37 thoughts on “How to create a backup script using Robocopy”

1. 

   What if I have a robocopy file scheduled daily, but I will take the hard drive out. Will the process start at all, will it bring an error? What will happen when I plug the drive back in? Will it mirror all the files without a problem?

   • 

     Hi Arek,
     This is no problem. The job will start and the commands that include the drive, will just fail and the script will continue to the next command line. I regularly unplug one of my hard drives too, and the scheduled robocopy script continues to run.
     –Jacob

   • 

     Actually Jacob that is a great question! And the answer is maybe, but one thing I know for sure is this. Windows scheduled tasks can be configured to “Resume on restart,” so logically if the machine lost power the backup would run on the next boot. Not sure if that helps your cause, but the scheduled task would probably just fail and say so in the log.

     • 

       Hi Sorry for not answering earlier. When the job restarts, robocopy will skip all files already synchronized. I want to restart the job on reboot, if terminated premature, that is probably possible, and for some probably essential and important. For my personal needs, once per day is good enough, and if one fails, the next day is fine enough. Thanks for your input.
       –Jacob

2. 

   Thought I would mention that in my experience if you use the /w:1 or /w:2 instead of /w:0 you eliminate /FFT option requirement. This may be because we are using robocopy scripts to backup Netware NSS volumes but when we use the /FFT command switch we get robocopy cannot find the specified file error.
   Just thought I would mention it.

   • 

     Thanks for sharing this information – I will try it out one of these days!

     –Jacob

3. 

   I enjoyed your well written post. Even though I have experience with robocopy, this was a good refresher and provided information I was not aware of. Armed with this info, I was able to create scripts and was backing user folders to my newly configured Linux server in a matter of minutes. It was nice to have something work “by the book”, especially after fussing around with Samba for a while to get the Windows share folders cooperating. I will definitely share this post when I create info online from my notes on file sharing between Linux and Windows.

   Erick

   • 

     Hi Erick,
     Thank you very much – and be my guest to reshare 🙂
     –Jacob

4. 

   Does this work with Windows 10?

   • 

     Good question – I don’t have Windows 10 yet, but why wouldn’t it? The world would stop turning, if it didn’t 😉

     –Jacob

   • 

     It works just fine in Windows 10 Pro
     Using it every day

5. 

   “I really really hate command line tools, it’s sooo 80s and outdated in these smart phone ages”

   Command line tools remain extremely necessary and desirable for remote administration, interacting with embedded systems hat have no GUI, virtual machines, cloud-based systems, and a host of other applications. There are a lot of things that are still far easier to do at a command prompt. Non-technical users can easily avoid ever having to use them.

   • 

     I agree, and exactly for that reason, I still use them, if necessary. But I still have the opinion (or ambition, being a developer too), that modern tools should be able to do things at least as well using command line tools.

6. 

   Thanks!
   Simple & easy

   • 

     Yup!

7. 

   what if I only need to do incremental backup? I only want to backup the files that have changed since the last backup or yesterday.

   • 

     Hi Tejinder,

     Sorry for way too long reply. I overlooked your message.

     The /mir will only copy changes. If you want and incremental backup, you should use the /m switch instead. It will only copy the files with the archive bit set (which are new or changed files). When the files have been copied, the bit will be reset, and will not get copied again.

     Hope this helps.

     –Jacob

8. 

   Great Post!

   Do you know if there is a way to edit the script to copy only changed files and not the entire folder structure? I’m setting up a back up system using dropbox, external drive and OneDrive, and I’m looking to create a script to copy from my resident dropbox and OneDrive files.

   Thanks, Miccal

   • 

     Hi Miccal,

     Sorry for the way too long reply. Somehow I overlooked your message.

     When you use a mirror copy like I suggest, you only copy the changes. And on a daily basis, it is very fast.

     You can omit the /mir and use /m in instead. It will copy all files with the Archive bit switched on (new and changed files), and then it will reset the archive bit. So if you run it twice in a row, it will only copy the first time.

     If you need to copy to more destinations, use /a (it will copy all files with the archive bit set) to the first destinations, and for the last operation use /m, to reset the archive bit too.

