Good backup policy?

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  1. Posts : 11
    Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit 7600
       #1

    Good backup policy?


    I bought an USB-disk to make backups from my home computer. I´m going to take the disk off-site, it is to my office. Now I need to find out how to do good backups.

    I tried SyncToy from Microsoft. Something went totally wrong. After sync I had more than 3000 items in Recycle Bin. I could restore them back, but I don´t trust SyncToy anymore. It did´t even take all files, though I started it with Admin rights.

    What do you use for such purpose? I have also Acronis True Image WD Edition, because I have Western Digital HDD:s. I create weekly an image from my system disk to other disk inside my computer, but I´m not sure how wise it would be to do another image to USB-disk. I have to have Acronis first installed after possible crash.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1,170
    XP Pro SP3 X86 / Win7 Pro X86
       #2

    Opam said:
    I bought an USB-disk to make backups from my home computer. I´m going to take the disk off-site, it is to my office. Now I need to find out how to do good backups.

    I tried SyncToy from Microsoft. Something went totally wrong. After sync I had more than 3000 items in Recycle Bin. I could restore them back, but I don´t trust SyncToy anymore. It did´t even take all files, though I started it with Admin rights.

    What do you use for such purpose? I have also Acronis True Image WD Edition, because I have Western Digital HDD:s. I create weekly an image from my system disk to other disk inside my computer, but I´m not sure how wise it would be to do another image to USB-disk. I have to have Acronis first installed after possible crash.
    I do my backups on two hard disks in sleeves. I don't use any special software I just drag and drop the files I want second copies of onto the usb drive... Real easy.

    If I ever need to restore them, I'll just drop them back in place on my main disk.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 7,878
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #3

    I simply use robocopy...which is a command line tool which comes with Windows.

    I keep my data pretty well organized, so I create a simple batch file which looks like this.

    robocopy C:\data\music E:\backup\music /mir
    robocopy C:\data\docs E:\backup\music /mir
    robocopy C:\data\pics E:\backup\pics /mir

    The /mir Mirrors the source and the destination, so when I delete files on my C drive, it will also delete them from my external drive.

    Robocopy also just grabs files which have changed, so the first run takes a while and the rest are extremely fast.
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  4. Posts : 1,170
    XP Pro SP3 X86 / Win7 Pro X86
       #4

    pparks1 said:
    I simply use robocopy...which is a command line tool which comes with Windows.

    I keep my data pretty well organized, so I create a simple batch file which looks like this.

    robocopy C:\data\music E:\backup\music /mir
    robocopy C:\data\docs E:\backup\music /mir
    robocopy C:\data\pics E:\backup\pics /mir

    The /mir Mirrors the source and the destination, so when I delete files on my C drive, it will also delete them from my external drive.

    Robocopy also just grabs files which have changed, so the first run takes a while and the rest are extremely fast.


    THANK YOU for this. Right under my nose the whole time, too.

    Back in the Win98 days, I used XCopy for this...
    but it never deleted orphans from the backup...
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 536
    Windows 7
       #5

    Robocopy works great. Also, you can give RichCopy a spin, it's like Robocopy on steroids, and has a nice GUI to it.
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  6. Posts : 1,170
    XP Pro SP3 X86 / Win7 Pro X86
       #6

    Desslok said:
    Robocopy works great. Also, you can give RichCopy a spin, it's like Robocopy on steroids, and has a nice GUI to it.
    I've got a 3 terabyte backup to do over the weekend... I'll let you know.

    I don't think I want RichCopy, with it being multithreaded it's likely to cause some serious fragmentation... I'll give RoboCopy a try first.



    To Opam... I am sorry, I seem to have hijacked your thread. That was not my intention....
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 2,127
    Windows XP - Now Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit).
       #7

    Some brilliant suggestions here, esp. from parks, I might have to look into that myself. And good to see the OP implementing a backup policy. Backup and then backup
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1,170
    XP Pro SP3 X86 / Win7 Pro X86
       #8

    manhunter2826 said:
    Some brilliant suggestions here, esp. from parks, I might have to look into that myself. And good to see the OP implementing a backup policy. Backup and then backup
    Absolutely... There's nothing I do that is harder than telling some young couple they've just lost all their wedding photos... (or in one case, photos of a deceased child.)

    I'm trying the Robocopy backup right now, on my movie collection... so far so good. But the command line's a doozie to work out...
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 536
    Windows 7
       #9

    CommonTater said:
    manhunter2826 said:
    Some brilliant suggestions here, esp. from parks, I might have to look into that myself. And good to see the OP implementing a backup policy. Backup and then backup

    I'm trying the Robocopy backup right now, on my movie collection... so far so good. But the command line's a doozie to work out...

    You can download the GUI for that as well, it's old but you can still find it here, Under November downloads. Not sure why you would think copying 3 files at a time would fragment your disk, but you can use this.:
    2006 Code Downloads
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 2,127
    Windows XP - Now Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit).
       #10

    Desslok said:
    CommonTater said:
    manhunter2826 said:
    Some brilliant suggestions here, esp. from parks, I might have to look into that myself. And good to see the OP implementing a backup policy. Backup and then backup

    I'm trying the Robocopy backup right now, on my movie collection... so far so good. But the command line's a doozie to work out...

    You can download the GUI for that as well, it's old but you can still find it here, Under November downloads. Not sure why you would think copying 3 files at a time would fragment your disk, but you can use this.:
    2006 Code Downloads
    Thanks for the useful link, very kind
      My Computer


 
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