Powershell Copy-Item but only copy changed files

Question

Both of those are solid answers for powershell, but it would probably be far more easy to just leverage Robocopy (MS Supplied robust copy application).

robocopy "C:\SourceDir\" "C:\DestDir\" /MIR

would accomplish the same thing.

Here is some of the guidelines how you can your script to be more maintainable.

Conver the original script as a filter.

filter HasChanged { 
    param($file)

    # if $file's MD5 has does not exist
    # then return $_
}

Then simply filter all files that are updated and copy them.

# Note that "Copy-Item" here does not preserve original directory structure
# Every updated file gets copied right under "C:\MyTest2"
ls C:\MyTest -Recurse | HasChanged | Copy-Item -Path {$_} C:\MyTest2

Or you can create another function that generates sub directory

ls C:\MyTest -Recurse | HasChanged | % { Copy-Item $_ GenerateSubDirectory(...) }

I found a solution...but not sure it is the best from a performance perspective:

$Source = "c:\scripts"
$Destination = "c:\test"
###################################################
###################################################
Param($Source,$Destination)
function Get-FileMD5 {
    Param([string]$file)
    $mode = [System.IO.FileMode]("open")
    $access = [System.IO.FileAccess]("Read")
    $md5 = New-Object System.Security.Cryptography.MD5CryptoServiceProvider
    $fs = New-Object System.IO.FileStream($file,$mode,$access)
    $Hash = $md5.ComputeHash($fs)
    $fs.Close()
    [string]$Hash = $Hash
    Return $Hash
}
function Copy-LatestFile{
    Param($File1,$File2,[switch]$whatif)
    $File1Date = get-Item $File1 | foreach-Object{$_.LastWriteTimeUTC}
    $File2Date = get-Item $File2 | foreach-Object{$_.LastWriteTimeUTC}
    if($File1Date -gt $File2Date)
    {
        Write-Host "$File1 is Newer... Copying..."
        if($whatif){Copy-Item -path $File1 -dest $File2 -force -whatif}
        else{Copy-Item -path $File1 -dest $File2 -force}
    }
    else
    {
        #Don't want to copy this in my case..but good to know
        #Write-Host "$File2 is Newer... Copying..."
        #if($whatif){Copy-Item -path $File2 -dest $File1 -force -whatif}
        #else{Copy-Item -path $File2 -dest $File1 -force}
    }
    Write-Host
}

# Getting Files/Folders from Source and Destination
$SrcEntries = Get-ChildItem $Source -Recurse
$DesEntries = Get-ChildItem $Destination -Recurse

# Parsing the folders and Files from Collections
$Srcfolders = $SrcEntries | Where-Object{$_.PSIsContainer}
$SrcFiles = $SrcEntries | Where-Object{!$_.PSIsContainer}
$Desfolders = $DesEntries | Where-Object{$_.PSIsContainer}
$DesFiles = $DesEntries | Where-Object{!$_.PSIsContainer}

# Checking for Folders that are in Source, but not in Destination
foreach($folder in $Srcfolders)
{
    $SrcFolderPath = $source -replace "\\","\\" -replace "\:","\:"
    $DesFolder = $folder.Fullname -replace $SrcFolderPath,$Destination
    if(!(test-path $DesFolder))
    {
        Write-Host "Folder $DesFolder Missing. Creating it!"
        new-Item $DesFolder -type Directory | out-Null
    }
}

# Checking for Folders that are in Destinatino, but not in Source
foreach($folder in $Desfolders)
{
    $DesFilePath = $Destination -replace "\\","\\" -replace "\:","\:"
    $SrcFolder = $folder.Fullname -replace $DesFilePath,$Source
    if(!(test-path $SrcFolder))
    {
        Write-Host "Folder $SrcFolder Missing. Creating it!"
        new-Item $SrcFolder -type Directory | out-Null
    }
}

# Checking for Files that are in the Source, but not in Destination
foreach($entry in $SrcFiles)
{
    $SrcFullname = $entry.fullname
    $SrcName = $entry.Name
    $SrcFilePath = $Source -replace "\\","\\" -replace "\:","\:"
    $DesFile = $SrcFullname -replace $SrcFilePath,$Destination
    if(test-Path $Desfile)
    {
        $SrcMD5 = Get-FileMD5 $SrcFullname
        $DesMD5 = Get-FileMD5 $DesFile
        If(Compare-Object $srcMD5 $desMD5)
        {
            Write-Host "The Files MD5's are Different... Checking Write
            Dates"
            Write-Host $SrcMD5
            Write-Host $DesMD5
            Copy-LatestFile $SrcFullname $DesFile
        }
    }
    else
    {
        Write-Host "$Desfile Missing... Copying from $SrcFullname"
        copy-Item -path $SrcFullName -dest $DesFile -force
    }
}

# Checking for Files that are in the Destinatino, but not in Source
foreach($entry in $DesFiles)
{
    $DesFullname = $entry.fullname
    $DesName = $entry.Name
    $DesFilePath = $Destination -replace "\\","\\" -replace "\:","\:"
    $SrcFile = $DesFullname -replace $DesFilePath,$Source
    if(!(test-Path $SrcFile))
    {
        Write-Host "$SrcFile Missing... Copying from $DesFullname"
        copy-Item -path $DesFullname -dest $SrcFile -force
    }
}