Sync and Backup

3rdPlanetPhotography

Though I'd share something cool.

I keep all my images on my hard drive and I keep a external drive (usb) for backing up all my images. In the case that I loose one I will still be okay. The problem comes in when I try to keep them sync'ed. Well I did a little work today and found a AWESOME little (free) application that will do backups or sync folders and all its sub-folders.

The application is called SyncBack. If you need anything like this here is where you get it.

http://www.2brightsparks.com/assets/software/SyncBack_Setup.zip

Very simple and Very nice to have.

kc7dji :thumb

cmason

Another one I recommend, for Windows XP users, is the MS PowerToy..SyncToy.

I have tried both this and the above suggested app, and preferred this one...though I can not remember why. (it is free, not shareware) Anyway, I use this tool to automatically backup my "Photos" folder on my main harddrive. It does two operations: copies photos in the folder to my secondary hard drive, and also makes an incremental backup on a hard drive on a different computer that is attached to the network.

By doing this, I have the main image that I am working with, a backup from yesterday, as well as an archive of each days work (the incremental). A bonus is that if my main hard drive fails, I have two copies on separate hard drives. Why two? Because I had a hard drive controller go bad and ruin both hard drives before.

Anyway, the second computer is really just my kids computer. The backup in on a hidden folder that they can't see. The only issue with this solution is that the kids computer needs to be on for the sync to work...but I have scheduled a time when they are usually on the computer.

3rdPlanetPhotography

Thanks for the info. I tried to give SyncToy a try but it wouldn't install on my XP. It wants .Net Framework 1.???? and I'm running .Net Framework 2.0???. Wonder why they didn't make it compatable. Maybe I'll try to install both framework versions and try again.

kc7dji

cmason wrote:

Another one I recommend, for Windows XP users, is the MS PowerToy..SyncToy.

I have tried both this and the above suggested app, and preferred this one...though I can not remember why. (it is free, not shareware) Anyway, I use this tool to automatically backup my "Photos" folder on my main harddrive. It does two operations: copies photos in the folder to my secondary hard drive, and also makes an incremental backup on a hard drive on a different computer that is attached to the network.

By doing this, I have the main image that I am working with, a backup from yesterday, as well as an archive of each days work (the incremental). A bonus is that if my main hard drive fails, I have two copies on separate hard drives. Why two? Because I had a hard drive controller go bad and ruin both hard drives before.

Anyway, the second computer is really just my kids computer. The backup in on a hidden folder that they can't see. The only issue with this solution is that the kids computer needs to be on for the sync to work...but I have scheduled a time when they are usually on the computer.

3rdPlanetPhotography

Ok I installed .Net Framework 1.1 and the sync toy now works. The only thing I see different really is the scheduling. I don't see how I can schedule in SyncToy. Nice app though. thanks for the suggestion.

kc7dji

cmason

kc7dji wrote:

Ok I installed .Net Framework 1.1 and the sync toy now works. The only thing I see different really is the scheduling. I don't see how I can schedule in SyncToy. Nice app though. thanks for the suggestion.

kc7dji

Scheduling for SyncToy is done with Task Scheduler. Just Add a new Task, and choose SyncToy. Here is what the Help says about this:

To schedule a task using the operating system:

1. From the Start menu, select All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Scheduled Tasks.
2. Select Add scheduled task to start the Scheduled Task Wizard. You will see a list of possible programs to run.
3. SyncToy may appear as an option in the list. If SyncToy does not appear in the list, click Browse and go find it.
4. The wizard will next prompt you to enter how often you want to run the scheduled SyncToy (for example, daily, weekly, et cetera). Select a frequency.
5. The next page asks when to start the task. Select a start time.
6. The next page asks for the user name and password to run the program under. Enter your user name and password.
7. The final page contains an option to open the properties dialog when the wizard ends. Select this checkbox.
8. Modify the Run textbox to include the –R command line option. –R all by itself will run all folder pairs that are active for run all. If you want to run just a single folder pair, add –R“My Pair” to the end of the command line. Note: there is a space before the hyphen but not one after the R. If the folder pair name contains a space, surround it with quotation marks, as the example above shows.

For another example, assume that SyncToy is in the folder named C:\My Folder and that you want to run a folder pair named "My folder pair." Enter the command line as follows, including the quotation marks: "C:\My Folder\SyncToy.exe" -R"My folder pair." Note that there are two sets of quotation marks in this case--one is around the path to the SyncToy program file and the other surrounds the folder pair name.

3rdPlanetPhotography

Very cool! Thanks for the info!

cmason wrote:

Scheduling for SyncToy is done with Task Scheduler. Just Add a new Task, and choose SyncToy. Here is what the Help says about this: