Copy your files even if they are open or locked, with ShadowCopy
ShadowCopy is a small, easy to use and free application that will let you copy all of your files, including locked and open files. ShadowCopy is able to copy locked and open files because it uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Services.
This way you can copy the content of an entire disk to another hard disk, without problems, and, since ShadowCopy is able to transfer all of the system files, you will have an almost exact clone.
ShadowCopy can be run from the command prompt, batch or task scheduler. Available switches:
/s copy subdirectories
/j parse junctions
/i ignore errors
/y overwrite existing files
/r overwrite read-only files
ShadowCopy is not the best way to go if you are after making an image / clone of your system disk, in which case you should prefer dedicated software such as Macrium Reflect.
