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ZEST!
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Dispute the above claim? Then try ZEST! using the instructions below. Or explore the wealth of additional ZTree "extensions" by others, at Slobodan Vujnovic's ZTree Application Menu Library. Finally, consider sharing your new (and better?) ideas by clicking here. Many thanks go to all those responsible for the products above that make this "Swiss Army Knife" possible. See my special thanks to ZTree's Kim Henkel, and XXCOPY's Kan Yabumoto, in the "Credits" section at the bottom of this page. --Tom Foote IndexThe programs, related program download sites, scripts, etc. appear below in roughly increasing order of 1) challenge for the novice, 2) power--and, 3) the damage you can do.
Quick Reference Guide
Wish
List for Future ZTree Versions Favorite Computing
Resources Credits Introduction: Good News and Bad
Among infinite possibilities, the resulting expandable, customizable, "Swiss Army Knife" will allow you to:
The bad news: Some of these powerful tools can be very sharp double-edged swords that will cut painfully against you if you're not careful! It follows that before you use any of the following, you should amply protect yourself with backups of everything at risk. (The product GoBack or its equivalent, can be lifesaving in this regard.) Even after you read and heed all the instructions, you do proceed at your own risk. Finally, most, but not all, of the following programs are FREE. Please respect and honor the wishes of the respective program owners, for they are the ones who make this empowerment possible. Many thanks. Good luck! Here goes... A. Getting Started
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March 2007 Reviews X1 Enterprise Client Desktop Search X1 Technologies has decided to make their excellent Enterprise Desktop Search application available at no cost, in a move that can only be seen as attempt to stay competitive with free search tools from companies such as Google and Microsoft. Luckily for X1, its program is much more feature-filled and efficient than those other free offerings. This venerable application is a highly-rated tool than has some rather distinctive features and was even used in a pared-down version for Yahoos Desktop Search. It is on par with other high-class tools like dtsearch and the like. X1 is very fast; it begins to display search results even before you are finished typing your search entries! This can be disconcerting at first, but youll soon appreciate the blazing speed. Items are automatically previewed as you select them, with over a staggering 270 file types recognized, including Adobe pdfs, Excel spreadsheets, Powerpoint presentations, and music and video files. This is really exemplary, as the previews are generally faithful to the original material. Without ever leaving the applications, you can get a birds eye view of practically everything on your hard drive! You can get very precise with queries, especially with regard to searching through your email archives. Its really great if you have a lot of contacts with specialized interests that need constant tracking. Its certainly much more useful than the search function that comes with Outlook. You can limit your search to certain file types, as well. Indexing can become time-intensive if you have a large drive, but you have the option of choosing which folders are indexed, which is the smartest approach. The help file is a little skimpy (only a couple of downloadable guides and tips in pdf), probably because you have to pay if you need additional support. Though, there is obviously some attempt to introduce you to X1s entire line of paid search applications This industrial-strength search tool is an amazing gem and now that its a free app, it surely is a must-download for those who keep on top of whats on their computer. |
Besides just the above one-line script, you might want to get fancy, and load a multi-line script; e.g., something like the one below that allows you to preview the branch being passed, and gives you a web reference to the program involved.. Again, within the ZTree APPLICATION MENU, put your cursor on your title (e.g., "FILE Locator Pro - FIND FILES IN AND BELOW THIS BRANCH"). Then, again, hit [Alt] [Edit] to Edit its script. Then hit L to "Load" the following multi-line script (Which you can simply cut and paste from below, polish in your text editor, and save in a file location you will remember. Again, enter only THE TEXT IN COURIER BELOW.). The "Load" command will allow you to simply point to the file that you have copied the following script in (e.g., C:\ZTREE\ ZTree-FileLocator.TXT) to, in turn, automatically load the script into ZTree--without you having to type it in.
Caution about line wrapping: Your browser or editor may "wrap" (i.e., break and start on the next line) some of the longer following script lines. You should not wrap them. For example, every ECHO line should start with "ECHO" as should each successive ECHO line. If any line below appears to be wrapped, unwrap it before you load it. To minimize your browser's wrapping, consider temporarily shrinking your browser's fonts before viewing these scripts for loading.
Too much descriptive text for you? Finally, note that to assist the least computer literate among you, I have deliberately packed most of the following scripts with much descriptive text (usually preceded by the word "echo")--text that is usually not critical to the script's functioning properly. You should be able to exclude most of that text without harming the effects of the script. (Although my personal preference is just to leave it all in, in the event that I can't remember something important about a script. Like Subaru used to advertise about it's 4-wheel drive: "Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it." No?)
echo - ZTREE-FILELOCATORPRO-SCRIPT.TXT
echo -
echo - Use Filelocator Pro to search for files in
echo - and beneath this current branch:
echo -
echo - %1
echo -
echo - Hit [ctrl]-[break] if the above path insert and program
echo - settings are not exactly as you intend.
echo - you proceed at your own risk.
echo - for further help with this, go to:
echo - http://footeworks.us/
comptips.htm, or
echo - http://www.mythicsoft.com/
default.aspx, or
echo - the help menu within filelocator pro
pause
echo - Thank you. I'm loading Filelocator Pro now...
"c:\program files\mythicsoft\
filelocator pro\
filelocatorpro.exe" -d %1
exit
Launch the above multi-line script just as you launched
your one-line script above. That is, use ZTree to point to
a branch you wish to search; hit [F9] to
bring up the ZTree APPLICATION MENU;
put your cursor on your Locator menu title (e.g., "FILE
LOCATOR PRO - FIND FILES IN AND BELOW THIS BRANCH"); hit [Enter]; and wait for the "Locator"
screen to appear. Again, fill in the rest of your Locator fields
to perform the particular search you wish.
D. SequoiaView
- To generate beautiful "bubble maps" (or "cushion
treemaps") of all files and free space within the current drive, or
within and beneath the current branch. From the SequoiaView home page:
Standard treemaps often lead to thin rectangles. We have developed a new method to display files : Squarified treemaps. The screen is subdivided such that rectangles approach squares as closely as possible. The screenshot gives an example.
Ever wondered why your hard disk is full? Or what directory is taking up most of the space? When using conventional disk browsing tools, such as Windows Explorer, these questions may be hard to answer. With SequoiaView however, they can be answered almost immediately. SequoiaView uses a visualization technique called cushion treemaps to provide you with a single picture of the entire contents of your hard drive. You can use it to locate those large files that you haven't accessed in one year, or to quickly locate the largest picture files on your drive. . .
SequoiaView was developed by the computer science department of the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven and can be downloaded for free from these pages. For more background information click one of the links on the left. Click here to download SequoiaView (approximately 500 Kb).
See "The Big Picture" at a glance?Posted By:
Tom Foote In Response To: SequoiaView (Steve Fields) > Thanks Tom!; but, what exactly would anyone use SequoiaView
for? I tried Thank you Steve. Might utility, like beauty, be in the eye of the beholder? I have many tools to report--and graph, what's on my
different partitions--at different levels. (Not the least of
which, is ZTree, with its valuable "Kbytes"
display of the bytes that each listed branch consumes.)
Furthermore, I confess to using SequoiaView much less
than I should. But shame on me, for I, a "graphic
thinker," have often found SequoiaView to be
useful at giving me a completely different view of the relative
sizes--in 3D color--of different directories and
files. Moreover, SequoiaView gives me immediate Microsoft
Explorer access (via a right click on any rectangular
directory bubble), to any directory or file, so that I might
delete, or rearrange directories on the spot. Perhaps the best argument for SequoiaView's utility flows from what happened just now. After reading your post, I quickly loaded SequoiaView--and, to my surprise, immediately spotted that my Copernic Desktop Search was using over a gigabyte of space on C: that it did not need to. (I had mistakenly thought that I had recently moved all it's index files to a different partition.) The chances of my spotting that deeply nested problem, so quickly with any of my other tools, are indeed, remote. In short--and, figuratively speaking, SequoiaView allows you to hop into your helicopter and fly high above "The Big Picture"--to see the lay of the land--at a glance--the (Sequoia) "forest for the trees." It does take some tinkering with, to warm to it. And, it's certainly not for everyone. But if you're the least bit interested, then do consider spending some time with SequoiaView on your different partitions, and different directory levels. You just might quickly free up a "gig" or more yourself--and ultimately end up liking the thing! Best, Tom _______________________________________________________ I do that
too. Indeed, often.
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Unlike ZTree, SequoiaView represents directory and file real estate graphically, with special rectangles, what their literature calls "treemaps"--and, even "squarified cushion treemaps." At the file level, the entire area of each rectangle representing a file, is colored according to file's type (extension), and shaded according to file's depth within the overall tree--the darker, the deeper.
Now some think that humans can compare areas more efficiently than numbers. Others argue, more precisely, that in the case of the linear interval scale on which bytes are counted, transforming a count to an area, cheats human perception by overstating the graphic impact of the count, by the count squared. Others still, argue, that for the objective of finding big space wasting files, this exaggeration of the largest files, is, indeed, an advantage. In the case of SequoiaView, I happen to find the transformations to areas to be useful--as do others.
SequoiaView paints additional color-coded "outline rectangles"--one around the file in focus--and, still larger outlines around all the files in the focused base (or parent) directory, and still others around still higher, directories that contain the base. As with the file rectangles, the size of these larger outline rectangles is directly proportional to the real estate used by their respective directories. With all these rectangles visible at a single glance, one can quickly compare the total disk space used by the file in focus, its larger base directory, and still larger, higher directories--without ever having to log and branch different directories at different levels--as is currently required by ZTree.
August
25, 2006
Dear Tom,
Many thanks for the very nice support and recommendations you give for SequoiaView. I do agree with your supportive remarks :-), I could not have said it better myself! Also, the integration with ZTree is a strong one, and I am amazed that it can be done.
Concerning user feedback, I found there are three different reactions:
I have given up trying to convince people from the C-category, if they are happy doing it in some different way, just let them do it. Some overall reflection on why I think SequoiaView is an example of research work that has made it to the real world of work, can be found here:
http://www.win.tue.nl/~vanwijk/pubs.html
[82] The Value of Visualization.
Meanwhile, as you may have noticed, we have not released new versions of SequoiaView, for several reasons:
Several
others have picked up the idea and integrated it within their tools.
For instance:
- Disk Inventory X ( http://www.derlien.com/ ),
- kdirstat ( http://kdirstat.sourceforge.net/ )--and,
- windirstat ( http://windirstat.info/ ),
[whose description and integration with ZTree, I, Tom, have detailed below]
Anyhow, many thanks again for your warm words,
Best regards,
Jack van Wijk
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
Dept. of Math. and Computer Science
Just as you did above, launch ZTree and point to the desired branch (i.e., "path," or "drive and directory") that you wish to map within (and beneath).
Then from ZTree's main menu at the bottom of the ZTree screen, select the "[F9] Menu" option with either your mouse, or by hitting the [F9] key. This should take you to the "ZTree APPLICATION MENU." From that screen, hold down the [Alt] key to see the "Add Item" option. Hit [Alt] [Add] to then add this program title permanently to the ZTree APPLICATION MENU: (Enter only THE TEXT IN COURIER BELOW.)
Menu entry title:
SequoiaView - To generate "cushion treemaps" of files and free space in and below this branch
Then hit Q for Quit to save the above title into ZTree..
Now with your cursor on that title, hit [Alt] [Edit] to Edit (or actually type in, or "Load"), the following related script (Again, enter only THE TEXT IN COURIER BELOW.):
Underlying entry script is this single command line:
"C:\Program Files\
SequoiaView\
Sequoia.exe" -d %1
(Important: If you installed SequoiaView in a directory other than the default installation directory, then precede Sequoia.exe in the above, with the appropriate path.)
Now go ahead and hit [Enter]
and, presto! ZTree should launch Sequoia.exe which, in turn,
should soon present a "bubble map" of the branch you pointed to
from ZTree. Tweak
the other options on the various SequoiaView menus.
Besides the features listed below, WinDirStat, is free, and integrates nicely within ZTree--and, within most well-behaved GUI file managers (e.g., MS Explorer, PowerDesk Pro). More precisely, this simple ZTree F9 script:
"C:\Program Files\windirstat\windirstat.exe" %1
allows you to point to a given computer, drive, or partition, and launch WinDirStat so that it comes up automatically focused on where you pointed it. Similarly, installing WinDirStat with its Windows installer, automatically inserts it as a "Send To:" shortcut on the context menu of your well-behaved GUI file managers (e.g., MS Explorer, PowerDesk Pro)--again, allowing you to point to a given computer, drive, or partition, and launch WinDirStat so that it comes up automatically focused on where you pointed it.
Using the wonderful utility, ContextEdit, I've also got WinDirStat working as a standard context menu entry for both MS Explorer and PowerDesk Pro. Google ContextEdit to read more about it, and download it here:
WinDirStat
is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Microsoft
Windows (all current variants) . . .WinDirStat reads the
whole directory tree once and then presents it in three useful views:
The directory list, which resembles the tree view of the Windows Explorer but is sorted by file/subtree size,
The treemap, which shows the whole contents of the directory tree straight away,
The
extension list, which serves as a legend and shows statistics about
the file types.
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Setup Wizard |
Drive Selection |
Main Window (93 kB) |
Options |
Coupling. Select an item in the directory list: The treemap highlights it; and vice versa.
Zooming.
Built-in cleanup actions including Open, Show Properties, Delete.
User-defined cleanups (command line based).
Works with network drives and UNC paths.
'Create disk usage report' option.
'Submit bug report/Feedback' option.
Online help.
setup.exe.
Language can be set to Czech, German, English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Polish and Russian.
