Windows Update Affecting Karen's Replicator ?

[GrahamW42]

I've used Karen's Replicator (KR) on a daily basis on several PCs for MANY years (probably >10). The KR routines I run haven't changed for months (maybe even years). They run automatically each day.

ISTR a Windows update a day or so ago.

Yesterday (17th April 2017) the backup was slow - so I looked at the KR log file. It showed an error for every item that required a new folder to be set up on the backup (target) drive.

If the folder exists, KR will copy new files. If the folder doesn't exist, it won't create one.

After a bit more research I can confirm that this is true on TWO PCs (one a tower and one a laptop). The problem occurs both with an off-board USB-connected HDD and also to a secondary internal HDD. So it is not simply a "USB issue".

Has something changed in Windows ? Is there a setting I can change to allow "Karen" to create new folders on the target drive ?

 

[GrahamW42]

I've read a number of forum posts that say that Karen's Replicator (which I have used for many years and is brilliant "tool just exactly suited for the job it does) is not working in Windows 10 since the Update (in April 2017?).

Well I've unfortunately discovered it does not work in Windows 8.1 (64-bit) since early May. I ran it on 17 May 2017 and had several Failures and Error Messages

17/05/2017 17:34:40: Error: Could Not Open Destination File (Error 3 - The system cannot find the path specified.): M:\BRC\Cinema Tickets\Their Finest - 24 Apr 17 - 20-45.pdf

Any suggestions why this might be? I don't want to give up on Replicator as "it did exactly what it said on the tin"! Are there good similar alternatives ...

OP here.

Yes, KR (which I have used for MANY years) seems to be unable to create new directories when needed under recent operating systems.

I have now switched over to SynchBackFree (which, as the name suggests, is free !).

It does everything you require ... and despite others' comments I found it quite intuitive and easy to set up.

And, whilst I hate "cheating" on Karen, it actually offers a few benefits too:

It is current (and regularly updated / bug fixed)
It is "modular" in that you can create small backup routines (tasks) and than create "larger" ones which call the smaller tasks
It is slightly clearer in presentation, with a colour-coded interface which clearly shows what has run / is running and what has passed / failed
It is MUCH, MUCH. MUCH faster

On the last point, it seems to act in two passes; first it finds what needs to be copied/deleted, then it does all of the copying/deleting.

In fact it is so fast that I initially devoted quite a bit of time to checking that it was actually doing the whole job properly .... it is !