Robocopy in Windows 11/10 is a robust, flexible, configurable tool, with over 80 switches. It can handle any batch or synchronous copy you have in mind. Robocopy is designed for reliable mirroring of directories or directory trees. It has features to ensure all NTFS attributes and properties are copied and includes an additional restart code for network connections subject to disruption.
Robocopy or “Robust File Copy“, is a command-line directory replication command, which can copy files & directory trees. It has been around as an independent tool for a little while but finally, in Windows Vista, someone has seen fit to give the little tool the recognition it deserves, and as a result, it now sits on a high pedestal in the system32 directory on every Windows Vista installation.
Robocopy switches
Open an elevated CMD, type robocopy /?, and hit Enter to see the full set of parameters or switches available.
Start with the /mir and /z switches to get a sense of the power of the tool, but be careful with /mir since it will delete as well as copy files to bring the destination folder in sync with the source folder.
Robocopy in Windows
Now, in Windows 11/10, you can copy your files in multi-thread too! Enabling multithreading in Robocopy results in higher performance of the tool. If you use the /mt parameters along with the /z parameter, it will enable the ability of Robocopy to restart the file transfer if it is interrupted.
Just add the /MT switch and define the number of threads and instant multi-threading copy!
To do that, the command syntax is:
ROBOCOPY /MT:<n>
In the above command, n is an integer, whose value lies between 1 and 128. Its default value is 8.
Use Microsoft Robocopy GUI
It is not an easy tool to use. You may want to download the Microsoft Robocopy GUI. More on this here on microsoft.com.
Included in the folder, you will also find the full Robocopy reference guide with a full index of all of the Robocopy commands and syntax.
Under Copy Options and Filters, if you move your cursor to each of the switches, you will get a tool-tip description as to what the switch will do.
For more details about each option, you can also see the Robocopy.exe Users Guide. Click on Help > Robocopy Users Guide.
You can also download and use RoboCop RoboCopy from Sourceforge. It is a GUI skin and script generator for Robocopy.exe (Win NT Resource Kit).
RichCopy from Microsoft is another tool you can consider.
Difference between XCopy and Robocopy
Robocopy replaces XCopy in the newer versions of Windows – although you will find both these tools being there in Windows 11/10.
The main differences between the two are:
- Robocopy uses Mirroring, XCopy does not
- Robocopy can copy over more file attributes than XCopy
- Robocopy has a /RH option to allow a set time for the copy to run
- Robocopy has a /MON:n option to check differences in files.
You can open a CMD and type Robocopy /? and XCopy /? to see the available parameters.
That’s it. I hope this helps.
Is Robocopy installed on Windows 10?
Robocopy is a command line tool and is available in both Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating systems. To use Robocopy on your system, you need to use the robocopy command in the Command Prompt window with the correct parameters. You can use these parameters to specify your copy requirements. For example, if you want to copy all the subfolders along with the empty ones, you can use the /s parameter.
Is Robocopy a Microsoft tool?
Yes, Robocopy is a Microsoft tool. It is a command-line tool and comes with Windows 11/10. You can run it through the Command Prompt. To use Robocopy, you should know the c correct parameters. For different file copy requirements, it has different parameters, such as if you do not want to skip empty folders, you can use the /s parameter. In addition to Robocopy, other command-line tools are also available in Windows 11/10, such as Xcopy.
Read next: How to copy files using Command Prompt in Windows.