Of course, as
is often the case, I believe "It depends." After I had
announced that I had added WinDirStat to SequoiaView on this
ZEST! page, one user posted this reaction to WinDirStat:
Much more useful than SequoiaView...
An opinion which I respect, but to which I replied (respectfully, of course--and, edited some):
For what? Is a hammer more useful than a wrench?
It seems to me that the two programs are very different, each with pluses and minuses relative to the other; e.g.,
- SequoiaView loads a drive much faster; gives a bigger treemap; allows darker shading for deeper directories; separately outlines, in different colored rectangles, ALL parent directories of the file in focus...etc.
- And, as you and others have discovered, WinDirStat, does lots of things that SequoiaView does not.
Likewise, when I compare my preferred GUI
file manager, PowerDesk Pro to ZTree, much as I love ZTree--and
use it most of all, I acknowledge that PowerDesk Pro does do
certain things that ZTree does not do (thus far, at least).
For example, PowerDesk Pro (described here)
allows me to sort directories (or other column headers--including Modify
Date, Create Date, File Info, and Note columns)--and, tag multiple
non-contiguous directories--and, move, copy, and delete just the tagged
ones--with two swappable tree + folder/file panels (four sub windows
total) displayed--either vertically or horizontally--along with the
(detachable) image viewer pane displaying a selected photo file.
(Now five resizable sub windows visible all at once. Click on the
above thumbnail to enlarge the corresponding "screen capture"
that illustrates some of these features.) Yes, ZTree can do
some, but not all, of that (yet!).
That said, I
still find ZTree to be so very powerful on so many other fronts--so
much so that I use ZTree far more often than any other file manager.
Again, like the hammer and wrench, PowerDesk Pro and ZTree are,
in my opinion, just very different tools, with different features,
respectively fitting different user situations, needs and tastes.
For more on file managers, see File Managers Defined and Discussed--and, Tables Comparing File Managers, at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
E. Handy File Find & Replace To Find
And Replace Text Within Multiple FilesZTree does not allow you to find and replace text within multiple files. Handy File Find and Replace--and, its more robust Text Workbench brother--do. (Since both are not free, see the list below of just a few of the other "Find and Replace" programs that I've stumbled on. Note also, that many "Find and Replace" programs can do double duty as file finders only; i.e., when used without the "Replace" function).
Excerpts from the Handy File Find And Replace home page:
Handy File Find and Replace is a tool
meant to assist you to quickly find and replace text in as many text
(txt, html, xml, php, asp, perl, js, css, c++, pas etc.) files as you
want!
Case sensitive Find and Replace, Diverse File Filters, Different Search Attributes, Robust Regular Expressions with extended syntax give you full control over complex text processing in all the desired files with a few clicks.
Ability to create HTML listings of files which contain text fragments makes it highly valuable tool for web masters and web coders!
Can search both local and remote folders (via FTP).
Search and replace operations are really fast, even with regular expressions!
Can
search using regular expressions with extended syntax.
Search Unicode and UTF-8 files (Text Workbench edition).
Supports various command line parameters.
Search Microsoft Word and Excel files (Text Workbench and Office Editions), and Microsoft PowerPoint files (Office Edition).
Comprehensive and clear user interface.
Intelligible diagnostic messages.
Keeps your files safe as the process of replacement is undertaken in memory.
Ability to modify read-only files and restore their attributes after processing. Search and replace safely!
Custom back-up and target (containing the processed files) folder modes.
Supports environment variables in paths.
Search and replace Scenarios to deliver the utmost productivity!
Embedded text editor to edit local and remote files.
Search and replace tool with FTP support, file renamer, text editor.
Using the same steps you used to load the
above File Locator scripts, create a ZTree menu entry, then load
the following script (while heeding the above
caution about line wrapping):
echo - ZTREE-HANDY FILE FIND AND REPLACE-SCRIPT.TXT--
echo - Use handy file find and replace to search and
echo - replace text in multiple text files within
echo - and beneath this current branch:
echo -
echo - %1
echo -
echo - Be careful! This is a dangerous double-edged sword.
echo - It can ruin/scramble files--especially non-text files!
echo - Try search only, then test on duplicates first.
echo - hit [ctrl]-[break] if the above path insert and program
echo - settings are not exactly as you intend, to deliver exactly
echo - the results you intend.
echo - you proceed at your own risk.
echo - for further help with this, go to:
echo - http://footeworks.us/
comptips.htm, or
echo - http://www.silveragesoftware.com/
hffr.html
echo - and see the help menu within handy file find and replace
pause
echo - Thank you. I'm running the "handy file find and replace"
"c:\program files\handytools\
hffr.exe" /folder:"%1" exit
Launch the above script as described in the prior FileLocator script. That is, use ZTree to point to a branch you wish to Find and Replace within; hit [F9] to bring up the ZTree APPLICATION MENU; put your cursor on your "Handy" title (e.g., "FIND AND REPLACE TEXT IN MULTIPLE TEXT FILES WITH HANDY FILE FIND & REPLACE"); hit [Enter]; and wait for the "Handy" screen to appear, pointing to your current ZTree branch. Carefully fill in the rest of your "Handy" fields to perform your preferred Find and Replace--on multiple text files within and beneath this current branch.
Do a Google search of terms like "find search
replace in files," and you'll see links to "Googles" of
different "Find & Replace" programs. Below are a few I
have stumbled on. Because I have not yet explored their
command line functionality, I have no clue on how well they might
integrate with a ZTree F9 script. Please let me know of anything
you might learn regarding any of these--or others that you discover.
Thank you. (Until I am persuaded differently, my favorite remains Handy File Find and
Replace - discussed in detail above.)
In alphabetical order by product name:
Emura Replace in Files is freeware (and, is now incorporated in EmEditor Professional--which is not free--but is now my favorite editor by far. --Tom Foote). Web site excerpts:
While editing HTML files, it is common to replace specific strings in all files with the same extension in the same folder. "Replace in Files" makes it easy to accomplish this task.
"Replace in Files" quickly replaces strings matching your search string with the replacement you specify. You can specify whether replaces are case sensitive or not, and whether to make backups before executing the search and replace.
The "Replace in Files" program is very small so it won't waste your hard-disk space or system resources.
GSAR (General Search And Replace) for Windows, is a freeware utility: Web site excerpts:
"for searching for and --- optionally --- replacing strings in both text and binary files. The search and replace strings can contain all kinds of characters (0--255), i.e. Ctrl characters and extended ASCII as well."
PowerGREP. I know of, but have not used, the relatively expensive ($99), but apparently powerful "PowerGREP." From the PowerGREP website:
PowerGREP is a powerful grep tool for quickly searching through large numbers of text and binary files, such as software source code, letters and correspondence, server or system logs, reference texts, historic archives, etc. to quickly find exactly what you are looking for. PowerGREP can also perform complex text and binary replacement operations for easy maintenance of web sites, software source code, reports, etc. You can search for plain text, or use powerful Perl-compatible regular expressions.]
ReplaceEm Web site excerpts:
Welcome to the wonderful world of ReplaceEm, your premiere-quality, freeware string-replacing utility for Windows. At its core, ReplaceEm is essentially a text search-and-replace program. However, unlike the search-replace functionality of a standard text editor, ReplaceEm is designed to operate on multiple files at once. And you need not only perform one search-replace operation per file -- you can setup a list of operations to perform. If different groups of files need to have different operations performed on them, this is no problem either. You can also specify a backup file for each file processed just incase the replace operation didnt do exactly what you wanted. ReplaceEm is 100% free, no strings attached!...
Soft-Central's SCR is freeware.
Excerpts from its website:
SCR is a search-and-replace program. Use SCR to quickly replace text in all your documents within seconds. SCR supports previewing, case-sensitivity and various search options. This program is fast and easy to use, making it one of the most powerful search-and-replace utilities available. In addition to replacement of text within files, SCR supports changing text within filenames too. With SCR it's possible to rename multiple files on your hard disk within seconds. SCR takes only 32 KB of hard disk space and works on Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003.
In alphabetical order by product name:
Bulk File Find/Replace Tool Version 1.0. Copyright 2005 - bestcode.com You can download the replace.exe now for free. Replace.exe is a Windows command line utility that searches files in directories to find a given text and replace with another. It places the output files in a separate directory if such directory is specified. Currently it does not support Regular Expression search. The text to search needs to be exact match, except that case sensitive or insensitive search option can be specified.
Command line parameters are:
-srcdir adirectory - directory of the original files. By default, this is the current directory.
-destdir adirectory - destination directory to save modified files. By default, this is the current directory. The source files will be over written.
-find atext - find this text to replace.
-replace atext - replace the text that was found with this one.
-fname apattern - the file name pattern to search, for example *.*
-casesens - presense of this flag means search is case sensitive.
-quotes - this flag means the following characters are used instead of double quotes in the -find and -replace parameters. This is to help escaping quotes inside your find replace parameters.
"Change copies standard input to standard output except that each non-overlapping string that matches pattern is replaced by the string newstuff. If newstuff is omitted then the matched string is deleted. Patterns are regular expressions as described below; they are matched on a line by line basis. Wherever $0 appears in newstuff, the matched pattern is output. Parts of pattern may be tagged by placing them between braces ({}); the tagged parts may then be referenced by $n in newstuff where n is the nth tagged part.
(S)tring (R)eplace v2.1c (sr.exe - for NT) Copyright (c) 1996 American Computer Resources. Contact: P.D. Polena at: pdpolena@yahoo.com. Can be downloaded here.
Excerpt from its embedded help system (which appears after typing only sr [Enter] to the console):
String Replace (sr.exe) reads the input file(s), searches for the target string and replaces it with the specified string. The strings may include embedded blanks if delimited by double quotes. Hex values may also be used. The file specification may include "wildcard" characters such as "*" and "?". Multiple filespecs may be entered. The screen report of SR's results may be redirected (>) to a file. String Replace uses temporary files for a measure of safety. After successful completion of string replacement for a given file, the original input file is deleted and the temporary file containing the string replacements is renamed to that of the original input file. For extra safety use the -b option, which creates a backup file. The -n option, will do (n)othing but report what the results will be. A <Ctrl><Break> key sequence discontinues processing of the current input file leaving it un-modified....
See also, String Replace's embedded Usage/Options, Examples, and Tips sections.Strip.com This wonderful, tight (965-byte), old, DOS-based command-line program allows you to use file name wildcards (short file names only) to massively find and replace bytes in not just text files, but just about any kind of file. (Note: I can no longer find Strip.com on the Web, and I am unsure of its licensing restrictions, if any. If you can help me with this, please let me know with an email, Thanks!) Download strip.zip by clicking here: strip.zip. Excerpts from Strip's usage notes:
STRIP Usage is as follows:
Specify HEX characters, or sequences connected by periods "." or, specify literals in "quotes". Optionally, a string may be followed by a replacement string by indicating "/r" and then the replacement.
EXAMPLES:
STRIP 0D.0A.0D.0A 20 09.09.09
STRIP "Hello" 0d.0a /r "CrLf"
(For more examples, see --.BAT files that should be included in this ZIP file.)
ZTree allows you to: 1) easily and powerfully log all files in, and beneath, any selected branch; 2) select the resulting duplicates by name and newest, identical, or oldest dates; and, finally, 3) delete all those duplicates. However, all files with the same name are not necessarily the same files, and all files with different names are not necessarily different files. Finally, not all duplicates are a bad thing. Indeed some might be desirable--perhaps, even vital to the successful functioning of your PC.
To get closer to comparing the byte-by-byte content of files, and, to have considerable control over what to do with the results, consider using DoubleKiller Pro (my favorite). Download DoubleKiller Pro here from www.bigbangenterprises.de (or, explore alternatives to it, e.g., the programs I have listed here.)
From the website presenting DoubleKiller Pro:
DoubleKiller Pro - the most flexible duplicate file finder - scans single or multiple folders/partitions for identical files. Depending on the settings the files' names, sizes, dates and/or content (byte-per-byte or CRC32) are compared with each other. Advanced comparison options allow to only compare a part of the filename or content or to specify an allowed difference in file size or date. Masks like *.mp*g or *.dll define which files are (not) scanned. Furthermore, you can exclude files or limit the scan to files in a particular file size range or with certain attributes, like hidden or system files. When the search is finished a list containing all duplicate files found is displayed and you can select the files to be deleted, moved to the Recycle Bin or a backup folder or replaced by shortcuts.
Note: A lighter-weight free version, called just DoubleKiller--or, "DoubleKiller Free" is also powerful, but does not accept command lines, and therefore, unlike DoubleKiller Pro, will not work with the following script. Features of DoubleKiller Free versus DoubleKiller Pro appear here. A single license of DoubleKiller Pro for private use currently costs $19.95.
