Run-down
1: We need to copy files from one folder into another folder – Folder A -> Folder B (while preserving subfolder structure)
2: Some of the files in Folder A are IDENTICAL to files in Folder B
2a: IDENTICAL: Files that are identical in name, size, date created, date modified.
3: Some of the files in Folder A are SIMILAR
3a: SIMILAR: Files which have identical names but are not identical in size, or date
4: The goal is to move files from Folder A into Folder B.
o We want to:
• OVERWRITE: IDENTICAL files
• COPY But Keep Both Files (rename): DUPLICATE files, according to a naming standard (filename_01).
• Preserve folder structure so files in A subfolders are copied into same B subfolders. (ie. Folder A\subfolder1\filesname.exe is copied to B\subfolder1\filename.exe)
The current plan is to use Robocopy (with GUI), can this be done? What switches should I look at using?
If this cannot be done with Robocopy is there another software I should look at?
Best Answer
Nothing beats a readthrough of the Robocopy documentation.
To cover all your objectives using Robocopy I am fairly certain you would need to stage the files in some way first. Such as identifying files which should not be overwritten and being creative in either setting/unsetting some attribute, or appending/prepending a string to the filename, either of which robocopy could identify and act upon. And so on. So multiple passes would be a consequence of choosing Robocopy I believe.
By the sound of your description, are you sure you are not really looking for a backup tool (such as rdiff-backup just to name one possibility) or a custom scripted solution instead of a plain file copy tool?
The question that lingers is why you have a requirement to overwrite identical files where you could simply do a full copy, then incrementally copy changes whilst preserving history (in the manner most desirable for you)?