Question

Robocopy keeps copying same folder over and over again

Asked by: maianoel

I've recently started to use Robocopy for my daily backups.  It seems to work well but I have one issue.  It keeps copying the one folder over and over again.

I'm running Windows Vista and so far ever folder has copied with no problem except for the C:\Users folder.  I've tried to setup the batch file to copy the files and keep the same directory structure but it keeps copying a "Documents and Settings" folder with a subfolder for "All Users" which I don't even see as a valid folder on my PC (I am showing hidden files/folders).  To make matters worse, this folder apparently has some subfolders that it just keep copying over and over again, nesting them within themselves.

For instance, if the Users folder has subfolders called 1,2,3,4, and 5, then folders are created with those names but for some reason folder 5 gets new folders created for 1,2,3,4,5, then again #5 has them created, and again and again.  Maybe I'm just missing something but I can not figure this out!

My batch file line to kickoff the backup is as follows:

robocopy C:\ P:\%ComputerName%\  /S /COPY:DAT /XO /ZB /R:0 /W:0 /ETA /MON:5 /XA:STH

Can someone let me know what I'm doing wrong?  Thanks in advance for your help!

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Asked On
2009-03-30 at 09:43:51ID24277935
Tags

Robocopy

,

Windows Vista

,

Backup

,

Batch File

Topic

Windows Vista

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: BrandonGalderisiPosted on 2009-03-30 at 09:46:21ID: 24020644

I had a problem similar to that.  The problem that "I" had was because somehow I had a shortcut in a folder that pointed to another folder in it's lineage.  So a shortcut to it's grandparent.  It would seem to get it stuck in a loop.

 

by: maianoelPosted on 2009-03-30 at 09:49:56ID: 24020682

Really... how were you able to locate the short cut and fix the issue?

 

by: maianoelPosted on 2009-03-30 at 09:57:34ID: 24020765

to make matters worse I've even looked through my C: drive and I don't even see a directory structure that matches what Robocopy is even backing up...

 

by: LeeTutorPosted on 2009-03-30 at 10:04:39ID: 24020842

The C:\Users\<useraccountname> folder has a number of symbolic links in it which you can only see when hiding files and folders is turned off in Folder Options. E.g., My Documents is a symbolic link to C:\Users\<account>\Documents. These symbolic links are there to make it easier for older programs written for XP able to work without having to be modified to reflect Vista's new folder structure. These are probably what are causing the problem. To see the symbolic links, go to the CMD prompt in the \Users\<useraccountname> folder and type DIR /AL

 

by: maianoelPosted on 2009-03-30 at 10:24:19ID: 24021032

great, thanks... and I'm sorry, now that I've done that what do I do about it?  I don't see anything listed which has a symbolic link referencing Documents and Settings.  Is there a way to fix the links or change the batch file to prevent this?

 

by: LeeTutorPosted on 2009-03-30 at 10:38:28ID: 24021179

There is a Documents and Settings symbolic link in the C: root directory.  I'm not sure what you can do about it.

 

by: maianoelPosted on 2009-03-30 at 11:12:38ID: 31564411

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, guys... this really helped me solve my problem!

 

by: maianoelPosted on 2009-03-30 at 11:13:54ID: 24021533

Great, thanks guys, this really helped me.  Apparently if you add the /XJ switch it will exclude the junction points.  Once I did that my backup is now running like it should.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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