Atomic file copy under .NET

Question

I am building a server app that copies files using System.IO.File.Copy(...) function. My files can be rather large, therefore, it has a fair chance that if the machine crash

Answer 1

Newer versions of Windows allow you to use transactions .

Answer 2

Transactional file system.

Answer 3

Check out Background Intelligent Transfer Service in Windows Server 2003. It provides the mechanism of jobs, which can be paused and resumed even after restart.

Here are a few samples how to use it with .NET:

Write Auto-Updating Apps with .NET and the Background Intelligent Transfer Service API

SharpBITS.NET - wrapper for BITS API

Answer 4

Other have suggested transactional NTFS which is fine if you're deploying on Vista or later. If you need to support XP (or earlier) then temporary file followed by a move (rename) is the best solution.

The answer to this similar question provides more info: Atomicity of File.Move