Help with Robocopy user backups?

I provide IT support for a small business with about 5 users each with their own computer. Their last IT guy setup Retrospect backup backing up the user folder to the server and then CrashPlan Pro was installed on the server to backup to their cloud service (because they let you backup an unlimited amount of data on a single computer for $10 per month).

The first problem was that Retrospect doesn't save the data in a format that can be easily viewed to compare the backed up copy to the copy still on the original drive. The next problem was that one of the users got a message that their computer hadn't backed up in a few days so they uninstalled it from the server and reinstalled it but now it is asking for the key which nobody knows.

So, I figured for so few users I could make a basic xcopy script set to run at login and I did and it worked...but several people have told me that robocopy is worlds better than xcopy.

So, I know the format would be something like this for each user:

robocopy c:\Users\Brittany \\server\Backup\Brittany /e /mir /z /fft /w:5

Would this work? Anything you would change?

I have a few questions also...

1. What exactly does multi-thread copying do and how do I know if I should enable it?
2. Will this only copy new/changed files or everything?
3. I know the mir option deletes files from the backup that are deleted from the original...is it possible to have it back up the new and changed files daily but to wait a week or so before deleting a deleted file from the backup?
4. Is it possible to have this run completely silently so the user never even sees it? Like running in the background or something?
5. Does this copy the hidden files and folders such as where Outlook PST files are stored by default in App Data?

Golden said:

ROBOCOPY - Create Backup Script

Yes I read that tutorial already and several pages of replies but I didn't see any responses for my specific questions. Any particular page where my questions are addressed?

Here is my robocopy script I created that "worked" but I started it on Friday at around noon and it was still not done when the user came in this morning:

Code:

robocopy "c:\Users\Lamar" "\\grantserver09\Backup\LFowler12" /E /V /XO /XA:H /LOG:"Backup_Log.txt" /FFT /ZB /R:1 /W:1 /tee

So I fixed up a quick XCopy script that finished in about an hour:

Code:

xcopy "c:\Users\Lamar" "\\grantserver09\Backup\LFowler12" /c /d /e /g /i /r /s /y

Is there something wrong with my robocopy script that would cause it to be so slow? I tried it with and without the /MT and it actually seemed to make it slower?