Best Xcopy Alternative in Windows 11/10/8/7/XP (Video Tutorial)

Looking for the best Xcopy alternative for Windows 11/10/8/7/XP? Read to learn a powerful alternative to Xcopy when facing Xcopy not working error.

By @Delia Last Updated December 12, 2024

What is the Alternative to Xcopy?

So powerful as Xcopy is, but users still need the Xcopy alternative. According to its user feedback, copying files failed due to Xcopy not working sometimes. In some cases, Xcopy halts because of an “Insufficient Memory” error or an invalid number of parameters.

Best Alternative to Xcopy for Windows

AOMEI Backupper Professional is an easy-to-use command line backup and recovery solution for Windows PC users. With it, you can enjoy the following convenient smart features:

AOMEI Backupper
Easy Hard Drive and SSD Cloning Software

  • It allows you to backup files from one location to another location including an external hard drive, USB flash drive, Cloud drive desktop folder, network share, and NAS.

  • Backing up living operating system volumes and open files (hot backup/clone/sync) with incremental/differential backup is available as well.

  • You have choices to compress and split backup images, and password encrypt backup images during the backup process. You can restore these backups to a computer even if it has dissimilar hardware. 

  • The Basic Sync feature will help you copy files to the target location with schedule modes in simple steps. 

Download Demo Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7
100% Secure

The following parts will emphasize how to back up files from one location to another using CMD and how to sync files from one place to another in the graphical user interface. Let’s take a closer look.

Backup System to another Drive

  1. Click Start and type the command prompt. Right-click Command Prompt from the list and select Run as administrator.
  2. At the prompt, type cd + the installation path of AOMEI Backupper, e.g. cd C:\Program Files\AOMEI Backupper, and press Enter.
  3. Type AMBackup.exe /b new /t system /d "d:\sys" /n "Backup System" and press Enter. That means creating a system backup task named “Backup System” and placing the image in a folder named sys in D drive.
  4. (Optional) You can make incremental or differential backups for selected backup items. For example, type AMBackup.exe /b inc /s “d:\sys\system.adi and press Enter to back up the system incrementally.
  5. (Optional) To backup files to a shared folder in the network path, type AMBackup.exe /b new /t part /s E /d "\\192.168.0.100\Share\Imgfile.adi” /n "BackupToShare" /u "admin" /p "123456" and press Enter. It will backup E drive to the network path \\192.168.0.100 which with an “admin” username and a “123456” password.
  6. To restore a system image, please type AMBackup /r /t system /s "\\192.168.0.222\system backup\system backup. Adi" /u "admin" /p "admin" /a and press Enter. It will restore the system image named “backup.adi” on NAS share to the original location using partition alignment to optimize for SSD.

Descriptions:

  • [/b] Specify the type of backup. It will be used with one of the following: new, inc, dif, full to create different tasks.

  • [/r] Restore the backup of system/disk/partition/dynamic volume.

  • [/t] Specify the type of source. It will be used with one of the following: system, disk, part.

  • [/d] Specify the destination path for saving the backup image.

  • [/n] Assign a name for the backup task to distinguish it from others.

  • [/u] Username of selected network path or NAS.

  • [/p] Password of selected username account.

  • [/a] Align partition to optimize for SSD.

Tips:

  • For more information about syntax and options, please visit AOMEI Backupper CMD Help.
  • Except for command line backup, you still can backup files with File Backup or Cloud Backup.

Copy files to another location

  1. Launch AOMEI Backupper GUI. Connect the external drive if necessary.
  2. Click the Sync tab and scroll down to find the Basic Sync option. Click it.

  1. Click on Add Folder and then add the files you want to copy.

  1. Click to select the destination path you want to copy files to. Cloud drive, shared folder and NAS are available.

  1. (Optional) Click Options to set up email notifications. Click Schedule to set sync mode from Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Event-triggers, and USB plug-in modes.

  1. Finally, click Start Sync to start the task immediately or later.

Tips:

  • Basic Sync is a one-way sync file, besides you could perform two-way sync, mirror sync, and real-time sync.

  • It cannot synchronize files or folders to CD/DVD/Blu-Ray.

 

Video Guide: How to Copy Files with Xcopy Alternative

Wanna know more about copy files with the best Xcopy alternative? Watch the video below to get a step-by-step guide:

Further Readings: About Xcopy Command in Windows

Xcopy command is similar to the Copy command except that it has additional switches to specify both the source and the destination in detail. You can copy file(s) and directories including subdirectories from one location to another location. The most used command syntax would be XCOPY source [destination] [options]. And there are plenty of options and switches for different demands. You can type XCOPY /? to learn more information.

Another similar command would be the xcopy32 command which is not intended to be run directly when you input it. It is suggested to choose the Xcopy command no matter what version of Windows or MS-DOS you have. Xcopy is useful in particular when copying files from CDROM to a hard drive because it will remove the read-only attribute automatically.

The Xcopy command is available from within the Command Prompt in most current operating systems such as Windows 11/10/8/7/XP. The Xcopy command is also a DOS command available in MS-DOS. Click the Windows Xcopy Command to see more.

Why Need Xcopy Alternative in Windows 11/10/7?

Usually, Xcopy fails to copy files with return error code numbers from 0 to 5. Among these, code 2 and code 4 are the most commonly seen codes. Based on the document of Microsoft, code 2 means the user pressed CTRL + C to terminate Xcopy, which can be corrected easily.

Code 4 represents the initialization error that occurred. There is not enough memory or disk space, or you entered an invalid drive name or invalid syntax on the command line. In that case, you can initialize the disk in another way or try another drive name and syntax.

Xcopy will not copy open files as it does not use Windows Volume Shadow Copy service, which makes it a poor choice for backing up living operating system volumes. As a result, the Xcopy alternative for Windows 10/7 plays an important role in remedying these flaws. It makes things easier and more efficient.

Conclusion

It is a wise move to choose the Xcopy alternative when you facing an Xcopy not working or failing to copy files issue. AOMEI Backupper can copy files from one location to another in another way. For Windows Server Operating Systems users, AOMEI Backupper Server is of much more help.

In addition to the synchronization function, AOMEI Backupper also embeds functions such as clone, backup, and restore to fully protect your data and computer. With its help, you can upgrade your hard drive on Windows with just a few clicks and ensure a safe boot after cloning.