     Hope this helps you!

     –Jacob

9. 

   Hello, Jacob:
   I have used robocopy in a similar way to backup several folders from servers (so I can work disconnected) or local folders to pen drives.
   What I have not been able to do is to copy image files from my phone. There is no drive letter or “\\computerName” associated with it. It appears as “This PC\phoneName” in file explorer, but this name does not work in batch files.

   Any idea?

   • 

     Hi Simon,
     I gave it a quick look. You’re using an iPhone right? Apparantly Apple changed how the iPhone registers, and it no longer registers as a drive, and therefore Robocopy will not be able to access it. There exists third party software to turn the iPhones into a drive again, but I haven’t tried it.

     Please chip in, if any of you guys reading this post, has some additional info on this topic 🙂

     –Jacob

10. 

    Hi Jacob,
    Love the post. I create a .bat file for different types of robocopy tasks, here is one example. The variables makes it easy to change the source and destination with out any confusion, plus are really quick to change.

    @ECHO OFF
    SETLOCAL

    Set -source=”\\changeme-PC\sourcefolder\”
    Set -dest=”\\changeme2-PC\destinationfolder\”
    SET _what= /COPY:DAT /E /Z /M /TEE
    SET _options=/R:3 /W:3 /LOG:Transferlog.txt
    Robocopy %-source% %-dest% %_what% %_options%

    REM /E – Copy Subfolders, including Empty Subfolders
    REM /Z – Restartable

    Cheers,
    Denton

    • 

      Hi Denton,

      I like that approach! Thanks for shareing 🙂

      –Jacob

11. 

    If I run this command:

    @ECHO ON
    SETLOCAL
    SET SourceDir=C:\test1
    SET TargetDir=Z:\test2
    SET LogFile=C:\LogPath\Logfile.txt
    ROBOCOPY “%SourcePath%” “%TargetDir%” *.* /PURGE /S /NP /R:5 /LOG+:%Log% /TS /FP
    GOTO EOF

    How do I delete the source folder after copy/sync?

    • 

      Hi Goulart

      You can use the Robocopy switch /MOVE to move files from the source to the destination or you can use /MOVE (notice the e) and move both files and folders. I think this is what you are looking for.

      As always – test thoroughly on test data BEFORE trying out on real data. Robocopy is fantastic at deleting stuff. Make sure you only delete what you want to delete.

      –Jacob

12. 

    Thak You! I came with this solution:

    @ECHO ON
    SETLOCAL
    SET SourceDir=C:\test1
    SET TargetDir=Z:\test2
    SET tempFolderName=@_Copy_in_progress_DO_NOT_USE_@
    SET LogFile=D:\LogPath\Logfile.txt
    ROBOCOPY “%SourceDir%” “%SourceDir%\%tempFolderName%” /E /MOVE /NS /NP /v /W:0 /R:0 /LOG:%LogFile% /XD “%SourceDir%\%tempFolderName%”
    sleep 5
    ROBOCOPY “%SourceDir%\%tempFolderName%” “%TargetDir%” /E /MOVE /NS /NP /v /W:0 /R:0 /LOG+:%LogFile%
    GOTO EOF

    But the folder “@_Copy_in_progress_DO_NOT_USE_@” still stay at SourceDir. 🙁

    • 

      Hi,
      I think you should leave out the /E switch and only use /MOVE.
      –Jacob

13. 

    Thank You! Now it is working like a charm! If someone need, there is the full script:

    @ECHO ON
    SETLOCAL
    SET SourceDir=C:\test1
    SET TargetDir=Z:\test2
    SET tempFolderName=@_Copy_in_progress_DO_NOT_USE_@
    SET LogFile=D:\LogPath\Logfile.txt
    ROBOCOPY “%SourceDir%” “%SourceDir%\%tempFolderName%” /MOVE /NS /NP /v /W:0 /R:0 /LOG:%LogFile% /XD “%SourceDir%\%tempFolderName%”
    :wait
    TIMEOUT /t 5
    ROBOCOPY “%SourceDir%\%tempFolderName%” “%TargetDir%” /MOVE /NS /NP /v /W:0 /R:0 /LOG+:%LogFile%
    GOTO :EOF

