Robocopy question

Is there a way I can use Robocopy to copy everything (with for qualificatyions) from my system to an external using a bat file? These data transfers would essentially be incremental, as data constantly changes. I would need the data inly to get transfered over only if it does not exist on the destination and if the file sizes are different between the source and destination. I can do that now with Syncback but the inner geek in me prefers command line tools, and I've been having some issue with Syncback and BSOds.

I plan on using multiple .bat files; one for each source/destination pairing.

 

Nate,

Yes, you can do that from a batch file. You can create and maintain a mirrored copy. But files in use can't be copied so it's not much use for the OS partition.

Robocopy GUI will generate command lines for you.

 

I've been slowly but surely backing up all my movies and TV DVDs into xvid, which can play on my mp3 player, that way should anything happen to them I'll still have the copies. I'm not planning on backing up anything on my system partition, just files that will not be locked.

That being said, I have no clue on how to go about this. I've looked at both the gui and the "better gui" ande have no idea where to start, like how to compare the timestamps ands see what needs transferring.

Any help woulds be great.

 

From what I can tell, it seems those time stamps are checked by default. That's very cool. I'm attempting to backup everything using the below bat. I'll let you know how things go. But, so far I'm very impressed.

But I do have a few questions, like hoiw to direct a log file to a different location. It would be, ideally, /TEE /UNICODE /LOG:z:\Logs\Documents -%DD%%MM%%YY% but that won't work.

 

Can anyoe tell me why this doesn't work. I keep getting an error about the log not being a valid path.

Robocopy D:\Documents h:\Mine\Documents *.* /ZB /COPYALL /R:10 /LOG:z:\Logs\Documents - %DD%%MM%%YY%.log /TEE /UNICODE

 

Hi Nate,

why don't you use RichCopy instead of batch files?

Panagiotis

 

as a guess and assuming Z: drive exists what if you use z:\Logs\%DD%%MM%%YY%.log or z:\Logs\Documents\%DD%%MM%%YY%.log instead?

 

I guess the answer there is that I'm a dork. Truly. I prefer command line applications. And also, I figure the less third party applications I run the less chance of getting a BSOD, which I had a problem with using SyncBack.

 

The off thing is that it tell me that the /LOG: parameter is invalid. So, I don't think it has anything to do with the file name.

 

Robocopy D:\Documents h:\Mine\Documents *.* /ZB /COPYALL /R:10 /LOG:z:\Logs\Documents - %DD%%MM%%YY%.log /TEE /UNICODE

My robocopy bat files work with .txt extensions rather than .log - is that what's wrong here?

If not, then please excuse batch-file-ignorance-from-command-line-noob.

Just trying to help...

philby

 

Instead of
Robocopy D:\Documents h:\Mine\Documents *.* /ZB /COPYALL /R:10 /LOG:z:\Logs\Documents - %DD%%MM%%YY%.log /TEE /UNICODE

use

Robocopy D:\Documents h:\Mine\Documents *.* /ZB /COPYALL /R:10 /LOG: z:\Logs\Documents - %DD%%MM%%YY%.log /TEE /UNICODE

you missed to leave a space after /Log:

Panagiotis

 

hmmm....I get the same message.

 

Try this

Robocopy D:\Documents h:\Mine\Documents *.* /ZB /COPYALL /R:10 /LOG: "z:\Logs\Documents - %DD%%MM%%YY%.log" /TEE /UNICODE

or maybe
Robocopy D:\Documents h:\Mine\Documents *.* /ZB /COPYALL /R:10 /LOG "z:\Logs\Documents - %DD%%MM%%YY%.log" /TEE /UNICODE

 

Thank you for your help. I appreciate it. Unfortunately, I didn't work; I still gt the same error. And don't worry, if I was any kind of expert I wouldn't be asking.

 

I checked the robocopy help
the correct one is
Robocopy D:\Documents h:\Mine\Documents *.* /ZB /COPYALL /R:10 /LOG:"z:\Logs\Documents - %DD%%MM%%YY%.log" /TEE /UNICODE

 

Thanks a bunch dude. That didn't work, but using the same line and just deleting the extra space did.

/LOG:"z:\Logs\Documents - %DD%%MM%%YY%.log"

Except, "%MM%%DD%%YY%" did not work; nothing is there at all.

 

I think I've gotten everything to work perfectly. My master sync bat, because I have individual ones with the log switches, is:

Thanks for your help everyone. I hope someone can find this useful

 

Gotta love Robocopy. Here's my daily backup parameters:

Code:

robocopy C:\Users\Gavin K:\External_Backup /MIR /XA:H /XD AppData /XJD

 

Agreed. Everyone should ditch their third party solutions and try this. Yes, you'll have to spend a little time research the correct switches. But it's worth it.