Overview

Due to some oddities in the file systems used by the Microsoft Windows operating systems, one may find that particular files:

Cannot be restored from a backup archive, whether image or file based, or an archive produced by say, a zip compression program; or
Cannot be included in an archive produced by a file based backup program, or an archive produced by, say, a zip compression program; or
Cannot be defragmented; or
Cannot be accessed from a hard drive, even though the file is listed by Windows Explorer; or
Have incorrect information associated with the files. For example, Windows Explorer might indicate that file has a non-zero length, but the file's properties might indicate that the length is 0 (which is why a defragmentation program might skip the files, or a dump program might display 0 bytes).

The CopyMoveDeleteRename program is intended to faciltate the recovery of some such files that cannot be processed by particular backup programs or by the GUI built into certain Microsoft Windows operating systems.

The program will operate on files that are included in logical volumes recorded on the drives of a system, or are in logical volumes created by mounting volumes from an archive created by, say, a backup program.

Actions

The program will attempt to perform the following actions.

Action	Description
Move	Move the selected file to the selected destination path. If the file has one of the problems described above, it may not be possible to Move the file back to its original location and retain the properties of the original source file. It is safer to Copy the source file, and then Delete the original, after you are satisfied by the outcome of the operations.
Copy	Copy the selected file to the selected destination path.
Delete	Delete the selected file. If it is not possible, or if you forget to request, that the deleted file be moved to the Recycle bin, you will not be able to recover the file in the usual way. Prior to deleting, it is suggested that you first Copy the file to verify that you really wish to Delete the file.
Rename	Rename the selected file. If the file has one of the problems described above, it may not be possible to Rename the file and retain the properties of the original source file. It is safer to Copy the source file, then Rename the copy, and after you are satisfied with the outcome of the operations, you may then Delete the original source file. The Rename action is intentionally kept separate from the Copy and Move operations to reduce the chance of an undesireable result.

Output

The program creates a log file named LogCopyMoveDeleteRename.txt. The file will be created in the directory in which CopyMoveDeleteRename.exe is installed. If the file does not exist, the file will be created by the program. If the file exists, the program will append to the end of the file.

Requirements

The program was compiled using Microsoft Visual Basic 6 (with SP 6).

In order to run this program, you will need to have the following installed:

Windows 2000, or later.
Either Microsoft Visual Basic 6 or the Microsoft Visual Basic 6 run-time files: If you have neither, then you can download the Visual Basic 6 run-time files by following the instructions in VBRun60.exe Installs Visual Basic 6.0 Run-Time Files.

Restrictions

I have developed the program using Microsoft Windows 2000, and intentionally designed the program so that it will not work on operating systems older than Microsoft Windows 2000.

Running the program

There is no installation necessary, just directly run the program by double-clicking on the CopyMoveDeleteRename.exe file, or by using a shortcut to that file.

When you run the program, a Visual Basic 6 Form will be displayed that looks something like the Forms below. The Forms were designed using a screen resolution of 1280 x 1024.

The Forms includes the following controls.

Control	Purpose
Select source drive, Select source path, Select file	Select the source file you wish to Move, Copy, Delete, or Rename.
Select destination drive, Select destination path	Select the drive and path to which you wish to Move or Copy the selected source file.
Destination filename	If you choose to Rename, you will be able to specify the Destination filename.
Action: Move file	Move the selected file to the selected destination path.
Action: Copy file	Copy the selected file to the selected destination path.
Action: Delete file	Delete the selected file. Use Delete Method to select whether the file is to be deleted permanently.
Action: Rename file	Rename the selected file.
Delete Method	Select whether you wish the program to attempt to send the deleted file to the Recycle Bin.
Perform Action	After the source file has been selected, click on the Perform Action button to attempt to perform the selected Action.
Exit	Exit the program.