ROBOCOPY Backup files over Network paths and ERROR 5 (0x00000005) Copying NTFS Security to Destination Directory-Access denied

As part of the annual EPM DR Rehearsal, we got a requirement to move Prod Application backup files from PROD Network location to DR network path.

In this post, we will see how we can RoboCopy EPM backup files from one Network location to another network path.

Why ROBOCOPY?

If you are copying files from one network path to another and you have Windows Vista or later operating systems then Robocopy is a better choice than any other option. Because you don't need to bother with drive mappings, since it handles UNC paths just fine.

Robocopy is not a third party software. It's native (built-in) to all versions of Windows Vista and later.

It is usually far more reliable than xcopy command, and provides a lot more options.

Robocopy is tolerant of interrupts during copying i.e. it can pick up where it left off if it gets stopped for some reason. It has the ability to recover from certain types of network hiccups automatically.

Read Link1 and Link2 for more details about ROBOCOPY and its various options.

Script using ROBOCOPY to copy EPM backups from PROD to DR network path:

@echo off

for /f "delims=" %%a in ('wmic OS Get localdatetime ^| find "."') do set "dt=%%a"

::Format the WMIC command output in DDMMYYYY format

set "YY=%dt:~0,4%"

set "MM=%dt:~4,2%"

set "DD=%dt:~6,2%"

set "today_date=%DD%%MM%%YY%"

::Define Source path

set sourcepath1=\\PROD_Network_Share\data\EPM_Backups\%today_date%

set sourcepath2=\\PROD_Network_Share\data\EPM_Backups\DataZip

set sourcepath3=\\PROD_Network_Share\data\EPM_Backups\Scripts

::Define Destination path

set destinationpath1=\\DR_Network_Share\data\EPM_Backups_Copy\%today_date%

set destinationpath2=\\DR_Network_Share\data\EPM_Backups_Copy\DataZipCopy

set destinationpath3=\\DR_Network_Share\data\EPM_Backups_Copy\ScriptsCopy\%today_date%

::Define Log path

set logfile=E:\Admin\Prod_To_DR_Copy.log

::Run RoboCopy commands

REM Copy all the files, folders and sub-folders from source to destination

robocopy %sourcepath1% %destinationpath1% /E /COPY:DAT /NP /LOG+:"%logfile%"

REM Copy today'sdate(DDMMYY).zip file from source to destination

robocopy %sourcepath2% %destinationpath2% %today_date%.zip /COPY:DAT /NP /LOG+:"%logfile%"

REM Copy all the files with extensions .sh, .mxl, .ksh, .scr from source to destination

robocopy %sourcepath3% %destinationpath3% *.sh *.mxl *.ksh *.scr /COPY:DAT /NP /LOG+:"%logfile%"

Below is what each ROBOCOPY command options used above means:

• /E = Copy files including subfolders (even empty ones)
• /COPY:copyflag[s] = what to COPY for files. Here we have selected DAT: D=Data, A=Attributes, T=Timestamps 
• /NP = No Progress - don’t display % copied text in logfile; this keeps filesize down. 
• /LOG+:logfile = Output status to LOG file (+= append to existing log).

ERROR 5 (0x00000005) Copying NTFS Security to Destination Directory. Access denied

When I was trying to figure out the right set of options for ROBOCOPY command, I encountered this error multiple times.

This error is usually caused by RoboCopy trying to copy the security settings of the files, and this causes some mismatch regarding the file permissions. 

There is a /B switch in RoboCopy for copying in backup mode but Backup mode cannot circumvent explicit NTFS deny ACL’s if the copier isn’t the objects’ owner.

Solution: Use /COPY:DAT only

Option /COPY:copyflag[s] can take multiple values based on what you want to copy for files. To Copy ALL file info (equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU), there is an option /COPYALL.

To overcome the above-mentioned error, you should use /COPY:DAT instead of the /COPYALL option, because /COPY:DAT  ignores the NTFS access control lists (the COPY:S parameter) of the files you're copying. 

This works because /COPYALL is equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU, D=Data, A=Attributes, T=Timestamps, S=Security=NTFS ACLs, O=Owner info, U=aUditing info. While we mainly need Data and Timestamps of the files for EPM backups.

That's all for this post.

I hope this article has helped you. 

Your suggestions/feedback are most welcome.

Keep learning and Have a great day!!!