# Can you merge files in DOS?



## marcg

I was wondering if it was possible to merge files in dos? Suppose one had to break down a file into two parts so that it would fit onto a floppy, then copy it over to another computer that only has a floppy drive...........then somehow make the two file parts one again. Does anyone know how to do this? Thanx



marcg


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## giskard

Yes depending on what type of file it is use:

1) Copy file1.ext+file2.ext target.ext General purpose, text and things

2) Copy/a file1.ext+file2.ext target.ext DOS Text files copies to CTRL-Z, an end of file mark used by DOS. Kinda obsolete.

3) Copy/b file1.ext+file2.ext target.ext Merges binaries, ignores CTRL-Z's

Explanation: 
file1 file2 files you want to merge. You can do more than 2 at once IE: 
copy/b file1.ext+file2.ext+file3.ext+file4.ext .... but there is limit to how big a command line can get.

target.ext the name of the file you want the files merged into

You can also use the complete paths on the files. (copy/b c:\dos\file1.ext+c:\dos\file2.ext ... )


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## Lurker1

A file utility like PKzip or win zip should work for that too. I recall that you could copy large files across multiple floppys.

You can go to this site search for zip and see if there are any freeware of shareware programs that would do this for you.

http://www.tucows.com/


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## Cosmic

It sounds like you are primarily interested in moving files from one computer to another.

The DOS COPY idea isn't all that good because if you want to separate the files back into parts, it can be a hassle. Would work for ASCII type .TXT files and you could separate them again on the new computer with a word processer.

The ZIP idea is a better one for moving files and recreating them on a new computer. For the larger EXE files that wouldn't fit on a floppy, Zipping typically doesn't squeeze them down much. In that case there are Shareware splitters that claim to be able to break them into parts small enough to be moved and can reassemble them on the new computer.

The better solution is always to install a ZIP drive on your computers. So useful for so many things. You can just copy and move entire folders with one click. Plus I also use them to "isolate" my computer. Never use the Drive C for any type of storage and everything that is downloaded or going to be installed first goes to the Drive E Zip and is checked over for virsus, etc first. Caught my share of nasties out there in E-Land. If it gets real bad, you can just format the disk, sure beats formatting the C drive.

Plus makes a very nice place to do backups, etc. Moving and sharing is probably the second most easy method, if you aren't on some sort of a network. Moving things around on a floppy is hard work. Some floppy's will also read as corrupted depending on the machines after they have been swapped between machines with large age / technology differences.


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## marcg

Ic, thanx for the feedback. Sounds like zip would be ideal in this case, unfortunately I dont have one for this old laptop I'm workin with. Owell.


marcg


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## marcg

Ok, how about this question. I cant use my floppy drive and my cd rom drive on my laptop at the same time and would like to try and install 98 se from the cd. How would I get the computer to start without a start disk and then be able to setup from the cd rom drive?


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## Cosmic

Getting a ZIP drive could be part of the same solution.

You can get an external version of a ZIP drive. They can be USB or piggyback off the parallel port. Use an external power pak that plugs into the wall.

Those drives can be set up to be a boot disk. Should be able to get an external ZIP drive for cheap money if you look around. Even used ones around for super little money.

Could be the solution to your immediate problem, use the CD-ROM as the installed drive. Plus would have the ZIP for all the other nice things it can do.

Without the ZIP, you are probably reduced to some sort of networking type solution, which would probably be quite hairy, if even possible.


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## Lurker1

Loading of the system software where you only can have a cdrom or a floppy drive is a question asked on this site a lot. It pretty much depends on your laptop.
If your laptop supports booting from cdrom then you can just set it to boot to the cdrom first and you won't need to load any drivers.

If it doesn't support booting to a cdrom then you must load the cdrom drivers to the hard drive first. Here is one post with some information on how to do that. You can search this site for other posts like it.

http://forums.techguy.org/showthread.php?threadid=103097&highlight=cdrom


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## des804

Ok Dont know if this is still active or not. I'm trying to combine Files that were already split. they have the extension .000 .001 etc etc I read through what was said but I need to know the specifics as to what to put into a batch file ( as in writing the batch file ) cause there are 200 files I need to have created .


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