Copy-Item and exclude one folder

I need to copy all of my c:\inetpub directory to a new location but exclude the following folders and their subfolders

c:\inetpub\custerr c:\inetpub\history c:\inetpub\logs c:\inetpub\temp c:\inetpub\wwwroot

So far I am doing this can someone help please?

# Directory name is created with a format string
$dirName = "\\servername\folder1 _ {0}\inetpub" -f (get-date).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd-hh-mm-ss")
$dirName # Check the output

# Create dir if needed
if(-not (test-path $dirName)) {
    md $dirName | out-null
} else {
    write-host "$dirName already exists!"
}

# Copy Backup File to Dir

Copy-Item "\\servername\c$\inetpub\*" $dirName -recurse

August 19th, 2015 9:50am

Make your life easy and just use robocopy.

http://ss64.com/nt/robocopy.html

If you really want to pursue PowerShell, use Get-ChildItem to get your list of folders, pipe through Where-Object to exclude your specific folders, and then use Copy-Item.

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August 19th, 2015 9:57am
Thing is I am using powershell to create a new folder each night. I wonder if I could do that and then call robocopy in the PS script to make the copy and exclude the directories?
August 19th, 2015 10:05am
Thing is I am using powershell to create a new folder each night. I wonder if I could do that and then call robocopy in the PS script to make the copy and exclude the directories?

Yes, you could.

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August 19th, 2015 10:08am

Hello,

I think following would work:

Get-ChildItem "\\servername\c$\inetpub\*"  -Recurse -Exclude "exclude_*" | Copy-Item -Destination $dirName

No.

August 19th, 2015 10:43am

Try this:
gci $source -Recurse | Where-Object {($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\custerr*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\history*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\logs*")-and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\temp*")-and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\wwwroot*")}  | Copy-Item -destination $dirName

  
  • Edited by KranzerM 15 hours 1 minutes ago
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August 19th, 2015 10:48am

Thanks Kranzer, it wkind of works by copying files but they aren't retained in the folders I was expecting.  For example inetpub has lots of files in it where i would expect several website folder and further then their contents copied too.  It looks to be copying everything at the root folder level and then I also get the error below.

Copy-Item : Item with specified name \\servername\foldername\inetpub\xxfoldername already exists.

August 19th, 2015 11:18am

try this :)

$source = "\\servername\c$\inetpub\*"

gci $source -Recurse | Where-Object {($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\custerr*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\history*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\logs*")-and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\temp*")-and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\wwwroot*")}   | Copy-Item -Destination {Join-Path $dirName $_.FullName.Substring($source.length)}



  • Edited by KranzerM 14 hours 59 minutes ago
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August 19th, 2015 12:13pm

Try this:
gci $source -Recurse | Where-Object {($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\custerr*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\history*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\logs*")-and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\temp*")-and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\wwwroot*")}  | Copy-Item -destination $dirName

  
  • Edited by KranzerM Wednesday, August 19, 2015 4:09 PM
August 19th, 2015 2:45pm

try this :)

$source = "\\servername\c$\inetpub\*"

gci $source -Recurse | Where-Object {($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\custerr*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\history*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\logs*")-and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\temp*")-and ($_.FullName -notlike "c:\inetpub\wwwroot*")}   | Copy-Item -Destination {Join-Path $dirName $_.FullName.Substring($source.length)}



  • Edited by KranzerM Wednesday, August 19, 2015 4:11 PM
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August 19th, 2015 4:10pm
That copies folders but each folder inside of inetpub has the first character taken away from it?  I have a folder called activedirectory but once copied is called ctivedirectory
August 20th, 2015 3:26am
Replace ($source.length) with ($source.length-1)

This is necessary if you using a wildcard in the $source path
  • Edited by KranzerM 23 hours 32 minutes ago
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August 20th, 2015 3:37am

That has brought the 1st character back.

It's still copying the folders and their contents that we've told it to exclude?  I have tried removing the * from the excludes but it has no effect thanks

August 20th, 2015 4:08am
Also trying this doesn't work $_.Name -notlike "custerr"
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August 20th, 2015 4:14am
Check this link - http://techblog.dorogin.com/2013/01/powershell-recursively-copy-folder-structure.html
August 20th, 2015 4:27am
You have to exclude like this:
$_.FullName -notlike "\\servername\c$\inetpub\custerr*"
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August 20th, 2015 4:42am
I tried that already which didn't exclude anything so tried Name instead.  Have you tested the script yourself and verified it works?
August 20th, 2015 4:47am

Make your life easy and just use robocopy.

http://ss64.com/nt/robocopy.html

If you really want to pursue PowerShell, use Get-ChildItem to get your list of folders, pipe through Where-Object to exclude your specific folders, and then use Copy-Item.

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 20th, 2015 4:59am
yeah for me its working. 
maybe we overlook something. 

Please try the following and tell me if your output is without the excluded folders.
gci $source  | Where-Object {($_.FullName -notlike "\\servername\c$\inetpub\custerr*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "\\servername\c$\inetpub\history*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "\\servername\c$\inetpub\logs*")-and ($_.FullName -notlike "\\servername\c$\inetpub\temp*")-and ($_.FullName -notlike "\\servername\c$\inetpub\wwwroot*")}   
  • Marked as answer by MJ2012 21 hours 50 minutes ago
August 20th, 2015 5:01am
You have to Copy-Item -Destination $dirName 
  • Marked as answer by MJ2012 21 hours 50 minutes ago
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August 20th, 2015 5:03am

With a bit of tweaking it's now working thanks for your help

$source = "\\server\c$\inetpub\*"
gci $source  | Where-Object {($_.FullName -notlike "\\server\c$\inetpub\custerr*") -and ($_.FullName -notlike "\\server\c$\inetpub\logs*") } | Copy-Item -Destination $dirName -Recurse

August 20th, 2015 5:23am

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