How handle errors with copy-item - powershell

Question

I have a backup script that copies several directories of files to a backup location. Unfortunately, not all of the files in the folder are accessible. What the history is, is that they were archived, and what's left is a filename with a grey x on it. When I try to copy it, I get the following message:
Copy-Item : Access to the path 'E:\Backup\Loc\DO\zOLD_Under Review for NOT USED_keep for now\2006-06\N.doc' is denied.
At C:\Users\me\Documents\powershellFiles\Backup.ps1:13 char:4
+ Copy-Item -Path $SourcePath -Destination $DestinationPath -Force - ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : PermissionDenied: (N.doc:FileInfo) [Copy-Item], UnauthorizedAccessException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyDirectoryInfoItemUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand
Yes, it's complaining at the To Location, not the From Location. I have opened up the directory/files so it's not read only, but still get this.
Also, getting through these copy errors takes a really long time. If I could avoid trying to copy these files in the first place, it would be much quicker. There's probably 200 of these files that are archived.
However, I'm copying the folder, not the filenames individually. There are ones that aren't archived in that folder. There isn't a plan to clean them up. I'm trying to identify when an error occurs, but it's only hitting my breakpoint if $error.Exception -ne $null statement after it writes the errors to screen and takes forever failing (see comment).
Any idea how I can either filter out the ones that are archived, or grab them and check them against an array or list so I don't get an error message? I haven't figured out how to find them as they happen since it's copying the entire folder.
I was looking at error checking during copy-item but I don't see how to apply that to my issue.
This is the copy method:
function CopyFileToFolderUNC($SourcePath, $DestinationPath){
if(-Not (Test-Path $SourcePath))
{
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Exception: No such path, $SourcePath;; ")
write-output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. No such path, $SourcePath ++"
}
Copy-Item -Path $SourcePath -Destination $DestinationPath -Force -Recurse -errorVariable errors
foreach($error in $errors)
{
if ($error.Exception -ne $null)
{
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Exception: $($error.Exception);; ")
write-output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. Exception: $($error.Exception) ++" #this breakpoint is hit after giving errors on screen and taking a long time/failing to copy files it can't reach
}
write-output "Error: An error occured during copy operation. Exception: $($error.Exception)"
}
}
This is my latest try based on what was suggested by #theo, but it's trying to copy files I hadn't tested attributes for a file I can copy, just the dir above it:
function CopyFileToFolderUNC($SourcePath, $DestinationPath, $exclude){
if(-Not (Test-Path $SourcePath )) #-PathType Container
{
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Exception: No such path, $SourcePath;; ")
write-output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. No such path, $SourcePath ++"
}
#$tempFileName = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileName($SourcePath)
#$tempDestFileNamePath = "$DestinationPath\$tempFileName"
Get-ChildItem -Path $SourcePath -Recurse -Force | ForEach {$_} {
#test if maybe we are dealing with an off-line file here
#or use the enum name 'Offline'
# or use the numeric value: 4096
#$oldAttribs = $null
$attr = $_.Attributes.value__
write-output "++ $_ $attr ++"
if (($_.Attributes -eq [System.IO.FileAttributes]::Offline) -or ($_.Attributes.value__ -eq "4096")) {
$_.Attributes=[System.IO.FileAttributes]::Normal
#$oldAttribs = $_.Attributes
#make it a 'normal' file with only the Archive bit set
#$_.Attributes = [System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive
#log that the file was an issue and copy the other ones
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Found offline file in backup dir, $_. Logging info and not copying this file. Offline. Please investigate.;; ")
write-output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. No such path or file, Offline $_ ++"
} #if
elseif(($_.Attributes -eq [System.IO.Fileattributes]::Archive) -or ($_.Attributes.value__ -eq "32")) {
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Found offline file in backup dir, $_. Logging info and not copying this file. Archive. Please investigate.;; ")
write-output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. No such path or file, Archive $_ ++"
} #elseif
elseif(($_.Attributes -eq [System.IO.Fileattributes]::SparseFile) -or ($_.Attributes.value__ -eq "512")) {
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Found offline file in backup dir, $_. Logging info and not copying this file. SparseFile. Please investigate.;; ")
write-output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. No such path or file, SparseFile $_ ++"
} #elseif
elseif(($_.Attributes -eq [System.IO.Fileattributes]::ReparsePoint) -or ($_.Attributes.value__ -eq "1024")) {
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Found offline file in backup dir, $_. Logging info and not copying this file. ReparsePoint. Please investigate.;; ")
write-output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. No such path or file, ReparsePoint $_ ++"
} #elseif
else {
#the file is not or no longer off-line, so proceed with the copy
$_ | Copy-Item -Destination $DestinationPath -Force -Recurse -ErrorVariable errors
foreach($error in $errors)
{
if ($error.Exception -ne $null)
{
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Exception: $($error.Exception);; ")
write-output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. Exception: $($error.Exception) ++"
}
write-output "Error: An error occured during copy operation. Exception: $($error.Exception)"
}
} #else
#if ($oldAttribs) {
# $_.Attributes = $oldAttribs
#}
} #Get-ChildItem
For example, I'm testing a dir at \\drive\folder\Forms\C Forms\ and it says it's a good attribute "16", but there's a file in that dir that the copy is trying to copy over to my dest dir and I'm seeing it has this for attributes: file.pdf Archive, SparseFile, ReparsePoint, Offline. But I'm not testing that file, the last thing I tested attributes for was the dir it's in.

