Backing up

Jimmy1983 · 21 Nov 2009 at 20:12

Just wondering if there is some kinda software that will save me manually backing up my data?

At the moment all my new data get saved to my C drive edit and if I decicde to keep it transfer it to my D drive and then make an addition copy to my E drive, but this takes quite a while copying the same folder to each drive.

Maybe there is some software that will copy said docs to both drives?

Paul11 · 21 Nov 2009 at 20:16

synctoy or syncback

will both do it

but remember, if the D and E are in the same PC, and your PC gets stolen, you have still lost all your data

Jimmy1983 · 21 Nov 2009 at 20:26

Ah cool, either freeware? Can anyone recommend either?

E drive is my external HDD...but yeah I know what your saying.

Paul11 · 21 Nov 2009 at 20:29

they are both free

syncback has automated back up availble

synctoy, you have to set the automation using windows

Jimmy1983 · 21 Nov 2009 at 20:31

Ah cool,thanks a lot. Hopefully this can save me a fair bit of time.

Thanks

Paul11 · 21 Nov 2009 at 20:36

your welcome, and yes it will save you loads of time

i was using syncback but have just moved back to synctoy

just prefer it

even though you have to set up automation through windows task scheduler

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/11/13/synctoy-2-1-free-download-to-sync-multiple-folder-sets/

Sin_Chase · 21 Nov 2009 at 20:53

I installed an app on site the other day called GFI Backup and I was mighty impressed for a totally free product. VSS snapshotting etc

http://www.gfi.com/backup-hm

Jimmy1983 · 21 Nov 2009 at 21:07

Paul11 said:
your welcome, and yes it will save you loads of time

i was using syncback but have just moved back to synctoy

just prefer it

even though you have to set up automation through windows task scheduler

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/11/13/synctoy-2-1-free-download-to-sync-multiple-folder-sets/

Wow, this looks great

Just gave it a test run. Seems to work really well..love it

This will save me loads of time now!

One thing whats the 'new folder pair' about?

Also how do you set up automation through windows task scheduler?

Paul11 · 21 Nov 2009 at 21:10

new folder pair means you can make different folders to copy, so you can choose which folders to backup/copy

to make it automated, you need to add it to task scheduler

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/01/01/schedule-synctoy-to-run-and-automatically-and-repetitively/

Jimmy1983 · 21 Nov 2009 at 21:14

Paul11 said:
new folder pair means you can make different folders to copy, so you can choose which folders to backup/copy

dont quite follow what you mean here :confused:

SiriusB · 21 Nov 2009 at 21:17

A folder pair is basically the folder you want to back up and the place you want the back up to go.

In SyncToy you can do more than just send files from left to right. You can use it to Synchronise a pair of folders, so what happens in one is reflected in the other.

If you read through the SyncToy site it is all explained there.

Paul11 · 21 Nov 2009 at 21:27

as SiriusB says.

folder pairs are just a way for you to choose different folders that you wish to back up/ or sync

marc2003 · 21 Nov 2009 at 21:42

i just use robocopy (built into windows already). i call it from a batch file so it takes a single click to run.

robocopy e:\ i:\ /MIR /xd "System Volume Information" "RECYCLER" "$RECYCLE.BIN" /LOG:f:\robocopy.txt /NP /TEE

e: is my source
i: is my destination
/MIR tells it i want to mirror e: - this means if i delete something from e, it also gets deleted from i:
/xd is to exclude directories
/LOG - should be obvious. not necessary but i always like to check it.

SiriusB · 22 Nov 2009 at 00:19

Ooh, very handy, marc!

Jimmy1983 · 22 Nov 2009 at 00:37

marc2003 said:
i just use robocopy (built into windows already). i call it from a batch file so it takes a single click to run.

robocopy e:\ i:\ /MIR /xd "System Volume Information" "RECYCLER" "$RECYCLE.BIN" /LOG:f:\robocopy.txt /NP /TEE

e: is my source
i: is my destination
/MIR tells it i want to mirror e: - this means if i delete something from e, it also gets deleted from i:
/xd is to exclude directories
/LOG - should be obvious. not necessary but i always like to check it.

Any benefits over synctoy? Looks complicated