A. To copy the files into a "flat" directory

If it is possible for the script to create at least a file list, but it should ignore the problems that might occur in copying them, it should work.

In case of duplicates, it will save the duplicates as duplicate_1_<filename>, duplicate_2_` etc.

I used:

try

    <copy_command>

except Exception

    pass

Which covers the widest possible range of errors.

The script:

#!/usr/bin/env python3



import shutil

import os



sourcedir = "/path/to/source"

dest_dir = "/path/to/destination"



for root, dirs, files in os.walk(sourcedir):

    for name in files:

        subject = root+"/"+name

        n = 1; name_orig = name

        while os.path.exists(dest_dir+"/"+name):

            name = "duplicate_"+str(n)+"_"+name_orig

            n = n+1

        try:

            newfile = dest_dir+"/"+name

            shutil.copy(subject, newfile)

        except Exception:

            pass

Copy it into an empty file, save it as giveit_ashot.py and set the sourcedir and destination.

Run it by:

python3 /path/to/giveit_ashot.py

B. If the directory structure is important

then use the script below, it first tries to (re-)create the directories (top- down), then copies the files into the structure as much as possible. Again: it must at least be possible to create a file / directory list.

#!/usr/bin/env python3



import shutil

import os



sourcedir = "/path/to/source"

dest_dir = "/path/to/destination"



dirdata = []

filedata = []



for root, dirs, files in os.walk(sourcedir):

    for dir in dirs:

        absolute = root+"/"+dir

        relative = absolute.replace(sourcedir, "")

        dirdata.append([absolute, dest_dir+relative, len(absolute.split("/"))])

    for file in files:

        abs_file = root+"/"+file

        rel_file = abs_file.replace(sourcedir, "") # source

        filedata.append((abs_file, dest_dir+rel_file)) # destination



dirdata.sort(key=lambda x: x[2])



for item in dirdata:

    try:

        if not os.path.exists(item[1]):

            os.mkdir(item[1])

    except Exception:

        pass



for item in filedata:

    try:

        shutil.copy(item[0], item[1])

    except Exception:

        pass