Best Free PowerShell Robocopy Equivalent in Windows 7, 8, 10, 11

What is RoboCopy?

Robocopy (Robust File Copy for Windows) is a command-line directory and file replication command for Microsoft Windows replaced Xcopy since Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 and provides more options to copy files. Compared with copy and paste, you will get faster speed than a copy with Robocopy. The most important difference is that Robocopy will (usually) retry when an error occurs, while copy will not. In most cases, that makes Robocopy far more suitable for use in a script.

Powershell Robocopy Syntax and Parameters

Here is the syntax of Robocopy, and you could input robocopy /? to see the syntax:

robocopy [Source] [Destination] [[File][ ...]] [Options]

• [Source] specifies the path to the source directory.

• [Destination] specifies the path to the destination directory.

• [[File][ ...]] specifies the file or files to be copied.

•  [Options]adds some copy options, such as:

• /s: Copies subdirectories. Note that this option excludes empty directories.

• /e: Copies subdirectories. Note that this option includes empty directories.

• /lev: Copies only the top N levels of the source directory tree.

• /z: Copies files in restartable mode.

• /b: Copies files in Backup mode.

• /zb: Uses restartable mode. If access is denied, this option uses Backup mode.

• /efsraw: Copies all encrypted files in EFS RAW mode.

• /copyall: Copies all file information.

And many other options for you to copy files.

How to Transfer Files with RoboCopy in Windows 10

For example, we transfer the two files: a-test.docx, and b-test.txt from E:\backuptest to F:\backuptest1, please input the command:

robocopy E:\backuptest F:\backuptest1 a-test.docx b-test.txt

Besides, you could create an incremental copy with /xo (exclude older files), or /mir (Mirror a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /PURGE).) option.

However, you may encounter Robocopy slows with the /z option, which means copy files in restartable mode. If you run robocopy /z to copy files and canceled with Ctrl + C on the halfway, restart the computer, then run the command again, and it'll copy super slowly.

Why Do You need PowerShell Robocopy Alternative?

RoboCopy does speed up the file duplicate, it has some limitations that Impedes user operation and use.

• It is kind of complicated and troublesome.

• Robocopy does not copy open files.

• It is not useful for backing up live operating system volumes.

Furthermore, although Robocopy itself is a command-line tool, Microsoft TechNet provides a GUI called Robocopy GUI, and other advanced tools, like RichCopy, PowerCopy, etc. However, these Robocopy alternatives in Windows operating system has some limitations:

• Robocopy GUI is not available now.

• RichCopy: only for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Windows Server 2003.

• PowerCopy: only for Windows 7/8, Windows Server 2008(R2)/2012.

Best Free PowerShell Robocopy Equivalent - AOMEI Backupper

If you want to find an easier way to copy files, it is highly recommended to use the best free Powershell Robocopy equivalent - AOMEI Backupper Standard. How to copy files easily in Windows 7/8/10? This freeware provides you File Sync feature to copy files easily and quickly with a few clicks. Besides, this is available for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, and 11.

Please download AOMEI Backupper Standard first, and try it with the following steps. For Server users, try AOMEI Backupper Server to get the job done.

1. On the main window, click Sync -> Basic Sync in turn.

2. Click +Add Folder button to select files you need to sync.

3. Select another location to save the files from the source path. Or tap Select a network location or Select a cloud drive to choose NAS or cloud drives as the destination.

4. Click Start Backup >> button to copy files from the source location to the destination with PowerShell Robocopy Equivalent.

▶ Tips:
✿ Options: You could comment on the synchronization job, even enable email notification to get an email alert while finished the job.
✿ Schedule: You could run this synchronization job via daily, weekly, monthly, even USB plug-in, or event triggers. The last two options are premium features, please upgrade to AOMEI Backupper Professional or other premium editions.
✿ Real-time sync: This is a premium feature to sync files or folders as soon as possible they changed.

Now, you already have a copy of files, and you can view, modify or delete per your needs. To make it safter, you could consider using the File Backup or Cloud Backup features. Both compress all the files or folders you want to backup into an image file, so you cannot make any changes before restoring. 

Conclusion

As the best free Powershell Robocopy equivalent - AOMEI Backupper Standard, is easily and quickly to copy files from one drive to another. It’s faster than Robocopy, Robocopy GUI or other Robocopy alternative GUI tools. And provides more flexible features to backup, clone and restore data without efforts. 

Besides, AOMEI Backupper Standard is capable of cloning Windows 10 to SSD without reinstalling OS and make it bootable, clone entire hard disk to copy all the data on the source disk, etc.

If you are IT technicians who prefer to copy files using command prompt in Windows 7/8/10, you could run AMBackup.exe as an administrator to achieve the goal. Moreover, you could create a backup task to protect your data in case something bad happens to your computer, and save storage space.