mm:ss am/pm?

[newme]

okay i did the command and when i click on it command window opens up and says analysis report
37 gb total 32 gb(88%)free
19% fragmentation 38%file fragmentation
i can hear it working(i think) but the windows defrag program doesnt appear,is this because its in the command program, and those percentiles dont move they stay the same.does this sound right.sorry havent been using xp very long.