Robocopy Log File Meaning of New File, New Dir

Question

I've been learning and using robocopy a lot for the last few weeks. One thing I have not been able to find is good documentation on the terms used in the default log file. There is no header row in the default log.

Specifically for the project I am working on right now I need to copy some files, but only if they are not already there. I have one drive that is the master (Drive F) and one that is a partial copy of Drive F (Drive Y). I need all files copied from Drive F to Drive Y, but only if the folder and/or file on Drive F does not exist on Drive Y.

I ran a dry run of robocopy like this (but this is not the issue or my question. I am providing it as illustration for my question):

robocopy /xc /xn /xo  "f:\" "y:\" *.* /COPY:DAT /E /L /LOG:d:\log\myLogDryRun.log

This gave me a log of what will happen when I run the command without the /L flag.

While most of the log can be figured out, there are some items listed that are not crystal clear. I have included some sample output from the log file that I have modified to protect the persons information that appears in it. This is for illustration of an example and not a true, complete log.

*EXTRA Dir        -1    y:\Open Client Files\sample\
                   0    f:\server\blah\somefolder\
                   6    f:\server\blah\somefolder\
                  11    f:\server\blah\somefolder\
                  16    f:\server\blah\somefolder\
                  21    f:\server\blah\somefolder\
                   3    f:\server\blah\somefolder\
  New Dir          0    f:\server\blah\somefolder\
  New Dir          2    f:\server\blah\somefolder\
    New File          476693    2014-01-31 1033.00 INV.PDF
    New File           34631    2014-03-03 1033.00 PAY REC.pdf
  New Dir         99    f:\01 - Open Client Files\1033 GHG\Planning\
    New File           60416    2013-11-11 1033a filename example1.txt
    New File           28672    2013-11-12 1033a filename example1.txt
    New File           1.4 m    2013-11-13 1033a filename example1.txt
    ... more files ...
    New File           21178    2014-12-31 1033a filename example1.txt
    New File           17425    2015-01-29 1033a filename example1.txt
    New File           19551    2015-01-29 1033a filename example1.txt
    New File           21716    2015-01-29 1033a filename example1.txt
  New Dir         42    f:\exampleDirectory\exampleFolder\blah\blah\

So I believe the *EXTRA Dir line is telling me drive Y contains the directory shown and it is not in Drive F and then obviously -1 is the count of the extra directory.

But I can't figure out what the numbers on the directories that follow is about.

I think I have deciphered that New Dir and New Name signify folder(s) and File(s) that do not appear in Drive Y and will be copied from Drive F.

I see that if the New Dir has multiple New Files, the total number of new files that are in that directory is counted (99 in my example below) and then I will find 99 filenames below. But what is the number right after "New File"? The filesize?

There are other things in the actual logs I can't quite figure out, but I think this Illustrates my point and question.

My question is, can anyone point me to a starting point where I can find information about the items contained in the default log. I've scoured the internet and various boards like this one and find all kinds of great information about the flags and ways you can run robocopy, but no documentation on the log report.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer 1

Example log:

*EXTRA Dir        -1    y:\Open Client Files\sample\
                   0    f:\server\blah\somefolder\
                   6    f:\server\blah\somefolder\

The numbers (-1, 0, 6, etc.) are the number of files in that folder. -1 is used for "Extra Dir" entries, and 0 is used for "New Dir" entries (and other folder without any files in them).

Note this number is a count of only the files in the folders, and does not include sub-folders that may be in the folder.

"New Dir" represents a folder that existed on the source but not in the target, and "Extra Dir" represents a folder that existed in the target that wasn't in the source.

"New File" and "Extra File" are the same thing, only for files. :)

"Extras" will be removed if you're using options like PURGE and MIR.

You may also want to check out this other SU question if you haven't already:

What does robocopy mean by tweaked, lonely and extra?