Robocopy is a command line tool and available free with the download Windows Resource Kit. It is an external command that is available in the below operating systems.
Windows NT , Windows 2000 , Windows Server 2008 , Windows Vista, Windows 7 & Windows XP.
Download Robocopy Command Line Tool for Windows 2003 and 2008 Server / Windows XP / Vista / 7 from following path:
microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17657
Install the rktool.exeand follow the following steps to copy new and changed files only.
Start > Run > type cmd and press enter to open command prompt window.
Type robocopy /? to get to know about feature provided by Robocopy command line tool. Here i have marked all the feature with grey color and highlighted some feature which i have used to sync my d: drive to destination drive in which the data has to be copied.
C:\>robocopy /? // Help for any command
Following command i have used to sync my folders and files.
C:\>robocopy "D:\Folder1" "H:\BackupFolder1"
/E /ZB /X /PURGE /COPYALL /TEE /LOG:E:\Copy_from_HD_to_Ext_HD.logMeaning of switches used in above command explained below.
/E :: copy subdirectories, including Empty ones. /ZB :: use restartable mode; if access denied use Backup mode. /COPYALL :: COPY ALL file info (equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU). /PURGE :: delete dest files/dirs that no longer exist in source. /X :: report all eXtra files, not just those selected. /TEE :: output to console window, as well as the log file. /LOG:file :: output status to LOG file (overwrite existing log).
Above command will sync your data from source to destination it means if you have deleted some data from your hard drive then it will also remove from destination drive. I have made it to sync my data, if you don’t want to delete any files from destination drive then don’t use /PURGE option.
Some More Examples:
robocopy c:\folder1 c:\folder2 *.txtIn this example all .txt files would be copied from folder1 directory to folder2 directory.
robocopy c:\folder1 c:\folder2 In this example all files would be copied from folder1 to folder2 but not directories.
robocopy c\:hope c:\hope2 /eIn this example all files and folders (including empty ones) will be copied from folder1 to folder2 directory.
Copy all the files from source and delete all files from source drive but don’t delete folder.
C:>robocopy "E:\source" "E:\destination" /E /ZB /MOV /COPYALL——————————————————————————-
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows :: Version XP010
——————————————————————————-Started : Tue May 21 10:17:22 2013
Source : E:source
Dest : E:destinationFiles : *.*
Options : *.* /S /E /COPYALL /MOV /ZB /R:1000000 /W:30
——————————————————————————
3 E:source
100% New File 1709 Copy from Ext-HD to HD.bat
100% New File 2711 Copy from HD to Ext-HD.bat
100% New File 643 update.bat——————————————————————————
Total Copied Skipped Mismatch FAILED Extras
Dirs : 1 0 1 0 0 0
Files : 3 3 0 0 0 0
Bytes : 4.9 k 4.9 k 0 0 0 0
Times : 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00Speed : 40504 Bytes/sec.
Speed : 2.317 MegaBytes/min.Ended : Tue May 21 10:17:22 2013
C:>
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I have used robocopy and to me a non IT guy it felt like hacking or something. Like they show in movies, typing some commands and then BOOM everything starts to happen. I didn’t felt comfortable using it and at times it started to freeze. My colleagues told me about GS Richcopy 360. It is simple to use and provided me multi threaded file transfer for fast transfer speed, pre scheduled file transfer, email notification when task is done and many more. Try it hope it helps!
Obviously RoboCopy is one of the popular software to do the trick. I used it myself for a long time but I felt like it is designed for Linux but patched up to work on Windows which is just a pain to try to get them working, and if they work and break, forget trying to fix them let alone no support. The one program that is similar and allot better than RoboCopy and is best of its kind for windows is GS RichCopy 360 Enterprise. This program works almost the same way except it is DESIGNED for windows and offers a lot more features, it is simple to use and comes with great support. They offer free trial, try it and decide.
I suggest everyone to try “Long Path Tool” program.
It’s really work for me.
I want to then have “Data Files RC” in “C:\Laptop Backups” zipped with date on end of the file
so there will be:
C:\Laptop Backups\
Data Files RC 9_22_2014.zip
Data Files RC 9_23_2014.zip
Data Files RC 9_24_2014.zip
Data Files RC 9_25_2014.zip
Then I want to look at the earliest date in the “C:\Laptop Backups” directory based on the created date,
not the date added to the file name, and delete any zipped files older than 14 days. So in the
example above, I want to get the created date for “Data Files RC 9_25_2014.zip” then count back 14 days
and delete all zipped files older than 14 days.
I want to use the earliest file date, because if I am on vacation or just not paying attention
and the system fails, then the delete will not continue deleting files based on todays date.
If I do not catch this then it would eventually delete all backups.
So if something fails but the delete is still working it would only delete from 14 days back from
the point of failure, i.e. so say after 9-26-2014 the copy option is not working, but the
delete is kicking in, then only 14 days back from 9-25-2014 would be deleted, then also on 9-27-2014 it would
still only delete from 9-25-2014 14 days back, instead of using 9-27-2014. This then would always have 14 days worth
of backups from 9-25-2014 back.
Maybe this is not an issue, but I do have a routine that deletes based on todays date, then I have a separate
backup software, which I just found was failing, so it occured to me that the delete batch routine that I put in Windows
scheduler would have eventually deleted all my backups.
So what is the best way to avoid this, can robocopy be set to look at the earliest file date, then delete older files
based on that or is there a some other script or combination thereof?
I hope so, let me do it myself before writing about it.
Nice post.Another software alternative that works is “LongPathTool” for error messages: Cannot read from source file or disk, there has been a sharing violation, cannot delete file or folder, the file name you specified is not valid or too long, the source or destination file may be in use and many other file managing errors.
Thanks for sharing about this tool..