OT: Backup software?
boardjunkie
for MP3 album storage. I also have an ext USB HDD that I use for
backing up important stuff as well as the music. Trouble is, I'm
always adding to the mp3 drive in the machine and I have trouble
remembering what was added after the last backup. And doing it
manually sucks 'cause that prompt pops up when it finds duplicate
files and it doesn't give the option for "no to all"(replace
file).....just "yes to all".
Is there some kind of software that can automate this process? IE read
both drives and only transfer files that are not already on the backup
drive. Simple is better....I don't need anything uber geeky.
Nil
alt.guitar:
> Is there some kind of software that can automate this process? IE
> read both drives and only transfer files that are not already on
> the backup drive. Simple is better....I don't need anything uber
> geeky.
I assume you're using Microsoft Windows, since you don't say
otherwise.
Simplest would be XCOPY. You can use the /Y command like switch to
keep it from asking you whether you want to overwrite the target
file or not.
I use the Microsoft utility Robocopy. Yes, it is a little geeky, but
it can back up whole directory trees, you can tell it to skip
certain things, to copy the file only if it's newer, and many other
things.
An alternative is Richcopy, which mostly works, but has a few bugs.
<http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.04.utilityspotlight.aspx>
You could buy a commercial backup software package. I use Acronis
True Image, which can make whole and incremental backups, and can be
scheduled. (You can schedule Robocopy and Xcopy, too, with Windows's
Task Scheduler.
Don't fear the geeker.
boardjunkie
> I assume you're using Microsoft Windows, since you don't say
> otherwise.
Ups....forgot....yea this machine runs Xp pro.
>
> Simplest would be XCOPY. You can use the /Y command like switch to
> keep it from asking you whether you want to overwrite the target
> file or not.
>
> I use the Microsoft utility Robocopy. Yes, it is a little geeky, but
> it can back up whole directory trees, you can tell it to skip
> certain things, to copy the file only if it's newer, and many other
> things.
>
> An alternative is Richcopy, which mostly works, but has a few bugs.
>
> <http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.04.utilityspotlight....>
>
> You could buy a commercial backup software package. I use Acronis
> True Image, which can make whole and incremental backups, and can be
> scheduled. (You can schedule Robocopy and Xcopy, too, with Windows's
> Task Scheduler.
>
> Don't fear the geeker.
Cool...I'll look into it.
RS
The best interactive incremental backup program that I've seen is
"Beyond Compare" from Scooter Software. It will compare two drives or
directory trees, show you the files that are the same, different,
unique to one side, etc. Displayed in two correlated trees. Then you
can copy one file, or hit the "Sync" button to copy 'em all. Options
for erasing files on the "Dest" side that are orphaned, or keeping
them.
If you think a file or drive has been corrupted, you can verify
integrity by doing byte-by-byte compares of all the files. It will
show you what lines have changed in text files that you have been
editing. There's a plugin for comparing tags in MP3 files. All kinda
stuff like that.
It sounds complex, but you can use it in very simple mode, or dig
deeper as you get to know it. Lots of programmers use it, for what
that's worth.
I've looked, but have never found anything close.
Les Cargill
I wrote one in Tcl 8.5. You'd have to change the "to" and "from" paths
in source.
Teh Best Thing Evar is rsync, but that's pretty much Linux
only.
Maybe not. Dunno if this is any good or not, but if it's rsync, it's
good.
http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp
--
Les Cargill
RichL
Nobody's mentioned this, so I will.
"Second Copy".
I have it at home to back all my stuff onto a second drive. We all also
use it at work to back up our computers, and I use it to export work
that I've done to an external drive to take home.
Several backup options: If you use Second Copy the appropriate one for
your needs is "exact copy", which will only back up new files or files
that have been updated since the last copy.
It used to be free. Now it's not. But I have the install executable
for the old version on my home PC if anyone wants it. I've been using
it for almost 10 years and have never had an issue with it. It'll run
correctly on XP.
You can run it "on demand" or schedule it to run periodically and set up
several "profiles" to run various backup tasks.
sa...@dog.com
wrote:
I'll second that. I've been using Second Copy for a long time with
excellent results. I set the automatic schedule to run it while I'm
asleep.
You can use the computer while it is running, but it does make it a
bit sluggish, and will complain if you have something open that it is
trying to copy. Better to let it be the only thing running.
Stephen Cowell
"boardjunkie" <board...@techie.com> wrote
> Is there some kind of software that can automate this process? IE read
> both drives and only transfer files that are not already on the backup
> drive. Simple is better....I don't need anything uber geeky.
Raid1 is what I'd recommend... pure hardware solution,
complete redundancy... if your mobo can handle it.
You wouldn't be using the USB drive, for sure.
__
Steve
.
Monster Zero
"boardjunkie" <board...@techie.com> wrote in message
news:a6451fd8-a0fd-4ced...@g7g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...
If you want to do it with XP pro just start the backup process and choose
whole drive then go into advanced and choose "differential". Works a charm
for me believe it or not.
VampX
Or..... windows own backup software... NTBackup
It's actually not too bad and can be automated to do differential or
incremental.
--
VeronicaX
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VampX
<stephenleeN...@gmail.com> said:
Well thats a bit of overkill for an already established system. Perhaps
something to think of down the track. Mind you, most of those raid
enabled bioses are software raid solutions and he should probably think
about a hardware raid card but they can be pretty pricey.
Having said that of course, RedHat's software raid is freakin' awesome
and can be moved around and resized on the fly within logical volume
groups. Shrinking of course needs to be done offline but its still
impressive.
--
VeronicaX
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