Again, using the same steps you used to load the above scripts, create a ZTree menu entry, then load the following script (or its functional equivalent) for DoubleKiller Pro (while heeding the above caution about line wrapping):
echo - ZTree-DoubleKiller-Pro-f9-script.txt
echo - Use DoubleKiller Pro to remove all duplicate files within and beneath
echo - the current branch using any of many command line and other options.
echo - Free version of DoubleKiller does not accept command lines, and will
echo - therefore, not work with this script. You need DoubleKiller Pro.
echo - A single license of DoubleKiller Pro for private use costs $19.95.
echo - For further help with this, go to:
echo - 1) comptips.htm
echo - 2) http://bigbangenterprises.de/en/doublekillerpro
echo - 3) the help system internal to DoubleKiller Pro
echo - (within the help file doublekiller.chm)
echo - DoubleKiller Pro is about to scan all files in
echo - (and beneath, at your option) this branch you pointed to in ZTree:
echo - %1
echo - with these parameters:
echo - -clearfolders -addfolder "%1" fresh -page 3 -nosavereg
echo - which will clear the fresh folders list, add the folder(s) you've
echo - pointed to in ZTree, take you to page 3 to display, and let you verify,
echo - your target folder(s), then wait for you to hit the Run button to initiate
echo - a scan (comparing size and content). (The parameter "-nosavereg" prevents
echo - any settings from being written to the registry.)
echo - More command line parameters are described in the help file, with examples.
echo - Parameters can be changed within the program before hitting the Run button
echo - to start the scanning of files.
echo - Something wrong? Hit [ctrl]-[break] now to interrupt this script.
echo - Finally, be careful! DoubleKiller Pro can ultimately delete many files!
echo - Some duplicates are good, necessary, even critical.
echo - You now proceed at your own risk. OK?
pause
echo - Thank you. I'll launch the DoubleKiller Pro program now.
echo - (The scans for duplicates are fast, but can take a while for large
echo - numbers of files. Please be patient.)
d:\b\doublekiller\doublekiller.exe -clearfolders -addfolder "%1" fresh -page 3 -nosavereg
pause
exit
Many thanks to Jan Schlόter, author of DoubleKiller Pro, for helping me with nearly all the above. --Tom Foote
I thank ZTree Forum Contributors, Alan Smedley, and "andreas," for the following list of additional duplicate file finders. While few of the following are free, some offer free trial versions.
I have not yet explored their command line functionality, and therefore, have no clue on how well they might integrate with a ZTree F9 script. Please let me know of any valuable feedback you might have regarding any of these--or others that you discover. Thank you. (Until I am persuaded differently, my favorite remains DoubleKiller Pro - discussed in detail above.)
In alphabetical order by product name:
CloneSpy (Free!) Duplicate File Cleanup Tool for Windows: http://www.clonespy.com/cms/index.php?Home
Dupe Checker PRO: http://www.atory.com/Dupe_Checker_PRO/
Duplicate File Finder: http://www.funduc.com/dupfiles.htm
Duplicate File Finder & Remover: http://www.sobolsoft.com/duplicatefile/
NoClone: http://noclone.net/
[The above scripts allowed you to "Point & Shoot" from just one ZTree panel. The following scripts now describe how to "Point & Shoot" from two such panels, simultaneously--with just one tap of the [F9] key.]
Massively
Copy or Clone Whole Drives or Complicated Directories, with Hundreds of
Copy Switch OptionsWith its powerful [Alt] [Mirror] command, ZTree allows you to easily copy all files in and beneath a logged branch, to a different branch (and, if you wish, a different branch name, which could be on a different partition--or, different physical, network, or even removable, drive!). However, as the ZTree help screen for [Mirror] implies, the effective result is not always the "true mirror" image of the source (because ZTree's [Mirror] command does not remove branches and files on the target that are not on the source). This is a nice ZTree safety feature, but to get closer to a "true mirror" image of branches that you might have edited extensively, you have at least two options:
You could use ZTree to "Prune" (completely delete) the old unedited target branches, then use [Mirror]--(or some other copy command), to copy your extensively edited newer branches from scratch, in their entirety. Or . . .
For huge and complicated branches--requiring hours of recopying, you might save time (by not recopying branches that have not been changed) using the "Cloning" function of XXCOPY.
(XXCOPY
is powerful--but can do much damage if you aren't careful. See
warnings at Step 5, below.)
Once you go through the following ZTree [F9]
set-up, future cloning (or other copy operations you specify) should be
simplified to just loading ZTree, pointing and shooting from two ZTree
panels, then launching your pre-specified XXCOPY command line--all
with just one tap of the [F9] key.
1. First download, install, explore, (and later REGISTER!), either of these two programs:
XXCOPY-
free and amazingly versatile file management and synchronization
utility with over 200 switches--including drive cloning. The XXCOPY web site is loaded
with helpful information about this power house. And the XXCOPY Group on YAHOO!
Groups is rich with comments, questions, and answers from
users--and, XXCOPY's author, Kan Yabumoto.
For users cloning an XP system disk, try out XXCLONE, a successor to XXCOPY, also written by Kan Yabumoto.
A Win95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP utility which runs in command line mode.
Comes
with a 16-bit version (XXCOPY16).
(XXCOPY16.EXE copies files using the short (8.3 format) name only.)
Duplicates the entire system drive which can boot Win9x (xxtb #10).
Keeps the same short name (8.3) in the destination as in the source (xxtb #03).
The source specifier accepts wildcards in directory names also (xxtb #28).
Backs up directory incrementally without the use of archive bit. (xxtb #06).
Synchronizes directories (xxtb #20).
Controls file attributes (keeps the source, destination attributes or none).
Excludes directories or files from copying by wild cards(xxtb #05).
Handles a Cyclic Copy case much better than XCOPY (xxtb #07).
Qualifies files by file date/time (Before, On, or After) (xxtb #17).
Deletes files or directories using the same powerful selection mechanism (xxtb #12).
Copies hidden/system files, and overwrites Read-only files.
Flattens a directory tree into files in one directory (xxtb #16).
... and many, many, intimidatingly more ... (over 200 command switches)
Copies security information for NTFS volume archiving.
Supersedes Microsoft's ROBOCOPY (xxtb #30).
Works very much like XCOPY with the same command syntax.
Available
in two flavors; Freeware and Pro Edition
Click here to see The XXCOPY Cookbook: Recipes of common usages
[Copied on November 18, 2006, from section #3 of this XXCOPY web page:
Pixelab, Inc, the copyright owner of the XXCOPY software package, grants a non-exclusive license without charge to an individual who intends to use the XXCOPY program for non-commercial purposes provided that all of the following additional conditions are met. You may use XXCOPY under this freeware license if:
XXCOPY
Screen shots:The DOS Box Display (The Short-Help Text):
The Progress Bar Pop-Up Window:
2. Load
ZTree and point to your desired source branch (i.e., path, or drive and
directory).
3. Use ZTree's [F8] command to create a duplicate right-hand panel of your desired source drive and directory. Then make this new panel point to your desired existing (in name at least) target branch with this neat trick: Hit \ (for TreeSpec to present the entire source path), then F5 to edit only the drive letter in what could be a very long path name--so that the second panel now points to the same path but on the target, not source, drive.
Now go ahead and hit [Enter] and, presto! ZTree should now point in the second panel to the identical directory, but on the target drive. Verify that it does.
4. Specify to ZTree the precise generic XXCOPY command line required to create a clone of whatever source branch (or entire drive). you might select in the future. That is, from ZTree's main menu at the bottom of the ZTree screen, select the "F9 Menu" option with either your mouse, or by hitting the [F9] key. This should take you to the "ZTree APPLICATION MENU" screen. From that screen, holding down the [Alt] key should offer you the A = "Add Item" option--that is, [Alt] [Add]--to then add this entry permanently to the ZTree APPLICATION MENU:
Entry Title:
xxcopy /clone - careful! this deletes files on the target!
Underlying Entry Script = This Command Line:
xxcopy %1 %j1 /clone
Of course, if you installed XXCOPY in a directory
other than the default installation directory, then precede XXCOPY
in the above command line, with the appropriate path; e.g., so it looks
something like this:
c:\ztree\tools\xxcopy\xxcopy %1 %j1 /clone
Also note that for this command line, you could alternatively enter other XXCOPY switches that might work well for your particular copying needs. See the XXCOPY website for many papers about, and descriptions of, the latest available switches.
Click
on the thumbnail photo at the right of this paragraph to see what the ZTree
Menu screen should look like after you have entered the above Entry
Title, and Underlying Entry Script--and, before
you hit [Esc] to return to the [F9] menu to make all that
permanent--freeing you from ever having to enter that command line detail
again.
5. Prepare to clone--SAFELY!
WARNING!!! Be sure you understand that XXCOPY's
cloning operation has the net effect of adding AND DELETING
directories and files on the target branch (or entire drive) you have
selected--with the goal of creating a mirror image of the source branch
(or drive). Thus, XXCOPY can be a very sharp double-edged
sword that can cut painfully against you if you're not careful.
It follows that before you take this last "execution"
leap, you should protect yourself with backups of everything you cannot
afford to loose. (The product GoBack or its equivalent, can
be lifesaving in this regard.) You've been warned.
You now proceed at your own risk.
6. Verify that your two ZTree panels
are pointing exactly on your desired source and target branches,
respectively--with the active cursor on the source branch--in either the
left or right panel. That is, ZTree will feed the active
branch to XXCOPY as the source, whether it's in the left or right
panel--allowing you to copy from right to left, or left to
right. Also, no need to log either left or right branch.
Click on the thumbnail photo at the right of this paragraph to enlarge it
and see how this should look.
Then hit [F9] to view the main ZTreeMenu, and point to your XXCOPY entry. Hit [Enter] to execute your cloning. XXCOPY should then present a DOS Box display containing an introductory message for the first time you use it. Thereafter, it warns you to make sure your "Destination" (target) exists and is correct. Click to enlarge the thumbnail of the DOS Box on the right to see that XXCOPY tells you something like this:
XXCOPY == Freeware == Ver 2.84.9 (c)1995-2003 Pixelab, Inc.
Warning: make sure the Destination (Q:\0 DM6P2MUSSND) is correct.
Press Ctrl-C to abort, any other key to begin copying file(s).
Verify that your "Destination" (target) exists and is correct. Then, as it says on the screen, "Press Ctrl-C to abort, any other key to begin copying file(s)."
Once XXCOPY finishes, the above DOS Box display should vanish. You should then carefully inspect your target directory (or drive) to verify that the copying operation delivered exactly what you expected.
H. Bells
And Whistles: A Multi-line Script for CloningNow, if you want to really jazz this up, copy the following two scripts (or their functional equivalents) to two appropriately named files (e.g., CLONE.TXT and GENERAL.TXT would be fine) and save in a folder that you'll remember. (I keep mine in C:\ZTREE.) Then use ZTree's handy Load command to point to those files and quickly load each file beneath each's respective command titles on the ZTree [F9] Menu. (The respective first lines of each of the two files below would be fine for such titles; e.g., "XXCOPY SPECIAL PURPOSE /CLONE PARAMETER MODE" and "XXCOPY GENERAL PURPOSE PARAMETER INSERT MODE.") Then get it all working by following each (tried, debugged, and proven) file's respective instructions within each file itself. Explore the power and possibilities, and please let us know what you think--especially if you have any trouble, or better yet, if you can suggest improvements.!
(Again, heed the above caution about line wrapping.)
echo - xxcopy special purpose **/clone** parameter mode -
echo -
echo - for further help with this, go to:
echo - http://footeworks.us/
comptips.htm, or
echo - http://www.xxcopy.com/
echo - xxcopy is about to copy from:
echo -
echo - %1
echo - to:
echo - %j1
echo -
echo - with these instruction parameters:
echo - /clone (be careful! deletes files on target) and
echo - /pb (progress bar).
echo -
echo - hit [ctrl]-[break] if the above path inserts are not exactly as
echo - you intended.
echo - you proceed at your own risk.
echo -
echo - use the general purpose (non-clone) xxcopy entry on the ztree
echo - menu to select among hundreds of other copy parameters on the fly.
echo -
pause
echo - thank you. i'm running your cloning job now...
echo - please be patient. watch for screen prompts.
echo - this could take a while...
xxcopy %1 %j1 /clone /pb
echo -
echo - ta daa!
echo - i believe i've finished your cloning operation.
echo - now please carefully verify that your resulting
echo - target branches and files are as you intended.
echo - if not, use goback (or its equivalent) to revert your target, or...
echo - restore the backups you made to protect yourself from this.
pause
exit
John Gruener, via the "ZTreeWin Forum"
site, has kindly offered this alternative approach to the above script--a
great example of how expert users can approach the same challenge very
differently--and creatively. This script differs from the above in
that you need not work with two panes, and the destination branch need not
already exist. (Run both John's script and mine side by side for
awhile, see which one you like, or make your own superior hybrid script to
suit your own needs. Again, heed the above
caution about line wrapping.):
echo - ztree-xxcopy-clone-alt-script.txt
echo - john gruener, via the ZTree forum, has kindly offered
echo - this alternative approach to the footeworks cloning script
echo - for further help with this, go to:
echo - http://footeworks.us/
comptips.htm, or
echo - http://www.xxcopy.com/
:: #ztset zpath enter the destination path for xxcopy:
if not [%zpath%]==[] goto ok
echo.
echo the destination path cannot be blank.
goto anykey
:ok
echo.
echo this will clone %1 to %zpath%
echo.
echo continue? (y/n)...
if [%os%]==[windows_nt] goto winnt
choice /n >nul
if errorlevel 2 goto end
goto continue
:winnt
set /p zans=
if /i [%zans%]==[n] goto end
if /i [%zans%]==[y] goto continue
goto winnt
:continue
xxcopy %1 %zpath% /clone
:anykey
echo.
echo press any key to end...
pause >nul
:end
To run John's
script, do the following:
1. Use ZTree to highlight the source path.
2. Press Ctrl-Insert, then "P" for Path.
3. In the F9-menu execute the above item.
4. At the prompt, press Shift-Ins, (or Ctrl-V), to insert the source path.
5. Edit the drive letter, (and path if you like), and press Enter.
While ZTree offers a wealth of options for file management, XXCOPY adds many more such options. What follows is a ZTree script (developed with much valued help from ZTree's author, Kim Henkel), that gives you "on the fly" access to XXCOPY's more than 200 switch options. (Again, heed the above caution about line wrapping.):
and descriptions)echo - XXCOPY GENERAL PURPOSE PARAMETER INSERT MODE -
echo -
echo - For further help with this, go to:
echo - http://footeworks.us/
comptips.htm, or
echo - http://www.xxcopy.com/
echo - XXCOPY is about to copy from:
echo -
echo - %1
echo - to:
echo - %j1
echo -
echo - with these current instruction parameters:
echo - /d /e /h /pb /r /y
echo - /d:date copies files changed on or after the specified date.
echo - If no date is given, copies only those files whose
echo - source time is newer than the destination time.
echo - /e copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.
echo - same as /s /e. may be used to modify /t.
echo - /h copies hidden and system files also.
echo - /pb show copy progress bar
echo - /r overwrites read-only files.
echo - /y overwrites existing files without prompting.
echo - (see www.xxcopy.com for many more options
K. Bring
Up XXCOPY Help Pages (TexT & HTML)To give yourself immediate access to XXCOPY's many switches and what they all do, consider adding a line in the above script, that follows (or replaces) this block in the above:
ECHO - HERE'S THE SHORT LIST OF XXCOPY PARAMETERS:
XXCOPY /?
and that invokes your editor, notepad, or a browser, to bring up a help text page (NOT a script) like the following:
LINKS TO (LONG) LISTS OF 200+ XXCOPY SWITCHES
(ALPHABETICAL AND FUNCTION LISTINGS)
PLUS SIMPLE OLD BASIC XCOPY SWITCHES
(Questions? See: http://footeworks.us/comptips.htm)
Last Edited: 12/8/03 9:18 AM
---------------------------------------------
1. XXCOPY WEB SITE ADDRESS: http://www.xxcopy.com/
2. XXCOPY - ALPHABETICAL - Command Reference Listing
file:///C:\B\XXCOPY\XXCOPY - ALPHABETICAL - Command Reference Alphabetic Listing.mht
3. XXCOPY - FUNCTIONAL - Command Parameters Reference
file:///C:\B\XXCOPY\XXCOPY - FUNCTIONAL - Command Parameters Reference.mht
4. OLD BASIC XCOPY SWITCHES
(WHICH ALSO WORK WITH XXCOPY BECAUSE XXCOPY IS
"BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE" WITH XCOPY)
/U Updates the files that already exist in destination.
