Software to backup a hard drive - different query to normal

TheBigCheese · 23 May 2010 at 16:28

Hi guys

I've searched the threads but couldn't find exactly what I needed.

I want to back a 2TB HDD onto another 2TB HDD and just have a mirror of it.

The second drive won't be attached to the computer unless it's backing up.

What I want it to do is sync the way XMarks does for Firefox bookmarks.

So if I delete or move something on drive one it will be mirrored in drive 2. Because of the way I have my HDD setup RAID 1 isn't an option so I wonder what software is available to do that?

I should stress it's a data only drive, so there are no issues that arise when trying to back up a boot drive.

Many thanks for any help

theheyes · 23 May 2010 at 18:13

Synctoy in echo mode maybe? It will mirror renames and deletes which sounds like what you want.

SiriusB · 23 May 2010 at 22:48

Another vote for SyncToy. Sounds exactly what you need.

Robocopy can mirror too, if you prefer command line. Though I am not sure how it handles renames.

TheBigCheese · 23 May 2010 at 23:08

That's brilliant thanks to you both for the posts.

I'll look into SyncToy, I certainly like the price!

It's for a drive that I will be storing all my photos and videos as well as completed work orders so there will be file renaming etc. going on as I sort through my photos (it's a long term project!).

Hopefully SyncToy will run it all smoothly!

I have a question about it though, don't know if you can answer it or not...

The drive I will be copying is called drive I is in my machine, I will be backing it up onto an external HDD via eSATA, which is currently called N.

N isn't used all the time and sometimes other drives are plugged in the same eSATA port will SyncToy get confused and try to backup to those drives as well or will it only sync to the drive I want it to?
(Assuming it runs in the background and doesn't just sync when I tell it to of course).