    :REPORT_ERRORLEVEL
    echo.
    if ERRORLEVEL 16 echo ***FATAL ERROR*** & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 15 echo OKCOPY + FAIL + MISMATCHES + XTRA & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 14 echo FAIL + MISMATCHES + XTRA & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 13 echo OKCOPY + FAIL + MISMATCHES & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 12 echo FAIL + MISMATCHES& goto end
    if ERRORLEVEL 11 echo OKCOPY + FAIL + XTRA & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 10 echo FAIL + XTRA & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 9 echo OKCOPY + FAIL & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 8 echo FAIL & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 7 echo OKCOPY + MISMATCHES + XTRA & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 6 echo MISMATCHES + XTRA & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 5 echo OKCOPY + MISMATCHES & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 4 echo MISMATCHES & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 3 echo OKCOPY + XTRA & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 2 echo XTRA & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 1 echo OKCOPY & goto :EOF
    if ERRORLEVEL 0 echo No Change & goto :EOF

    • 

      Cool – and great that you share the final result 🙂

      –Jacob

14. 

    And if you want to start the task only if I put something in the source folder ?

    • 

      I think that is not possible out of the box. You will need a folder watcher, to trigger the Robocopy script.

      –Jacob

15. 

    Nice guide, but you may want to let people know about the dangers of using MIR. If you effed up and used MIR against your on-going backup, your backup will be destroyed. Essentially you’ve created a guide for delayed manual “RAID-1”. They’re not backups, but “hardware” mirrors.

    • 

      Hi,
      Thanks a lot it is an interesting point. I actually think about that myself. I will find a way to explain it detailed.
      –Jacob

16. 

    All of those commands seem like an overkill. What’s wrong (if you don’t want a mirror backup–which is dangerous for networks where users delete files and then come running to the sysadmin days later that they need access to those deleted files) with something like this:

    c:\robocopy.exe c:\[directory to be backed up] e:\[target directory where the files will be backed up to] /b /e /log:e:\backup_log_file.txt

    ex: c:\robocopy.exe c:\home e:\ /b /e /log:e:\backup_log_file.txt

    Where e:\ is the external backup drive;
    c:\home is the folder to be backed up;

    ymmv (your mileage may vary). . . .

    P.S. Thanks for the info on scheduling. 🙂

17. 

    Hello,
    I have a little problem. I have a simple backup script:
    ———–
    robocopy C:\folder1 \\network_nas\Backup\folder1 /MIR /XA:H /W:0 /R:1 /REG /FFT >> C:\users\usernameX\Desktop\externalbackup.log
    ————-

    But in log, i see this:
    2017/12/04 17:55:06 ERROR 5 (0x00000005) Creating Destination Directory \\network_nas\Backup\folder1
    Access is denied.

    How to set credential to destination network server ? for example username, password?

18. 

    Hello Jacob,

    Nice article….

    I need a clarification…

    I want to schedule a robocopy scheduler job for copying updates from a different location at a specified time ( for ex everyday at 3:00AM).

    can I use the robocopy options and create the scheduler ( /RH option)?

    If Yes, Can you please send me a sample code?
    Thanks
    Jay

    • 

      Hi Jay,
      Robocopy is “just” a program that you can launch and it will terminate when done. To relaunch it you will need a task scheduler.

      From your question I can not determine how dynamic your locations are. But if you are copying from a set of folders at various times, then I would make e.g. 4 different robocopy tasks in a scheduler, each doing a specific task.

      Otherwise, if your copying is very dynamic and folder names are based on for instance times, then you will have to launch ROBOCOPY from a PowerShell script or a batch shell. Use the script to set a variable with the location and then launch robocopy using the variable.

      In PowerShell it will look sort of like this:

      $source = YourDynamicLocation
      $destination = YourOtherDynamicLocation
      robocopy $source $destination -add-your-parameters-too

      The specifics on the PowerShell script you will need to figure out.

      –Jacob