Preserved Topic: Looking for Good Windows Backup Software (Page 1 of 1)

So here's my excellent backup solution. I bought an external USB case for a spare 30GB drive I have. I'm going to attach that to the underside of my desk.

I'll have all my data files backed up to the spare drive daily. In case of theft of my systems, the bastards almost certainly will just unplug everything and won't trace cables to the underside of my desk. Probably wouldn't be too concerned about small peripherals, anyway. They'd get my systems, but I'd still have my data. (Since my theft a few months ago, that's been a concern.)

Additionally, the drive itself resides in a removable bay. In case of an emergency of any kind -- fire, tornado, whatever -- I can quickly yank out the back-up drive. Off I go, data intact.

But I would like to find something better for performing automated backups than Windows Backup. I never really liked the idea of having everything compressed into a proprietary backup file. Plus, extracting certain files is both confusing and a pain in the ass.

Does anyone know of a good, reliable (and hopefully free) utility that will copy selected directories to another location? Something schedulable (is that a word?) that has options like copying only files that have changed, that sort of thing.

I found this for $30, which isn't bad. But free is better.



[This message has been edited by Wes (edited 03-28-2003).]

man, I don't have any ideas but I am watching this thread because I need something like that too.

I have a partition on my drive that holds all my data. Programs on C and data on D.

It would be nice to have something that you could do this with. I need another hard drive like what you explained though. Right now I am just copying everything to CD's. That's a pain in the ass. I have often thought of purchasing a tape drive but I can't afford that right now, plus I am not sure that you can do it on anything except a server. Ignorance I guess.

Good luck in finding something (free)

Later,

C:\


~Binary is best~

I did find this

It's free. Don't know.

Later,

C:\


~Binary is best~

A search on Tucows gave me Quicksync and back4win
Both programs are free.

<edit>Cprompt sneaked one in before me...</edit>
"Freedom of speech is by no means freedom to insult others" from the Razorart goodbye letter.

[This message has been edited by Rinswind 2th (edited 03-25-2003).]

That's the same thing I do, CPrompt -- programs on C and data on D. Even if you do set up a dedicated backup drive, though, I recommend you still back things up on CD, as well.

I make a CD backup of everything once a month and keep it at someone else's house. If that tornado or fire hits when you're not at home, that backup drive won't do much good.

One of these days, I really need to go through and make backup copies of all the projects I've archived on CD. A lot of that stuff has no copy anywhere.

I'll take a look at those recommended programs when I get home. Getting connection errors now for some reason.

Hmm... I do the same thing (programs on C, data on D), and I usually just use my CDRW drive for straight backups (ie, I just copy files to CDs), but that can get tedious. I'll have to look into some of those programs.

Argh!

Why does every hardware installation I attempt have to turn into an epic adventure?!

Whenever the USB case is connected, my CPU goes apeshit. 100% to 0% and round again, every second. When Drive Management tries to display, everything hangs until I turn off the USB case.

• Updated all relevant drivers.
• Device Manager recognizes both the drive and the USB device an says they're both working fine.
• Tried the drive on a regular IDE connection: worked fine.
• Deleted the drive's volume and reformatted, just in case: drive worked fine still. (Norton Drive Doctor can't seem to perform a full test for some reason, but I can still read and write from the drive just fine.)
• Tested the drive from DOS using Western Digital's testing software: no errors.
• Reinstalled the drive in the USB case without the removable bay: no difference.
• Tried a different drive in the case: no difference.

Screw it. I'm returning the damn thing and exchanging it for the firewire version. Of course, that means getting a firewire expansion card...and the price goes up...

I am the unluckiest boy in the world.

Damn Wes, I have never heard of someone having that many problems with hardware.
I remember when you built your computer, you had some of the strangest problems. Then I also remember that before I upgraded my computer, I had some very strange problems. What do these two things have in common you may ask?


Western Digital

Later,

C:\


~Binary is best~

Try xcopy /? -- you'll find that this simple command line tool lets you do quite a bit. If all I wanted to do was back up only changed files, I'd use Windows Scheduler to run a batch file with an appropriate series of xcopy commands.

Ah, PT beat me to it.

Seriously, an automated batch file is usually the best solution and it won't cost you a dime.

Here's how it works. You create a text file and use the following as an example:

quote:

---

CALL ..\time_stamp.bat backup_log.txt ::::: Start Backup Task :::::

xcopy /e /y /d /i "c:\*.*" "d:\backup"

CALL ..\time_stamp.bat backup_log.txt ::::: End Backup Task :::::

---

Now, change the extension on the text file from .txt to .bat and you will then be able to run it in windows. Now, lets break down the commands.

The CALL function calls an external batch file called time_stamp.bat to put a time stamp in a file called backup_log.txt. This file will then contain a record of each time your backup process started and stopped. time_stamp.bat can be obtained from here.

