How to use CMD to backup files to .zip for archive? - windows

Question

So this one's a multi-parter (Windows 7).
I have a folder structure as so:
C:
SyncFolder
Backups
[User]
FolderA
Subfolder1
Subfolder2
FolderB
Subfolder3
My aim is to use the folder 'SyncFolder' as a backup system for certain files (Sync folder is actually a folder placed there by a file syncing service).
At present, I have the following within the Sync folder:
a .bat file containing a ROBOCOPY command (which copies 1 file)
a .vbs file which is used to call the .bat file (to avoid the CMD window appearing). This VBS file is being called once per hour by Windows Task Scheduler
the file which is being copied
So here are my questions:
I'm looking for a code (preferably an edit to the existing .bat, as I'm not overly-technical) which can:
Copy Subfolder1 in its entirety into a .zip file, which is named YYYYMMDDHHMM_SubFolder1_Backup (where the date & time is automatically populated)
Move the newly-created .zip file to SyncFolder\Backups (or create it there in the first place?)
Deletes (or overwrites?) the previous backup
Repeats for each Subfolder specified (perhaps as an additional command line?) -- I'm not expecting the commands to identify the folders. I would specify the folders myself
Logs the details of the backup to a .log file located in SyncFolder (i.e. Name of .zip created, Date&Time of backup, size of .zip created)
I'm aware this might be a bit ambitious for CMD or a .bat, but I'm open to any suggestions, but please do bear in mind that I'm not highly technical, so any walk-throughs would be immensely appreciated!
Edit:
Here is my attempt with the .bat code:
#echo off
robocopy "C:\[USER]\[FolderA]\[SubFolder1]" "C:[SyncFolder]\Backups\BackupTest1.zip" *.* /dcopy:T /r:5 /w:5 /log+:"C:\[SyncFolder]\CopyLog.log" /bytes /ts /np
... I've tried this, without luck. This command works, but only creates a folder named BackupTest1.zip (which isn't actually a .zip).

Answer 1

Create a file using notepad, let's save it as ZipCMD.vbs then add the following code.
Set objArgs = WScript.Arguments
Set FS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
InputFolder = FS.GetAbsolutePathName(objArgs(0))
ZipFile = FS.GetAbsolutePathName(objArgs(1))
CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").CreateTextFile(ZipFile, True).Write "PK" & Chr(5) & Chr(6) & String(18, vbNullChar)
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set source = objShell.NameSpace(InputFolder).Items
objShell.NameSpace(ZipFile).CopyHere(source)
wScript.Sleep 3000
Now you can run from cmdline
ZipCMD.vbs "C:\Frank\Folder A\Sub Folder 1" "C:\SyncFolder\Backups\BackupTest1.zip"
if you want to manually zip anything from cmd line.
If you want to schedule it, you can either just add the VBS file, or write a mybackup.cmd file and put the full string below in it and schedule that instead.
mybackup.cmd
ZipCMD.vbs "C:\Frank\Folder A\Sub Folder 1" "C:\SyncFolder\Backups\BackupTest1.zip"

Answer 2

Okay, so building on Gerhard's answer, I've got this:
In C:\SyncFolder, create ZipCMD.vbs using the following code in Notepad
Set objArgs = WScript.Arguments
Set FS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
InputFolder = FS.GetAbsolutePathName(objArgs(0))
ZipFile = FS.GetAbsolutePathName(objArgs(1))
CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").CreateTextFile(ZipFile, True).Write "PK" & Chr(5) & Chr(6) & String(18, vbNullChar)
Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set source = objShell.NameSpace(InputFolder).Items
objShell.NameSpace(ZipFile).CopyHere(source)
wScript.Sleep 3000
I've also created a Backups.bat in C:\Syncfolder using the following code in Notepad
#echo off
for /f "delims=" %%a in ('wmic OS Get localdatetime ^| find "."') do set dt=%%a
set YYYY=%dt:~0,4%
set MM=%dt:~4,2%
set DD=%dt:~6,2%
set HH=%dt:~8,2%
set Min=%dt:~10,2%
set Sec=%dt:~12,2%
set stamp=%YYYY%%MM%%DD%%HH%%Min%
rem parameters set for use later
Del "C:\SyncFolder\*_BackupTest1.zip"
rem This line removes the old backup first (Not ideal. Open to suggestions)
ZipCMD.vbs "C:\Users\[USER]\[FolderA]\[SubFolder1]" "C:\[SyncFolder]\BackupTest1.zip"
rem This line copies files and folders from the Source to the Destination into a named .zip, without a date.
copy "C:\[SyncFolder]\BackupTest1.zip" "C:\[SyncFolder]\%stamp%_BackupTest1.zip"
rem This line creates a copy of the un-dated file, but appends a Date and Time from the parameters defined at the start of the file.
Del "C:\[SyncFolder]\BackupTest1.zip"
rem This line deletes the un-dated file, leaving only the current, dated backup.
Set File="*_BackupTest1.zip"
FOR /F "usebackq" %%A IN ('%file%') DO set size=%%~zA
rem These lines define a new parameter defined by the .zip's size
Echo %stamp%_BackupTest1.zip %Size% >>BackupLog.log
rem This last line appends a line to a log file containing the name of the .zip created (which contains its' date) and its' size.
The second section of the above .bat (after defining initial parameters) can be repeated for multiple folders.
Lastly, I create a RunBackups.vbs in C:\SyncFolder using the following code in Notepad
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell" )
WshShell.Run chr(34) & "C:\[SyncFolder]\Backups.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WshShell = Nothing
This runs the .bat without having the black CMD window appear (i.e. running in 'silent' mode), and is the file I call upon using Task Scheduler to automate the backup process.
Unfortunately, there are still some issues with this:
In the ZipCMD.vbs file, the wScript.Sleep 3000 line causes issues on any .zip files which would take longer than 3 seconds to create. This could be extended, but having it hard-coded may prove troublesome. Open to suggestions as to how to get around this?
In the Backups.bat file, the old backup is deleted prior to the creation of the new backup. This is because I use *_TestBackup1.zip to identify the old backup, which, if used after the backup's creation, would delete both new and old backups. Perhaps moving the first Del command to immediately after the first ZipCMD.vbs command would help, as a backup would always exist?