I built a Windows 2012 file server to upgrade from 2008r2 I used this robocopy command to pre-seed the file server in order to speed things up.
robocopy.exe “\source serverd$” “d:” /b /e /copyall /r:6 /xd dfsrprivate /log:robo.log /tee /MT
We started using dfsr to populate the machine initially but it was taking too long and pulling from a remote server. Using the robocopy pre-seed command copied the files from a local host and executed at line speed – resulting in a much faster time to completion.
Also, don’t forget to take advantage of the new feature in Windows 2012, De-Duplication…. I’m saving over 20-30% on my file servers now that I’ve enabled dedupe.
I’ve had to come back and edit this because I discovered something that really helps ease the mind while performing the above operation. – and is something that should be done to spot check the system before introducing a pre seeded system into DFS. Check your hash for the directories and files to make sure that they are identical. This will allow a faster delta transition time between the old and new systems.
C:Windowssystem32>dfsrdiag filehash /filepath:\onrfs01d$vacancy_monitoring
File Hash: DBCCC7FA-E523939F-835B14D5-31020191
Operation Succeeded
C:Windowssystem32>dfsrdiag filehash /filepath:\onrfs02d$vacancy_monitoring
File Hash: DBCCC7FA-E523939F-835B14D5-31020191
Operation Succeeded