easiest way to backup files

kalabula wrote on 6/12/2007, 11:18 AM
Not sure if this is the right forum for this but:

I just bought two 500gb external drives. One for video files/projects and the other to backup the first. What would be the easiest way to have all the files from the first drive be backed up on the second? Is there a utility that can monitor and make sure that everytime more date is put on the first drive that a second copy of it is put on the other drive?

I am constantly adding data and it will be a pain if I have to manually copy it to the second drive everytime.

Comments

ritsmer wrote on 6/12/2007, 1:18 PM
You would need a backup program which at the beginning could make a full backup and then - scheduled - say every night - could make the changes to this backup.
I use the Iomega automatic backup pro which came with my 500 GB network disk and which works perfectly securing my days work every night and letting me check it looking in a logfile every morning.
I use the network drive because it can be in the other end of the house which may be good in case of fire etc. But I do make additional OutOfTheHouse copies every month on tape and on 500 GB USB Harddisks too.
The Iomega backup program seems to be freely available on their support and download site - but I do not know their conditions, if any..
I think that Backup MyPC from Roxio and alike also can do the job well.
I just searched Tucows for "incremental backup" and a lot of programs popped up...
IanG wrote on 6/13/2007, 1:59 AM
How do you want your backup to work? If the second drive is always a mirror of the first it's going to be easy, but what happens if you delete something from the main drive - do you want it deleted from the backup as well? What about changes to files - do you want to keep older versions or just the most recent one? Maybe a more fundamental question is "why are you doing backups?" - if it's to product yourself against a failure of your main drive then mirroring is the way to go. If you want the ability to selectively recover files you'll need something more sophisticated.

An obvious issue, that I've seen forgotten by too many people, is how are you going to recover your files? By filename, everything in a specific folder, every avi that was added 2 weeks ago? There are lots of possibilities!

I use AISBackup to backup my work files - great app with great support, but its power and flexibility make it quite intimidating if you're not used to setting up backups. There are loads of backup apps available, but I think the trick is to work out exactly what you want it do and then see what's the best fit.

Ian G.
kalabula wrote on 6/13/2007, 4:40 AM
I want a mirror of all the data in case of a failure and loss of the original data. Something "light" and simple.
kalabula wrote on 6/13/2007, 9:41 AM
I just downloaded Cobian at the suggestions of a tech forum moderator. We'll see how that works.
mickbadal wrote on 6/13/2007, 11:56 AM
"I want a mirror of all the data in case of a failure and loss of the original data. Something "light" and simple."

I just crossed this bridge myself. If you're looking for light, simple, quick and completely cheap ($0), then use Windows briefcase. Simple:

Right click on your destination drive, select "New > Briefcase" from the pop-up menu, and windows will guide you thru the rest. Once you have it setup, then whenever you're done modifying your original data store, you simply right-click the briefcase, select "Update All", and it determines all files that need to be sync'd, and syncs them after you tell it to.

You can update files either in the main store or the mirror, and Briefcase will take care of sync'ing them. Since briefcase is completely built into the OS, there are no additional apps to launch, and you can even take your mirror drive to any Windows machine and it will read all files/folders in the briefcase natively. Like I said, light and simple.

There certainly are backup/sync utilities out there that are more robust than briefcase. But again if you're looking for light, simple (and probably no cost), this is a decent way to go. I'm using this exact approach today to maintain two mirrors of my main repository, which is approx. 300GB of files and multiple nested folders. I even have a flash card that I carry around with me which has some of my more "portable" documents, and I sync that back to the main store using another briefcase.

Hope that helps!
mtnorwood wrote on 6/13/2007, 10:30 PM
I've used 2BrightSparks freeware SyncBack tool for some time with no problems:

http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html
(Note that the SE version is not free -- scroll to the bottom for the freeware version.)

It does backups OR synchronizations, and has plenty of options.
IanG wrote on 6/14/2007, 1:15 AM
Cobian Backup is a nice app, but it doesn't do mirroring.

Ian G.