Not a backup if you dont know you can use it

DonM123 · 28 Oct 2016

Anyone who has a way to backup added files to a USB external drive on a nightly basis
I need to find backup strategies that do not back files up to named archives that I cannot prove good without a lot of hassle.
Maybe a windows 7 copy method that copies recent files. I have been burned by backup programs that have high support fees and high rates of not being able to restore files from the backup file that the program created.
The manual copy of my external usb takes 3 days and I cant do that every eve !

I would hope to find a program that might mirror my USB drive onto another USB drive so I have them backed up.
I need a backup program that does not change the form of my files or folders.
I lost faith in windows backup a long time ago but maybe it now works ?
Anyone have a tried and true proven method that they know works that they can share with me..

THANK YOU !

Golden · 28 Oct 2016

Try this:

SyncToy - Backup User Data

or this if command line is your forte:

ROBOCOPY - Create Backup Script

ignatzatsonic · 28 Oct 2016

Backup software comparison - SyncBackPro, SyncBackSE and SyncBackFree

Here's another. I use the free version with no complaints.

I've used 4 or 5 different backup apps over the last 15 years. They all offer a "mirror" capability. The interfaces differ and some of them are confusing. Some are more difficult to configure than others. They all give you considerable control over what you want to include and exclude, but I've found that the include/exclude choices can be problematic for some programs.

But I haven't yet had any trouble with SyncBackFree after 6 months. I back up about 700 GB a couple of times a day to a second internal drive. Takes 2 minutes at most. The backed up files remain in their original format.

redoak · 28 Oct 2016

Golden said:

Try this:

SyncToy - Backup User Data

or this if command line is your forte:

ROBOCOPY - Create Backup Script

I have used both SyncToy and RoboCopy with great results. If you really want to be sure of what's going on, make yourself RoboCopy scripts. As you learn how to use either of these tools, do some experimentation - then you'll know exactly how they work...

DonM123 · 28 Oct 2016

Thank you !

ignatzatsonic · 28 Oct 2016

DonMurray said:

Anyway if anyone does know of a backup program that really does work or knows of a method to manually do this... I will be so greatfull for your sharing.

Is there some reason you have not investigated the choices mentioned in this thread?

You don't need Acronis.

You don't want incrementals or anything to do with imaging.

You want an ordinary file by file backup program that will give you an exact replica of your data files, in their original format. Just as if you had copied with the mouse or keyboard.

There are a dozen or more choices. Some paid and some free. Some of them mentioned in this thread.

samuria · 28 Oct 2016

The simplest if you only backing up docs etc is to use google drive you just save files to it on your pc and it backs it upi
on its own to google so you can get it any where in the world MS one drive does the same safer than usb which can be lost corrupt etc

DonM123 · 31 Oct 2016

OK so Robocopy it is. Do run it in powershell as an administrator ? any I have windows 7 64 bit prof.
I did open powershell and did find robocopy.exe
Should I use the Powershell ISA option to make a "batch file" or better to use notepad ? if so what do I name the extension ?
Should I bother updating powershell ? it says I have PS 2 ??

I am guessing now I can type in c:\windows\system\"Robocopy d: *.* e:\realbackofdriveD /mir /copyall /dcopy:T /e /mot:1440
?????
It seams that mir might not need the /e ?? what confuses me is when I copy something like this but it stops because it wants to know if i should overwrite or merge a folder

Also it seams that the /mot: option might not be in effect after reboot or after closing the powershell windows. - ?

Thank you !

DonM123 · 31 Oct 2016

ignatzatsonic Aspiring Gnome: IT appears that your recommendation of SyncBackFree is a good one. Id did install it and its help works and it has a nice pdf manual. If I want to buy it has a modest price of 54$
I did schedule a backup of a folder. I was confused why it did not let me choose the whole drive when I setup a backup profile.
thanks for your recommendation.
I am new to this forum and I replied and posted when the page was not updated. Sorry for the confusion.
It is so awesome to get this kind of information Im grateful for the time this forum has saved me.. THank you!

Lady Fitzgerald · 31 Oct 2016

samuria said:

The simplest if you only backing up docs etc is to use google drive you just save files to it on your pc and it backs it upi
on its own to google so you can get it any where in the world MS one drive does the same safer than usb which can be lost corrupt etc

I would NOT trust Google drive. Besides Google being too snoopy for my tastes, Google has a nasty habit of discontinuing services with inadequate to no warning. Even though it's not free (and it's not very expensive), Carbonite.com is much safer and more reliable. Crashplan and Backblaze are also supposed to be good although I've heard Crashplan's upload speeds tend to be slower.

Also, just using the one service for backups is a gamble. One should have at least two backups, preferably one onsite and one offsite. A cloud backup service can be used for offsite backups. I maintain two onsite and two offsite backups for each HDD in my computer and swap them out at least once a month. I also maintain a Carbonite backup to use to recover files that have been added or changed since the last time I updated my offsite backups in case I should lose my original data and my onsite backups.