Safe File Copying
Generally files replication takes place between various network computers. If target file (current ‘file.txt’) already exists then it will be overwritten with the file being copied (new ‘file.txt’). In other words old file.txt will be deleted and then new file.txt will be copied instead. This is a traditional way of copying which is used by operation system when you copy and overwrite files.
Replication between LAN computers is reliable process when the LAN itself is reliable. What will happen if the LAN is unstable? What will happen if one computer accidentally reboots during copying?
In these cases current file ('file.txt') will be deleted and the new file (new ‘file.txt’ in the above example) will not be copied or will be copied partially. Thus, you will loose both current and new 'file.txt'. If new file is an archive (*.rar, *.zip, etc.) or application (*.exe, *.com, etc.) it will not be possible to use it.
With AnyFileBackup replication is not affected by LAN errors anymore. AnyFileBackup does not delete current file.txt (target file) until new file.txt is fully copied. The secret is that initially new file.txt is copied with a temporary name ‘file.txt.tmp’ and when it has been fully copied it [‘file.txt.tmp’] is renamed to 'file.txt' and current file.txt is overwritten. So, we have just changed the sequence of actions and significantly increased the reliability of replication and backup.
This method may be used both for copying over LAN and for replication to remote FTP servers.
