Files with updated tags not reflected in B2 backup

[Nick Knoll]

I have an external backup drive for my B2. A couple of days ago I updated some tags using mp3tag on the B2 via the network and then performed a Scan Disk. Today I performed an incremental backup but those files with updated tags were not reflected in the backup. I have checked the timestamps on both the B2 files and the backup files. The B2 files are newer and should have been included in the incremental backup. The files in the backup were not updated. I'm not sure what I should be doing differently other than regular complete backups, which seems so inefficient if only a few files need to updated on the backup. 

[Daniel Taylor]

I can't say whether the B2 should be expected to update those files under the circumstances you describe or not (although it seems to me that is should).  Not sure whether Brennan would consider it a malfunction or not.

For me, to be sure I've got the backup I want, I don't depend on the B2.  I do it myself.  There are various ways.  Some folks have pretty powerful automatic backup software that works across the network via NAS.  Others do it manually, either by NAS or USB stick.

[Nick Knoll]

I can confirm that on my B2 any songs with updated tags (and newer timestamps) are not included in the next incremental backup. I have to figure out another approach to backing up my B2, but doing so over the network would be very slow indeed.

[PMB]

Hi Nick,

It seems the B2 isn't seeing the added tags as a change so doesn't copy these when you run a backup. Martin says the code doesn't check the date or the contents of the files to be copied.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Nick,

Just to provide some food for thought ....

I use Windows 'robocopy' through NAS to maintain a 'mirror' backup of my B2 to a Win10 server. 

My collection is about 1500 albums, 20,000 tracks, using 210GB of disk space.  The first full mirror backup (this is all on a wired connection) took about 16 hours.  The robocopy log report shows that the backup was running at an average of 250MB/ minute..

This backup is incremental, so when I am retagging/ renaming/ tidying, the backup now  takes typically 20 - 40 minutes.

I have automated the process so it is set to run from midnight each night.  

Regards,

Peter.

[Nick Knoll]

Hi Peter,

I haven't used Robocopy. What does your command line look like?

Nick

[john Henrick]

I have multiple Brennan devices and use the free richcopy 4.0 interface from Microsoft to avoid the command lines .software needs a pc switched onto run.

I back up my devices daily using this after any changes and new rips

I have the devices and the Nas wired and backup is fairly quick after the initial full back up .

Hope this helps

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Nick,

The command line for my 'robocopy' command is as follows:

'robocopy \\BrennanB2\Music \\VHost-SV1\Public\All_Music\ /MIR /R:2 /W:5 /log:D:\Public\Backup_Reports\B2-VHost-SV1\Music.txt /tee /NP'

I have this command line in a 'Backup_B2.bat' batch file and then set up Windows Scheduler to run this automatically each night

It assumes that the '\Public\All_Music' directory exists on the target.  'robocopy' will create the artist and album directories and folders as it does the backup.

It also assumes that there is a directory '\Public\Backup_Reports\B2-VHost-SV1\ on the target's  'D:' drive.

You can change any of the file directories in the command to suit your PC and B2 set up.

Working along the above string:

I have a network location in my Win 10 server (the Target) that is mapped to my B2 which is '\\BrennanB2' (the Source)'.

1. '\\VHost-SV1' is my backup server name (the Target).

2. '\Public\All_Music' is my backup music folder on the backup server (the Target).

3. '/MIR' is a robocopy option to ensure that the target (the backup directory is an EXACT copy of the source (the B2 music directory (see note A below).

4. '/R:2' is the number of retries if there is a network 'glitch'.

5. '/W:5' is the wait time in seconds on the retry if there is a network 'glitch'.

6' '/log:D:\Public\Backup_Reports\B2-VHost-SV1\Music.txt' this creates a backup log file report called 'Music.txt' on my backup server VHost-SV1 in 'D:\Public\Backup_Reports\B2-VHost-SV1\'.

7. '/tee' ooption to send the report output to the PC screen that robocopy is running on.

8. '/NP'  option to supress the percentage progress (makes the report easier to read through.

Note A: The 'MIR' option causes an exact mirror of the source directory. This means that if there are files in the target directory that are not present in the source directory, then the extra files in the target directory will be deleted.

Note B: You can use drive letter options instead of network location references; ('Z:\Music' instead of '\\BrennanB2\' for both souce and target references).

Note C: More information on 'robocopy' came be found by googling 'robocopy'.

I am in the process of documenting the complete setup process for the forum, but it is taking me longer than I estimated.

I have recently found a free software called 'WinRobocopy' which is a GUI implementation of 'robocopy' so that might be easier for you to use.

Regards,

Peter.