If I recall correctly, they are utilities to copy data from one site to another, while (attempting) maintaining ownership/permission settings (NTFS style). I also recall that the NT shop where I work would use the Robo thingie to move users home directories around to different sites when the user changed locations. The Nix shop would usually have to fix what got messed up in the process (homedirs on NAS boxen), and RoboCopy earned the nickname RoboF*, as in "This user's homedir got..." You get the idea :-)

LR