PowerShell - bulk move of some subfolders to new server - powershell

Question

I have been asked to move around 200 folders to a new server, but I'm not sure how to script it, or if it is possible.
I have a duplicate folder structure at the destination, but the problem is I have to move only 1 subfolder and its contents in each of the parent folders across. Looks like this:
FolderA
Folder1
Folder2
FolderB
Folder1
Folder2
Is it possible to move only 'Folder1' from Folders a-z and place 'Folder1' in its corresponding new parent folder?

Answer 1

I'd use Robocopy, particularly if you want to preserve the ownership and permissions.

Answer 2

I would be very tempted to use RoboCopy to do the copying, because you can set it to bring over the original file created and modified dates and times, and security permissions.
Although it can't do the Folder1 thing natively. So I would be looking at using PowerShell to generate a batch file of RoboCopy commands, then running that. e.g. something that looks like this, although I haven't tested it.
$sourceFolder = "\\server1\share"
$destFolder = "\\server2\share"
foreach ($folder in (Get-ChildItem -Directory $sourceFolder)) {
"robocopy `"$($sourceFolder)\$($folder)\Folder1`" `"$($destFolder)\$($folder)\Folder1`" /E /COPYALL /DCOPY:T" | Out-File roboscript.bat -Append
}
Then check over, and run roboscript.bat to do the copying.

Answer 3

More a comment on TessellatingHeckler's code than an answer here. Please give any credit to him that you would attribute to this since he had the answer first.
Since you are working with outputting strings to a text file you probably want to work with strings. In regards to your ForEach I would like to suggest:
foreach ($folder in (Get-ChildItem -Directory $sourceFolder | Select -ExpandProperty FullName)) {
$TargetFolder = $Folder -replace [regex]::Escape($sourceFolder), "$destFolder"
"robocopy `"$Folder\Folder1`" `"$TargetFolder\Folder1`" /E /COPYALL /DCOPY:T" | Out-File roboscript.bat -Append
}
That selects the full path for the folder in question as a part of the ForEach. Then it declares a variable as the target in which it replaces the source path with the destination path (source is escaped since this is a RegEx match). This likely makes it more flexible.
Also, you don't need to make subexpressions this way since it's just a string that you're referencing and not a [FileInfo] object.
Lastly, I thought I'd add that you can use two consecutive double quotes instead of escaping them if you prefer, though I would suggest escaping them as TH suggested.