On 4 Jul 2001, at 19:58, Leigh Jennings wrote:

> HI
> just advancing the thread slightly: I know what the read only, hidden &
> system check boxes do.... but what is the difference between checking the
> archive box or leaving it unchecked?
>
> >(my suggestion for the file attribute is
> >archive)
>
> Leigh
> [log in to unmask]

  The "archive" property indicates a file that has changed since the last
time that it was backed up.  It is initially set when the file is created,
and Windows makes sure it gets set again whenever there is a write to the
file.

  The flag is used by backup programs to save space and time by only backing
up files that have changed since some previous backup was taken.  Generally,
a full backup will clear this property; whether a partial backup does
depends on whether it is done as a "differential" or "incremental" partial
backup.

  So "archive" is short for "this file should be archived the next time a
backup is done".

David Gillett

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