Please, I need a BATCH to delete all folders, except specific folders and sub-folders

Decopi · Jun 17, 2023

Hi,
I have a SSD with several partitions.
I need to work at J:\ and I need to delete everything inside J:\, except the following folders:

J:\System Volume Information
J:\$RECYCLE.BIN
J:\New
J:\Old Stuff

And the following sub-folders:

J:\Papers\Folder
J:\Room\Main Documents
J:\Year\Origin\Part
J:\Year\Origin\Part Two

After searching and reading a lot, I wrote the following code:

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
SET "sourcedir=J:\"
SET "keepdir=System Volume Information"
SET "keepdir=$RECYCLE.BIN"
SET "keepdir=New"
SET "keepdir=Old Stuff"
SET "keepdir=Papers\Folder"
SET "keepdir=Room\Main Documents"
SET "keepdir=Year\Origin\Part"
SET "keepdir=Year\Origin\Part Two"
FOR /d %%a IN ("%sourcedir%\*") DO IF /i NOT "%%~nxa"=="%keepdir%" RD /S /Q "%%a"
GOTO :EOF

Unfortunately, the code above doesn't work (it deletes everything inside J:\).
Please, I will appreciate any help.
Thank you in advance!

cereberus · Jun 17, 2023

Copy files/folders you wish to keep tp another drive, format drive, copy files/folders back?

Try3 · Jun 17, 2023

cereberus is correct. Copy those folders elsewhere then deal with J:\.

There are several faults with your script.

You are using For, one of the most powerful & sophisticated processing commands, and would have to restructure your script into a subroutine looping structure for your Set KeepDir commands to have the effect you want.
Whenever you try out a batch script, you should look at the window it runs in to gain valuable debugging info. You'd have seen, just for example, how it was interpreting & dealing with "%sourcedir%\*" and the fact that only your last Set KeepDir line was being used.

my ditty Batch file and PowerShell guides [post #7] - ElevenForum

All the best,
Denis

idgat · Jun 17, 2023

.. and Robocopy is your friend.

Decopi · Jun 17, 2023

cereberus said:
Copy files/folders you wish to keep tp another drive, format drive, copy files/folders back?

Thank you @cereberus for your replay.
Unfortunately I can't do that because my J: is huge in size. The copy/copy back you suggest will take time and lot of I/O.
I need a more efficient approach, something similar to my code above, a batch that directly deletes everything inside J: except folderA, folderB, folderB/folderB2 etc
Hope you can help me.
Thank you again!

Decopi · Jun 17, 2023

Try3 said:
cereberus is correct. Copy those folders elsewhere then deal with J:\.

There are several faults with your script.

You are using For, one of the most powerful & sophisticated processing commands, and would have to restructure your script into a subroutine looping structure for your Set KeepDir commands to have the effect you want.

Whenever you try out a batch script, you should look at the window it runs in to gain valuable debugging info. You'd have seen, just for example, how it was interpreting & dealing with "%sourcedir%\*" and the fact that only your last Set KeepDir line was being used.

my ditty Batch file and PowerShell guides [post #7] - ElevenForum

All the best,
Denis

Thank you Denis.
As I explained to cereberus, unfortunately I can't use his suggestion.
And with regards to your comment, I apologize, I know almost nothing about BATCH files, I tried to read here and there, I copied/pasted some stuff, but I'm blind, I don't understand what I'm doing. And sadly, I don't have time to learn about batches, I need the batch and that's all.
It'll be great if you can help me to fix the syntax of my wrong code.
Thank you for your patience!

Try3 · Jun 17, 2023

Sorry but I don't have the time. Your script needs a complete re-write.

Your reply to cereberus worries me. It implies that you do not have a backup drive capable of holding all your files.

That's a very dangerous position to be in & I think getting an external disk for backups should be your highest priority.
In addition to holding your files, it should also be big enough to hold more than one system image. Do you know what I mean by system image?

Having an external backup disk also means that the solution for your current task is simplified so you won't have to learn any scripting.

Denis

TechnoMage2021 · Jun 17, 2023

KISS!
I use batch files a lot, and have for over 40 years, but one rule I always adhere to is, "Keep it as simple as possible".
In your case, I'd just write a batch file with a line for each folder or specific file I wanted to delete, and leave the rest alone.
Anything you don't mark for deletion will be retained, by default.

I basically do that, in my own "Cleanup.bat" program, where I specify certain folders containing junk files that I want to get rid of. Or even certain file types, like:

Del /F /S /Q C:\*.tmp
Del /F /S /Q C:\*.bac
Del /F /S /Q C:\*.old

In the above text, only those specific files will be deleted, anywhere they show up in the C: drive, unless they are open in another process.

Your batch file will be successful if only you specify exactly the files and/or folders that you want to get rid of.
It may require several lines, but you only have to write it once, and it will take less time than you've already spent here.
Give it a try!

Happy Father's Day,
TM

ShamrockRig · Jun 17, 2023

To b

Try3 said:
Sorry but I don't have the time. Your script needs a complete re-write.

Your reply to cereberus worries me. It implies that you do not have a backup drive capable of holding all your files.

That's a very dangerous position to be in & I think getting an external disk for backups should be your highest priority.

In addition to holding your files, it should also be big enough to hold more than one system image. Do you know what I mean by system image?

Having an external backup disk also means that the solution for your current task is simplified so you won't have to learn any scripting.

Denis

To be fair, Depends on what you use you're pc for, For example, i've just clean installed from scratch after about a year,, Lost the lot(Happily) everything back to normal within an hour, downloads for games etc aren't a big deal for me. Depends what you hold on you're pc./

Decopi · Jun 17, 2023

I had a great help in other forum. I almost solved 99% of my needs. I share with you here, in case is useful to someone:

This batch will format F: (more efficient and fast than command delete). Then it will copy everything inside E: (except Folder One and Folder Two) to F:
@echo off
Format F: /FS:NTFS /V:EM2 /Q /X /y
robocopy.exe E:\ F:\ . /mir /XD "Folder One" "Folder Two" /copy

AT /dcopy

A /r:0 /v /xj /mt:32

And this batch will copy everything inside I: (except Folder One and Folder Two) and then it will copy to J:
This batch is amazing because only pastes (at J:) new or changed files.
@%SystemRoot%\System32\robocopy.exe I:\ J:\ /E /MIR /MT:32 /NDL /NFL /NJH /NJS /R:0 /XJ /XD "I:\Folder One" "I:\Folder Two"

Another different version:
@echo off
md J:\empty
robocopy /mir J:\empty J:\ /xd "Folder One" "Folder Two"
robocopy.exe I:\ J:\ . /mir /XD "Folder One" "Folder Two" /copy

AT /dcopy

A /r:0 /v /xj /mt:32

All batches are tested and working like a charm.
Hope it'll help.

Paul Black · Jun 17, 2023

Hello @Decopi,

Yes, RoboCopy is VERY powerful. It may be worth you getting better aquainted with it.

RoboCopy:

RoboCopy- DocsMicrosoft
RoboCopy- TechRepublic
RoboCopy - SS64

NOTE:- To view RoboCopy Commands in aCMD Prompt, type robocopy /? and press Enter.

To output the Commands to a .txt file, type robocopy /? > %UserProfile%\Desktop\RoboCopy.txt. Obviously change the outputPath to your own.

I hope this helps.