How do I copy a Folder Tree without files

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Hi Loungers

Is there a way either in Windows XP Pro with SP3 or Vista Home Premium to duplicate a folder tree without copying the files in the folders?

I want to replicate the structure of My Documents folder to several USB external drives so that I can take them to different functions, for example work and then simply copy the files I store in them back to the desktop when I come back home, or a ready made backup.

Thanks

Wassim

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Ultimately you are wanting to put files in those folders and copy them somewhere else correct? I can’t make sense of it in my head otherwise.

Sounds like you want customizable syncronization software. I use the free version from Brightsparks (Syncback) which is more than enough for me. It allows you to set different source and destination paths but ultimately contain a duplicate subset of folders. The mobile backup device does have to contain a full set of the files backed up but once that’s done only the files that change are syncronized so its usually a very quick process from then on.

You could do what you propose manually by setting up a “dummy” set of folders that replicate the real set you intend to back up to/with but then you’d still need some syncronization software to integrate the contents of the folders right? I mean you don’t want one set to replace the other set each time do you? I guess if you weren’t replacing them but “stacking” them in multiples for versioniong purposes that would make sense.

I guess it all depends on your exact backup needs. There is also a online backup/syncronization solutions if there isn’t too much data to regularly backup/syncronize. Something like Dropbox for instance http://www.dropbox.com/ .

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Thanks Byron

Its not so much a synchronization problem, but here is an example:

So at home on my main computer I have My Documents Folder. In that folder I have a folder for MS Word stuff, one form MS Excel stuff, one form Emails, one for MS PowerPoint. I also have one for Music and so on. Now I want to have the same folder structure on a USB external drive, so that if I am away from home and I am still generating work in MS Word and MS Excel and so on, I can place these files in these folders and when I come back home all I need to do is connect the USB drive and simply dump all the MS Word folder content into the MS Word folder.

Now this is simple enough when you have 5 or 6 folders that don’t change, but for example if you are purchasing music, and you have 89 some folders to copy it makes this task harder specially when you create a folder at home and now you need to have it on the USB drive.

I hope this makes it simpler to understand.

Wassim

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Had some time—Binged your request—here is what you may want.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2010/01/30/miroirs-duplicates-directory-or-folder-structure-without-original-files/

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Had some time—Binged your request—here is what you may want.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2010/01/30/miroirs-duplicates-directory-or-folder-structure-without-original-files/

Thank You Craig

This is the utility I was looking for. Thanks again.

Wasim

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Now this is simple enough when you have 5 or 6 folders that don’t change, but for example if you are purchasing music, and you have 89 some folders to copy it makes this task harder specially when you create a folder at home and now you need to have it on the USB drive.

I hope this makes it simpler to understand.

Yes, I understood all that from the beginning but I’m still hung up on the process of actual combining the contents of the “transfer” folders back into the home folders. You must be using a program or utility for this that isn’t mentioned. Makes perfect sense otherwise. A de-duplication or new content only syncronization would be the kind of thing you might have to do if the transfer media storage device has a small capacity, like a 2 or 4 gig thumbdrive. If you are using a portable USB drive with plenty of room on it, it would probably be more effective to go with a full syncronization program because that handles everything from the directory structure, no matter what folders are added or subtracted and no matter what is added or deleted from those folders and no matter how many sources there are and it creates an automatic backup of all that data and that data can always be with you in whole for further processing no matter where you are…other than that, can’t think of an advantage

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Hi Wassim

The venerable xcopy command with the /T option copies directory trees but no files, /T combined with /E will copy the tree including any empty directories.

Jock

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Thanks, Jock. A perfect example of Ockham’s Razor:

Ockham’s insistence on the use of parsimony (we might call it minimalism) in thought resulted in some later writer’s invention of the term, Ockham’s Razor. Among his statements (translated from his Latin) are: “Plurality is not to be assumed without necessity” and “What can be done with fewer [assumptions] is done in vain with more.” One consequence of this methodology is the idea that the simplest or most obvious explanation of several competing ones is the one that should be preferred until it is proven wrong.

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Umm, maybe, it meets the simplistic criteria but I’m not sure of the pervasive commonality that would enable the association with the axiom inferred in Ockham’s Razor, especially where implementation is concerned.

Judged stricly on the sparsity of effect though, sure, why not.

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