Windows 10: Robocopy syntax doesn't work in my batch file anymore

Thank you again. I didn't see an option to just "Run as administrator" in the Task Scheduler, which is why I checked "highest privilege". In any event, you're a wealth of knowledge!!

 

You are quite correct.

I seem to have been answering some slightly different question that you didn't ask. Sorry about that.

In task scheduler the "Run with the highest privileges" box means if the user (defined just above in the "When running the task, use the following account" box) is part of the Administrators group then it will run with the administrator privileges. If it is a standard user it will not as a standard user doesn't have an elevated security token to aspire to.

This explains it better: How does "Run with the highest privileges" really work in Task Scheduler ?

So if your user is part of Administrators group then scheduling a task like that will be the same as doing the right click and run as administrator on cmd.exe and typing the robocopy command in manually.

 

I totally agree with the comments made by @lx07.
Just to add, that if you want to have an exact mirror of your files you should also add the /DCOPY:T switch to copy the date/time of the folders too.
Regarding the RoboCopy's /MT option disabling /NP switch, the problem does not exist anymore.

If it can be of any help this the command I use:
(Since I backup to an external disk, I start by confirming the Drive letter of the external disk, which you can omit, if you have a fixed disk where you backup and change the %drive% with your drive's letter E:, F: etc.)

Code: set /P Drive="Drive to perform the backup (E: F: G: etc.) " RoboCopy "%userprofile%\Documents" "%Drive%\Backup\Documents" /MIR /COPYALL /DCOPY:T /XJ /MT:16 /R:0 /W:0 /UNILOG+:"C:\Backup\backup.log" /TEE /NP /FP /NDL /BYTES[/quote]

 

[/quote] Thank you for this additional information; I appreciate your time. Of course, this raises a couple questions.

1) In reading the robocopy options, I notice that this is for directories (folders, I presume), rather than files. Under "Date modified", I notice that the date listed does change. Is this something different than the timestamp for folders? i.e. I'm not sure what it does. I'm also not sure whether copying the D (Data) & A (Attributes) is needed, as well as the timestamp.

2) I copy to 1 of 2 different external drives on different weeks (D & E). I've been manually modifying the code every week (not difficult really). But is there a way for Robocopy to copy to whichever drive is connected? i.e. D:\etc. or E:\etc.

Thank you again!

 

1. The /DCOPY:T switch copies the timestamp of each copied directory (= folder). The D,A are not needed as they are copied by the /MIR switch.

2. That is done by the first line I use:
set /P Drive="Drive to perform the backup (E: F: G: etc.) "
i.e prompts the user to enter the drive letter of the external disk and saves it in the variable %Drive%, which is then used in the RoboCopy command.

 

Thank you again for this additional information. It's good to know, but I won't be able to use this, as I run this late at night when I'm not at the computer. I've learned a lot.

 

For what it's worth, I used Robocopy on my 2nd machine, a WinXP SP-3 machine. When I tried to create a logfile, the /DCOPY:T switch prevented the logfile from being created...even if I made it /DCOPY:TDA. I guess it works somewhat differently in WinXP.

 

Hard to say - I was born in the 80's.

Whether robocopy worked at that time I'd have to google (assuming Google predated XP which I don't know).

I know my own little peeve with it (the 100%100%100% in the log file) isn't fixed in the last 20 years.

 

Are you using the /MT switch?
Mind you that this switch was introduced in Win7, long later WinXP

 

To avoid the 100%100%100% in the log file, use the:
/NP switch (No Progress - don't display percentage copied.)

I'm using /TEE /NP /FP /NDL /BYTES and the log file is OK.

 

Thank you. It was really bugging me that.

 

You're very welcome. Glad I could help! *Smile

 

Sorry...I missed this. No, I'm not using the /MT switch. However, I put the /DCOPY:T with the other switches before the /LOG*Biggrin:\backups\etc.. When I put the switch after /LOG*Biggrin:\backups\etc., it seems to work. So I guess I goofed. I'll see if it works tomorrow.

 

I just put the /DCOPY:T switch at the end (on my Win10 machine). The log file was created, BUT when I opened it, I got this message on 2 of the log files:
"Copying NTFS Security to Destination Directory D:\backups\FolderName\This security ID may not be assigned as the owner of this object."
Not sure what's going on.

 

It seems that the destination file permissions cannot be set by your account.

I would suggest two options:
1. Check this: This security ID may not be assigned as the owner of this object. or
2. Add the /B switch (to run in Backup mode)