/K Copies attributes. Normal Xcopy will reset read-only attributes.
/Y Overwrites existing files without prompting.
/-Y Prompts you before overwriting existing files.
/N Copy using the generated short names.
[END OF HELP FILE]
Some of the better text editors (e.g., EmEditor) will automatically
highlight the above file links, and make them (and email and web site
links) active right in the text, so that your can simply click on them in
the text, and launch the respective file, web page, or email address.
Excerpts from the Tidy web site at:
http://tidy.sourceforge.net/
When editing HTML it's easy to make mistakes. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a simple way to fix these mistakes automatically and tidy up sloppy editing into nicely laid out markup? Well now there is! Dave Raggett's HTML TIDY is a free utility for doing just that. It also works great on the atrociously hard to read markup generated by specialized HTML editors and conversion tools, and can help you identify where you need to pay further attention on making your pages more accessible to people with disabilities.
Tidy is able to fix up a wide range of problems and to bring to your attention things that you need to work on yourself. Each item found is listed with the line number and column so that you can see where the problem lies in your markup. Tidy won't generate a cleaned up version when there are problems that it can't be sure of how to handle. These are logged as "errors" rather than "warnings".
echo -
FTWRKS7-ZTREE-TIDYHTML-SCRIPT.TXT
echo -
echo - Use tidyhtml to tidy the single htm file
echo - that you are now pointing to.
echo - To tidy multiple files in batch, use the ztree
echo - batch command to easily create a batch file.
echo - careful! tidy can make many changes to your
echo - htm input file(s)
echo - For further help with this, go to:
echo - http://footeworks.us/comptips.htm, or
echo - http://tidy.sourceforge.net
echo -
echo - tidyhtml is about to tidy this htm file:
echo -
echo - %1
echo -
echo - with these parameters:
echo - tomsconf.txt - the all-important config parameters file
echo - Double check this parameters file before launching this!
echo - It determines how severe the tidying will be.
echo - Hit [Ctrl]-[Break] if the above parameters are not exactly as
echo - you intended.
echo -
echo - You proceed at your own risk.
pause
echo - Thank you. I'm running the tidyhtml program now.
echo - Please be patient. This could take a while...
rem Note: Dave Ragget's core launch commands:
rem tidy -f errs.txt -m index.html
rem tidy -config config.txt file1.html file2.html
rem For more options run tidy -? or see
rem http://tidy.sourceforge.net/ for lots more
rem [The following is all one long command line down to the next echo line
- do not wrap it.]
c:\ztree\tidyhtml\tidyhtml.exe -config c:\ztree\tidyhtml\tomsconf.txt -m
"%1" >> tidyerrs.out
echo -
echo - Ta daa!
echo - I believe I've finished creating your tidyhtml-out.txt file.
echo - Hit any key to see it in ZTree. Put the ZTree cursor on it
and
echo - hit [e] to carefully inspect it in your editor.
pause
exit
TOMSCONF.TXT: Tom's Config File For TidyThis file is called in the single Tidy command line
of the above ZTree script. It contains all the non-default
parameters I have chosen for my Tidy jobs. See this Quick Reference
page of the Tidy website for many more parameters. Again, heed the
above caution about line wrapping.
// TOMSCONF.TXT TOM'S CONFIG FILE FOR TIDYHTML.EXE. CREATED BY
// TOM ADDING TO DAVE'S "sample config file for HTML tidy"
// FROM CONFIGURATION OPTIONS IN:
// http://tidy.sourceforge.net/docs
/quickref.html#drop-font-tags
char-encoding: latin1
clean: yes
indent: auto
indent-attributes: yes
indent-spaces: 1
quote-ampersand: no
replace-color: yes
show-errors: 99
show-warnings: yes
uppercase-attributes: yes
uppercase-tags: yes
word-2000: yes
wrap: 72
new-inline-tags: cfif, cfelse, math, mroot,
mrow, mi, mn, mo, msqrt, mfrac, msubsup, munderover,
munder, mover, mmultiscripts, msup, msub, mtext,
mprescripts, mtable, mtr, mtd, mth
new-blocklevel-tags: cfoutput, cfquery
new-empty-tags: cfelse
(Note: I understand that a version
of Tidy exists that handles wildcards. This could be
applicable to the above script--and, remove the need for this batch file
step. If anyone has such a version working in a ZTree script,
please let me know.)
Before using ZTree to make batch files for tidying up multiple HTML files, make certain that you've backed up all files at risk, in case anything goes wrong. Then go to the directory (or directories) containing those file; if in multiple directories, type [Alt] [Log] [Branch] [Branch] to list all files in the target and its subdirectories; enter the [Filespec] *.htm* to list only the HTM and HTML files; tag the ones you want to Tidy; type [Ctrl] [Batch] to create the batch file; enter the above long Tidy command line (yes, a SINGLE line) as the batch file mask; e.g., something like this:
c:\ztree\tidyhtml\tidyhtml.exe -config
c:\ztree\tidyhtml\tomsconf.txt -m "%1" >>
tidyerrs.out[The above SINGLE line appears WRAPPED, to make it easier to read here.]
Hit [Enter] to make ZTree create the batch file. Then carefully inspect the batch file and the potentially dangerous Tidy parameters (in your config file) that you are about to massively apply to all your selected HTML files.
The batch file should look something like this:
c:\ztree\tidyhtml\tidyhtml.exe -config
c:\ztree\tidyhtml\tomsconf.txt -m
"C:\FtWrks\Website\surfing.htm" >>
tidyerrs.out
c:\ztree\tidyhtml\tidyhtml.exe -config
c:\ztree\tidyhtml\tomsconf.txt -m
"C:\FtWrks\Website\_vti_cnf\sitemap.htm"
>>
// TOMSCONF.TXT TOM'S CONFIG FILE FOR TIDYHTML.EXE.
CREATED BY
// TOM ADDING TO DAVE'S "sample config file for HTML tidy"
// FROM CONFIGURATION OPTIONS IN:
// http://tidy.sourceforge.net/docs/
quickref.html#drop-font-tags
char-encoding: latin1
clean: yes
indent: auto
indent-attributes: yes
indent-spaces: 1
quote-ampersand: no
replace-color: yes
show-errors: 99
show-warnings: yes
uppercase-attributes: yes
uppercase-tags: yes
word-2000: yes
wrap: 72
new-inline-tags: cfif, cfelse, math, mroot,
mrow, mi, mn, mo, msqrt, mfrac, msubsup, munderover,
munder, mover, mmultiscripts, msup, msub, mtext,
mprescripts, mtable, mtr, mtd, mth
new-blocklevel-tags: cfoutput, cfquery
new-empty-tags: cfelse
The following powerful core concatenation functionality of ZTree--what might be called the "ZTree Tag Many, Print One Method"--was revealed to me in response to my inquiry on the abundantly helpful ZTree Forum (Message thread starts on: Jun 13, 2004 at 12:09). I thank all who responded so thoughtfully, and I give special thanks to Dennis Gatlin, who offered this simple, elegant, indeed, beautiful solution (which I've edited some):
Tag the text files you want gathered into a single file--even those in multiple subdirectories if you want!
Then go up and point to the directory (branch) that is the parent of all the files you have tagged
Hit [Ctrl] [S]howall to show all the files that you have tagged across all their respective subdirectories.
Then hit [Alt] [S]ort to sort the files in precisely the order you want them to be gathered (concatenated) into the desired output file.
Hit [[Ctrl] [P]rint, to tell ZTree that you wish print all of the tagged files. (You will actually be "printing" them to an output file on your hard disk.)
Select these print settings: Headers: OFF; Lines/page: 0; Margin: 0; Wrap: OFF. This avoids lots of unwanted stuff added to the file, e.g. extra CR-LFs for the wrapping, spaces for the margins, etc. (Thank you, Peter Shute, for this suggestion!)
Successively hit the P in [P]rint until you've pointed to a blank instead of a printer--a blank in which you can enter your desired path and name of your "GATHERED.TXT" output file.
Now type the path and name of the output file into which you wish all your tagged files appended (gathered, concatenated--e.g., C:\ZTREE\GATHERED.TXT) and hit [Enter].
Finally,
point to that path and file (refresh the directory if necessary) and
inspect your output file.
Concatenate tagged files into one gathered file -Script By Ben Kent
:: Name : Concatenate Tagged files
:: Concatenate Tagged Files
:: Purpose : Join the tagged files into one big file
:: Requires : Tagged files
:: Submitter: Ben Kent
:: Modified : 13 Jun 2004
:: Notes : Will skip hidden files
if "%%1"=="SUB1" goto SUB1
rem #ZTtag #ZTTemp\~ZTtag.cmd -fcall #ZTTemp\ZTW_MENU.BAT SUB1 %1
rem #ZTSet OutputFile Output filename:
if [%OutputFile%]==[] goto errNoFile
SET ZTTagged=False
REM #ZTIfTagged SET ZTTagged=True
IF [%%ZTTagged%%]==[False] Goto errNoTag
type $$$$$$$.$$$>"%OutputFile%"
call #ZTTemp\~ZTtag.cmd
del #ZTTemp\~ZTtag.cmd
goto Exit
:SUB1
shift
Copy /b %OutputFile% + %%1 %OutputFile%
goto End
:errNoFile
Echo No output file specified
goto Exit
:errNoTag
REM Could act on the highlighed item if there are no tagged files
Echo This menu item requires tagged files to opperate
:exit
pause
:END
Again, huge thanks to Dennis, Ben, and all others who helped with this section.
(Or point to, and launch, a slide show, then the best music for it, then enjoy your slide show to music!--Or, select and launch BOTH slides and music with a single ZTree F9 entry!) Highly recommended for informal gatherings, especially when you have many folders of both photos and music that you can easily use ZTree to point to and launch.
Use IrfanView
(powerful and free!) to point to a folder of photos and immediately
launch a slide show that presents every single photo automatically, in
the order you specify.
Here's my ZTree one-line F9 label:
IrfanView slide show all pics
in folder;
Change sort in Irfanview|Slideshow
And corresponding script:
start "" "c:\irfan.vwr\i_view32.exe"
/slideshow="%1"
Use 1by1 (also
powerful and free!) to point to a folder of music files and
immediately launch a "virtual play list" (without the hassle
of ever creating a play list) that plays every single music file
automatically, in the order you specify.
Here's my ZTree F9 label:
1By1 Play all cuts in folder
And corresponding script:
start ""
"c:\1by1\1by1.exe" "%1" /r
ZTree Two-Panel Simultaneous Launch
of Music (Active Panel) AND Slide Show with a single F9 entry!
Here's my ZTree F9 label:
Two-Panel Simultaneous
Launch of Music
(Active Panel) & Slide Show
And corresponding TWO-line script:
start ""
"c:\1by1\1by1.exe" "%1" /r
start "" "c:\irfan.vwr\i_view32.exe"
/slideshow="%j1"
Now, to launch this two-panel set up, hit ZTree's F8 to toggle ON both panels. Point your INACTIVE panel cursor on your desired photos directory, then your ACTIVE panel cursor on either the music DIRECTORY--or, THE SPECIFIC SONG (MP3 file) with which you wish to start.
Then hit [F9] to view the main ZTree Menu, and point to the menu entry you just created above, i.e., the one labeled:
Two-Panel Simultaneous Launch
of Music
(Active Panel) & Slide
Show
Hit [Enter] to launch both your chosen slide show--and, background music. Pour yourself a tall cool one (not a required step)--and, enjoy!.
Compare
Directories or Files Across Two WinMerge Panels - ZTree Active Will Come Up On WinMerge LeftFrom the WinMerge home page:
WinMerge is an Open Source visual text file differencing and merging tool for Win32 platforms. It is highly useful for determining what has changed between project versions, and then merging changes between versions.
Features
* Visual differencing and merging of text files
* Flexible editor with syntax highlighting
* Handles DOS, UNIX and MAC text file formats
* Unicode support
* Difference pane shows current difference in two vertical panes
* Location pane shows map of files compared
* Highlights differences inside lines
* File filters in directory diff
* Moved lines detection in file compare
* Shell Integration
* Rudimentary Visual SourceSafe and Rational ClearCase integration
* Archive file support using 7-zip
* Plugins
* Localizable interface via resource DLL
* HTML-based Manual
Screenshot
See the screenshots
page for more screenshots.
Accessing WinMerge via ZTree F9 menu:
Here's my ZTree F9
label:
Compare Dirs or Files Across
Two WinMerge Panels
- ZTree Active Will Come Up On WinMerge
Left
And its corresponding script:
Start ""
"C:\Program Files\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe" "%1"
"%j1"
Now, launch this two-panel set up, much like you did with the XXCOPY Cloning, and Slide Show with Music entries above. That is, hit ZTree's F8 to toggle ON both ZTree panels. Point your INACTIVE panel cursor on your desired right-hand directory--or, file, then your ACTIVE panel cursor on your desired left-hand directory--or, file if you pointed to a file in the first panel..
Then hit [F9] to view the main ZTree Menu, and point to the above menu entry you just created above, i.e., the one labeled:
Compare Dirs or Files Across Two
WinMerge Panels
- ZTree Active Will Come Up On WinMerge
Left
Hit [Enter] to launch WinMerge, and wait for it's two panels to fill with what you pointed to in ZTree above. Again, enjoy!
Finally, note that you can add other WinMerge
parameters to the above script; e.g. the ZTree Forum's Ian Binnie
adds this "-r" recursive option:
Start ""
"C:\Program Files\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe" -r "%1"
"%j1"
as a second-stage--or "level 2" process for comparing lists of files in directories with archives.
And, Michael Kahn writes:
I use the /e and /x parameters in my F9 command string:
START "" D:\u\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe /e /x %1 %j1
The "/e" allows WinMerge to be closed with a single Esc keypress. The "/x" closes WinMerge if the compared files are identical (after information dialog is shown).
My thanks to both Ian and Michael. --Tom
Laurent writes in his post, that PathSync "is very useful, portable and small (33Kb)."
Building on the http://www.cockos.com/pathsync home page:
As an interactive directory (path) synchronizer for Windows, PathSync can analyze two directories and show the user a list of differences between them. The user can then select what actions should occur (which files to overwrite, which to delete, which to ignore), and allow PathSync to synchronize the two directories accordingly. PathSync provides nifty statistics during the synchronization, so that the user is never wondering how much time is left, etc. PathSync is GPL free software. Each download package includes the source.
Discuss PathSync in the Cockos Forums.
Laurent's F9
script to integrate PathSync with Ztree:
:: Purpose: Passes parameters to PathSync utility and launch it
:: Submitter: Laurent Duchastel
:: Version: 1.0
:: Requires: PathSync.exe (freeware)
:: Source: http://cockos.com/pathsync/
:: Note: Executable must be in the path or edit executable's path in the script
:: Considering PathSync very small size (33Kb), it could be in Ztree directoryIF NOT [%j3]==[] goto OK_SplitScreen
Color 1f
echo Ztree must be in split mode
pause
goto Exit:OK_SplitScreen
SET PSSTMPFILENAME=#ZTTemp\$$$Sync.pss
SET PSSTMPLOGNAME=#ZTTemp\$$$Sync.logecho [pathsync settings] > %PSSTMPFILENAME%
echo pssversion=1 >> %PSSTMPFILENAME%
echo path1=%2:%3 >> %PSSTMPFILENAME%
echo path2=%j2:%j3 >> %PSSTMPFILENAME%
echo ignflags=0 >> %PSSTMPFILENAME%
:: This flag handles the Ignore options
:: 1=Ignore File sizes
:: 2=Ignore File dates
:: 4=Ignore Missing local files
:: 8=Ignore Missing remote files
:: Ex: ingflags=12 means Ignore missing local files + Missing remote filesecho defbehs=0 >> %PSSTMPFILENAME%
:: This flag handles synchronization behavior
:: 0=Bidirectional
:: 1=Local->Remote (do not delete missing files)
:: 2=Remote->Local (do not delete missing files)
:: 3=Local->Remote
:: 4=Remote->Localecho logpath=%PSSTMPLOGNAME% >> %PSSTMPFILENAME%
echo include= >> %PSSTMPFILENAME%
:: Optional list of rules to include or exclude files from the analysis/copy
:: The rules are seperated by semicolons, and are evaluated from left
:: to right. When a rule is matched, no further rules are checked.
:: Rules beginning with !, when matched, mean the item is excluded.
:: Examples:
:: * (includes everything)
:: !*.pch;* (includes everything but files ending in .pch)
:: *.mp3;*.jpg;*.avi (includes only mp3, jpg, and avi files)
:: !temp\;* (includes everything except the temp\ directory)
::
echo throttlespd=1024 >> %PSSTMPFILENAME%
echo throttle= >> %PSSTMPFILENAME%Start pathsync -loadpss %PSSTMPFILENAME%
:: You can also specify switch -autorun to execute the
:: sync inconditionnaly (dangerous):exit
Thank you, Laurent!
Kim writes at the above ZDate link on ZTreeWiki:
ZDate is a command-line program that can be used to set and adjust a file's timestamp. It can be easily invoked from ZTree using either Ctrl-Batch, or from an F9 Application Menu script to modify the timestamps of the currently tagged files.
He follows that with more detail on ZDate--and, valuable examples of how to use it. Likewise, John presents his ZDate script detail on ZTreeWiki, here.
I have borrowed heavily from both Kim and John in the script that I ultimately loaded and tested, available here as the file:
henkel_specs_and_gruener_script_for_zdate.txt
To get it all working: Copy 1) that .txt file, 2) zd.exe, and 3) choice.exe, to your ZTree launch directory. (Download the latest zd and choice .exe files from the links given on the above pages by Kim and John, respectively.) Then load the .txt file to your F9 Script Menu by selecting ZTree's Load command. Respond to its file name prompt by typing, or pasting, the above, full, "henkel . . . .txt" file name.
Good news: With very little setup effort, John's script now drives Kim's ZDate, with what I have found to be very simple, intuitive, interaction--and, high accuracy and reliability. (Thus far!)
Thank
you, John and Kim, for the attention to detail, and excellence, embodied
in both these products.
While ZTree offers a wealth
of powerful renaming options, Flexible Renamer offers additional
options (e.g., Regular-Expressions, and batch recursive
renaming of Files and Folders/Directories--with batch
preview)--and, a very different interface. Click to
enlarge this screen capture thumbnail:
Edited slightly from the web site description presented here:
Flexible Renamer is a powerful batch file and folder renaming utility that supports Wildcards and Regular-Expressions. It offers a Window Explorer style interface and a variety of renaming options, including options to remove numbers or strings, replace strings, insert numbers, translate letters and much more. You can also use Flexible Renamer to create empty objects in form of files or folders. It also supports Tag-information such as ID3 (MP3), EXIF, IPTC, MS-Office, HTML.
Features include (edited from Readme file):
"Semi" portable (defined here) for convenient use with external (e.g., USB) drives (i.e., Writes nothing to the Windows Registry - Just to its own .ini and .log files within its launch directory)
Explorer-like user interface.
Can use Wildcards or Regular-Expressions (Perl Compatible) for substitution of file name.
Multiple file-filter, Real-time preview, Undo.
Designed for processing large quantities of files.
Can recursively process sub-directories (i.e., Rename ALL subdirectories in one launch. Very handy, but dangerous too.).
Can Copy, Move & Rename to another folder.
Can distribute into the folder by using relative path.
Can add consecutive numbers to every classified group (folder, date, tag).
See fuller description of Flexible Renamer at "Buzzy's," here.
To Integrate Flexible Renamer Into ZTree F9 Menu:
ZTree F9 Menu Label:
ZTree F9 Menu Script:
ZTree comes with an extensive,
context-sensitive, easily searchable, help file (accessed via the F1 Help
key--enlarge the thumbnail to the right)--among several other helpful
files. (See: Expand Your ZTree Help Resources, here.) However, some ZTree
commands and tips are more important, more often sought, and, sometimes
harder to find, than others. Below are just a few of the ones that
certain fellow ZTree Forum participants and I believe to be
especially important. (Additional tips can be found at ZTree-related
sites like those mentioned above, starting here.)
To access this, the ZEST! (ZTree Extensions Suite + Tips) page, if you've forgotten the URL: Simply Google these two words: ztree extensions --or, simply, ztree zest. Clicking on the first Google result that appears should bring you directly to the top of this page. Or, from the ZTreeWin Forum page, just click on the ZEST link at the top right of the page.
To configure ZTree to fit the way you work: Load
ZTree, then type Alt-F10 to load ZTree's first
configuration screen. Type a digit (1 through 7) to display any
of the different configuration screens. Type the letter next to a
setting, to change that setting. While I offer my current configuration preferences here,
yours will certainly differ according to how you work.
Type F4 to change your main screen color preferences.
(Mine can be seen here.)
Finally, you can change the colors of different file types according
to their extensions (e.g., bat, txt, doc, etc.) by editing your
ZCOLORS.INI file (see mine here).
To configure Keyboard Macros, and ZTree's F9 Application
Menu, see items detailing that, below.
For Laurent Duchastel's preferences on setting up ZTree (files
needed and not needed, tweaks, etc.), and how to use Zlauncher to
launch ZTree, see the work of both Laurent Duchastel and Ian
Binnie at the ZTreeWiki--a site
that all users can edit (within reasonable limits). For much
more valuable detail on ZTree macros and customization, see
Slobodan Vujnovic's excellent ZEN (ZTree Environment
Nirvana) site.
To
toggle the display of directory sizes, e.g., (2424 k), to right of
directory names within ZTree's directory tree, hit Alt,
then K, to select the Kbyte that appears in the
resulting Alt Menu at the bottom of the ZTree
screen. (Enlarge this thumbnail to see how the effects of this
might appear.)
Note that different, largely self explanatory, options for Kbyte
appear.
Experiment with each!
To raise
or lower ZTree's Tree/File Window Display separator, hold down Alt,
then use the Up or Down arrows on either the Numeric
Pad, or the corresponding dedicated arrows
(usually to the left of that pad, if you have them). Enlarge the
following thumbnail to see that boundary raised considerably:
To change number of characters
displayed in filenames (and extensions!) in any of ZTree's File
Windows: Highlight any directory, or open any ZTree
File Window, hold down the Shift key, then use the dedicated
only Right or Left arrows. (Again, if you have
them, these usually sit to the left of the Numeric Pad
arrows. Curiously, the Numeric Pad arrows do not work for
this.) Enlarge this thumbnail to see the filename widths widened
considerably:
To split the single ZTree screen into two
ZTree screens (horizontally--i.e., side by side, only), hit the F8
key (toggles split on and off). Then, if you adjust your fonts
to be small enough to allow sufficient horizontal space, you can add
a statistics window to the left, right, or both split screens, by
hitting Shift F8. Here's a split screen with statistics
windows to the right of both left and right screens:
To bring up and review ZTree's Detailed
Disk Statistics Windows (enlarge thumbnail at right) from ZTree's
opening window: Hit the forward slash [ / ]--or, using the
mouse, left-click anywhere on the right-hand panel. Now
use the default [>] or [<] keys or the alternate
number pad [+] or [-] to move forward or backward,
respectively, between Detailed Disk Statistics Windows for each
of your (logged only) drives or partitions.
Thanks to "Chris" (no last name given) for this valuable
tip!--and, to Michael Kahn and Alan Smedly, for helping me refine it.
To display the Windows Context
Menu from within ZTree, for a given directory, or file, point
to either, then hit "The Context Menu Key"--what Microsoft
calls the "Application Key." If your keyboard
has such a key (most do), it usually appears to the immediate right of
the "Windows [Flag] Logo Key." Worst case, Shift-F10
doubles for the "The Context Menu Key." (And
both key sets invoke the Context Menu within Windows Explorer--and,
certain other well-behaved GUI file managers, e.g., PowerDesk Pro.)
Add
ZTreeWin to the Context Menu of Windows Explorer (or of any
other well-behaved GUI-based file manager, e.g., PowerDesk Pro).
Then you can point to a directory (or file) within your
preferred GUI file manager; and click on the ZTreeWin Context
Menu entry to automatically launch ZTree so that it points
to that directory (that directory only, not the file).
First find, carefully read, edit, save, point to, right click, and Install
the ZTREE.INF file that should be in your ZTree
directory. My particular preference is to edit these two lines
under that file's [Strings] section, as follows:
[Strings]
:
ZTRunNT = "C:\ZTree\ZTW.exe"
ZTSw = "/2 /O /MAX"
The /MAX switch makes ZTree "automatically" MAXimize
its window size to fit the current console size. (Using /AUTO
instead of /MAX presents a slightly narrower ZTree
window on my systems.) Of course, you can add any of the other
command line options described in ZTree's help system.
(Thank you, John Gruener for developing ZTREE.INF--and, for
your work on ZTree's excellent help system!)
Now, within your preferred GUI file manager, just navigate your mouse
cursor to a given directory; Right-click your mouse to
bring up the Context Menu; Click on the ZTreeWin Context
Menu entry--or just type "Z " corresponding to
that entry; Then watch ZTree load, and automatically
highlight, that directory.
John Gruener offers this alternative approach to all the above, that
avoids using the mouse altogether: Starting within ZTree,
navigate to the file ZTREE.INF; edit it to your liking;
then hit Shift-F10 (or your Context Menu Key), followed
by the "I" key, to Install that
file. Then, to launch ZTree using the Context Menu within
your GUI file manager, navigate to a desired directory, hit Shift-F10
(or the Context Menu Key) followed by the "Z"
key. ZTree should then appear, pointing to your desired
directory.
_______________________________________________________________________
SendTo Approach: You can also add ZTreeWin to the
Context Menu of Windows Explorer (or of any other
well-behaved GUI-based file manager, e.g., PowerDesk Pro) by:
1) editing your ZTreeWin launch icon (Shortcut)
properties; (My "Target:" is set to: C:\ZTREE\ZTW.EXE
/2 /O /MAX and my "Start in:" is set to %1);
and,
2) copying that icon to your SendTo Folder.
Then, you can point to a directory (or file)
within your preferred GUI file manager; right-click to launch your Context
Menu; then click on the SendTo entry, then on your ZTreeWin
launch icon. That should automatically launch ZTree so it
points to that directory (again, that directory only, not any
files).
To view much
more of your file and directory names among multiple instances of
ZTree displayed on your Windows Task Bar: Consider dragging
and dropping your start menu (with autohide on) to the right side of
your screen. As the following screen capture illustrates (click
on it to enlarge it), this provides abundantly more task bar real
estate for viewing much more of your file and directory names. This
whole panel conveniently goes away ("autohides" itself by
sliding back to the right) whenever I click on the main screen.
To Expand Your ZTree Help Resources: Apply the above detailed FileLocator Pro/ZTree integration to a "ZTree Documents Search Directory" using the tip detailed here.
To find
the many more "hidden" functions of ZTree (i.e., that are
not shown directly on ZTree's menus): Within ZTree,
hit [F1] to display the ZTree Help screen. Then
hit [F]ind, then, [~] to search for the first tilde
character. Since John Gruener has conveniently flagged only
those "hidden" commands with the tilde, you can, thereafter,
keep hitting the space bar to find successive tildes--and, the
corresponding commands. Better yet, you can open a second
instance of ZTree, then find, read about, and try
all such commands, while not losing your place within the help file.
Thanks to Geoff Cutter for posting the basis of the above tips (which I have edited some).
Keyboard Macros: ZTree's extensive keyboard
macro support helps you automate repetitive tasks. Find
substantial detail on that support within the ZTree Help System,
by tapping [F1] within ZTree, then searching for "3.10
Keyboard Macros." That section notes that ZTree
macros can be entered directly, recorded live, and accessed directly
or saved and recalled from *.ZTM files. More precisely, you can:
Press F12 and enter macro commands directly.
Press Ctrl-F12 to record a macro live
Press F12 and retrieve your macro file by preceding it with "@".
Press F12 to see your history list of previously created macros and macro files, and select and retrieve any one of them by pressing Enter.
Press Alt-F12 to replay the last-used macro.
Use Ctrl-[Character] to mark a macro--or, macro file, in the history list, then use Alt-[Character] to automatically launch it.
Use the Open command on a macro file.
Specify macro keys on the command line after the /K switch.
Retrieve a macro file on the command line after the /K@ switch.
Examples
of Simple ZTree Keyboard Macros
Log
The Start Menu Directories of Two Networked Computers
When I've added or removed shortcuts from one computer's Start
Menu, and wish to do the same, in parallel, to a second networked
computer, this ZTree macro takes me to both Start Menu
directories on both of the respective computers:
ALT_S,DO,RET,E,L,RET,S,T,RET,RET,F8,TAB,l,"P:\Documents and
Settings\ELOSO\Startmenu",RET,RET,RET,
[Enter all the above on one line.]
I can now enter, store, mark, edit, and launch the above
"macro" (i.e., the above line of macro commands), using
methods described in the [F1] ZTree Help System--which also
describes the above, and other, macro commands that ZTree
supports--and much more about ZTree macros.
Clone
a New Ztree Instance
Kim Henkel describes this valuable macro on the ZTreeWiki,
here,
Macros
to Make and Go to a New Sub-Directory with the Name of Today's
Date/Time
Originally written, nicely annotated, and posted on the ZTree
Forum, by Charles Schubach. Addendum: Slo's
Condensed Rewrite of Charles' Above MD_NOW.ZTM Macro
--All followed by yet another rewrite (Version
2.1 - Mar. 15, 2007) by Charles.
Thank you, Charles, Slo--and, of course, Kim. See it all here.
Also see Slobodan Vujnovic's excellent ZEN (ZTree Environment Nirvana) site for more about ZTree Keyboard Macros, with examples.
Simple
Example Showing How To Add Menu Entries
to the F9 ZTree Application Menu (ZAM)
(Click on the following
"thumbnail" to enlarge and see how a loaded ZAM might
appear.):
From ZTree's opening screen, select "[F9] Menu" (either with your mouse, or
by hitting the [F9] key).
This should display the screen titled "ZTree
Application Menu" (and, any menu entries that may have been
added to it). From there, hold down the [Alt] key to
see, then select, the "Add Item" option. Then
type in the name of the new menu entry, e.g., something like
this:
NotePad++ -- Free, powerful, Open Source text editor
Then hit Quit to save the above title into the ZAM.
Now highlight that title, then hit [Alt]
[Edit] to Edit (or actually
type in, or "Load"), the
menu entry's corresponding script, e.g., something like
this:
"C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" %1"
(The %1 is a parameter through which ZTree
will pass the path to the file you have highlighted in ZTree,
so that the Notepad++ program knows what file to
open, and where to find it.)
Now, to launch your newly added NotePad++ text editor
menu entry, and have it automatically load a desired file: By
navigating through ZTree's branch and file windows, find and
highlight the existing text file you want to work on. Then
select "[F9] Menu" to,
again, display the "ZTree Application
Menu." Now highlight your new menu entry; e.g.,
NotePad++ - Free, powerful, Open Source text editor
and hit [Enter]. ZTree
should launch its underlying script (which, in this case, should
launch NotePad++, which, in turn, should automatically load
your highlighted text file).
Now that you are a ZAM expert, consider trying the many other ZAM
examples listed as part of ZEST!, starting here
--or, explore the wealth of additional ZTree
"extensions" by others, at Slobodan Vujnovic's ZTree Application
Menu Library.
Summary
of Beginner's Quick Tips for Further Using the F9 ZTree Application
Menu:
A. To launch a given menu item: As described above,
highlight the file you want to work on. Then select "[F9] Menu" to, display the "ZTree Application Menu."
Now highlight your desired menu entry; e.g.,
NotePad++ - Free, powerful, Open Source text editor
and hit [Enter]. ZTree
should launch your menu entry (in this case, launch NotePad++,
which, in turn, should automatically load the file you highlighted
from the ZTree File Window).
B. To collapse or expand a given menu branch: [Ctrl]-Left or
[Ctrl]-Right
C. To toggle menu tree structure lines on and off: [F5]
D. To specify and load a different ZTree Application Menu (ZAM)
file (i.e. a different menu): Hit [F2], then type the
path and name of the zam file.
E. To see help for all the commands relating to the F9 ZTree
Application Menu: Launch ZTree. Select "[F9] Menu," then [F1] to display
the corresponding context sensitive help system.
Note: If you import menu entries written by others, many may
not work (or worse) because they point to directories, files, and
other things that do not (yet) exist on your computer. Their
success requires you to provide, and accurately point to those things
by carefully analyzing, editing, and fully debugging the corresponding
script.
More important and in any event: You should amply back up
any files (especially your zdb--or, zam, menu files) that may be
changed by any work that might alter them. Again, as always, you
proceed at your own risk.
Advanced Tips for Using the F9
ZTree Application Menu:
A.
For quick, minor edits of an F9 ZTree Menu entry directly from within
ZTree:
1) Hit [F9] to enter the ZTree Application
Menu;
2) Place your cursor over the menu entry you wish to edit;
3) Edit its menu name by hitting [Alt] Rename
item;
4) Edit its underlying script by hitting [Alt] Edit
script
5) Place your cursor at the script line you wish to edit;
6) Hit Edit to make the cursor jump onto that
line--or onto to its existing script--
indicating you are now ready for
editing.
7) Edit the script. Note that Mark, and [Ctrl] x,
c, and v should all work there.
8) Hit [Enter] Ok to save and exit the
script editing--or [Esc] to cancel it.
B. For
extensive edits of many F9 ZTree Menu entries using an external text
editor: Backup and rename--or safely relocate any ZTree
*zdb or *zam (menu) files. Download from here, and unzip, this ztwmenutext.zip
file. Store to your main ZTree directory, the resulting
unzipped, ZTWMenuText.vbs file--an excellent Microsoft
Visual Basic Script file, written (and updated 12/4/2006) by ZTree
Forum contributor, Ben Kent. This vbs file converts zdb and
zam binary files to text files (and back again), for easy menu editing
within text editors (or, wordprocessors).
Note: if you do not regularly use Microsoft Visual Basic
Scripts, consider reading about, downloading, and installing, the
latest version of "Windows Script 5.6 for Windows XP and
Windows 2000" from here.
To
convert your entire F9 ZTree Application Menu binary file (with either
the old, zdb, or new, zam extension) to a text file: From
the Windows Start Menu, launch the Run... command, and
enter this fixed command line (edit to fit your exact menu file
names):
c:\ztree\ztwmenutext.vbs ztw.zam ztw.txt /a
--which
tells the script processor to:
1) Launch ZTWMenuText.vbs
2) Read the existing ztw.zam binary menu file, and,
3) Convert it to /ascii text, then,
4) Write it out to to the text file, ztw.txt.
Now, launch your preferred text editor, and edit your new ztw.txt file
to your heart's content, then save your edited ztw.txt.
To convert your edited ztw.txt text file back to ZTree Application
Menu binary file format: Again, from the Windows Start Menu,
launch the Run... command, and enter this fixed command
line--the "reverse" version of the above command
(again, edit to fit your exact menu file names):
c:\ztree\ztwmenutext.vbs ztw.txt ztw.zam /z
--which
tells the script processor to:
1) Launch ZTWMenuText.vbs
2) Read the newly edited ztw.txt text file, and,
3) Convert it back into to /ztree application menu binary
file format
4) Write it out to to the ztw.zam binary file.
To launch
and test your new ZTree Application Menu within ZTree:
Simply launch ZTree and hit the [F9] key. If you did not
change the name of your zam file, then the newly edited, just now
converted ZAM should appear as your new ZTree Application Menu.
If, on the other hand, you changed the name, then hit [F9],
then [F2], and enter the path to your newly renamed ZAM
file. Hit [Enter] and ZTree should then display your
newly renamed ZTree Application Menu file.
C. To convert your zam files to text files and back again using
point and shoot from within ZTree: Laurent Duchastel
suggests the following steps (which I have edited slightly):
1) Within ZTree, highlight the zam file, then hit [Alt]-X
and enter this command:
ztwmenutext.vbs %1 %4.txt /a
followed by [Enter]. (The %1 is the parameter though
which ZTree passes the path and name of the file you have pointed to
within ZTree.)
2) Edit the resulting txt file.
3) When ready to convert your edited txt file back to zam
format, make a backup copy of original zam file, then highlight the
txt file, hit [Alt]-X and enter this command:
ztwmenutext.vbs %1 %4.zam /z
followed by [Enter].
D. Get examples of:
1) A fairly recent copy of Tom's zesttoms.zam file here
2) Tom's corresponding zesttoms.txt file here
3) A fairly recent screen capture of zesttoms.zam, in
a file called zestzam.png, here
(right click, then in IE Explorer, Save Target As...,
or in Firefox, Save Link As...)
3) Slobodan Vujnovic's selection of demonstration zdb
files of others, in a zip file, here.
(Unzip the zip, then convert the resulting zdb's to txt's
using Ben Kent's vbs script, described above, then edit to suit
you, and reconvert back to zdb's--or zam's for use in your
version of ZTree.)
And see much more about ZTree Application Menus at Slobodan Vujnovic's
excellent ZEN (ZTree Environment
Nirvana) site.
Besides using ZTree F9 scripts to integrate the above "Extension Programs" into ZTree, how can you also integrate them (or many of them?) within most well-behaved GUI file managers (e.g., MS Explorer, PowerDesk Pro)? Perhaps the easiest way is simply to copy a given program's shortcut to your SendTo folder. Then, test it. That is, within your GUI file manager, point to a given folder or file; and select and launch the program from your context menu's SendTo list. Now verify that the program loaded pointing to the given folder or file you pointed to from your GUI file manager.
A more advanced (but more reliable?) approach: Using the wonderful utility, ContextEdit (amply described here), I have many programs now launching from a standard Explorer context menu entry for both MS Explorer and PowerDesk Pro. Download ContextEdit from this URL:
Yes, ContextEdit is a wonderful utility that I've been using for years to great effect. But it does take serious study of its documentation--and, some experimenting, to make it perform. (Activities beyond the scope of this "tip.")
One other trick--for the daring experienced user only: After you have used ContextEdit to carefully (arduously?) "optimize" your context menu with all your most-used programs, backup all relevant registries and other sensitive data. (I use GoBack, among other defenses.) Load your preferred registry tool, and search your registry for the name of a program you've just added with ContextEdit. You should be able to spot and export that registry section (or sections?), for simple import to your other machines--without having to again, painstakingly, "optimize" those machines using ContextEdit. My last such ContextEdit export for WinDirStat to point to a folder, started around this registry key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder]
Again, to avoid
catastrophe, do not even think about doing anything to your
registries without first making reliable (and tested) backups!
Find a
string from within many files, tag those files, then create a batch
file containing the full paths to those files--and, code specifying
what to do to each. (My thanks to "Ryan" for
posing this question on the Forum--and, to "Liviu," for
answering it.)
The short answer is to set [F]ilespec to *.txt,
then Ctrl-[T]ag, and Ctrl-[S]earch for, say,
"UFO" (with F4 search for = text). That should yield a
tagged list of all text (.txt) files containing the
"UFO" string.
To create a (.bat) batch file that lists the full paths to all
those files--and, inserts a mask of code specifying what to do to each
of them, hit Ctrl-[B]atch, type a filename to name your
listing, enter a mask (= %1 for full paths), or see ZTree's [F1]
Help, Section "3.4.1 Batch Parameters" for many other
options.
To use ZTree to make batch (*.bat) files for tidying up the
formatting and HTML of multiple tagged HTML files, follow the
instructions given above in this ZTree
Extension.
To obtain
the equivalent of ZTree's Branch command (show all files within all
branches at, and below, the current branch) from within Windows
Explorer (and, certain other well-behaved GUI file managers, e.g.,
PowerDesk Pro):
From within your preferred well-behaved GUI file manager, place
your cursor on the desired root branch, then just hit the F3
key--or, right click to bring up the Context Menu, then select e,
or Search . . . to launch the search dialog--within
which you should now verify that you're about to search for files
named *.* (i.e., the "any file"
wildcard)--including "subfolders"--aka: sub branches
or sub directories). Launching that search should then reveal
all subfolders and files within "the desired root
branch" you selected above.
(Thank you, Jόrgen Hestermann, Steve Rawling, and Andrew Watson, for
your help with this.)
To see the full file name when the above Shift-Left or Right maximums still do not reveal it all: Place ZTree's cursor bar over the partially visible long file name, then hit either: [R]ename (or C, D, H, or M) to bring the full name into the rename space (then hit Esc); or, hit Alt-[I]nfo, which presents ZTree's information box on the file (containing the full file name and then some!)--and, allows you to continue navigating. (Thanks to "Chris" and Jόrgen Hestermann, respectively, for these two tips.)
To jump
to any portion of an open directory name--even a deeply nested
portion, use ZTree's Spell Search. More precisely, first use
[Alt-F10] to visit ZTree's Configuration Screen to
verify that Page 6, Item H (abbreviated "CO6H" in ZTree
Speak) looks like this:
Active Mode Spell Searching
H
File/directory name spell search Yes
Now, for example, typing, say, "|x1" in a Directory
Window (abbreviated "DW" in ZTree Speak)
takes you to the first (logged) directory with "x1" in its
path. Use [PgDn]/[PgUp] to move around if there are several
matches. Press [Enter] when the highlight is where you
want.
Thank you, Liviu, for your helpful post that informed the above.
To jump
to same directory on a different drive within ZTree, point to the
desired start directory, say, C:\ZTree, invoke Treespec
with a backward slash [ \ ], then toggle On its "editability"
with F5. Now edit the drive letter from C: to Z.
Hitting [Enter] should now take you directly to Z:\ZTree
(but, of course, only if Z:\ZTree exists, and ZTree can
see it.).
This
becomes especially useful for very long directory names, because you
needn't edit anything within the long name itself.
Also, I use this quite often to prepare to clone one directory (and
all subdirectories) to its counterpart, on a different drive.
That is, once I have used the above to have both ZTree panels
pointing to my "like directories" on different drives, I
launch my F9 menu XXCOPY cloning script (whose set-up is
detailed above).
To save
the current state of ZTree for later restoration, either during the
current session, or at the start of the next, or succeeding sessions:
Move ZTree's focus to a file within the File Window. Type Alt-[Z]Log,
then choose either: save and Quit, or save and Resume,
then specify either:
-the default file name, ZLOG.TMP (which will automatically load on
your next launch, ONLY, of ZTree)
or,
-a name of your choosing (e.g., ZLOG.TOM).
This saves all of ZTree's current state information to that
file. Now, if you chose the default file name, ZLOG.TMP, and
wrote it to the directory containing ZTW.INI, then the next time you
launch ZTree from that directory, that temporary
log file will be loaded (and ZTree's state changed
accordingly), then deleted, automatically.
If, however, you specified a different filename (e.g., ZLOG.TOM), and
used this /ZV command-line option in your launch of ZTree (either
in your shortcut to ZTree--or, on an actual console command
line) :
/ZV "ZLOG.TOM"
(Note the SPACE and NO "=" sign after the
/ZV,)
then you will force the loading of "ZLOG.TOM" at
startup--causing ZTree to appear in exactly the same state it
was when you saved "ZLOG.TOM." Note that unlike
ZLOG.TMP, ZLOG.TOM will not be automatically
deleted--thus allowing you to launch ZTree in your preferred
state, for as many times as you wish, thereafter!
Note also, that selecting Alt-[Z]Log reveals these four
options: Load, Merge, save and Quit, save
and Resume. Do explore all of these in greater detail by
reading more about them in the F1 help system--and by actually trying
each of them.
Finally, while the above discussion relies much on ZTree's F1
help system's presentation of the above, it is no substitute
for that presentation--a presentation that I strongly urge you to read
in its entirety. Thanks to John Gruener and all others
responsible for creating and maintaining that most valued system.
To make
the ZTree keys work the way that XTree's used to: The
dyed-in-the-wool XTree user who wants the ZTree keys to
work the way that XTree's creator, Jeffrey C. Johnson,
originally envisioned, should add the /XT switch on the ZTree
command line. The main benefit is that the [+] and [-]
keys (not the default Shift-< or Shift-> keys),
now move you between views of logged drives. Despite much debate
about using the default, Shift-< or Shift-> keys,
some will prefer this /XT approach.
Thanks to Alan Smedly for this helpful tip.
ZTree File Naming Strategies: Put ZTree's
powerful file naming, renaming, tagging, and sorting functions to good
use, by using smart file naming strategies; i.e., the "Fields
Within a File Name" concept.
For example, Slobodan Vujnovic has long been prefixing all his photos
and media files with their respective dates, as follows:
YYYYMMDD Description
Then he can use ZTree's Sort Name function to sort by the whole
file name (that would sort by the date characters, first), or Sort
Alpha, to sort only by the first Alpha characters; i.e., by
Description --ignoring the date charcters. See
ZTree's F1 Help File for other sort options. (If you
wanted to sort your photos exactly in the order you shot them, down to
the exact second, then you could add HHMMSS to the right
of the above date information.)
Finally,
to save you considerable effort, the commercial product PIE Studio
will, among other things, automatically extract from each photo's EXIF
data, the date and time each was shot, then embed it (and other EXIF
variables you select) into the file name. (Click on this
thumbnail photo to expand it and see PIE Studio's
extraction of many such EXIF variables, full screen, within the
bottom, and far right sub-windows.)
You could, of course, use this "Fields Within a File
Name" concept, to include, and sort on, other fields, codes,
etc. For example, I code my MP3 sound and music files with my
rating of them in the form of a single digit from 0 to 9. That
way, my favorite recordings sort to the top, for easier
selection. I do the same for other directories of large numbers
of files, where I want the best files, to sort to the top, again, for
easier selection.
Frequently
Requested Additions To Ztree (See Forum threads: here, and here)--And,
How To Add Them Right Now Via ZTree's F9 Menu:
A. Directory and File Comparisons
1. For ZTree F9 Menu integration of WinMerge (free!):
http://footeworks.us/comptips.htm#Compare_Directories
--and, the online WinMerge manual, here:
http://winmerge.org/2.6/manual/CompareDirs.html#d0e1737
2. Or, see Laurent's ZTree F9 Menu integration of PathSynch (free and portable!), here:
http://footeworks.us/comptips.htm#Synchronize_Paths
3. Finally, for file comparisons based on the criteria of Byte-By-Byte, or CRC values, see:
http://footeworks.us/comptips.htm#Remove_duplicate_files
B. Add RegEx (and additional features) to:
1. Search, see:
http://footeworks.us/comptips.htm#Filelocator
2. Search and replace, see:
http://footeworks.us/comptips.htm#Handy_File_&_Replace
3. File and folder (i.e., directory) renaming, see:
http://footeworks.us/comptips.htm#Rename_Files
ZTree Navigation: Basic
& Advanced
[Under Construction]
Powerful Basic Navigation Tools Described in ZTree Help System
(accessed by F1 key)
Under These Headings:
1.3 Directory and File Window Control Keys
1.3.1 Basic Control Keys
1.3.2 Basic Navigation
1.3.3 Treespec Navigation
1.3.4 Spell Search Navigation
1.3.5 Bookmark Navigation
Advanced Navigation Tips
Treespec
Same Directory on Different Drive Trick
Other Tricks?
History Lists
Types
Your Recent Folders/Directories
Bookmarking & Retrieving with Bookmarks or
Navigation (e.g., Arrow) Keys
Maintaining
Sorting
Editing With External Editor
Windows Folders: Bookmarked & Hard-wired into ZTree
Access points: Hitting F2,\,F6
presents Browse, Treespec, then
F6 Windows Folders List when Copying or Moving
files
Custom Surgical (Selectable Directory Depths) Navigation with:
F9 Menu Entries, L2-L9
Shortcuts
Macros (Reference next tip on macros below)
Shortcuts Involving Macros
Also, involve or link to these existing Navigation sections:
22. To jump to any portion of an open directory name--even a deeply
nested portion, use ZTree's Spell Search.
23. To jump to same directory on a different drive within ZTree, point
to the desired start directory, say, C:\ZTree, invoke Treespec with a
backward slash [ \ ], then toggle On its "editability" with
F5. Now edit the drive letter from C: to Z. Hitting [Enter] should now
take you directly to Z:\ZTree (but, of course, only if Z:\ZTree
exists, and ZTree can see it.).
24. To bring up and review ZTree's Detailed Disk Statistics Windows
(enlarge thumbnail at right) from ZTree's opening window: Hit the
forward slash [ / ]--or, using the mouse, left-click anywhere on the
right-hand panel. Now use the default [>] or [<] keys or the
alternate number pad [+] or [-] to move forward or backward,
respectively, between Detailed Disk Statistics Windows for each of
your (logged only) drives or partitions.
Other ideas for this Navigation section? (Please email me at:
tom@footeworks.us)
If you come across a filename that ZTree cannot copy, rename or delete (often flagged with the "[02] File Not Found" error), retry the operation by first restarting ZTree with the /O command line switch, described in this excerpt from the ZTree Help file:
/O - Disable OEM text translation for file and directory names. Use when file or directory names contain special characters, such as the copyright sign, that cannot be translated from ANSI to OEM and therefore cause errors in ZTreeWin. When OEM translation is disabled, file and directory names may appear to have incorrect symbols, but they will usually be handled correctly without errors. The characters that are available depend on the regional locale and code page settings in Windows.
If the above
/O approach still fails, the file may have a Unicode filename that
stumps ZTree, but, perhaps can be read by a Windows GUI
program. To try again using Windows Explorer (or another
well-behaved, default GUI file manager--e.g., PowerDesk Pro),
go to your desired ZTree directory window and press Shift-F10
to find, then launch, your preferred GUI manager--which should then
appear, automatically pointing to your desired directory.
Thank you, Peter Shute!
If you
come across files that neither ZTree, nor any other Windows program,
can delete, try the following:
For FAT32 drives: Simply reboot using Win98's DOS, then run XTree
to find and delete the files. I have all my Win2k machines set
up so that this "Win98 DOS, then XTree" option is
offered on my OS selection menu every time I boot. That
same option automatically loads the CuteMouse driver, then XTree,
so I can more easily navigate through XTree, and any other
mouse-aware DOS programs I might load. The functional equivalent
of this "Win98 DOS, then XTree" option, can, of
course, be effected by creating, and setting your BIOS to boot from, a
"Win98 DOS, then XTree" boot CD--or, floppy disk.
For NTFS drives under WinXP--or Win2k: Boot with BartPE. (See its
documentation for the proper command line switches.) Then run XTree
to find and delete the files. From their web page:
"The PE Builder program (pebuilder.exe) runs on Windows
2000/XP/2003/BartPE. It does not run on Windows
NT4/ME/9x." (Thank you, "Ryan," whose 7/15/06 ZTree
Forum post I added to, to create the above.)
If none of the above works: BartPE can be challenging, as
is suggested by the ZTreewin Forum thread started by Andreas on June
10,2007, at
http://www.ztw3.com/forum/forum.cgi?read=91185
To attack NTFS deletion problems without BartPE, consider this:
Verify that the entire drive is as error free as you can make it by running chkdsk.
Attempt to remove any remaining bad files by scanning the disk with a junk file remover. My favorite is part of the Ace Utilities. (Indeed, consider cleaning your entire system with the tips and tools discussed below under: System Cleaning & Tune-up.)
Surgical
Approach: Use wildcards
(or short
file names) to focus only on those suspect files whose name
entireties may contain some weird character(s)--or, may be
otherwise unreadable. For example, for a file named 1234567890,
try:
dir 1* (Returns what files
the del will try to delete.)
del 1* (Actually
deletes them--You hope.)
(Thank you, John
Beckett.)
Or try
a short file name (SFN) like:
del 123456~1
(Good luck! --Tom)
On
large (several hour) copy jobs, you can often avoid the
disappointment of ZTree stopping because of a strange filename--or
whatever, by using one of the above ZTree F9 links
to XXCOPY. My favorite is the one invoking:
xxcopy %1 %j1 /clone /pb
detailed above--which, unlike ZTree's
Alt-Mirror command, actually creates a true mirror image of
the source drive or directory, however complicated, with a minimum
of physical copying. (But careful! That XXCOPY
line will delete EVERYTHING on the target that is not on the
source. Also, while XXCOPY should complete most jobs
without hanging up on any file, it has the downside of not alerting
you to files that ZTree or other programs might have trouble
with in the future.)
To have an application launch and open just the files you've tagged within ZTree: Make sure that you have already uniquely "associated" the relevant target extension (e.g., .txt) with the corresponding application (e.g., TextPad), within Windows. That is, when you click on a .txt file within ZTree or Explorer, Windows knows to select TextPad to automatically open that file. From ZTree's File Window, then tag only those files you wish to work on. Finally, select ZTree's [Ctrl] Open command, and presto! Your application (in this case, TextPad), should have launched, opening only those files you tagged, leaving all of them ready for you to now work on. (Thank you, Laurent Duchastel, for this valuable tip.)
To concatenate (join together) tagged text files across multiple subdirectories: Follow the steps detailed above in the section titled "To Concatenate (Join Together) Selected (Tagged) Text Files Across Multiple Subdirectories" (where the credits for this tip also appear).
When entering a file spec, hit Alt-. [Alt - period] to automatically produce the common filename wildcard template: *.* [star dot star]. This does save a few key strokes--or many, depending on you filename entry demands. (Thank you, Geoff Cutter, for this handy tip.)
To enter HTML code within a ZTree Forum post: Use these, the simplest HTML tags: Bold <b></b>, Italic <i></i>, Underline <u></u>, Left <Left></Left >, Center <Center></Center>, and Right <Right></Right>--or combinations of them. (Many other simple HTML tags work as well. Just test them within the post preview screen.) Also, a nice Forum thread about which HTML codes work within Forum posts starts about here:
http://www.ztw3.com/archive/020/archive.cgi?read=74521
with far more extensive lists of codes posted by both Walt and Brian.
Finally, to imbed an image within your post, so that it automatically appears immediately when your post displays, first upload it using the [Upload Image] link at the bottom of the post form. That should return a confirmation page that gives you a URL that looks something like this:
http://www.ztw3.com/upfile/networkdeleted.gif
which you now must edit to look like this:
<img src="../upfile/networkdeleted.gif">
Now hit the [Preview] button, and the image should appear directly on your formatted post. jpg and png files work also--and, png files seem to compress best within the 50k upload size limit. Multiple files can be uploaded, in succession, and coded and displayed within the same single post. Note however, that currently, some (all?) image files may disappear within certain contexts after the post has been archived.
Thanks Laurent Duchastel, for your posted tutorial from which I adapted this--and, to Martijn Coppoolse, and others, for your ideas borrowed for this.
Note: If anyone discovers how to imbed a file, existing elsewhere on the Web--without uploading it to the above /upfile directory, please let me know.
More Detail on HTML: Of course, a good Google search can reveal many sites describing HTML tags, and how to use them in good web design. A few examples of helpful sites:
To view
the current rank ordering of prolific posters to the ZTree Forum, go
here:
http://www.ztw3.com/forum/forum.cgi?posterstats
or here:
http://ztree.relatedhelp.com/ztw.php
How to Recover from a ZTree Pruning, or Other Serious Deletions, Without Any Backup Protection
Actual ZTree Forum Post: "Okay, so I pruned a directory I could have sworn had nothing important in it, without using the Recycle Bin . . . Anyone have any experience undeleting from a ztree-pruned directory? Any tips? Or is it hopeless? . . ."
Some suggestions off the top of my head:
- Do not do any more work on your computer that might require saving over your deleted files (thereby destroying them permanently).
- Using any of the restoration programs I've listed below (or use Google--on another computer, to find others), search for the branch you pruned--or files that branch might have contained. Then, use the appropriate program commands, to attempt to recover all that might appear recoverable.
Restoration Programs
- Recuva - freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer.
- PC Inspector File Recovery - a data recovery program that supports the FAT 12/16/32 and NTFS file systems. The current version 4.x replaces the previous version 3.x, which is now over 6 years old. Finds partitions automatically, even if the boot sector or FAT has been erased or damaged. (For recovery of data on removable memory cards, see PC Inspector Smart Recovery.)
- Restoration.exe - One of 6 data recovery tools discussed here.
- Others?
- For the future, develop, and religiously follow, your own, bullet-proof backup plan. Go here, to see the plan of an extraordinarily backup-obsessed user (me). Good luck!
Develop
a tried and proven backup and restore plan, and
keep it updated, regularly tested--indeed, "bullet-proof."
It's well worth the extra money and time. The above
registry work, work with ZTree, and, indeed, the use of many
other programs, could destroy valuable files, and, even files
critical to your system's functionality. Without any backup
and restore protection, you may then face the catastrophe of no
functionality--and, no way to get it back except by rebuilding your
system--perhaps, from scratch--perhaps only after days, weeks, or
even months of rebuilding and retuning. With the following
backup plan, I cannot remember the last time I've had to rebuild a
crashed system from scratch. Honest, it's been years.
Yes, backup protection takes extra time--but it's time well-spent,
especially when catastrophe strikes.
Different Strokes For Different Folks: While there are surely
as many backup plans as there are people who have them, the
following is my plan--a plan always subject to improvement given
advances in technology, strategies, and my own evolving ideas.
Immediate
and Constant GoBack
Protection: GoBack
records every change made to all the partitions I've asked it to
protect, thus allowing me to "go back"--i.e., revert those
partitions to any "safe point" during the last two to
three days or so (depending on the size of my GoBack
backup file--and how extensive my recent changes have
been). In short, if catastrophe strikes, chances are
that GoBack
can allow my system to "go back" to a point in time--and,
disk state--where all was fully functional. That has been a
life saver for me many times. (How I wish I could just
"GoBack" with certain stock purchases--or, other more
important decisions in life!) Furthermore, it does build my
confidence to push the envelope farther as I experiment with risky
probing and tweaking--risky work that now more often advances me and
rarely hurts me,
Daily Batch File XXCOPY Protection: I backup my daily work, at the end of each day--sometimes more frequently, sometimes less--with a batch file (using mostly XXCOPY statements) that automatically copies only the changed files in my working directories, out to their mirrors on my other desktop, and my laptop. In short, I click the icon that launches that batch file, and in about five minutes, I've backed up all my working files. Now, to guard against this process backing up bad data over good, every couple of weeks, I may copy whole "special directories" (e.g., my website) that I first verify to be "flawless," to partitions outside of my backup streams. Moreover, every one to three months, or thereabouts, I copy all changed files out to an external harddisk.
Monthly--or
Thereabouts Acronis True Image
Protection: After thoroughly cleaning (with a batch
file calling many different cleaning programs--see list below) and defragging (using
"PerfectDisk")
my six main working partitions, I use Acronis True Image to image only
the boot partitions of each of the three "first" hard
disks of my three machines. I then store copies of the new
(and 1-month old) images on my "second" backup
drives. Now, if a machine becomes non-functional--or, even,
unbootable, I can restore the image, and hence the state of the
machine to the time when the image was created.
Every
One to Three Months--or Thereabouts: As mentioned above,
I'll XXCOPY the
main six work partitions of my main desktop, plus all my latest Acronis images, to an external
drive (using mostly my (herein described)
point-and-shoot ZTree F9 launch method for XXCOPY /CLONE.
While I feel that the above, long tried and proven
"strokes" are best for me, I'm always open to better
ideas--and would certainly welcome them here. Many thanks!
To maintain, clean and tune-up your system regularly: Approximately weekly, I launch (most of) the italicized programs by running a single batch file. (The un-italicized programs have been recommended by others.) So that I can closely monitor and control the cleaning process, I deliberately run the batch file manually when I choose (i.e., no automatically task scheduling), and I interact with the programs while they run in parallel on three different machines.
I have given a letter grade (e.g., [A-]), to reflect my personal opinion only of only the programs I use much, and know well. Of course, your mileage may vary. (Other favorite programs--not necessarily cleaning related--appear over on the Resources page, here.)
Ace
Utilities [A-]
http://www.acelogix.com
Acronis Home
Products - Hard disk drive image backup [A-], spyware
removal and Internet security, partition manager and multiboot
os selector
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/
Ad-Aware
SE* [A-]--or, Ad-Aware PRO
http://www.lavasoft.de
DoubleKiller
- [A] Find and remove duplicate files (Big Bang enterprises)
http://www.bigbangenterprises.de/en/doublekiller/
CCleaner
[B+]
http://www.ccleaner.com/
A portable version of CCleaner, worthy of including on a USB
key, appears here:
http://www.internetrotsyourbrain.com/ccleanerportable
Hard Disk Valet
[A-]
http://uk.geocities.com/personel44/pcmag/hdvalet/index.html
PerfectDisk
- [A] Raxco Software Windows Products - Fast and thorough disk
defragmentation, optimization and free space consolidation
http://www.raxco.com/products/perfectdisk2k/
RegistryFix
[A-]
http://www.registryfix.com/
Spybot - Search
& Destroy [A-]
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
ZTreeWin [A] - Very powerful, native 32-bit, text-mode file/directory manager for Windows. Discussed in detail here (and throughout this entire page). http://www.ztree.com/ As I mention in my discussion of SequoiaView, above, I'll often use ZTree to log the entire partition, with the directory sizes showing (with ZTree's [K]byte command), so that I can scroll all branches in the whole partition in detail, to see what directories (and files), might need deleting--or rearranging--however deeply nested,.
Windows
Update [B-] Although much more an updater than a
cleaner or tuner upper, I include it here because I do use it
regularly within my cleaning batch file. Note that some
are very wary of Windows Update. Use either of these two ways
(among others) to launch it:
start %SystemRoot%\system32\wupdmgr.exe,
--or,
http://update.microsoft.com/
Cure slow network disk logging. One possible cure (that worked wonders on my network) for when your remote directory logging is noticeably slower than your local logging: See the Microsoft article titled "Remote directory lists are slower than local directory listings," (Article ID: 177266) at:
http://support.microsoft.com
/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;177266
Thanks to Brian Layman for discovering this article--and, to Kim Henkel and Laurent Duchastel, for sharing it with us on the ZTree Forum.
The Windows registry, how to edit it, and where to go for additional registry information.
Caution: The above article on slow disk logging, requires you to edit your Windows registry--which, if done improperly, could disable your entire system, perhaps, irrecoverably. To be safe, make sure you have a fully tested backup and recovery plan, so that if you screw things up, you can safely and reliably return your system to full functionality. (See my plan, here.) Also, if this is the first time you have edited your registry, first read Microsoft's "Description of the Microsoft Windows registry" (Article ID: 256986) at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/EN-US/
--which
describes the registry, how to edit it, and where to go for
additional information. For still more information about the
Windows registry, explore the links here:
http://www.resplendence.com/regtips
--or, simply Google terms like: "Windows registry," described, help, edit, backup, etc.
The End of Tips (For Now)
If you know of other tips that you feel are equally (or more?)
important--or, you have any other suggestions about improving the above,
please email me at tom@footeworks.us.
Thanks! --Tom Foote
(Also called "ZEPs" -- ZTree Enhancement Proposals)
In the following, I attempt to rank order the changes in ZTree that I personally, would like to see most, given how I work with ZTree. No rush. No pressure. (As if I had any influence over this process in the first place!) I allow that any part of the following may be inspired by the posts of others on the ZTree Forum--and, where any idea borrowing is clear and direct, I will try my best (perhaps with your help?) to give credit where credit is due.
For the "ZEPs" of others, see Slobodan Vujnovic's extensive ZEP page at:
or, the ZTree community's ZTreeWiki ZEP page (started by Laurent Duchastel) at:
Editorial
To anyone thinking that such wish lists might represent dissatisfaction with ZTree: Wrong! It's just the opposite, in my view. It's because ZTree's maker, Kim Henkel, has, over many years, been so extraordinarily responsive to so many posted suggestions--from a large community of enthusiastic ZTree lovers--all interacting over each others' good (and bad) ideas. ZTree users make more suggestions because ZTree's maker remains uncommonly motivated to consider those suggestions, to make ZTree better. And that's a big reason why ZTree has improved so much over time--and, why we love it.
If you have any concern or suggestion about any part of my treatment of ZEPs here, please let me know at tom@footeworks.us. Thank you.
--Tom Foote
Here goes:
Now that we have the UI, it would be nice to add the recent pane
Swap and
orientation ZEPs right under Shift+F8. For example:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Split Mode: Statistics: None
Current
Both (Current)
Geometry: Swap Horizontal Vertical
(Vertical)
You are overlooking the fact that Shift-Numpad keys already have a function in the FW.
"Shift-Numpad-# ~ Where # is 1 to 9, use this with NumLock off to move the highlight to the 10% to 90% point in the file list."
With Numlock on, holding the Shift key cancels the shift state, so you end up with normal navigation keys.
(Thank you, Kim.)
To see how GUI
file manager, PowerDesk Pro, has implemented some of the
above, enlarge this thumbnail (by clicking on it)--or, go here
for more detail:
Change in Plans
To reduce duplication (and scatter), I have since decided to continue the above list by adding my future suggestions to the ZTree community's ZTreeWiki ZEP page (started by Laurent Duchastel) at:
That way, it's all consolidated in one place, for all to see (and comment on) within the context of suggestions by others.
CreditsThe above was never possible without the power of the programs involved, the intuitive interface of ZTree (and XTree! before it--thanks to Jeffrey C. Johnson), the unmatched options of XXCOPY--and, the unrelenting help of their respective authors, Kim Henkel, and Kan Yabumoto. Both are uncommon craftsmen, who are tenaciously dedicated to their craft and users, first. Both have been great to me at every turn.
I owe special thanks to ZTree's creator, Kim
Henkel, whose unrelenting and upbeat encouragement, bright ideas, and
willingness to work with me to "tweak his baby," all
contributed hugely to this.
--Tom Foote
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