I have a folder structure that looks like
P0
-SD1
--D
--D_2
--D_3
--D2
--D3
-SD2
--D
--D_2
--D_3
--D2
--D3
and so on.
This is the same for ~60 folders (P0~P59). So a full path might look like P02/SD3/D2/FILES
I need to copy the contents of the directories D2 and D_2 to a destination folder, keeping the folder structure of at least P*/SD*/.
Robocopy and xcopy don't seem to work with wildcards, so robocopy *\*\D2\*.* DESTINATION\FOLDER or SOURCE\DIR DEST\DIR D2\*.* don't work. It says that whatever argument contains * (i.e. #1 or #3) are invalid.
dir /ad /b D2 /s works in that it does list all directories I would like to have copied, but I can't seem to get further than that.
Unfortunately I can not use anything other than the windows command line on this machine.
If someone knows how to do this efficiently I would really appreciate the help.
Related
I have recently used iCloud for Windows (10) to download all pictures from iCloud onto my local machine. I then wanted to create a backup so I copy-pasted all (15'000) pictures onto an external hard disk.
I noticed that because of the copy-paste action, the "Date Created" has -- in hindsight obviously -- been changed from the date that the picture was taken to the date / time of the copy action.
Since the copy-action and before I noticed the change of date, I have put many hours into putting pictures in subfolders, etc. I would now like to put the original date/time back into the metadata.
My idea is to make a dirlisting of the iCloud original archive, returning filename, md5 hash, and Date Created. I then want to write a script (Powershell?) to find the matching file in my subfolders, and update the date.
A few questions:
Does this seem like the best approach?
Is there a better way to copy photo's in the future, keeping the original Date Created?
Any help into the right direction whether this is a good idea with Powershell, would be greatly appreciated.
Manually changing timestamps using PowerShell
To change the Date Created, Date Modified, and Date Accessed file properties using PowerShell, I'd recommend checking out this website here. It explains how to change the Date Created/Modified/Accessed file properties for a single file, for all files in a given folder, or even for a folder itself. For example:
For a single file:
To set the date created time for "filename.txt" to 5 December 2012 at, say, 9:57:05 PM, you'd write:
(Get-Item "C:\Users\Path_to_file\filename.txt").creationtime=$(Get-Date "05/12/2012 21:57:05")
Similarly, to set the date modified, you'd write:
(Get-Item "C:\Users\Path_to_file\filename.txt").lastwritetime=$(Get-Date "05/12/2012 21:57:05")
and for date accessed time:
(Get-Item "C:\Users\Path_to_file\filename.txt").lastaccesstime=$(Get-Date "05/12/2012 21:57:05")
You can event set properties to other properties. For example:
To set the date created equal to the date modified, you'd write:
(Get-Item "C:\Users\Path_to_file\filename.txt").creationtime=$(Get-Item "C:\Users\Path_to_file\filename.txt").lastwritetime
For all files in a folder named "Test":
Get-ChildItem -force 'C:\Users\Path_to_folder\Test\' * | ForEach-Object{$_.CreationTime = ("3 August 2019 17:00:00")}
Get-ChildItem -force 'C:\Users\Path_to_folder\Test\' * | ForEach-Object{$_.LastWriteTime = ("3 August 2019 17:10:00")}
Get-ChildItem -force 'C:\Users\Path_to_folder\Test\' * | ForEach-Object{$_.LastAccessTime = ("3 August 2019 17:10:00")}
Note that the -force parameter ensures that hidden files are also included. Also, keep in mind that if you want to change each picture's timestamps to that of its own corresponding image (i.e, if you want to intelligently automate the process), you'll need to write a script that takes care of each separate case.
Copy files while preserving timestamps (and more)
The simplest tool to use is Windows' own, built-in tool: robocopy. See Microsoft's documentation on the robocopy command here. You just run the program via the command prompt (with administrator privileges).
For your needs, suppose you have images and videos in their original form (the ones that have all the correct timestamps, etc.) in the folder "Original", located at "C:\Users\Person\Desktop\Original", and you'd like to copy all those images and videos to a folder located on your external hard drive, at "D:\Pictures\Copied". The following command would probably work best:
robocopy "C:\Users\Person\Desktop\Original" "D:\Pictures\Copied" *.* /e /copy:DAT /dcopy:DAT /mt:16 /j /xjd /xa:s /r:1 /w:0 /log:"filename_path.txt"
Each argument is explained in detail on Microsoft's documentation page for robocopy, but I'll explain them here too.
