Using robocopy to transfer files: tips and tricks

1. To copy a single file [code language="xml"] robocopy c:\this_folder d:\that_folder file.txt [/code]   2. To copy multiple files [code language="xml"] robocopy c:\this_folder d:\that_folder file1.txt file2.txt [/code]   3. To copy all files of a given extension [code language="xml"] robocopy c:\this_folder d:\that_folder *.txt [/code]   4. To copy the contents of an entire directory Robocopy creates the d:\that_folder\a directory and copies the files from the c:\this_folder\a directory into it. Use the E/ switch to copy the entire directory tree under c:\this_folder\a [code language="xml"] robocopy c:\this_folder\a d:\that_folder\a /E [/code]   5. To exclude existing files from the copy A really good tip taken from this GitHub link: This can save a lot of time particularly if you have to copy many large sized files. [code language="xml"] robocopy c:\this_folder d:\that_folder /E /XC /XN /XO [/code] /E - recursively copy sub-directories, including empty ones. /XC - exclude files with the same timestamp but have different file sizes (Robocopy normally overwrites those) /XN - exclude newer files that are in the source directory (Robocopy normally overwrites those) /XO - exclude older files that are in the source directory (Robocopy normally overwrites those) For example: we have some files in F:\Files that we wish to copy to another folder, F:\Files_Copy. We wish to just copy NEW files only, ignoring files that have already been copied: On running the command [code language="xml"]robocopy F:\Files F:\Files_Copy /E /XC /XO[/code] So that the three files are copied to the destination folder: But supposing I run exactly the same command again, when the files have already been copied, observe that no files are copied, only skipped, given that there are no updates, just existing files: I now UPDATE File1.txt in the F:\Files folder: And run the command again [code language="xml"]robocopy F:\Files F:\Files_Copy /E /XC /XO[/code] Notice that the one updated File1.txt is copied over, but the remaining two files are excluded (skipped) from the copy: More to follow...