# Sean's Data Backup Guide



## Sean Webster

Sean's Data Backup Guide










First off, data is not backed up up unless it is in 3 or more separate locations! (with one being offsite)

Backup is a pretty simple topic. You have your precious data such as photos, videos, documents, music, and even just program files and game saves on your PC and you don't want to lose it right? Well, if so then you should always backup of your data in some sort of way.

There are two categories of backup: system backup and file backup. A system backup is when you copy everything verbatim on the OS hard drive onto an external storage medium, including the operating system, applications and data. If the drive fails, the computer can be restored to its former state.

File backup copies only data files onto an external storage medium. If the drive fails, the OS and applications have to be re-installed.

I like to do a mix of both of these to cover my butt in case of anything. You will see what I do exactly in the following steps.

*RAID is not a Backup solution*

RAID is not designed to replace a proper backup solution, it's there to protect against drive failures with minimal to no down time. I don't understand why some people think that just because different RAIDs such as RAID 5 or RAID 6 can take a drive loss and still maintain data integrity that their data is backed up. It simply is not. Data needs to be in multiple places to actually be backed up, not just a single RAID volume in a single PC/location.

*RAID arrays do NOT protect against:*

Boot Sector Corruption
Human error (deleting files by mistake)
RAID controller/software failure
Fire, flood, or other calamity such as an EMP in your PC...








Theft, hacker attack, or other offensive action
Multiple disk failures and Unrecoverable Read Error
Data corruption
Virus'
However, using RAID IN your backup is totally different then using RAID AS your backup. A cool thing you can do is use a box with hot swap bays to hold your drives to easily swap out a drive if one fails for large arrays. Also, you can set up drives as hot spares which means they are just in the system's RAID array sitting waiting for a failure so it can automatically integrate into the array so you don't have to do it manually.









*Getting started:*

The way I see it there are three steps in this.

Organize and choose what you need to backup
Plan out our backup routine
Choose a program or programs that will help you accomplish your plan, configure as needed, and test your backup routine

*Organize:*

Okay, so to get started you should first make sure your data is nice and organized so everything will be easier to backup and track down throughout the process. I've seen countless systems where there are hundreds of folders all over the place and nothing is organized one bit. It is the most annoying thing to deal with for me when I have to backup a system as I am used to having all my stuff organized neatly.









*The way I have my data set up does as follows:*

For the OS drive I have a 128GB SSD. On the OS drive is just my OS, drivers, and programs. No actual important data except for the program settings and what not.
For the rest of my data, it is on various drives in my system. My secondary drive basically holds all my data, it is a RAID 0 array. I have a single folder on this drive. I call it "Main Data." Within it I have my main sub-folders.

*Secondary drive layout:*
My Computer, "D:\" ->

"Main Data" folder ->

Backup (Main storage for OS backup images here so when I do my file backup my OS backup is backed up too.)
Desktop
Downloads
Dropbox (This also contains my Documents folder, Dropbox backups my important docs via cloud storage all the time.)
Miscellaneous (Just where I have old data, program installers, ISOs, etc.)
Music
Pictures
Videos
Saved Games
SkyDrive
Steam



Next, I have my 1TB scratch disk for my temp storage and random stuff. I have the same basic layout as my secondary drive. I have a main folder called "Scratch," which I have branch out into other sub-folders for what ever I want.
Next, I have my 256GB SSD for my Virtual Machine storage. I have the same basic layout as my other drives. I have a main folder called "VMs," which then branches out into other sub-folders for my virtual machine data.
Finally I have my Backup drive in my system. This drive is where all the organization pays off. I have a main folder called "Backup. This folder contains a few different sub folders for my various backup needs.

*Backup drive layout:*
My Computer, "Y:\" ->

"Backup" folder ->

Bookmarks (Bookmarks from FireFox in my Appdata folder sync to here)
Main Data (Main Data folder syncs to here)
VMs (VM folder syncs to here)
Scratch (Sratch drive folder syncs here)
Lightroom (All my lightroom settings in my Appdata folder sync here)
Sticky Notes (The sticky notes file in my Appdata folder saves here for backup)
VirtualBox (The ".VirtualBox" folder in my User folder syncs here to keep my settings backup)




*How to plan out a good backup routine:*

So now that you've seen how my system is organized go ahead and organized your stuff how you like and we can begin out next step, building a backup routine. I like to do a simple automated backup routine for my data. I don't ever have to manually backup my stuff ever again! No more copying, pasting, or deleting bunches of folders back and forth, just do a one time setup and I'm good to go from then on and my mind is at ease.









*Backup vs Redundancy vs Archiving:*
The technology overlap between backup, redundancy and archiving can often lead to confusion, but each has a different role to play in streamlining and safeguarding data. Backups essentially create a second copy of data at specific points in time, ideally keeping multiple historic copies. Redundancy establishes a straight copy of an entire system, ready to take over if the original system fails. Backup offers a certain level of redundancy, and redundancy a basic level of backup, but neither are stand-alone solutions.

Archiving makes a primary copy of selected data with the aim of retaining data in the long-term. Not all of the data contained in a backup will ultimately end up in an archive so archiving is rarely an adequate backup solution in itself but as a complementary approach, it can considerably optimize the data storage process.

Most backup strategies rely on a combination of backup, redundancy and archiving. An important factor to bear in mind when planning a backup schedule is prioritization of data. Not all data is created equal and a tiered backup strategy that restores the most critical applications first will get you back in business faster and cut data storage costs.

