Robocopy anomaly

[jjo5555]

We have been using the excellent Robocopy for years to Mirror client data to cheap internal drives once per day as a secondary backup. It has saved our client's data many times and meant we have not had to restore from tape.

We tend to use the /MIR switch and with /R:3 /W:3 switches but we have one issue that we cannot work around and wondered if anyone could help?

When a source file is locked you get something like this:

Newer 4.8 g Outlook.pst

2009/07/16 08:52:14 ERROR 33 (0x00000021) Copying File E:\DATA\Work\Bob\outlook\Outlook.pst

The process cannot access the file because another process has locked a portion of the file.Waiting 3 seconds... Retrying...

This is fine and completely acceptable.

However, after the retries fail the corresponding destination is then deleted. This is not the ideal behaviour. We appreciate that the /MIR switch does delete destination files but we would like it not to do so if the file exists but simply cannot be copied in this run. We cannot see a way to achieve this.

Can anyone possibly advise?

[cluberti]

The problem with /MIR is that it's technically just the /PURGE command with the /E option, meaning if it cannot open a file to copy it, it treats it as if it doesn't exist in the file copy (which, I guess, technically it doesn't) so it mirrors that on the destination (removes the older version of a file it cannot copy).

The only real way around this is to either use a tool that doesn't work this way (perhaps look into xxcopy if you must use a command-line tool, which the /CLONE switch doesn't delete remote files it couldn't update, or at least didn't last I used it a few years ago) or look into a backup tool that backs up via a system driver that can bypass the lock (not preferred) or, better, uses volume shadow copies (preferred) on systems that implement it (like XP/2003 and newer).

[jjo5555]

Thanks for that.

Given the plethora of switches I was hoping that the Robocopy guys may have allowed for my scenario. I have got a command line way of creating a shadow copy of a volume and then using Robocopy but the overhead is quite large and I wanted to avoid it if at all possible.

Edited August 4, 2009 by jjo5555

[jaclaz]

1 hour ago, corey_lean said:

I just want to say one thing, for me robocopy is so difficult to use with so many commands to remember, so many attributes to remember, I think I will never be able to use robocopy. I was looking for a GUI alternative to robocopy which could work better than it. My search stopped when I found GS Richcopy 360. It has helped me a lot with my backup and restore. I have been using it for quite a while and its a lot better than other software, although its paid but its worth every penny.

Sure, at only 49.99 for a license it is a steal.

http://www.gurusquad.com/GSRichCopy360/GSRICHCOPY360

particularly since it was priced US$ 79.99.

The company has a very experienced manager:

http://www.gurusquad.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=8

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahamin/

and that in itself is a guarantee of quality, in 2015 he got so outraged by the amount of people that lost data that he commissioned a whitepaper:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/06/prweb12757655.htm

to a marketing firm  .

The White Paper is still available:

http://www.gurusquad.com/blog/datalosswhitepaper/

http://www.tryamillion.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/DATA-LOSS-White-Paper-www.GuruSquad.com_.pdf

and provides unusual insights in this $1.7 Trillion USD  issue, a must read.

But maybe if you had actually continued your search, you would have found better or cheaper software (or both) .

I had a similar experience, last week I was shopping for a car, I have some troubles with my aging Fiat Panda, I had a look at the new Panda, at the Renault Clio, at the Volkswagen Polo, then I suddenly found an Aston Martin dealer and got really caught by the new Vanquish S ...

jaclaz

[dencorso]

Nah! That's too yesterday!
What you really want (you just don't know it yet) is the brand new Bentley Continental GT, of course!

[jaclaz]

On 14/9/2017 at 9:59 PM, dencorso said:

Nah! That's too yesterday!
What you really want (you just don't know it yet) is the brand new Bentley Continental GT, of course!

Are you implying that the Vanquish S is a little bit too youthful for me and that I shuld choose a more serious car?

jaclaz

 

 

 

[bphlpt]

Maybe he thought you couldn't afford the Vanquish, and he was just being polite, while he thought the Bentley was much more affordable.

Cheers and Regards

[dencorso]

5 hours ago, jaclaz said:

Are you implying that the Vanquish S is a little bit too youthful for me and that I shuld choose a more serious car?

Not at all! I do like it, too. But I'd take a 1976 Aston Martin Lagonda instead any time, hands down!
Moreover, since here in S. Paulo driving above 50 km/h (except for two expressways that allow 90 km/h and one rapid crosstown avenue that allows 60 km/h) will get one a ticket (and 5 points which expire after one full year), and when one gets 21 ticket-points one loses the drivers-licence for up to two years and has to undergo an ultra-PITA process to get it back after that time, I now favor going slow, listening to music, immersed in a cool air conditioning and having a diet-coke on top of it, while everybody else curses, blares the horn and sweats in minuscle 1.0 cars and swarms of decrepit 125cc motorcicles zip by.

[jaclaz]

On 16/9/2017 at 5:03 PM, bphlpt said:

Maybe he thought you couldn't afford the Vanquish, and he was just being polite, while he thought the Bentley was much more affordable.

Cheers and Regards

Maybe, or maybe he thought of a possibly common incident involving high-end  Aston Martins :

 

(though most probably somethign similar may happen to Bentley's as well)

JFYI, we (dencorso and me) had recently a PM exchange on the opportunity to have a BfB (Bang for the Bucks) unit of measure when comparing performance of things that can be bought.

Personally (being besides grumpy also cheap)  I rate cars using the PEV (Panda Equivalent Value) which is an abstract and arbitrary unit of measure roughly valued at the moment Eur 13,000 (i.e. the average "list" price of a Panda) but expressed in thousands, 13k.

Max Speed (comfortable/sustainable) of the Panda is assumed 130 km/h, so the S ratio is a nice, round 130/(13*1)=10

As an example a Renault Clio Turbodiesel has a PEV of 19k/13k=1.46 so S is 150/(13*1.46)=7.89

An Aston Martin Vanquish Coupè has a Pev of 273k/13k=21 so S is 220/(13*21)=0.81

The PEV is useful because you can say "wait a minute, I can buy more than twenty Pandas with that kind of money".

 

@dencorso

Naah, you are missing a point, if you have a Lagonda, you also have a chauffeur, and you can afford another one when his points are  lost.

 

jaclaz