Robocopy - nudged required

AaLF · 20 Aug 2013

Gentlemen I need a nudge to get Robocopy going. We have 2 HDDs with our data on board. Recently I dropped the original from my desk to the floor. Its dead. Real dead.

So now there is one...... left.

I want to Robocopy it - the entire HDD (located drive F) name for drive is Terra 3.
I have an empty 3Tb HDD waiting to receive the contents (located drive H) folder name> Terra 3 Back Up

Write the steps & the formula please. I'm way too nervous. If I lose T3 I'll need to contemplate a window exit.

Golden · 20 Aug 2013

ROBOCOPY is a folder copier, not a file copier. Thus, you need to specify each folder individually. Lets assume you have 3 folders called A, B and C. Each of those may have sub-folders beneath them, and each of these contain several files.

Create a .bat file on your desktop as follows, then run it as administrator.

Code:

robocopy F:\FolderA H:\"Terra 3 Backup" /copyall /e
robocopy F:\FolderB H:\"Terra 3 Backup" /copyall /e
robocopy F:\FolderC H:\"Terra 3 Backup" /copyall /e

The copyall switch copies all the file attributes. The /e switch copies any subfolders even if they are empty.

Since this is the first time you are copying (and presumably its a once off) I would use XCOPY instead, since you do not need to copy each folder. ROBOCOPY holds no advantage over XCOPY for a one-off job.

In an elevated CMD window, type as shown below, and hit enter:

Code:

xcopy F:\*.* /V /E H:\"Terra 3 Backup\

/v verifies each file after copying
/e copies all folders/sub-folders even if they are empty

Useful information if you insist on using ROBOCOPY:
ROBOCOPY - Create Backup Script

bobafetthotmail · 20 Aug 2013

Practice a bit on non-critical files before doing the real job.

If you want a GUI with some drag-and-drop support (the source and destination directory/drive) and right-click-menu-integration, please consider Fastcopy. It's powerful and reliable. Practicing a bit with dummy files is always recommended.