Does Robocopy keep a log file by default

robocopy

I copied a huge number of files using Robocopy, and received a note at the end that two files failed. I didn't set a switch to save a log file.

Is there a log file saved in a default location automatically? I'd obviously prefer not to re-copy everything, to get this information.

Best Answer

Robocopy does not keep a default log file. It does however only copy files with differences by default. So if you tried the same copy again it would skip the ones that had already successfully copied.

Related Solutions

Robocopy Log File Meaning of New File, New Dir

Example log:

*EXTRA Dir        -1    y:\Open Client Files\sample\
                   0    f:\server\blah\somefolder\
                   6    f:\server\blah\somefolder\

The numbers (-1, 0, 6, etc.) are the number of files in that folder. -1 is used for "Extra Dir" entries, and 0 is used for "New Dir" entries (and other folder without any files in them).

Note this number is a count of only the files in the folders, and does not include sub-folders that may be in the folder.

"New Dir" represents a folder that existed on the source but not in the target, and "Extra Dir" represents a folder that existed in the target that wasn't in the source.

"New File" and "Extra File" are the same thing, only for files. :)

"Extras" will be removed if you're using options like PURGE and MIR.

You may also want to check out this other SU question if you haven't already:

What does robocopy mean by tweaked, lonely and extra?

Windows – Robocopy /S creates empty folders

A few things. . .

It appears that you will need to use the /MIR parameter in place of the /S parameter to ensure directories are not copied over to the destination once they already exist there.
- Using the /MIR parameter will mean empty directories will be copied over to the destination location so this is the trade-off to ensure the already existing directories are not copied over again per each run. There is a simple workaround to quickly remove the empty directories in the destination location which entails running Robocopy <dest> <dest> /S /MOVE directly after the command using the /MIR parameter is run.
If you want omit directories from the Robocopy output then simply add the /NDL parameter.

Robocopy Script

Robocopy "<Source>" "<Destination>" *.* /MIR /COPY:DATSO /B /NP /NDL /XJ /REG /MAXAGE:1 /MT:16 /R:3 /W:1
Robocopy <dest> <dest> /S /MOVE

Important Notes:

Using the /MIR switch will also mean that files and folder in the destination that no longer exist in the source will be purged from the destination

Copying over empty directories per script run versus copying over that same thousands of directories per script run to destination that already exist in destination seems like a small price to pay and since those can easily and quickly be removed this seems like a no-brainer

The Robocopy command of Robocopy <dest> <dest> /S /MOVE which deletes the empty directories from the destination uses the destination location for BOTH source and destination

Further Resources

Robocopy

Robocopy /?

/MIR :: MIRror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE).
/MOVE :: MOVE files AND dirs (delete from source after copying).
/NDL :: No Directory List - don't log directory names.