The backup_log.txt file will then contain something like:

02/27/2003 1:28p ::::: Start Backup Task :::::
02/27/2003 1:36p ::::: End Backup Task :::::
02/27/2003 9:05p ::::: Start Backup Task :::::
02/27/2003 9:11p ::::: End Backup Task :::::

The most important line of all contains the xcopy command. xcopy should be available on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. If you have 98 or ME then you'll have to use copy, which isn't as robust.

The xcopy switches do the following:
/e Copies directories and subdirectories, even empty ones.
/y Suppresses prompting you to confirm overwriting a file.
/d Copy only those files whose source time is newer than the destination time.
/i If destination does not exist and copying more than one file, assumes that destination must be a directory.

The *.* part is important as well since it tells xcopy to copy everything in that directory.

Therefore, the following command:
xcopy /e /y /d /i "c:\*.*" "d:\backup"
Will copy everything from the root of the c-drive including files, directories, and subdirectories to a directory in the d-drive called "backup". If this directory does not exist, then xcopy will create the directory and all appropriate subdirectories. Also, if there are copies of these files in the d:\backup folder already, xcopy will only copy the file if the date on the source file is newer than the date on the destination file.

Now, to run this, simply set up a task (start->programs->accessories->system tools->scheduled tasks) that runs every night at say, 11:55pm and point that task to your batch file.

If you want more information on your backups, create another batch file with the following line:
backup.bat > file_log.txt
Then, point your task to this file. It will run the backup.bat (assuming that was the original file you created) file and pipe all output to file_log.txt. Now, file_log.txt should have a record of all files copied.

One thing to note is that there is no open file support for xcopy, so if it tries to copy over a file you have open (say you still have a .psd open in photoshop) it won't copy that file over and it will return an error. With the /c switch, however, you can tell xcopy to continue copying the other files and skip the one that returned the error.

Hope that helped.






[This message has been edited by silence (edited 03-27-2003).]

OK, so I tried the FireWire version and -- guess what -- it worked. That was really to satisfy my own curiosity, though, because the only version of the case I could find was this one, which is smaller and doesn't fit the removable bay. (Additionally, the power supply is external and the power switch is on the back.) The USB version, which was apparently an older style case, just exactly fit the removable bay.

Now if I can only find the larger version of the FireWire, pictured here, I should be set.

I may have to order it online and pray they don't send me the apparently newer, small version.

And I may try that xcopy solution. Thanks for extended explanation, silence.



[This message has been edited by Wes (edited 03-27-2003).]

Wow, that's some great information there, silence. I will definitely put that to use!

Can we move this thread to the FAQ. It would be handy dandy!

Nevermind, I think it's cool if I go ahead and start something in the FAQ on this. I am sure that the mods of the FAQ have enough to do.

OK, here it is. Feel free to admend it as you see fit.


Later,

C:\


[This message has been edited by CPrompt (edited 03-27-2003).]

[This message has been edited by CPrompt (edited 03-27-2003).]

Excellent stuff, Silence, and considerably more knowledgeable and in-depth than what I would have said if questioned.

The FAQ's a wiki, by the way -- completely open for any Asylumite to add to it. (edit: C:\> knows this, obviously, I'm just preaching to the masses.) If you think of something that deserves an FAQ, put it in there! (Since the FAQ has a lot of Google juice these days, you can rest assured that you're doing the world a favor; as far as I know, there's nothing that says FAQ items have to be specific to the Asylum's chosen topics, so you could add an FAQ on car maintenance, folding clothing correctly, or whatever.)

[This message has been edited by Perfect Thunder (edited 03-27-2003).]

Looks good, c:\. I'm always glad to help.

If you need any further help with batch scripting, Wes, just let me know. I actually use it rather extensively for simple backup jobs, and I find it much more reliable since I know exactly what's going on in my code.

BTW, found a good resource on xcopy switches and added it to the FAQ: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/p rodtechnol/winxppro/proddocs/xcopy.asp

Now, can anyone figure out a way to have it delete files from the destination that do not exist in the source? (In other words, I would like files I've deleted on D: to be deleted from the backup when the next backup occurs.)

I'm also trying to figure out a way to have it print errors to the log. I saw an error come up in the little DOS window, but then the DOS window disappeared. I was able to read it this time around, but I won't always be staring at the screen when it performs a backup. Come to think of it, I probably won't always look in the log, either, so a way just to keep the window from closing at the end of the backup would be nice.




[This message has been edited by Wes (edited 03-28-2003).]

For the easier problem, you can add PAUSE to any line and you'll get the standard "Press any key to continue..." prompt at that point in the batch. So just add that at the last line of the batch file, and the window will stay open until you press a key.

Now, the first question about deleting files that have been deleted in the source, but it would take more knowledge about batch scripting than I could explain here to do it the way you want. A simple solution would be to delete the entire backup and re-copy everything, but I don't think this is something you'd like to do.

Also, try doing a search on google for premade batch files as I'm sure you should be able to find something along the lines of what you're looking for, and with a few tweaks you'll be ready to go.

PAUSE. That's excellent. The window remaining open will be a good visual cue that the backup performed even if there aren't any errors.

I'll take a look around for some batch scripts.

Thanks.