{"id":678,"date":"2022-01-29T01:07:52","date_gmt":"2022-01-29T01:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/?p=678"},"modified":"2022-01-29T01:24:05","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T01:24:05","slug":"robocopy-and-ftk-imager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/?p=678","title":{"rendered":"Robocopy and FTK Imager"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Making copies of electronic files on most computer systems is generally as simple as &#8220;drag and drop.&#8221;  Except, of course, when it is done in support of a legal issue and the integrity of the files may potentially be called into question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those instances where there is a need to keep thorough records on the accuracy and reliability of the duplicated data I tend to fall back on two options: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a forensically sound copy with all the bit-by-bit image fixings: FTK Imager (formerly of AccessData, now Exterro) is cheap and easy to use: <a href=\"https:\/\/go.exterro.com\/l\/43312\/2022-01-21\/f6h1s3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/go.exterro.com\/l\/43312\/2022-01-21\/f6h1s3<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But when it&#8217;s just copying files for organization, migration, or for a working copy, good ol&#8217; Robocopy is still my choice.  It&#8217;s free (I know, &#8220;free&#8221; is always the adjective that accompanies tools I like), customizable, and already installed on Windows-based machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here I&#8217;ll note my go-to robocopy switches for ensuring good record keeping:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>robocopy source destination \/dcopy:dat \/copyall  \/e \/z \/zb \/r:3 \/w:3 \/v \/mt:32 \/tee \/log:log_file_name.txt <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what&#8217;s with all the switches? Well&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>\/dcopy:dat<\/strong> &#8211; ensures that the directories\/folders being copied will retain the date, attribute, and time stamps (we all know how important those darn folder timestamps are to opposing counsel).<\/li><li><strong>\/copyall<\/strong> &#8211; copies all files with all the attributes of the original<\/li><li><strong>\/e<\/strong> &#8211; even empty subdirectories will be copied<\/li><li><strong>\/z and \/zb<\/strong> &#8211; uses backup and restartable backup copy mode.  What does that mean? I&#8217;m sure everyone has experienced a need &#8220;administrator permission&#8221; error when copying some files in Windows.  Using \/zb allows a re-attempt using backup mode, which is like clicking on the &#8220;continue&#8221; button that usually follows such an error.<\/li><li><strong>\/r:3 and \/w:3<\/strong> &#8211; retry the copy 3 times, and wait 3 seconds in between retry attemps.  Of course the number can be changed as desired.<\/li><li><strong>\/v<\/strong> &#8211; this means &#8220;verbose&#8221; which is include detail information about the copied files, including listing any files that were skipped.  Always a good idea when dealing with copying for a legal context.<\/li><li><strong>\/mt:32<\/strong> &#8211; use multithread (copy multiple files at the same time).  The default \/mt uses 8 threads but can be from 1 thru 128.<\/li><li><strong>\/tee<\/strong> &#8211; write copy information to a textlog and also show it on screen at the same time.  I like to do this so that I can see what is actually happening with the copy process.<\/li><li><strong>\/log:log_file_name.txt<\/strong> &#8211; will output the copy process and information to a text file.  The log_file_name.txt can be anything.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>While I wouldn&#8217;t rely on robocopy for forensics, the many options it has makes it a great too to run duplicates or move a large amount of files around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>[Most of the switches used in the sample above can be replaced with \/mir &#8211; but I&#8217;m generally disinclined to tell that to new users.  The \/mir switch mirrors the exact information between source and destination, so if the destination has existing files it could change or delete the information in the source location.  That&#8217;s what we would generally call a &#8220;bad&#8221; thing]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making copies of electronic files on most computer systems is generally as simple as &#8220;drag and drop.&#8221; Except, of course, when it is done in support of a legal issue and the integrity of the files may potentially be called into question. For those instances where there is a need to keep thorough records on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-utilities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=678"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":683,"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678\/revisions\/683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aplcs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}