The 1st argument specifies the path to the source folder. Please note that there are no trailing backslashes! If you include a backslash at the end, robocopy won't understand the input.
The 2nd argument specifies the path to the destination folder.
The 3rd argument can actually be multiple arguments. Here, the *.* specifies the file or files to be copied. Since wildcard characters (* or ?) are supported, *.* matches all files in the source directory (i.e., everything will be copied). *.* is the default parameter, so if you want all files to be copied, you don't even need to specify this parameter. If you want to copy, say, all files that end in .jpg, you'd write *.jpg. Or, if you want to copy, say, just two files file1.jpg and file2.mp4, you'd write those out explicitly, one after each other, as such robocopy "C:\Users\Person\Desktop\Original" "D:\Pictures\Copied" file1.jpg file2.mp4 /e /copy:DAT /dcopy:DAT /mt:16 /j /xjd /xa:s /r:1 /w:0 /log:"filename_path.txt".
The 4th argument /e copies subdirectories. This option automatically includes empty directories.
/copy:DAT specifies which file properties to copy. Here, D, A, and T means that the file's Data, Attributes, and Time Stamps properties will be copied. Refer to robocopy's documentation for more details.
/dcopy:DAT same as /copy:DAT except for folders.
/mt:16 creates multi-threaded copies with 16 threads. You can specify an integer between 1 and 128.
/j copies using unbuffered I/O (recommended for large files).
/xjd excludes junction points for directories.
/xa:s excludes "System" files.
/r:1 specifies the number of retries on failed copies. Here, it's set to 1. The default value is 1,000,000 (one million retries)!
/w:0 specifies the wait time between retries, in seconds. Here, it's set to 0, so 0 seconds are spent waiting.
/log:"filename_path.txt" writes the status output to the log file.
I’m looking for a way of using 7Z to zip several files with the same into a .7z/.zip file.
Within my directory I have hundreds of files with differing amounts of ‘tracks’ like so;
Zebrafile.cue
Zebrafile (Track 1).bin
Zebrafile (Track 2).bin
Donkeyfile.cue
Donkeyfile (Track 1).bin
Donkeyfile (Track 2).bin
Donkeyfile (Track 3).bin
Extradonkeyfile.cue
Extradonkeyfile (Track 1).bin
And I need a way of zipping these files together automatically so I just end up with
Zebrafile.zip
Donkeyfile.zip
Extradonkeyfile.zip
I guess the script would have to match the whole filename from the start UP TO the space before the opening bracket "(" somehow! The only variable after that match would be the number of the track "(Track X)"
Would anybody be able to point me in the right direction? I have seen other batch files which get close, but I'm still unsure of how to get the batch file to take into account the changing Track #. Many thanks!
Something like the following might work. If it is in a .bat script, double the '%' on the 'f' variable. This will put the .cue and .bin files into one archive file. If you want a .zip format file, use -tzip.
FOR /F "tokens=*" %f IN ('DIR /B /A:-D "*.cue"') DO (7z a -tzip "%~nf.zip" "%~f" "%~nf (*.bin")
need some help with this one
I have a directory that contains subdirectories from various applications so let's say directory is c:\home and each application has a subdirectory called the application name so we will have
c:\home\app1
c:\home\app2
etc.
These applications write large log files and they then get recreated every hour but into a different directory, called according t date and time like dd/mm/yyyy/hr and this is created within the actual subdirectory and a log file with the exact same name will be within each directory for each app. so we will end up with this
c:\home\app1\1015201410\app1.log
c:\home\app1\1015201411\app1.log
c:\home\app1\1015201412\app1.log
c:\home\app2\1015201410\app2.log
c:\home\app2\1015201411\app2.log
c:\home\app2\1015201412\app2.log
I want to list through the directories every hour and collect the latest log from each application, in other words in this instance I want to collect the following 2 only as they are the latest (end time 12 shows it is the 12th hour)
c:\home\app1\1015201412\app1.log
c:\home\app4\1015201412\app2.log
Now getting the file one by one is easy enough but the script is going to become too long and needs to be edited on a regular base to allow for new applications added to the directories.
I am able to do the copying, formatting the time/date section etc. I just need to find a way to search through the home directories for all subdirectories containing the latest timedate and then copy a file from it elsewhere.
