Robocopy Cheat Sheet
Robocopy is a command-line tool used for file replication. It is available in Windows operating systems and is used to copy large files or large amounts of files from one location to another.
Syntax
ROBOCOPY source_folder destination_folder [file(s)_to_copy] [options]
- source_folder: Specifies the folder that contains the files to copy.
- destination_folder: Specifies the destination folder for the copied files.
- file(s)_to_copy: Specifies the file(s) to be copied. You can use wildcard characters to specify multiple files.
- options: Specifies the options to use when copying the files.
Options
Copy Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| /S | Copies subdirectories. |
| /E | Copies subdirectories, including empty ones. |
| /LEV:n | Copies only the top n levels of the source directory tree. |
| /Z | Copies files in restartable mode. |
| /B | Copies files in backup mode (backup operator privileges required). |
| /ZB | Uses restartable mode; if access is denied, Robocopy will use backup mode. |
| /COPY:copyflag | Copies file information specified by copyflag. You can specify multiple copyflag values separated by commas. |
| /DCOPY:copyflag | Copies directory information specified by copyflag. You can specify multiple copyflag values separated by commas. |
| /TIMFIX | Fixes file times to prevent timestamp drift. |
| /PURGE | Deletes destination files or directories that no longer exist in the source. |
| /MIR | Mirrors a directory tree (copies all files, including empty directories). Deletes files in the destination that are no longer in the source. |
| /MT[:n] | Specifies the number of threads to use when copying files. The default is 8 threads. |
Retry Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| /R:n | Specifies the number of times that Robocopy should retry copying a file. The default is 1 million retries. |
| /W:n | Specifies the time, in seconds, that Robocopy should wait between retries. The default is 30 seconds. |
| /REG | Saves retry information to the system registry instead of a file. |
Logging Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| /L | Displays the files that would be copied, but does not copy them. |
| /X | Excludes files that match specified names or paths. |
| /XC | Excludes changed files. |
| /XN | Excludes newer files. |
| /XO | Excludes older files. |
| /XX | Excludes extra files and directories. |
| /XL | Excludes "lonely" files and directories (those that are only in the source or destination, but not both). |
| /LOG:file | Writes the status output to a log file. |
| /LOG+:file | Appends the status output to a log file. |
| /TEE | Writes the status output to the console window and to the log file. |
| /NJH | Suppresses the "job header" in the status output. |
| /NJS | Suppresses the "job summary" in the status output. |
| /UNILOG:file | Writes the status output to a log file in Unicode format. |
Other Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| /NFL | Specifies that file names should not be logged. |
| /NDL | Specifies that directory names should not be logged. |
| /NC | Specifies that file classes should not be logged. |
| /NS | Specifies that file sizes should not be logged. |
| /NP | Specifies that the progress of the copy operation should not be displayed. |
| /BYTES | Displays file sizes in bytes. |
| /K | Copies file attributes. |
| /A | Copies only files that have the archive attribute set. |
| /M | Copies only files that have the archive attribute set, and resets the attribute. |
| /FFT | Uses FAT file timing instead of NTFS. |
| /256 | Uses 256-color mode. |