Robocopy syntax doesn't work in my batch file anymore

Hi phrab.

This post will likely help.

bat job started by Task Scheduler does not pause


Ken

Samuria said:

A bat file is old MS-DOS command file you should have a .cmd extension for Windows file

You can use .bat or .cmd interchangeably in Windows NT or above and CMD.EXE will treat them identically, with one important distinction.

Mark Zbikowski (MSFT) said:

The differences between .CMD and .BAT as far as CMD.EXE is concerned are:
With extensions enabled, PATH/APPEND/PROMPT/SET/ASSOC in .CMD
files will set ERRORLEVEL regardless of error. .BAT sets ERRORLEVEL
only on errors.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!ms...k/LIEViGNmkK0J

Yes I would use Task manager to start this file.

Elevated in simple terms you are giving it additional permissions.

https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/e/elevated.htm

As I understand it you would just use the file as you use it today. When you run it through Task Manager it will invoke Powershell.

Yes I believe the syntax is right. You added the extra quotes surrounding the entire line as you had quotes within your command. I did not look at your robocopy parameters.

I think you are making your robocopy parameters far too complicated.

I don't see the point in scheduling the job to run at 01:30 for 3 hours to look for changes. What will happen? Surely you scheduled it at a time when nothing was happening. Why not just run it to do the backup of changed files and then stop (that is what I do).

With regards to the robocopy switches:
You specify /Z to copy files in restartable mode. Why? You would only use this for massive files over dodgy connections. Drop it.
You have the /TS to log timestamps but you don't specify a log file. The switch is therefore pointless.
You have reduced the wait time on error from the default 30 seconds to 5. And retries to 10. This means if it can't find your backup it will try again for 50 seconds. I'd set both to zero - it is a local drive and you either connected it or forgot to.

Then you are monitoring to see if any changes have happened in the 180 minutes after you submit the job. This means if you submit the job for 01:30 it will see if any changes occur before 03:30. This may be what you want but I doubt it.

You also are not copying all security flags - the default is /COPY:DAT - I'd change that to /COPYALL (to include (S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing info)

Therefore I'd change this:
Robocopy "C:\Users\Phil\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\MyProfile" "E:\Backups\Thunderbird\Profiles\MyProfile" /MIR /Z /W:5 /TS /MOT:180 /R:10 to:
Robocopy "C:\Users\Phil\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\MyProfile" "E:\Backups\Thunderbird\Profiles\MyProfile" /MIR /COPYALL /R:0 /W:0

There is no advantage running robocopy by powershell than cmd incidentally - the result is exactly the same. However splitting out the parameters into arrays and forcing quote marks around paths is a bore in powershell.

I do use powershell for this though: this is my robocopy script (triggered via task scheduler when I put my laptop in the dock) to give you an idea.

PHP Code:

$backupDrive='E'
$backupLocation=$backupDrive+':\X201 Backup'

$backupDirectories = @(    
,('D:\Music','*.*')
,('C:\Users\Hali\Documents\Calibre Library','*.*')
,('C:\Users\Hali\OneDrive','*.*')
)

# Check if dock connected
if (Test-Path $backupLocation) {
    For($i=0;$i -lt $backupDirectories.Count; $i++) {
        $source=$backupDirectories[$i][0]
        $files=$backupDirectories[$i][1]
                    
        if(Test-Path $source) {
            $sourceDrive=(get-item $source).PSDrive.Name
            $unqualifiedPath=split-path -noqualifier $source
            $destination="$backupLocation\$sourceDrive$unqualifiedPath"
            
            $logfile="""$backupLocation\Backup Logs\Backup $(get-date -f yyyy-MM-dd' 'HH-mm-ss-fffff) $(split-path -leaf $source).log"""
            
            # Robocopy options
            $copyOptions = @('/B','/COPYALL','/MIR')
            $selectionOptions = @()
            $retryOptions = @('/R:0','/W:0')
            $loggingOptions = @('/NFL','/NDL',"/LOG:$logfile",'/TEE')
            $jobOptions = @()
            
            $CmdLine = @('"{0}"' -f $source) +@('"{0}"' -f $destination) +@($files) +$copyOptions +$selectionOptions +$retryOptions +$loggingOptions +$jobOptions
            & 'robocopy.exe' $CmdLine
        }            
    }            
} 


You should also note that if you use the /MT switch with /LOG you will get hundreds or thousands of pages saying "100%100%100%100%" etc in your logfile.

According to TechNet (in 2009): Robocopys /MT option disables /NP option it will be fixed soon but that was nearly a decade ago.

lx07 said:

I think you are making your robocopy parameters far too complicated.

I don't see the point in scheduling the job to run at 01:30 for 3 hours to look for changes. What will happen? Surely you scheduled it at a time when nothing was happening. Why not just run it to do the backup of changed files and then stop (that is what I do).

With regards to the robocopy switches:
You specify /Z to copy files in restartable mode. Why? You would only use this for massive files over dodgy connections. Drop it.
You have the /TS to log timestamps but you don't specify a log file. The switch is therefore pointless.
You have reduced the wait time on error from the default 30 seconds to 5. And retries to 10. This means if it can't find your backup it will try again for 50 seconds. I'd set both to zero - it is a local drive and you either connected it or forgot to.

Then you are monitoring to see if any changes have happened in the 180 minutes after you submit the job. This means if you submit the job for 01:30 it will see if any changes occur before 03:30. This may be what you want but I doubt it.

You also are not copying all security flags - the default is /COPY:DAT - I'd change that to /COPYALL (to include (S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing info)

Therefore I'd change this:
Robocopy "C:\Users\Phil\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\MyProfile" "E:\Backups\Thunderbird\Profiles\MyProfile" /MIR /Z /W:5 /TS /MOT:180 /R:10 to:
[c]Robocopy "C:\Users\Phil\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\MyProfile" "E:\Backups\Thunderbird\Profiles\MyProfile" /MIR /COPYALL /R:0 /W:0...

Thought I had this, but my batch file isn't working properly. When I use the /COPYALL switch, it doesn't work. If I use:
/MIR /COPYALL /R:0 /W:0
-OR-
/MIR /COPYALL /R:0 /W:0 /MT:25
it just flashes, but doesn't copy anything.

If I use:
/MIR /R:0 /W:0
-OR-
/MIR /R:0 /W:0 /MT:25
it works.

Can you figure out what I'm doing wrong? Thank you again for your time & patience!

Additional: I ran the command from a command prompt & got this message:
ERROR : You do not have the Manage Auditing user right.
***** You need this to copy auditing information (/COPY:U or /COPYALL).

Since this is my own computer & my user profile has administrator rights, how can I add the "Manage Auditing user right"? Thank you again!

Additional: Sorry for panicking. The syntax works on my WinXP machine & I found the tutorial on adding user rights, so it appears to work now in Windows 10. It will run at 1:15AM tomorrow morning. I'll post back if it doesn't work. Sorry for all the additional questions that I should have researched before posting. Many thanks!