Use Robocopy Move Folders and Subfolders

What is the Robocopy command to copy folders and subfolders and files?

Robocopy, which stands for Robust File Copy, is a directory and/or file replication tool for Microsoft Windows. You can see it as a more powerful version of Xcopy. Because it is, as the name implies, a powerful file-copying software integrated into Windows.

This utility is a much superior technique for transferring huge datasets or multiple files between drives, and it is an excellent tool for data backup. It offers the ability to continue copies if they are interrupted, as well as different choices and logging during copying.

With great power, complex usage always accompanies. So many users complain that the complicated Robocopy syntax is quite difficult, which prevents them from trying these methods to move folders.

Thus, to help you learn to use Robocopy to move folders and subfolders, we’ll show some Robocopy examples in this post. Let’s start!

Robocopy moves folders and subfolders from one drive to another

As we mentioned in the last part, Robocopy has various syntaxes that all have different features, but if you just want to move some folders, there are only 2 commands you need to know. So, in this section, we’ll use these 2 commands as Robocopy move examples to guide you.

▌ Example syntax No. 1: robocopy C:\src D:\dst /E /COPYALL

All NTFS ACLs, file owners, subfolders, and file characteristics will be copied from one drive to another with this syntax.

Step 1. Search for “CMD” in the Start bar, right-click and select “Run as administrator”.

Step 2. After opening, copy the above instructions to CMD, and then modify the source drive and target drive according to your actual situation.

• C:src: the source drive.
• D:dst: the target drive.
• /E: Select all empty subfolders.
• /COPYALL: Copy everything.

In the example, we’re using Robocopy syntax to copy a file from C drive to D drive, and a prompt of invalid parameters will appear.

▌ Example syntax No. 2: robocopy C:\src D:\dst /MOVE

Moving files, like copying, moves files from one directory to another. The sole difference between a copy and a move is that the source files are deleted after the copy. The command /MOV indicates to destroy files/directories from the source after copying.

These are 2 commands to use Robocopy to move folders and subfolders from the current drive to another location.

An alternative to Robocopy to easily move folders from one drive to another

The reason why many people might not be willing to choose Robocopy to move folders may not just be because of the complex syntax. There must be an easier choice to do this job.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is a nice alternative for Windows users to move folders. It’s a convenient disk & partition manager perfectly supporting Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP systems. In this tool, the “Move Folder” feature is designed for you to move folders. You can move user profile folders from the C drive to another, move other large folders and delete unnecessary files to release more free space.

The operation is quite user-friendly, so if you don’t want to use those confusing commands, this tool can be a nice alternative. It also has other helpful functions like cloning partition/disk, converting to GPT/MBR, converting file systems without formatting, etc.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant, in “Free up”, select “App Mover”.

Step 2. Select “Move Folders”.

Step 4. Then add the folders you want to move and their new locations. Then click “Move”.

Step 4. You will see a pop-up message to confirm forcibly closing running applications when moving starts. Click "OK" to begin the process.

Then you need to wait for a while, when it is finished, all selected contents will be moved to the new location.

Bonus tips: Move installed apps from one drive to another without reinstalling

We don’t suggest you move folders only as a last resort, especially the folders stored on the C drive. Once you change the location of some folders, some programs might not boot normally because all programs have directory information that’s used to guide your system to find all needed data files to run all things well.

If you just want to release some available space on the C drive or move some programs used not that frequently, we suggest you try the “App Mover” of AOMEI Partition Assistant. This feature can move installed programs from one drive to another, external disk is also supported. You can transfer some programs to another drive or disk without reinstalling them.

Step 1. Run Partition Assistant, go to “Free up” > “App Mover”.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, choose the partition that you want to free up via moving apps (here is partition C) and click “Next”.

Step 3. In the window, all movable apps on the C drive will be listed. You can choose one or multiple apps that you need to move and the destination partition. Then click “Move” to execute the operation.

Step 4. Confirm that you have closed the apps and that you will move from C drive to D drive. Then, click "OK".

Step 5. Wait for the move process to complete. Then, click "Finish".

Then, you can try some moved programs to check if they can work successfully.

Conclusion

Now you know how to use Robocopy to move folders and subfolders. Although the Robocopy syntax is a little complicated, you still have another choice to easily move the folders.

AOMEI Partition Assistant has many useful functions. You can extend drive size, securely erase SSD, and create Windows to go USB…etc. What’s more, it also supports Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016/2012/2008 with the Serve Edition. If you have Server devices, this tool can also give you a hand to manage your computer well.