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A client of mine recently got a new Windows 2012 server to replace an old Windows XP Professional computer we were using as a file server. Everything appeared to be copying fine, I stored a log file of the copy and I watched the new share populate from a desktop computer and also from the server in the proper folder. When I came back the next morning the share is empty. The log file said it completed with 0 errors. All the files copied are no longer in the share and are not stored in the root of E:\ on the new server.

Here are the steps I took to copy: I basically plugged the new server into the network, setup a share. The old server was still connected to the network.

Old server's share is \\old-server\old-server-files which is stored in a folder called C:\old-server-files

New server's share was \\new-server\new-server-files which is stored in a folder called E:\new-server-files

I used the following Robocopy command from the new server command prompt:

Robocopy \\old-server\old-server-files \\new-server\new-server-files /MiR /FFT /Z /W:5 /LOG:E:\server-copy.log

I slowly watch the share populate from a Desktop computer. The copy took about 12 hours over a giga-bit ethernet connection. The next morning I come in, none of the files are in the \\new-server\new-server-files share while looking from the desktop computer. While looking from the server, the share is empty and the folder E:\new-server-files is empty. The root of E:\ has the files now instead of the share.

I don't understand how this happened. Could someone explain where I might have gone wrong. I can post the server-copy.log I had robocopy create, but I looked at it and it says it copied to the share. It is 37 megs though, so I'd have to find somewhere to put it.

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  • Where does the share "new-server-files" point to on the disk? (you can find this using the net share command). Dec 31, 2014 at 12:42
  • It points to E:\new-server-files and I watched this folder populate as it was copying from the server. Now everything has moved to E:\. I am shocked.
    – renosis
    Dec 31, 2014 at 12:45
  • Also, net share shows the share as point E:\new-server-files
    – renosis
    Dec 31, 2014 at 12:47
  • Why was my question voted down? How can I change it to make it better?
    – renosis
    Dec 31, 2014 at 14:41
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    It is indeed odd and files don't simply move themselves. I've never seen or heard of this happening with a robocopy, and with the server being new not sure what tasks could be running on it to cause such a thing. You might be just mistaken...reboot the thing...who knows. Otherwise, I personally would say screw it and just move the files back from the root of E to the proper folder.
    – TheCleaner
    Dec 31, 2014 at 14:42

1 Answer 1

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That is an odd one but maybe it didn't like the /MIR option between your two different share names. I would have instead used the /e /copy:DATSOU or /e /copyall (same thing) switches, the /FFT thing is only when copying from an NTFS to another filesystem type, if it's a Windows 2012 server it's not needed since the 2012 server should be using NTFS.

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  • That is interesting, I believe the tutorial I read suggested to use that /fft to make sure time stamps got copied or something. I'll have to look at it again to be sure. What is bizarre to me is how I watched the proper folder from the share and sitting at the server itself populate properly. Then all of a sudden I come back when it finishes and no files are there.
    – renosis
    Dec 31, 2014 at 13:05
  • Here is the link to the tutorial I read. social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/… It was number 6. Says it is more reliable across networks to use /fft, but I don't know.
    – renosis
    Dec 31, 2014 at 14:29

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