Freeware Windows batch file copy util\manager

DublinWriter · 15-09-2016 06:02PM #1

I recently installed an 8TB internal drive in my PC to eventual replace an external 6TB NAS server.

Obviously there's a lot of data to transfer across. Don't really want to use Windows Explorer or shell commands as there's so much stuff to move.

I'm looking for a freeware util that I can run on my Windows box to batch move files and manage the copying. I don't want to leave my PC on 24/7 for a few weeks while the data is being transferred so I'm looking for a util that can stop & start a copy job in the background and doesn't need constant babysitting once a copy job has been set up.

Answers on a postcard anyone?

PeterTheNinth · 15-09-2016 06:49PM

I had a similar issue when I needed to copy a lot of files from location to location a while back over a dodgy connection. When I would start the copy using Windows Explorer, I found that if there were any problems with the line the copy would just fail. And I would have to start it all over again.

To get this done I used a program called RoboCopy, which was released with the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit, and amazingly is still used by many people for such copying tasks. There are a number of third party interfaces that have been designed for it, but I just use the command line executable.

What is great about it is:
- If there is an outage, it just waits twenty seconds and tries again.
- It can log all copy information in a log file, so you can be sure that all the files were copied and how long each file took to copy.

I havent found a better GUI solution

Fysh · 15-09-2016 10:22PM

Robocopy is the way to go for this, I'd say. It's native in the last few versions of windows, extremely robust and versatile. No GUI, but you can just leave it churn through whatever directories you want to copy.

The default set of switches you probably want is /e /z /r:3 /w:0 - this means "copy subdirectories including empty ones, run in restartable mode (can resume if it's interrupted), retry failed copies 3 times, wait 0 seconds between tries". If you want logging, you can add it by using /log:path_to_logfile - I'd suggest also using /TEE in that case as it will ensure output goes to the console and the log file.

ED E · 16-09-2016 01:07AM

24/7 for a few weeks?

Assuming its full and a measly 100MB/s read then thats 60000s or 17hrs rounding up. Overnight task, you don't have a full SAN to copy!

Caveat: Many many small files and you'll see copy performance dive but it would be uncommon to fill 6TB with tiny files.

dunworth1 · 16-09-2016 10:58PM

Unstoppable copier will do the job

Can't post a link as I'm using the app
Just give it a google excellent bit of software

heroics · 16-09-2016 11:21PM

+1 for robocopy. Use /mt if on win7 as well.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733145(v=ws.11).aspx

Freeware Windows batch file copy util\manager

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