Long ago when I was manually backing up my data to an external HDD using drag-n-drop to a shortcut on the dektop I learned the difference between a copy and a backup. The
contact management software I was using had a special "online" database that wouldn't get copied properly and the local secure backup on my machine wasn't saved through my copy process.
From that point on I started copying the whole drive and all special files.
Robocopy is good, I recently started using it for network backups where I need to throttle the connection a bit during busy periods. Previous to that I'd suggest xcopy as it's even more basic than robocopy (less options at least) and is just as reliable/built-in to windows for years.
HOWEVER : Windows7 changed things! And now everyone suggests Teracopy:
vahaus said:
In case anyone has issues with RoboCopy and / or XCopy (robocopy replaced xcopy). These utilities are single threaded and pull their resources directly out of the paged pool memory (according to microsoft). Therefore on very large copies these utilities can fail, speaking from recent experience.
Teracopy download:
Free Downloads | Code Sector
And if you don't like Teracopy and want something more open, the other good free alternate I found is SuperCopy:
SF Homepage:
Supercopier | Get Supercopier at SourceForge.net
Installation Files:
SuperCopier Website
Thanks Lex, I might go that way if I have to. I've used Robocopy to backup folders that were about 2.4 gigs with no problem. Now I've tried using it to backup a 40 gig folder where each file is 4.3 gigs and it keeps failing, but I'm not sure if the size is the problem. It did copy the file that was 1.3 gigs, but none of the others. Can you, or anyone else, tell me what this log message means:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Started : Thu Jul 01 12:37:31 2010
Source : G:\Drive Images\
Dest = I:\BackUp\Acronis Drive Images Backup\
Files : *.*
Options : *.* /V /S /E /COPY

AT /PURGE /MIR /XJD /XA:SH /R:10 /W:10
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 G:\Drive Images\
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:37:31 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:37:41 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:37:51 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:38:01 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:38:11 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:38:21 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:38:31 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:38:41 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:38:51 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:39:01 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 11.tib
2010/07/01 12:39:11 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 11.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
ERROR: RETRY LIMIT EXCEEDED.
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:39:11 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:39:21 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:39:31 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:39:41 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:39:51 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:40:01 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:40:11 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:40:21 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:40:31 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:40:41 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 12.tib
2010/07/01 12:40:51 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 12.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
ERROR: RETRY LIMIT EXCEEDED.
New File 1.0 g W7-Phase 13.tib -
this one was copied and had all the percentages following it, I just deleted them to save space
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 21.tib
2010/07/01 12:41:47 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 21.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds... Retrying...
New File 4.3 g W7-Phase 21.tib
2010/07/01 12:41:57 ERROR 87 (0x00000057) Copying File G:\Drive Images\W7-Phase 21.tib
The parameter is incorrect.
Waiting 10 seconds...
Can anyone tell me what this code means?? Thanks, I appreciate any help I can get.