[Tfug] Need help with a complicated command line copy...

[Jim March]

Guys,

I have a complicated problem.

I have a stack of old hard disks with data a friend wants extracted.
There are a lot of duplicates, and of course they're scattered across
multiple subdirectories.

The file types are as you'd expect: .pdf, .doc, .xls, etc.

At the DOS command line I'd have trouble with this: I could use XCOPY
to move the files (based on extension) from disk to disk including
subdirectories, but In this case I don't WANT the target-location
files to be in subdirectories.  Instead, as I pile the files into the
target location I want to keep them all in one, and as new ones try
and come in retain the one with the latest datestamp.

I'm using standard Ubuntu Feisty so I figure there has to be a way to
skin this cat at the command line, probably with standard tools but,
maybe with some add-in package?  Any tips would be welcome :).

Thanks!

Jim