So I tried this. Note timedateformat has been predefined:
for /D %%d in (c:\home\*\%timedateformat%\*) do (
for %%f in (%%d\.log) do (
xcopy %%f C:\destination\
)
)
but this obviously does not like the * part and therefore I will get no result.
Please if anyone is able to assist, I would greatly appreciate.
for /d %%F in ("c:\home\*") do xcopy "%%F\%timedateformat%\*.log" "c:\destination\"
I am a Batch-newbie, so please accept my apologies and Thanks in advance !
This "tool" is to automate the slimming down of Windows (XP) by disabling certain system driver, DLL and EXE files. Instead of outright deletion, I wish to rename-in-place, thus "removing" them from the OS, but not losing sight of where they belong (should any need to be "restored"). Renaming is accomplished by appending a new suffix to the existing filename (eg: "wdmaud.drv.group_1") The renaming suffix should be another input variable.
The target-list is approx. 1100 files long (divided into various groups/phases), so manual renaming is out of the question. Each group will be processed in a separate run of the batch file, varying the target-list input file for each execution.
Target-list is plain text file, one filename per line (no other data in the files). Number of entries per group varies. Target list will look like this:
-- example start --
netapi.dll
netcfgx.dll
netdde.exe
netevent.dll
neth.dll
netid.dll
netrap.dll
nic1394.sys
-- example end --
Filenames may be in UPPER, lower, or MiXeD case. The files may be present in more than one folder in the C:\Windows hierarchy - or may not be present at all. If a file is not found anywhere in the system, it's name should be written to a text file, one-entry-per-line.
The specific folders of interest are:
C:\WINDOWS\
C:\WINDOWS\system\
C:\WINDOWS\system32\
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers
The renaming will be done by connecting the target OS drive to another XP computer, so locked system files should not be a problem.
Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.
a double FOR loop may help you.. this is a very simple example, just to get you started
for /f "tokens=*" %%f in (%targetlist%) do (
for /f "tokens=*" %%d in (%dirlist%) do (
if exist "%%d\%%f" echo %%f found in %%d
)
)
see HELP FOR.
I have a simple xcopy script that I'm running from the command line that reads a CSV file of directories and file names. I've used a very similar script with no problems before. Here is the script:
Z:\HOME\>for /f "delims=, tokens=1,2,3,4" %i in (Z:\HOME\MissingImages.csv) do
echo f | xcopy "Y:\%j\%k\%l" "C:\Horizon\%j\%k\%l" >> Z:\HOME\MissingImagesLog.txt
However, it is not copying any of the files over
Here is an entry from the log file:
Does C:\Horizon\K\00\6bef500f.IMG specify a file name
or directory name on the target
(F = file, D = directory)? f
0 File(s) copied
It's finding the images because if I change the root directory to something else the script will just populate the log file with 0 File(s) copied for all entries, so the files are there and can be seen...
Also, the Z:\ drive is on a network and not local, but again I have used a very similar script across a network without problems (it just takes longer).
I've tried different options like /i, /s, etc. but I can't seem to get it to copy any files over.
xcopy will also report 0 File(s) copied if you use forward slashes "/" in paths instead of backslashes "\", though ONLY if you've enclosed the path in quotes.
This fails with "0 File(s) copied"
xcopy "pathname1/file" pathname2\file
This fails with "Invalid number of parameters"
xcopy pathname1/file pathname2\file
This works just fine
xcopy pathname1\file pathname2\file
It asks because it doesn't know whether you want to copy to directory (to be created) or you provide the full target pathname.
This will ask:
xcopy pathname1\file.from pathname2\file.to
However, adding slash will tell that you copy to directory:
xcopy pathname1\file.from pathname2\to\
But I haven't found the way to tell explicitly that I want to copy and rename file, except
echo Y | xcopy pathname1\file.from pathname2\file.to
I played a bit with your case (with for, do and xcopy) and found out that even if it asks Does SOMEFILE specify a file name or directory name on the target (F = file, D = directory)? it is provided with f from echo and it's copied successfully. Thus, it's not a problem with file/directory specifying, but with copying through network itself.
Well, that's annoying; I found the issue. It looks like when I generated my CSV file, it put a space at the end of each line, so xcopy was looking for files that had a space after the extension.
The thing that was throwing me off was that it was finding the files, but couldn't copy them, making me think it was a network or xcopy issue.
I just ran a sed script to remove the eol spaces and the xcopy script is now working as expected.