xcopy "C:\SomeFolderName" "D:\SomeFolderName" /h /i /c /k /e /r /y

Use the above command. It will definitely work.

In this command data will be copied from c:\ to D:, even folders and system files as well. Here's what the flags do:

• /h copies hidden and system files also
• /i if destination does not exist and copying more than one file, assume that destination must be a directory
• /c continue copying even if error occurs
• /k copies attributes
• /e copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones
• /r overwrites read-only files
• /y suppress prompting to confirm whether you want to overwrite a file
• /z Copies over a network in restartable mode.

more flags are found here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/xcopy

cp dir1/* dir2

cp will not copy directories unless explicitly told to do so (with --recursive for example, see man cp).

Note 1: cp will most likely exit with a non-zero status, but the files will have been copied anyway. This may be an issue when chaining commands based on exit codes:&&, ||, if cp -r dir1/* dir2; then ..., etc. (Thanks to contrebis for their comment on that issue)

Note 2: cp expects the last parameter to be a single file name or directory. There really should be no wildcard * after the name of the target directory. dir2\* will be expanded by the shell just like dir1\*. Unexpected things will happen:

• If dir2 is empty and depending on your shell and settings:
  • you may just get an error message, which is the best case scenario.
  • dir2/* will be taken literally (looking for a file/directory named *), which will probably lead to an error, too, unless * actually exists.
  • dir2/* it will just be removed from the command entirely, leaving cp dir1/*. Which, depending on the expansion of dir1/*, may even destroy data:
    • If dir1/* matches only one file or directory, you will get an error from cp.
    • If dir1/* matches exactly two files, one will be overwritten by the other (Bad).
    • If dir/* matches multiple files and the last match is a, you will get an error message.
    • If the last match of dir/* is a directory all other matches will be moved into it.
• If dir2 is not empty, it again depends:
  • If the last match of dir2/* is a directory, dir1/* and the other matches of dir2/* will be moved into.
  • If the last match of dir2/* is a file, you probably will get an error message, unless dir1/* matches only one file.

Option 1

You can try the following trick and change your command to

cp sourceDir/*.* destDir

it will only copy files in the same folder, as long as they have the format like filename.ext. Make sure you have not folder with the same format.

Option 2

Otherwise you try the following command:

find /sourceDir/ -type f -execdir cp "{}" /destDir/ ";"

It will search for all files inside the sourceDir and then copies them to the destDir.

You can copy the contents of a folder /source to another existing folder /dest with the command:

cp -a /source/. /dest/

The -a option is an improved recursive option, that preserves all file attributes and symlinks.

The . at end of the source path is a specific cp syntax that copies all files and folders, including hidden ones.

Try using XCOPY with the /E switch. More info here.

I haven't had to access this information from my brain in years!

UPDATE

The documentation says that it copies all files and subdirectories from the source directory (meaning that the parent directory is not created), so you would have to create test in C:\test2 first and then use XCOPY.

cp -r /path/to/someDirA/folderTwo /path/to/someDirB/

The -r option to cp tells it to recurse on directories, copying its contents.

Here's one way I'd tackle the problem:

1. Go to common parent of all your pictures. For example, if they're all arranged underneath C:\Users\Joe\Pictures\ , go to that pictures folder where you see all the other month/year folders.
2. Type an * (asterisk) into the Search box at the top-right. All files and folders under your current position will be listed.  Or if you only wanted pictures, you could type kind:picture (or even *.gif to only get that specific kind of pic and ignore JPG and BMP for example).  But an * will get everything.
3. Sort by name, which will group all the folders together, and then all the files together as well (in a flat view, regardless of what folder they are really in).
4. Select all the photos and drag them into the folder you really want them to be stored in.
5. Delete all the now-empty folders.

If you still want to be able to view your pictures by year taken and other attributes without a lot of fuss or even moving them at all, give Windows Live Photo Gallery a try from http://get.live.com.  It even has face recognition, so if you tell it who someone is once, it can find them in other pictures automatically.

Try this:

cp Folder1/* Folder2/

I suggest FreeFileSync, which appears to have the ability to create a script that will automatically sync the two folders every few seconds. I haven't played with it personally, but it looks promising.