If I understand the drive are in a/some linux machine (if not it doesn't change). Use rsync: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rsync (sorry but my english is terrible: read wikipedia...) And use, for target, an ntfs partition with compression enabled. Less efficent to zip but faster. And you retain the entire disk structure. - Install in the XP rsync server http://www.itefix.no/phpws/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=6&MMN_position=150:150 - Install in linux rsync http://rsync.samba.org/ If the source hdd is in a windows machine you can use also DeltaCopy, a gui frontend for rsync: http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp Have fun Nicola Dr Skip wrote: > I'd like to backup some drives that are quite large (>50GB, some >200GB and # > of files >65k) on XP. I would like to back up to individual zip files for each > directory, AND split the zip if it's going to be greater than some size, ALSO > including any files in the root as a separate zip. Tools that understand and > operate on the Archive bit would be nice too. ;) > > I've been trying tar and gzip from gnuwin32. Winzip and the like can't deal > with this - too manay files. Using FORFILES from the win2k resource kit, tar > worked OK, and gzip afterward (but not tar with -z option). However, FORFILES > had an error somewhere around the recycle bin so it may not handle > hidden/systems files well. Only half of a disk copied. > > Using FOR in a bat file, I've tried this: > > FOR /D %%G IN (*.*) DO "D:\bin-local\UNIX\usr\local\wbin\gzip.exe -c > "d:\%%G\*.*" > "k:\gz\%%G.gz"" > > Which is pretty much the same as what worked with the cmd line to execute in > FORFILES. The "" are for names with spaces. T get this: > > D:\>"D:\bin-local\UNIX\usr\local\wbin\gzip.exe -c "d:\Temp.install\*.*" > > k:\gz\Temp.install.gz"" > The system cannot find the path specified. > > Same thing with tar and FOR. The paths do exist... I've tried all different > ways of adding "" and some show a mangled command line, but this one seems OK > and still fails. Same for tar -cvf. > > There may be a case where some dir has more than 65k files (breaks zip), but > recursing every dir and zipping each would get out of hand. That's why I've > thought to go tar first. > > Does anyone know of a tool or have a bat or cmd file that handles this? Seeing > as how this FOR command isn't working as it should is frustrating. I'm also > unsure why -z is listed in gnuwin tar, but fails. > > TIA, Skip > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist