Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

Recreate files but without content to target drive

(1/11) > >>

vixay:
Is there a way to recreate file/folder structure from source to target but without any content?
better yet, is it possible to zip it up?

I think this will be better understood with an example.

Say if i have a source drive D: with the following

D:\test.txt (size 100 MB)
D:\a\b.ini (size 1 MB)
D:\z\y\x\c.pdf (size 1 GB)
--- End quote ---

After the zip/copy operation i want this on the target E: drive (can be another computer)

E:\test.txt (size 0 bytes)
E:\a\b.ini (size 0 bytes)
E:\z\y\x\c.pdf (size 0 bytes)
--- End quote ---

...

I was thinking that xxcopy or robocopy or some other copy utility or zip utility might have this feature but for the life of me i can't find it.

This is useful in recreating directory and file structures on which you can run various tests for finding files ...etc. and it would be easy to transfer over the internet without the size implications.
I have to do this for about 50000+ files
I've used Cathy, Locate, Everything, and i know those things are wicked fast, and they have the information i need, but then how to create a routine/plugin to create those files?

I know there is a manual way to do it, something like dump all filenames to a text file, zip it up, and then extract it, and send it through a program that will create a file for each line. But then this requires the program to exist on one end, whereas if it were a zip it would work wherever.

Sigh, i'm over thinking this. But any ideas will be appreciated.

MilesAhead:
I haven't used it myself, but this looks like what you mean:
http://www.rjlsoftware.com/software/utility/treecopy/default.shtml

Edvard:
xPlorer2 will do that...

Select the folder you want to copy, then right-click -> copy.

Navigate to where you want to paste it and right-click -> Paste Special -> Folder Structure.

Done.

akx:
I wrote a 45-line Python script to create a contentless ZIP file that duplicates a directory structure for you :).

It's a command line script. Invoke it using "python maketree.py target-zip-file.zip mydir1 mydir2 ..." You can combine multiple trees into one zip.

Source code here (public domain). If you need an .exe version, let me know.

skwire:
I think everybody is missing the key element here...it's not only the folder structure the OP wants, it's all the files, too (as zero-byte files).

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page