Thanks -- the version number thing is something I can deal with programmatically. I would try Teracopy, but I'm not going to install what I assume to be nagware on a company PC if I'm a contractor.

However, your suggestion did remind me of Midnight Commander -- I downloaded it, but as it turns out I don't have Administrator privilege to install it, it looks like I'm stuck with my current situation.

Have you looked at Portable Apps? They typically need no rights as they are intended to run off thumb drives & the like - install on the thumb drive on a machine you own, then run on any other machine. I install them on my network server & then run them from whichever machine I need right now. Many of them don't like running on more than one machine at a time, but that doesn't sound like your problem.

I know Midnight Commander only slightly, but this (http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/freecommander_portable) might be what you want.

Regards,

John Davies

Thanks for the tip on Portable Apps, I'll have a look at them. For now, I've managed to install Midnight Commander, and apart from some weirdness about how far along a copy is (2% .. 3% .. 4% .. 0% .. done) it seems to be working well.

Alex / talexb / Toronto

Thanks PJ. We owe you so much. Groklaw -- RIP -- 2003 to 2013.

I have yet to be nagged. Besides, I am sure the company pays a lot more than $19.95 for you fighting to accomplish flawless file transfers. $19.95 is not a lot of money for a big business.

It effectively asks you on the window "What do you want me to do if the file already exists in the target directory?" I have mine set to "Always Ask" currently.

It is very fast. It displays the results. You can even verify the copies byte by byte after it is done.

I was using 7-Zip File Manager to try to backup file directories. It was giving me fits. Then, I found Teracopy after doing a Google search to try to improve my quality of life.