Bees Knees, I tried to send you a private message but could not. I remembered that you posted something about above backup method long years ago. I do not know if this means you know more about it. I have been using it since long years myself and recently felt the need to be able to go back to the backup log but I do not believe it's automatically created. Do you know how to get and save a backup log can look at after the backup finished and the log window closed? Thank you!
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You must be talking about this thread from 2010.
There was no mention of a log file being created in that thread, and xcopy has not built-in option.
What you should use is the basic "redirect output" feature that has been there in DOS from the 1980s (which they took from Unix). At the end of the command line, use a ">" symbol followed by the name of an out put log file that you want to create. The output that would normally scroll up your screen will instead be written to that file.
Incidentally, a better and more powerful command is "robocopy", type "robocopy /???" for the syntax. This command will copy or update only the files that have changed, and there is an option to delete files that have been deleted at the source.
"You said it, they'll never know the difference. Come on, we'll paint our way out!" - Moe Howard -
Thanks Rapid Robert. You know, I do not know anything about this stuff, other than being able to change which folders I want to include in the backup. I did some research and a post recommended to add this command: >d:\mirror\xcopy.log. I tried it before posting but do not know where to look for the file. "d" is my external drive with the backup. If you understand my problem and can work with my limited understanding, it's much appreciated.Comment
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">d:\mirror\xcopy.log. I tried it before posting but do not know where to look for the file. "d" is my external drive"
The bold/underlined part above is the file you are looking for. The redirect (>) symbol is used here just as i described.
It's easier to show you than to write it, but let's try.
On your Windows 10 computer, right-click on the Windows Start menu from the taskbar. Soon you should be able to find a menu item labeled "File Explorer" (or just try searching for that directly). Once in File Explorer, you need to use the standard Windows user interface to navigate to your D: drive, then to the "mirror" folder located on the D: drive. Then, double-click on the "xcopy.log" document, and it should open in Notepad app (or something similar). There is also an option to see the date the file was created, which of course is important for a backup.
If this still doesn't help, I think you need someone to just show you at your computer.
"You said it, they'll never know the difference. Come on, we'll paint our way out!" - Moe HowardComment
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Thanks again, Rapid Robert. Seems you confirmed that the command should work. I didn't know that "mirror" is the folder. There is neither a folder nor a file on the drive. Thanks for all your help and Happy New YearComment
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For a great free software that will do the same try Syncbackfree.
ChrisComment
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"I didn't know that "mirror" is the folder. There is neither a folder nor a file on the drive."
This has probably been generating an error message of some kind. I see two simple solutions:
1) forget about "mirror", and just redirect your log file output straight to the base level D:\ drive using
xcopy blah blah > d:\xcopy_2023_01_02.log
(where I've embedded the calendar date in the file name)
2) as a one-time set-up, create a folder named "mirror" on your D: drive using the File Explorer menu "New Folder" choice. Make sure you create it at the base level "D:\", not as a sub-folder of another folder."You said it, they'll never know the difference. Come on, we'll paint our way out!" - Moe HowardComment
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RR, thanks for hanging in there with me. I made progress, tried both methods and the files are there. However, the files are empty??? Below is the exact command I used for the first option. Any more ideas
xcopy.log >d:\xcopy_2023_01_04.logComment
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To the left of the redirect symbol ">" you need to type the backup command, which is what is in the old discussion link from 12 years ago that I posted.
Conceptually, it looks like this
command > log file
For "command", you need to use the batch file or whatever you used that Bee's Knee's originally told you about 12 years ago, in that link above. Everything to the right of that, beginning with the ">" symbol, is as we've discussed here."You said it, they'll never know the difference. Come on, we'll paint our way out!" - Moe HowardComment
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You must be pulling out your hair but now I could figure out what I did wrong. I created an extra command line instead of having the log command right after all my backup commands. Now the log shows me the files that changed. Do you mind one more question: Would this log also show me errors? Thanks a million.Comment
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