Answer 1

To me it looks like the files you describe are Off-line files.
In your function you can test if that is the case using something like this:
function CopyFileToFolderUNC($SourcePath, $DestinationPath){
if(-Not (Test-Path $SourcePath)) {
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Exception: No such path, $SourcePath;; ")
Write-Output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. No such path, $SourcePath ++"
}
# test if maybe we are dealing with an off-line file here
if ((Get-Item -Path $SourcePath).Attributes -band 4096) { # or use the enum name 'Offline'
# or use .Net:
# [System.IO.File]::GetAttributes($SourcePath) -band 4096
Write-Output "Did not copy: File '$SourcePath' is currently off-line. "
}
else {
# the file is not off-line, so proceed with the copy
Copy-Item -Path $SourcePath -Destination $DestinationPath -Force -Recurse -errorVariable errors
foreach($error in $errors) {
if ($error.Exception) {
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Exception: $($error.Exception);; ")
Write-Output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. Exception: $($error.Exception) ++" #this breakpoint is hit after giving errors on screen and taking a long time/failing to copy files it can't reach
}
Write-Output "Error: An error occured during copy operation. Exception: $($error.Exception)"
}
}
}
EDIT
From your comment I understand the function was not meant for a single file, but for all files found in a directory named $SourcePath.
In that case, here's an updated function that should do the trick:
function CopyFileToFolderUNC($SourcePath, $DestinationPath){
if(-Not (Test-Path $SourcePath -PathType Container)) {
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Exception: No such path '$SourcePath'")
Write-Output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. No such path '$SourcePath' ++"
}
Get-ChildItem -Path $SourcePath -File | ForEach-Object {
# test if maybe we are dealing with an off-line file here
# or use the enum name 'Offline'
# or use the numeric value: 4096
if ($_.Attributes -band [System.IO.FileAttributes]::Offline) {
Write-Output "Did not copy: File '$($_.FullName)' is currently off-line."
}
else {
# the file is not off-line, so proceed with the copy
$_ | Copy-Item -Destination $DestinationPath -Force -Recurse -ErrorVariable errors
foreach($error in $errors) {
if ($error.Exception) {
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Exception: $($error.Exception);; ")
Write-Output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. Exception: $($error.Exception) ++"
}
Write-Output "Error: An error occured during copy operation. Exception: $($error.Exception)"
}
}
}
}
If by dealing with the files you mean you still want to copy them, use this instead:
function CopyFileToFolderUNC($SourcePath, $DestinationPath){
if(-Not (Test-Path $SourcePath -PathType Container)) {
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Exception: No such path '$SourcePath'")
Write-Output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. No such path '$SourcePath' ++"
}
Get-ChildItem -Path $SourcePath -File | ForEach-Object {
# test if maybe we are dealing with an off-line file here
# or use the enum name 'Offline'
# or use the numeric value: 4096
$oldAttribs = $null
if ($_.Attributes -band [System.IO.FileAttributes]::Offline) {
$oldAttribs = $_.Attributes
# make it a 'normal' file with only the Archive bit set
$_.Attributes = [System.IO.FileAttributes]::Archive
}
# the file is not or no longer off-line, so proceed with the copy
$_ | Copy-Item -Destination $DestinationPath -Force -Recurse -ErrorVariable errors
foreach($error in $errors) {
if ($error.Exception) {
$global:ErrorStrings.Add("Exception: $($error.Exception);; ")
Write-Output "++ Error: An error occured during copy operation. Exception: $($error.Exception) ++"
}
Write-Output "Error: An error occured during copy operation. Exception: $($error.Exception)"
}
# if you want the attributes in the original file to be restored, use:
if ($oldAttribs) {
$_.Attributes = $oldAttribs
}
}
}
See FileAttributes Enum for all possible attribute values.
Hope that helps