Copy all files and folders from one HDD to another HDD using Robocopy?


Recommended Posts

In my curious ways :p Im wondering how to make a exact copy of all files and folders from one drive to another.

Ive found (S:/ is Source and D:/ is Destination)

robocopy S:/ D:/ /MIR

But there are sys files it doesn't copy over.

How can I make a "dd" out of robocopy?

  On 16/04/2014 at 18:32, riahc3 said:

In my curious ways :p Im wondering how to make a exact copy of all files and folders from one drive to another.

Ive found (S:/ is Source and D:/ is Destination)

robocopy S:/ D:/ /MIR

But there are sys files it doesn't copy over.

How can I make a "dd" out of robocopy?

 

 

Have you tried XCOPY that ships with all versions of Windows?

  On 16/04/2014 at 18:45, riahc3 said:

Whats the difference between it and robocopy?

XCOPY is a core EXE of the OS and it can copy anything that you're allowed to read. All you need to do is run the command prompt as administrator.

 

Using XCOPY and then manually reconstruct a boot environment is better than to rely on some random 3rd part app.

XCOPY is good for anything that you want to copy.

system files won't copy over even with the copy command.  Mir = /e + /purge

/E :: copy subdirectories, including Empty ones.

/PURGE :: delete dest files/dirs that no longer exist in source.
/MIR :: MIRror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE).

 

robocopy /?

will give you all of the commands.

 

I would do this

robocopy s: d: /E /MT:20 /V /ETA /LOG:c:\users\userid\desktop\robocopy.txt

 

This way it will do a multithreaded copy (copying 20 files at a time vs 1 at a time), and give you a log of what it misses or errors on, if you want to purge the files that are no longer on the source then by all means do the MIR.  After you have found the files with the system attribute in the log you can create a batch file rather quickly to remove the system attribute on those files and run the copy again.  Note that if a file is in use you cannot copy it in this method, usually system files are in use like the explorer.exe.  Keep in mind that hidden files/folders also will not be copied.

xcopy /v /e /h /r (Source) (Target)

 

xcopy /v /e /h /r c:\*.* d:\*.*  - for example would copy the entire c drive to a d drive.

 

/v - verification

/e - folder's including empty one's

/h - hidden / system files

/r - read only files

 

More Information on switches

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771254.aspx

What system files are you trying to copy? Are you trying to copy a OS drive/dir or data dir? What exactly are you trying to accomplish, robocopy is great for doing a mirror of data structure - but not sure I would use it as a means of trying to copy over or backup a OS directory structure like windows or program files, etc.

  On 16/04/2014 at 19:39, sc302 said:

system files won't copy over even with the copy command.  Mir = /e + /purge

/E :: copy subdirectories, including Empty ones.

/PURGE :: delete dest files/dirs that no longer exist in source.

/MIR :: MIRror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE).

 

robocopy /?

will give you all of the commands.

 

I would do this

robocopy s: d: /E /MT:20 /V /ETA /LOG:c:\users\userid\desktop\robocopy.txt

 

This way it will do a multithreaded copy (copying 20 files at a time vs 1 at a time), and give you a log of what it misses or errors on, if you want to purge the files that are no longer on the source then by all means do the MIR.  After you have found the files with the system attribute in the log you can create a batch file rather quickly to remove the system attribute on those files and run the copy again.  Note that if a file is in use you cannot copy it in this method, usually system files are in use like the explorer.exe.  Keep in mind that hidden files/folders also will not be copied.

Sadly I went ahead and did it with mir but missed the multithreaded switch.
  On 16/04/2014 at 19:39, sc302 said:

system files won't copy over even with the copy command.  Mir = /e + /purge

/E :: copy subdirectories, including Empty ones.

/PURGE :: delete dest files/dirs that no longer exist in source.

/MIR :: MIRror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE).

 

robocopy /?

will give you all of the commands.

 

I would do this

robocopy s: d: /E /MT:20 /V /ETA /LOG:c:\users\userid\desktop\robocopy.txt

 

This way it will do a multithreaded copy (copying 20 files at a time vs 1 at a time), and give you a log of what it misses or errors on, if you want to purge the files that are no longer on the source then by all means do the MIR.  After you have found the files with the system attribute in the log you can create a batch file rather quickly to remove the system attribute on those files and run the copy again.  Note that if a file is in use you cannot copy it in this method, usually system files are in use like the explorer.exe.  Keep in mind that hidden files/folders also will not be copied.

BTW, this gives no visual output; Just says:

"Log File : C:\robocopy.txt"

% and times would be nice IMO.

What do you think /ETA is? But your putting it in the log, if you want log and console use

 

/TEE :: output to console window, as well as the log file.

 

I personally would not put /ETA in the log - its makes it hard to read..  lots of this

 

 0%  
  3%  
 25%  
 28%  
 35%  
 42%  
 50%  
 53%  
 57%  
 64%  
 71%  
 75%  
 89%  
 92%  
100%  
100%

 

But if you want log and console /TEE is what you want - just add it at the end of the command

  On 21/04/2014 at 13:04, sc302 said:

Open the log file as it is copying. You will have to close and open to refresh.

Or just use tail, here is windows version

http://tailforwin32.sourceforge.net/

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • I would not mind paying 120 up to 150 dollars in this economy value of the dollar currency if their video game is quite breathtaking and excellent use of my hard earned work money. I think people need to appreciate all the effort workers and time that goes into excellent and worthy video games. Now if only the publishers and companies behind the video games would share the love with the developers those at the bottom of work making such games happen as in increase their money accounts and give them a more richer life that I wish would have happened . But how companies have bad reputation of being $$$ profit greedy I feel sad if there are any developers that feel unappreciated as in no real compensation for all the hours of work they put into a blockbuster hit . Have a great day everyone . Thank you developers engineers and programmers that make superb video games happen . You have my thanksgiving and I hope you really really appreciate my words . With you all about this
    • I guess they use the free version, which doesn't send money to any Russians.
    • True, you can pin it to the Start Menu, but my preference is to pin it to the Taskbar since I am using W11 on a desktop with a large display and a lot of space on the Taskbar.
    • 200 mph. Try going 200 mph with a vehicle on a street in any city in America. Good luck. Yes its speculation but so is the idea that it has been 100% approved by the government. When a new drug is under development it goes through a number of test phases, each of increasing efficacy and safety. I would imagine it is the same in this case. You can similuate real conditions on test roads with other cars and if successful on test roads you move it to the next test phase of testing it on real streets with human assistance if needed. Testing conditions on test roads can never account for all real life situations on real roads. This is what I imagine is happening now. The final test phase.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Hartej earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      TsunadeMama earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      shaheen earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Dedicated
      Cole Multipass earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Week One Done
      Alexander 001 earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      571
    2. 2
      ATLien_0
      186
    3. 3
      +FloatingFatMan
      183
    4. 4
      Skyfrog
      112
    5. 5
      Xenon
      106
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!