Which file does robocopy copy first

robocopy

In my C# application, I am using robocopy for with option /s for copying sub folders also.

Suppose I have files & folders from the last month.

Which file will it copy first, the latest one or the older one?

Is there any way that we can specify that it should copy the old file first or vice versa?

Best Answer

If you want to copy newer (recent) files first, you could use the Robocopy /MAXAGE:n and /MINAGE:n command line options.

You will have to run Robocopy 2 or more times (depending on how much you want to control the file copy order by the "age" of the files).

Here is information about the /MAXAGE:n and /MINAGE:n command line options: 

/MAXAGE:n :: MAXimum file AGE - exclude files older than n days/date.
/MINAGE:n :: MINimum file AGE - exclude files newer than n days/date.
    (If n < 1900 then n = n days, else n = YYYYMMDD date).

In the simplest case for example, you could first copy files that are AT-MOST 1 day old, then when that is finished, copy all files that are AT-LEAST 1 day old. Here are the 2 Robocopy command lines for this (first) example: 

First run of Robocopy:
    robocopy "C:\source\path" "C:\dest\path" /S /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:T /MAXAGE:1
Second run of Robocopy:
    robocopy "C:\source\path" "C:\dest\path" /S /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:T /MINAGE:1

If you want more control than that, you can combine the 2 options. For example:

  1. First copy all files that are AT-MOST, 1 day old
  2. Then copy files that are AT-LEAST 1 day old, and AT-MOST 2 days old
  3. Then copy files that are AT-LEAST 2 days old, and AT-MOST 3 days old
  4. Then copy files that are AT-LEAST 3 days old, and AT-MOST 5 days old
  5. Then copy files that are AT-LEAST 5 days old (all remaining filea)

Here are the Robocopy command lines for this (second) example: 

robocopy "C:\source\path" "C:\dest\path" /S /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:T /MAXAGE:1
robocopy "C:\source\path" "C:\dest\path" /S /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:T /MAXAGE:2 /MINAGE:1
robocopy "C:\source\path" "C:\dest\path" /S /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:T /MAXAGE:3 /MINAGE:2
robocopy "C:\source\path" "C:\dest\path" /S /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:T /MAXAGE:5 /MINAGE:3
robocopy "C:\source\path" "C:\dest\path" /S /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:T /MINAGE:5


If you want to see the order that Robocopy will use to copy the files, you could use the /L option:

robocopy "C:\source\path" "C:\dest\path" /S /COPY:DAT /DCOPY:T /MAXAGE:1 /L

With the /L option, Robocopy will just list the files that "would" be copied, but will not actually copy any files.

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