RoboCopy Syntax
ROBOCOPY source destination [file [file]…] [options]Where source is Source Directory (drive:\path or \\server\share\path), destination is Destination Directory (drive:\path or \\server\share\path) and file is File(s) to copy where names or wildcards can be specified and default is “*.*” (all files).
RoboCopy Options and Switches
RoboCopy Copy Options
- /S - copy Subdirectories, but not empty ones.
- /E - copy subdirectories, including Empty ones.
- /LEV:n - only copy the top n LEVels of the source directory tree.
- /Z - copy files in restartable mode.
- /B - copy files in Backup mode.
- /ZB - use restartable mode; if access denied use Backup mode.
- /EFSRAW - copy all encrypted files in EFS RAW mode.
- /COPY:copyflag[s] - what to COPY for files (default is /COPY:DAT).
(copyflags : D=Data, A=Attributes, T=Timestamps).
(S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing info).
- /DCOPY:T - COPY Directory Timestamps.
- /SEC - copy files with SECurity (equivalent to /COPY:DATS).
- /COPYALL - COPY ALL file info (equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU).
- /NOCOPY - COPY NO file info (useful with /PURGE).
- /SECFIX - FIX file SECurity on all files, even skipped files.
- /TIMFIX - FIX file TIMes on all files, even skipped files.
- /PURGE - delete dest files/dirs that no longer exist in source.
- /MIR - MIRror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE).
- /MOV - MOVe files (delete from source after copying).
- /MOVE - MOVE files AND dirs (delete from source after copying).
- /A+:[RASHCNET] - add the given Attributes to copied files.
- /A-:[RASHCNET] - remove the given Attributes from copied files.
- /CREATE - CREATE directory tree and zero-length files only.
- /FAT - create destination files using 8.3 FAT file names only.
- /256 - turn off very long path (> 256 characters) support.
- /MON:n - MONitor source; run again when more than n changes seen.
- /MOT:m - MOnitor source; run again in m minutes Time, if changed.
- /RH:hhmm-hhmm - Run Hours – times when new copies may be started.
- /PF - check run hours on a Per File (not per pass) basis.
- /IPG:n - Inter-Packet Gap (ms), to free bandwidth on slow lines.
- /A - copy only files with the Archive attribute set.
- /M - copy only files with the Archive attribute and reset it.
- /IA:[RASHCNETO] - Include only files with any of the given Attributes set.
- /XA:[RASHCNETO] - eXclude files with any of the given Attributes set.
- /XF file [file]… - eXclude Files matching given names/paths/wildcards.
- /XD dirs [dirs]… - eXclude Directories matching given names/paths.
- /XC - eXclude Changed files.
- /XN - eXclude Newer files.
- /XO - eXclude Older files.
- /XX - eXclude eXtra files and directories.
- /XL - eXclude Lonely files and directories.
- /IS - Include Same files.
- /IT - Include Tweaked files.
- /MAX:n - MAXimum file size – exclude files bigger than n bytes.
- /MIN:n - MINimum file size – exclude files smaller than n bytes.
- /MAXAGE:n - MAXimum file AGE – exclude files older than n days/date.
- /MINAGE:n - MINimum file AGE – exclude files newer than n days/date.
- /MAXLAD:n - MAXimum Last Access Date – exclude files unused since n.
- /MINLAD:n - MINimum Last Access Date – exclude files used since n. (If n < 1900 then n = n days, else n = YYYYMMDD date).
- /XJ - eXclude Junction points. (normally included by default).
- /FFT - assume FAT File Times (2-second granularity).
- /DST - compensate for one-hour DST time differences.
- /XJD - eXclude Junction points for Directories.
- /XJF - eXclude Junction points for Files.
- /R:n - number of Retries on failed copies: default 1 million.
- /W:n - Wait time between retries: default is 30 seconds.
- /REG - Save /R:n and /W:n in the Registry as default settings.
- /TBD - wait for sharenames To Be Defined (retry error 67).
- /L - List only – don’t copy, timestamp or delete any files.
- /X - report all eXtra files, not just those selected.
- /V - produce Verbose output, showing skipped files.
- /TS - include source file Time Stamps in the output.
- /FP - include Full Pathname of files in the output.
- /BYTES - Print sizes as bytes.
- /NS - No Size – don’t log file sizes.
- /NC - No Class – don’t log file classes.
- /NFL - No File List – don’t log file names.
- /NDL - No Directory List – don’t log directory names.
- /NP - No Progress – don’t display % copied.
- /ETA - show Estimated Time of Arrival of copied files.
- /LOG:file - output status to LOG file (overwrite existing log).
- /LOG+:file - output status to LOG file (append to existing log).
- /UNILOG:file - output status to LOG file as UNICODE (overwrite existing log).
- /UNILOG+:file - output status to LOG file as UNICODE (append to existing log).
- /TEE - output to console window, as well as the log file.
- /NJH - No Job Header.
- /NJS - No Job Summary.
- /UNICODE - output status as UNICODE.
RoboCopy Job Options
- /JOB:jobname - take parameters from the named JOB file.
- /SAVE:jobname - SAVE parameters to the named job file
- /QUIT - QUIT after processing command line (to view parameters).
- /NOSD - NO Source Directory is specified.
- /NODD - NO Destination Directory is specified.
- /IF - Include the following Files.
RoboCopy is simple to use, very similar to Copy and Xcopy. For example, to copy entire folder of C:\Users to C:\UserBackup, simply type:
robocopy C:\Source C:\DestinationCopy directory contents recursively, all contents of SourceDir to DestDir:
robocopy C:\SourceDir C:\DestDir /ECopy directory recursively (/E), and copy all file information (/COPYALL, equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU, D=Data, A=Attributes, T=Timestamps, S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing info), do not retry locked files (/R:0).
robocopy C:\source C:\destination /COPYALL /E /R:0Mirror source to destination, deleting any files in destination that are not present in source (/MIR), copy files in restartable mode (/Z) in case network connection is lost:
robocopy C:\source \\DestServer\destination /MIR /ZMore RoboCopy
what if the destination path or source path name has a space in it "c:\source folder\sub folder"
ReplyDeleteUse quotes. Example: robocopy "c:\source folder\sub folder" "c:\destination folder\sub folder" *
ReplyDelete