Use Robocopy to copy only changed files

Question

I m trying to find an easy way of deploying only changed files to the webserver for deployment purpose   In times past I ve used MSBuild  which could be told to only copy files that were newer than the ones on the target  but I m in a hurry and don t want to try to figure out the newer version of MSBuild     Can I use ROBOCOPY for this   There is a list of options for exclusion  which is     XC    eXclude Changed files   XN    eXclude Newer files   XO    eXclude Older files   XX    eXclude eXtra files and directories   XL    eXclude Lonely files and directories    What exactly does it mean to exclude   Exclude copying  or exclude overwriting   For example  if I wrote   ROBOCOPY C  SourceFolder ABC dll D  DestinationFolder  XO   would this copy only newer files  not files of the same age   Or is there a better tool to do this

User · Answer

Looks like  e option is what you need  it ll skip same files directories   robocopy c  data c  backup  e   If you run the command twice  you ll see the second round is much faster since it skips a lot of things

User · Answer

To answer all your questions      Can I use ROBOCOPY for this    Yes  RC should fit your requirements  simplicity  only copy what needed        What exactly does it mean to exclude    It will exclude copying - RC calls it skipping       Would the  XO option copy only newer files  not files of the same age    Yes  RC will only copy newer files  Files of the same age will be skipped    the correct command would be robocopy C  SourceFolder D  DestinationFolder ABC dll  XO     Maybe in your case using the  MIR option could be useful  In general RC is rather targeted at directories and directory trees than single files

User · Answer

You can use robocopy to copy files with an archive flag and reset the attribute  Use  M command line  this is my backup script with few extra tricks   This script needs NirCmd tool to keep mouse moving so that my machine won t fall into sleep  Script is using a lockfile to tell when backup script is completed and mousemove bat script is closed  You may leave this part out   Another is 7-Zip tool for splitting virtualbox files smaller than 4GB files  my destination folder is still FAT32 so this is mandatory  I should use NTFS disk but haven t converted backup disks yet   backup-robocopy bat   REM https   technet microsoft com en-us library cc733145 aspx  REM http   www skonet com articles archive robocopy job template aspx  set basedir   dp0 del  Q  basedir backup-robocopy-log txt  set dt  date   time  0 8  echo   dt  robocopy started   gt   basedir backup-robocopy-lock txt start  Keep system awake   MIN  LOW  cmd exe  C  basedir backup-robocopy-movemouse bat  set dest E  backup  call  BACKUP  Program Files MariaDB 5 5 data  call  BACKUP  projects  call  BACKUP  Users Myname    SPLIT  REM Split  4GB file to multiple files to support FAT32 destination disk   REM splitted files must be stored outside of the robocopy destination folder  set srcfile C  Users Myname VirtualBox VMs Ubuntu Ubuntu vdi set dstfile  dest  Users Myname VirtualBox VMs Ubuntu Ubuntu vdi set dstfile2  dest  non-robocopy Users Myname VirtualBox VMs Ubuntu Ubuntu vdi IF NOT EXIST   dstfile       IF NOT EXIST   dstfile2  7z 001  attrib  A   srcfile     dir  b  aa   srcfile    amp  amp        del  Q   dstfile2  7z        c  apps commands 7za exe -mx0 -v4000m u   dstfile2  7z     srcfile       attrib -A   srcfile        set dt  date   time  0 8       echo  dt  Splitted  srcfile   gt  gt   basedir backup-robocopy-log txt        del  Q  basedir backup-robocopy-lock txt GOTO  END    BACKUP TITLE Backup   1 robocopy exe  c    1    dest    1   JOB  basedir backup-robocopy-job rcj GOTO  EOF    END  set dt  date   time  0 8   echo  dt  robocopy completed  gt  gt   basedir backup-robocopy-log txt  echo  dt  robocopy completed  pause   backup-robocopy-job rcj     Robocopy Job Parameters    robocopy exe  c  projects   E  backup projects   JOB backup-robocopy-job rcj      Source Directory  this is given in command line     SD c  examplefolder     Destination Directory  this is given in command line     DD E  backup examplefolder     Include files matching these names  IF           M         copy only files with the Archive attribute and reset it   XJD       eXclude Junction points for Directories      Exclude Directories  XD     C  projects bak     C  projects old     C  project tomcat logs     C  project tomcat work     C  Users Myname  eclipse     C  Users Myname  m2     C  Users Myname  thumbnails     C  Users Myname AppData     C  Users Myname Favorites     C  Users Myname Links     C  Users Myname Saved Games     C  Users Myname Searches     Exclude files matching these names  XF      C  Users Myname ntuser dat          bpl     Exclude files with any of the given Attributes set    S System  H Hidden  XA SH           Copy options  S             copy Subdirectories  but not empty ones   E             copy subdirectories  including Empty ones   COPY DAT      what to COPY for files  default is  COPY DAT    DCOPY T       COPY Directory Timestamps   PURGE         delete dest files dirs that no longer exist in source      Retry Options  R 0           number of Retries on failed copies  default 1 million   W 1           Wait time between retries  default is 30 seconds      Logging Options  LOG  append   NDL           No Directory List - don t log directory names   NP            No Progress - don t display percentage copied   TEE           output to console window  as well as the log file   LOG  c  apps commands backup-robocopy-log txt    append to logfile   backup-robocopy-movemouse bat   echo off  REM Move mouse to prevent maching from sleeping   rem while running a backup script  echo Keep system awake while robocopy is running  echo this script moves a mouse once in a while   set basedir   dp0 set IDX 0   LOOP IF NOT EXIST   basedir backup-robocopy-lock txt  GOTO  EOF SET  A IDX  IDX    1 IF   IDX     240      SET IDX 0   echo Move mouse to keep system awake   c  apps commands nircmdc exe sendmouse move 5 5   c  apps commands nircmdc exe sendmouse move -5 -5   c  apps commands nircmdc exe wait 1000 GOTO  LOOP

[command-line] Use Robocopy to copy only changed files?

Examples related to command-line

Examples related to synchronization

Examples related to command-line-arguments

Examples related to robocopy