Key Disadvantages of Robocopy:
- Command-Line Only: No graphical interface, which can be intimidating for beginners and increases the risk of errors from typos.
- Dangerous Switches: Some powerful options are destructive.
/MIRwill permanently delete files at the destination that aren’t in the source, and/PURGEdoes the same. A simple typo can cause major data loss. - No Built-in File Compression: Lacks on-the-fly compression for efficient data transfer over bandwidth-constrained networks, unlike tools like
rsync. - Windows-Centric: Primarily designed for Windows and NTFS file systems. It doesn’t handle Linux file permissions or cross-platform synchronization as well as
rsync. - No Built-in Encryption: Transfers data in clear text. For secure transfers over untrusted networks, you must use it in conjunction with an encrypted channel like a VPN or IPSec.
- Complex Error Handling: While it retries on errors, interpreting its exit codes and log files to understand the precise nature of a failure requires technical knowledge.
- No Delta Copy (Block-Level Sync): It copies entire changed files, not just the changed parts of a file. This is less efficient than
rsyncfor syncing large files that only have small modifications.
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