Backing up to usb

[mark duncan]

I do regular back ups from my B2 to an external hard drive. Suddenly that option is no longer available on the usb menu. The only option seems to be export to c and I hit that and it now seems to be doing a complete export. I have almost 20000 tracks so this will take days. It used to do just an incremental backup. Will this overwrite my previous back up?

 Why has the menu been changed without advising users. I am worried if anything goes wrong during this export i could be left without any back up. This is really frustrating. 

Thanks

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

AH!

Well if you have been using the "backup" command that is NOT the correct one for doing backups! - That's why its been moved to is own section - because people were using it incorrectly.

The correct command for a B2 backup of you music is the "Export to USB (A or C)" This does an incremental backup.

Fred

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Mark,

It sounds like you have been using the 'Backup to C' function for your backups, rather than 'Export to C'.  The 'Backup to C' function should only be used if you require a backup that is compatible with the previous JB7 model.

The 'Backup to C' function has been moved to a new location namely 'Main' --> 'USB Menu' --> 'JB7 functions' because many users were using the wrong backup option with realising that.  This is documented in the on-line 'B2 Menu Summary' web pages.

For regular backups, the 'Export to C' is the function to use.  

Regards,

Peter.

On Wednesday, 31 March 2021 at 18:36:34 UTC+1 mark duncan wrote:

[mark duncan]

Thanks for the quick reply. 

I have always used the backup function without issue. Not sure why that should be called “wrong”

Would you know of the current “export” will overwrite what is already on the hard drive?  If not I could run out of space. 

Is it safe to stop the export midway or will that cause issues?

It is currently on track 950 so I reckon could be 10 hours to complete. 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts

[Daniel Taylor]

Although the Backup command is intended for backward compatibility with the JB7, it will certainly work to back up your music.  If you ever need to retrieve your music, the Restore command is the companion to be used.  (The companion command for Export is Import.) The JB7 had a different folder structure than the B2.  So a Backup does not preserve the same folder structure that the B2 uses, rather it modifies it to match that of the JB7.  But the music is still there.

The Export command will not overwrite your previous Backup.  The folders will be separate at the top level.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Mark,

The 'Export to C' backup will not overwrite the 'Backup to C' backup.

The 'Export to C' creates a folder named 'b2Export' which contains a folder named 'music' which contains all of the music collection.

The 'Backup to C' function creates a folder named 'hardfi' which contains a folder named 'music' which contains all of the music collection.

So the 'b2Export' and 'hardfi' folders co-exist with each other without any problems.  I have a JB7 and a B2 (each with 20200 music tracks) , with both versions stored on a single 750GB USB HDD.

All you need is to have sufficient disk space to enable both collections to be stored at the same time.

Regards,

Peter.

[mark duncan]

Thanks Daniel. That all makes sense. 

On Wednesday, 31 March 2021 at 19:43:29 UTC+1 Daniel Taylor wrote:

[mark duncan]

Thank you Peter. I have a 1TB external drive so should be ok then

Appreciate your help.

Mark

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Mark,

No problem.  In answer to your query on restarting an 'Export' or a 'Backup' the answer is 'Yes', you can stop these processes and re-start them and they will continue from the last stop point, in other words they are incremental.  That is provided that when you re-start the 'Export' or 'Backup' you are using the same USB HDD.

Regards,

Peter.