Back up "My Documents" folder?

[tennesota]

I need help writing a simple batch file to copy "My Documents" to a new folder on the C:\drive.

mkdir "C:\Migration"
mkdir "C:\Migration\My Documents"
This creates the destination folders okay.

xcopy C:\Windows\Profiles\%username%\My Documents\ *.* /s "C:\Migration"
This line does nothing for me.

xcopy C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\My Documents\ *.* /s "C:\Migration"
And this line does nothing for me.

Batch files obviously are not my strong suit; I suspect my semantics are off. Any suggestions?

 

[JonnyBlaze]

dont put a space here : \ *.*


just put \*.*

quotes on that whole path might help too.

 

[JonnyBlaze]

wait, shouldnt it point c:\documents and settings\%username%\my documents ??

 

[tennesota]

This is what I have right now; it copies one file (at least it is a start).

mkdir "C:\Migration\My Documents"
xcopy "c:\documents and settings\%username%\my documents\*.*" /E "C:\Migration\My Documents"

 

[trmiv]

It's only copying one file? I don't know why that would be, I tried it myself and it copies everything in my "My Documents" folder just fine.

 

[tennesota]

:light: My test machine is a laptop with Folder Redirection enabled, the folder redirection is causing me grief. I am confident this batch file will work on workstations without folder redirection turned on (unfortunately I don't have a machine around here set up without it).

🙂 Thanks to all of you for your comments; it is greatly appreciated.

 

[AlucardX]

fyi.. i would use Robocopy

it's far more robust.

 

[amheck]

MS SyncToy is pretty neat, too.

 

[Homerboy]

its not trying to copy some file that is open and crapping out is it?

 

[tennesota]

Originally posted by: AlucardX
fyi.. i would use Robocopy

it's far more robust.

I agree with you but robocopy is not an option with this particular task. We need to capture data on about two dozen workstations that are scattered throughout the US. The end goal is to transfer the data over to another workstation that has already been provided to the end user.

My target audience is not tech savvy so I'm hoping my script will capture and organize the data into a logical folder structure on c: drive. Then the end user will follow instructions for burning the data to CD or copying to external drive.

 

[tennesota]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
its not trying to copy some file that is open and crapping out is it?

No (we are past this hurdle).

 

[tennesota]

My script is working just fine at grabbing My Docs, Favorites, and Desktop. I would also like to scan the hard drive for certain files not listed in Docs and Settings (since anyone with ADMIN rights may have other files on C drive in who knows where).

What can I add to my script that will search for and copy files using wild cards but exclude files in Docs and Settings? I also want to copy the files into a separate folder.

For example I know I can search files using *.doc, *.xls, *.dbf, *.mbd, etc but how do I avoid copying files that were in the Docs and Settings folder?