Best free Backup Sync software

WARNING to anyone.

FFS do what MS tell you or you could loose your DATA.

Going from 1.4 or 2.0 Beta to 2.0 Final.


SyncToy Installation Notes:

Upgrade:

- If upgrading from an earlier version of SyncToy (e.g. SyncToy 1.4 or SyncToy 2.0 Beta), it is **CRITICAL** to ensure that all folder pairs are fully synchronized using the previous version before running SyncToy 2.0 setup. Not following this guideline can lead to unintended behavior and partial data loss when running SyncToy 2.0 for the first time after upgrade. All folder pairs must also be fully synchronized at least once right after the upgrade is done.



GUI's F-T-W, I don't/cant use CMD's and I cant remember a phone number or name never mind DOS commands lol.

I do however never forget a face or what someone said years ago. (good to catch out liars). ;)
 
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_Jimlad_ said:
this robocopy looks good but know idea how to start
Click to expand...

If you know how command line programs work (basically) then just run robocopy /? and it'll give you a long list of all the commands, go through them all and create your backup scheme.

Check out my first reply (post #2), it shows the command I use to mirror my external hard drive to my pen drive (with explanations).

Craig.
 
Craig321 said:
Robocopy is brilliant for directly mirroring 2 folders using the MIR command (additions, deletions and updates will be made).

If not then Synctoy.

Robocopy is built into Vista, not 100% sure about premium but it's definitely in Ultimate. If premium doesn't have it then you can download it off the MS website.

I use this to mirror my college work from external portable hard drive to pen drive:

robocopy /MIR G:\ H:\ /R:50 /XD "Films" "$RECYCLE.BIN" "RECYCLER" "System Volume Information" "Cisco Apps"

/MIR - mirrors the folder exactly, including deletions and updates
G:\ H:\ - source destination
/R:50 - number of retries, it's set to something stupid like 3,000,000 retries as default
/XD "Films"...etc - directories to exclude
Click to expand...

mate can you help me... not getting this cmd thingy, i wanna mirro my doc's folder..

c:\user\jimmy\documnets to F:backup\documents what txt do i need?
 
check the other thread pal


the my music folder is just saying you don't have access to it, it's an old entry or just one you need to 'take ownership' of (google take ownership)
 
_Jimlad_ said:
thanks mate what does the r:50 stand for ?
Click to expand...

It's the number of times RoboCopy will attempt to copy a file if it fails the first time. The default is set to 1,000,000 retries with 30 second 'wait' times in between each attempt meaning it'd take 347 days until it stops trying, so it's best to set it to something sensible like 50 :)
 
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ok cool i have this setup...

robocopy /e C:\Users\Jimmy\music E:\Jimmy\Music /MIR /R:50
robocopy /e C:\Users\Jimmy\pictures E:\Jimmy\Pictures /MIR /R:50
robocopy /e C:\Users\Jimmy\Utilities\Programs E:\Programs /MIR /R:50
robocopy /e C:\Users\Jimmy\Videos E:\Jimmy\Videos /MIR /R:50
robocopy /e C:\Users\Jimmy\documents E:\Jimmy\documents /MIR /R:50

guess i need to be careful i don't delete from my hard drive as it will delete from my documents will it not?
 
ticktock said:
I don't trust these programs to backup properly. I prefer to do it 'Manually'. That way, i know it has been backed up properly.
Click to expand...

mate i checked and tested loads and feel quite safe with it, played around for a few hours and checked everything worked. best thing to do is run it and then check the files and folder size, if you mirror like i have done then it should read the same. i was a doubter until now.
 
_Jimlad_ said:
ok cool i have this setup...

robocopy /e C:\Users\Jimmy\music E:\Jimmy\Music /MIR /R:50
robocopy /e C:\Users\Jimmy\pictures E:\Jimmy\Pictures /MIR /R:50
robocopy /e C:\Users\Jimmy\Utilities\Programs E:\Programs /MIR /R:50
robocopy /e C:\Users\Jimmy\Videos E:\Jimmy\Videos /MIR /R:50
robocopy /e C:\Users\Jimmy\documents E:\Jimmy\documents /MIR /R:50
Click to expand...

You don't need /e in there - /MIR is equivalent to /PURGE and /E together so the commands below will be sufficient:

robocopy C:\Users\Jimmy\music E:\Jimmy\Music /MIR /R:50
robocopy C:\Users\Jimmy\pictures E:\Jimmy\Pictures /MIR /R:50
robocopy C:\Users\Jimmy\Utilities\Programs E:\Programs /MIR /R:50
robocopy C:\Users\Jimmy\Videos E:\Jimmy\Videos /MIR /R:50
robocopy C:\Users\Jimmy\documents E:\Jimmy\documents /MIR /R:50

_Jimlad_ said:
guess i need to be careful i don't delete from my hard drive as it will delete from my documents will it not?
Click to expand...

Anything deleted from the source folder will be deleted from the destination folder when the backup is next run. If you delete something from your backup drive then nothing will be removed from your main drive as the /MIR command in RoboCopy only mirrors the source to the destination, not the other way round.

ticktock said:
I don't trust these programs to backup properly. I prefer to do it 'Manually'. That way, i know it has been backed up properly.
Click to expand...

As helmut said there's more chance of you messing up when manually backing up than a program that has a decent mirror function.
 
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Craig321 said:
You don't need /e in there - /MIR is equivalent to /PURGE and /E together so the commands below will be sufficient:

robocopy C:\Users\Jimmy\music E:\Jimmy\Music /MIR /R:50
robocopy C:\Users\Jimmy\pictures E:\Jimmy\Pictures /MIR /R:50
robocopy C:\Users\Jimmy\Utilities\Programs E:\Programs /MIR /R:50
robocopy C:\Users\Jimmy\Videos E:\Jimmy\Videos /MIR /R:50
robocopy C:\Users\Jimmy\documents E:\Jimmy\documents /MIR /R:50



Anything deleted from the source folder will be deleted from the destination folder when the backup is next run. If you delete something from your backup drive then nothing will be removed from your main drive as the /MIR command in RoboCopy only mirrors the source to the destination, not the other way round.
Click to expand...

ok buddy, cheers for the tips, so i only need the /e cmd if not mirroring. glad to know if i delete from the destination folder it won't delete from my main drive. although deleting from the destination is a waste of time as next time i run robocopy it will put it back!
 
be careful with /MIR

if for instance you were to accidentally remove 50gb from your source music folder, the /MIR would also remove this from your backup..

i tend to stick with just /e
 
I've been using SyncToy 2.0 on WinXP to back up my documents folder. I use the Echo setting so I don't delete the source folder data by accident.

However when I tried backing up the entire My Documents folder it would only copy about a quarter of the files across to my external drive. Nearly all the folders were there but most of the files weren't, and SyncToy had definitely finished working. Anyone know why it does that?

I've been copying Downloads/My Music/My Pictures over individually and that seems to work fine, it's just a bit fiddly.
 
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