Trying to copy my documents folder using powershell

Question

$dir = Read-Host 'Please enter the letter drive to backup user folder.'
copy-item ($env:USERPROFILE+"\Documents") -destination ($dir+":\Backup")   -recurse

I"m trying to copy my documents folder, however when I look in the backup folder I see that it copies my pictures and my videos as well. In addition to that I get the following errors:

Copy-Item : Access to the path 'C:\Users\admin\Documents\My Music' is denied.
At C:\Users\admin\Desktop\Untitled1.ps1:2 char:10
+ copy-item <<<<  ($env:USERPROFILE+"\Documents") -destination ($dir+":\Backup") -recurse
+ CategoryInfo          : PermissionDenied: (My Music:DirectoryInfo) [Copy-Item], UnauthorizedAccessException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyDirectoryInfoItemUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand

Copy-Item : Access to the path 'C:\Users\admin\Documents\My Pictures' is denied.
At C:\Users\admin\Desktop\Untitled1.ps1:2 char:10
+ copy-item <<<<  ($env:USERPROFILE+"\Documents") -destination ($dir+":\Backup") -recurse
+ CategoryInfo          : PermissionDenied: (My Pictures:DirectoryInfo) [Copy-Item], UnauthorizedAccessException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyDirectoryInfoItemUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand

Copy-Item : Access to the path 'C:\Users\admin\Documents\My Videos' is denied.
At C:\Users\admin\Desktop\Untitled1.ps1:2 char:10
+ copy-item <<<<  ($env:USERPROFILE+"\Documents") -destination ($dir+":\Backup") -recurse
+ CategoryInfo          : PermissionDenied: (My Videos:DirectoryInfo) [Copy-Item], UnauthorizedAccessException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CopyDirectoryInfoItemUnauthorizedAccessError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand

It also makes a user folder in the root of the selected drive.

Answer 1

This may work better for you. You currently might be parsing sym links rather than getting the actual path. Using this method will get the actual folder path every time.

$dir = Read-Host 'Please enter the letter drive to backup user folder.'
copy-item -Path [environment]::getfolderpath('mydocuments') -destination ($dir+":\Backup") -Recurse