XCOPY depreiated, use ROBOCOPY

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XCOPY depreiated, use ROBOCOPY

Lynn Pettis

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February 9, 2010 at 8:10 am

#138735

I have found that XCOPY has been depreciated in Windows Server 2008 and we should be using ROBOCOPY.
Can anyone point me toward more documentation on ROBOCOPY? I have found the documentation regarding the various command line options and such, but there isn't much info on how ROBOCOPY can be used.

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Nicholas Cain SSC-Dedicated Points: 33009 More actions · Answer 1

I've not seen much beyond the command line options myself, that being said I use robocopy pretty much exclusively when performing file transfers across the network. The ability to have the copy restartable and automatically retry (for those times when the 50GB file transfer dies 90% of the way through) is invaluable.

There are a couple of sites with comparisons of XCopy and Robocopy which might be more helpful. http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy30.htm

Shamless self promotion - read my blog http://sirsql.net

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 2

Nicholas Cain (2/9/2010)
I've not seen much beyond the command line options myself, that being said I use robocopy pretty much exclusively when performing file transfers across the network. The ability to have the copy restartable and automatically retry (for those times when the 50GB file transfer dies 90% of the way through) is invaluable.
There are a couple of sites with comparisons of XCopy and Robocopy which might be more helpful. http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy30.htm

Oh well, can't get there from here. Will have to check it out from home.

WayneS SSC Guru Points: 95460 More actions · Answer 3

While you're looking at robocopy, you might want to look at forfiles.exe also.

On most of our new servers, we have enough space to maintain several days backup history, so I backup to the local server and use ROBOCOPY /MIR to mirrow the directory to a backup file server.

On the older servers, I just backup the last days backup locally, and use forfiles to delete the old files.

If you want to see the batch files I use, let me know.

Wayne
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Alvin Ramard SSC-Forever Points: 41190 More actions · Answer 4

There's a GUI tool on Technet that will help you generate scripts for RoboCopy.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.11.utilityspotlight.aspx?pr=blog

Alvin Ramard
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Nicholas Cain SSC-Dedicated Points: 33009 More actions · Answer 5

I have to say, I did get very upset when they posted a GUI for Robocopy...that just seems wrong.

/MIR is great

/LOG is the same, there is also code out there for parsing the log and reporting errors back to SQL

One of my favourite things is to watch the file copy percentage increase. Yes, it's like watching paint dry but it's totally fascinating, wasted too much time with that.

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Alvin Ramard SSC-Forever Points: 41190 More actions · Answer 6

Anyone know if PowerShell can do the same things as RoboCopy?

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Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 7

Found some additional documentation in the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools download.

I have configured a scheduled task on a Windows Server 2008 Server that will start when the server starts that will run ROBOCOPY in monitor mode checking for new backup files to be moved to a remote file server.

Tests look really good. Will need to do additional tests once I get the mirror failover processing setup.

Thanks for the feedback.

SQLRNNR SSC Guru Points: 281334 More actions · Answer 8

Ah yes. Robocopy making a comeback after so many years.

Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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Jeffrey Williams SSC Guru Points: 90305 More actions · Answer 9

Alvin Ramard (2/9/2010)
Anyone know if PowerShell can do the same things as RoboCopy?

No - and I really don't understand why they did not build that functionality into it. I am also quite disappointed in the fact that they have not (yet) built a cmdlet that can be used to run Robocopy.

With that said, you can go to this site: http://thepowershellguy.com/blogs/posh/archive/2008/10/01/powershell-and-robocopy-part-5.aspx to see how it can be wrapped and executed from Powershell.

I took the ideas from that site and built a script that I can use, but I haven't actually looked at it recently since I haven't had a requirement to copy a lot of files anywhere.

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Alvin Ramard SSC-Forever Points: 41190 More actions · Answer 10

Jeffrey Williams-493691 (2/9/2010)
Alvin Ramard (2/9/2010)
Anyone know if PowerShell can do the same things as RoboCopy?
No - and I really don't understand why they did not build that functionality into it. I am also quite disappointed in the fact that they have not (yet) built a cmdlet that can be used to run Robocopy.
With that said, you can go to this site: http://thepowershellguy.com/blogs/posh/archive/2008/10/01/powershell-and-robocopy-part-5.aspx to see how it can be wrapped and executed from Powershell.
I took the ideas from that site and built a script that I can use, but I haven't actually looked at it recently since I haven't had a requirement to copy a lot of files anywhere.

Thanks. I was hoping I'd only have to learn one new tool. Oh well.

Alvin Ramard
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For best practices on asking questions, please read the following article: Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help[/url]

TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 11

I don't know what the fuss is about. Kill off something well documented and well understood, introduce something we all thought was lost when the ark struck ground (without any useful documentation) and hope the customers remain happy: standard MS practice - someone somewhere in the development hierarchy (or the sales hierarchy maybe) has a bee in their bonnet, and to hell with sanity.

Or is it not quite as bad as that?

edit: spelling

Tom

Summer90 SSC-Dedicated Points: 32891 More actions · Answer 12

I did not realize that XCOPY was going away. I better start reading up and converting over to ROBOCOPY then.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004409 More actions · Answer 13

Lynn Pettis (2/9/2010)
I have found that XCOPY has been depreciated in Windows Server 2008 and we should be using ROBOCOPY.
Can anyone point me toward more documentation on ROBOCOPY? I have found the documentation regarding the various command line options and such, but there isn't much info on how ROBOCOPY can be used.

Heh... glad to see that Microsoft is still deprecating the most useful tools first. 😉

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kchant Ten Centuries Points: 1231 More actions · Answer 14

Robocopy's great, use it as part of a log shipping solution, I'd recommend not implementing any logging if moving large files though...