I'm moving about 196 GB of files from E: to G:, which has roughly 339 GB free. Before running the transfer, I'd like feedback on this Robocopy command and any recommended changes:
robocopy E: G:FromE /E /Z /MT:8 /R:3 /W:5 /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:DAT /TEE /LOG:G:robocopy-copy.txt /XD "System Volume Information" "$RECYCLE.BIN" /XJ
I mainly want to confirm what it will copy, whether any switches are unnecessary or harmful, and how best to verify the results first.
3 Answers
The command is generally suitable for a straightforward copy. /E includes all subdirectories, including empty ones; /COPY:DAT copies data, attributes, and timestamps; /DCOPY:DAT does the same for directory metadata; /XJ skips junction points; and /XD excludes the specified system and recycle-bin folders. If you need to preserve NTFS permissions, ownership, or auditing information, you would need additional copy flags such as /COPY:DATSOU, but that may require appropriate privileges. Use /L before the actual run, and keep the log so you can review Robocopy’s result codes and any failures.
Add /L first to perform a dry run. It will list what Robocopy would copy without actually transferring anything, so you can check the source, destination, exclusions, and file count before starting the real job.
Unless you’re copying over an unreliable network connection, /Z probably isn’t needed for a local E: to G: transfer. Restartable mode can reduce performance. /MT:8 is reasonable, though you can test a higher value if the drives can handle it. Your /R:3 and /W:5 settings are also sensible for limiting retries.
Restartable mode was mainly useful for connections that frequently dropped. For a local disk-to-disk copy, removing /Z will usually provide better throughput.