Robocopy One-way Synch. Wyscom asked on 2010-05-25. Storage Software; Microsoft Applications; 2 Comments. Last Modified: 2013-12-01. Hi, I am trying to do a robocopy from one network drive to another but we only want to copy the source to the destination. If a file doesnt exist on the source but it does on the destination. I am trying to use Robocopy GUI 3.1 to copy/sync the files from the Office client PC Image Files folder to the WHS shared folder. I have ran tests with Robocopy GUI and I can see that the folder/files are being copied and synced OK. I have saved a Robocopy script cmd file to accomplish the copy/sync.
Requirements:
- In the previous blog, I described the need for a robust way to copy files from one location to another. Microsoft’s built-in utility, Robocopy, is the perfect tool for the job. Not only is it built into the operating system, but it can be automated with another built-in utility in Windows, the Task Scheduler.
- RoboCopy does a one-way sync (from Left → right folder) RoboCopy’s Mirror copy mode (/MIR) is similar to Microsoft SyncToy‘s “Echo” feature. Remember, RoboCopy does only left → right synchronization — NOT a two-way synchronization.
- Robocopy and XCopy are both good solutions to keep a backup copy of your files in a remote location. When your requirements include the need to synchronize the same files across multiple servers, you can setup multiple Robocopy jobs that keep files in sync in multiple directions. That can quickly turn into an administrative nightmare.
- If a file is deleted in source, remove it from destination as well.
- If a file is deleted form destination, do not remove from source.
- if a file is already in source and destination do not do anything
- if a file is on source but not destination, copy to destination
r:60 – retry 60 times
w:5 wait 5 seconds between retries
/PURGE: delete from destination if file is not in source
Robocopy One Way Sync
/MIR MIRror a directory tree
/Z : copy files in restartable mode
![Switches Switches](/uploads/1/3/7/1/137182172/117017917.jpg)
If we use /Z (restartable mode) the transfer bandwidth is about 4 to 6Mbps.
If we take off the /Z switch, it goes between 80-120Mbs
and we need to add /MT:64
/MT[:n] :: Do multi-threaded copies with n threads (default 8).
This way the “file in use” error should be eliminated since Robocopy will have enough time between the scheduled run times to copy even the largest files ~6GB
Robocopy One Way Mirror
On Windows 10, when you need to copy files to another drive, you typically use the standard select, copy, and paste process. Although this process works perfectly fine, speed becomes a bottleneck as trying to transfer a lot of files can take a very long time.
Robocopy 1 Way Sync
As an alternative, many technical users use Robocopy (Robust File Copy), a command-line tool built into Windows 10 that provides more features to move data to a different location more quickly.
One particular feature that makes Robocopy special (and often overlooked) is its multi-threaded feature that allows you to simultaneously copy multiple files. Instead of one file at a time using the copy feature built into File Explorer.
In this guide, you will learn to use the multi-threaded copies feature on Robocopy to speed up the transfer process of files and folders to another drive on Windows 10.
How to use multi-threaded feature with Robocopy
To use the Robocopy multithreaded feature to copy files and folders to another drive faster, use these steps:
- Open Start on Windows 10.
- Search for Command Prompt, right-click the result, and select the Run as administrator Ops1x. option.
- Type the following command to copy the files and folders to another drive and press Enter:In the command, make sure to update the source and destination paths and the options. For example, this command copies data from the drive “C” to “D” and uses the “32” threads for copying:
Robocopy command breakdown
Robocopy Continuous Sync
Robocopy has many features, and in the command shown in this guide, we’re using the following switches to make copy reliable and fast.
- /S -- Copy subdirectories, but not empty ones.
- /E -- Copy Subdirectories, including empty ones.
- /Z -- Copy files in restartable mode.
- /ZB -- Uses restartable mode. If access is denied, use backup mode.
- /R:5 -- Retry 5 times (you can specify a different number, default is 1 million).
- /W:5 -- Wait 5 seconds before retrying (you can specify a different number, the default is 30 seconds).
- /TBD -- Wait for sharenames To Be Defined (retry error 67).
- /NP -- No Progress – don’t display percentage copied.
- /V -- Produce verbose output, showing skipped files.
- /MT:32 -- Do multi-threaded copies with n threads (default is 8).
Robocopy Sync Folders One Way
The most important switch to focus on in the above command is /MT, which is the switch that enables Robocopy to copy files in multi-threaded mode. If you do not set a number next to the /MT switch, then the default number will be 8, which means that Robocopy will try to simultaneously copy eight files. However, Robocopy supports 1 to 128 threads.
In this command, we are using 32, but you can set it to a higher number. The only caveat is that the higher the number, the more resources and bandwidth will be used. If you have an older processor, using a high number will affect performance. As a result, make sure to test before executing the command with a high number of threads.
Once you complete the steps, you will notice that copying files and folders will take significantly less time.
Robocopy One Way Sync App
You are not limited to copying files and folders to an external or internal drive. This also works to migrate files over the network.
Robocopy One Way Sync Software
If you need additional help getting Robocopy to work, submit your questions in the Pureinfotech forums.