*There are various locations to backup your data to. You can backup to:*

Drive in your system
External or portable drive
A dedicated NAS or Server
Cloud storage
CDs
Tape
Figure out what will work for you. The easiest thing to do is to just back a second drive, internal or external, and use that for your backup storage. Make sure it is larger than you need so you don't run out of space any time soon!

*I have my system automatically do a:*

Full system backup of my OS drive bi-monthly keeping the last four system images and archive the original system image from when I just installed Windows
File backup every night to my secondary drive in my PC, my documents folder is also synced with DropBox 24/7
Bi-monthly file backup to my server's RAID 5 array
Monthly backup of important files to an external away from my house...I swear it is not excessive!









*How to accomplish your backup plan:*

Now that you have all your stuff organized, your plan on backup set up and ready you need to figure out what ways you are going to accomplish your goal, what programs are you going to use and how are you going to set them up?

There are a ton of programs out there. Feel free to try them and see how you like 'em. Personally I use FreeFileSync for my folder backup and Acronis True Image for my OS backup now.


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## Sean Webster

Programs and Guides

*Here is a list of some free:*

Freefilesync
Microsoft SyncToy
Rsync
Easus Todo back up
Easus Disk Copy
Clonezilla
AceBackup
FBackup
GenieTimeline Free
PureSync
Toucan
Paragon Backup & Recovery (Advanced) Free
SyncBackSE
Macrium Reflect
Windows Backup and Restore
GFI Backup
Back It Up!
Cobian Backup
Comodo Backup
Recuva
*Here is a list of some Paid for:*

Acronis True Image
Norton Ghost
More info on partition backup, restore, migration, etc. here: (link)

*FreeFileSync:* (FREE)


*What is it?*
FreeFileSync is a folder comparison and synchronization tool providing highly optimized performance and usability without a needlessly complex user interface. This is my favorite synchronization software for backups and folder transfers. Basically, I just set it to the mirror option, select the source and destination folder and compare and run. You can also make a batch file to have task manager run when you are away or the PC is asleep in the middle of the night.


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Download here: (link)

Just download and install.

Select the folders you want to sync:


Top right green gear icon is the sync options button, click it and select how you want to do your sync method, I just do mirror, you can even customize for any folder you want individually as well.


Then save the file as batch or something if you want to do that same sync multiple times without resetting it up. Then just click synchronize to run it.

*How do I program it to run on a schedule?*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



This is very simple and easy to do.

*Create the batch file:*

First of all you need to create a backup batch file. This is really easy. Just setup your folders you want to backup as you normally would picking the source and destination.
Once set, at the top go to Program > Save as batch job...
Tinker with your settings how you like. Under Batch settings I set Error handling to Ignore, uncheck show progress dialog, and have it generate a log.
Once done save as what ever you want. I call mine Backup.
Now you need to go into Task Scheduler to set it to a schedule.
*Set Schedule:*

Open the Start Menu, type "*Task Scheduler*," and press Enter
Now go to the top left next to File click "*Action*," then from the menu click "*Create Task*"
It will bring a window up where you can create your task.
Now name it whatever you like. I named mine "FreeFileSync."
Go to the *Triggers* tab and click the button at the bottom labeled "*New...*"
Now you can customize how often you want to back up. I run mine daily at 5 A.M.
When you're done setting up your schedule click *Ok*.
Now go to *Actions* tab and click the button at the bottom labeled "*New...*"
Under settings click "*Browse*"then select the *FreeFileSync.exe*, located: "C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync\FreeFileSync.exe"
Where it says *Add arguments* put the location of your batch file you created earlier, for example mine is: "D:\Data\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\Backup.ffs_batch"
That's it basically. If you want you can customize it more under the "Conditions" and "Settings" tabs.

Now to finish click *Ok* and your schedule will be set.







*Acronis True image:* (FREE for people with WD, Seagate, and Intel drives/Not free otherwise)


*What is it?*
It is a great backup program that has many options for backup including email, cloud, partition, and file backup. This is what I use to backup my OS every week. It is great, I just set it on a schedule to do weekly full system images and delete anything older than the last 4 images on its own while keeping the original. I can easily recover back to an image via the program in the OS or from a bootable media environment that you can create with the program. This and FreeFileSync together complete my backup loop.


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



*To make a system image with Acronis True Image:*

Select backup data/partitions.


Check off all the partitions on your drive(s) you want to backup.


Choose your image destination.


Change the backup scheme to however you like, I like full backups.




Set up your options however you like.

Have it validate your image after creation.


To finish just click Backup now.





*EaseUs ToDo Backup:* (FREE)


*What is it?*
This is a great alternative to Acronis True Image. It can do nearly everything Arconis can do and the best part is that it is free!

*Robocopy:* (FREE)


*What is it?*
Robocopy is a Robust File Copy Utility. It is very similar to xcopy/xxcopy. It is used to make copies of your data to where ever you want it to go. Thus, awesome back up feature built into windows 7!!! Though I prefer FreeFileSync over this a lot more.


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



*Why use it?*

100% Free!
1:1 BACK UP!
You edit it the way you want and schedulable it to run when you want.
It updates only the changed files in the folders you set, so it allows for faster backups.
It uses very little resources
Multithreaded copying
Network backup
*Before we begin!*

Besure you have all your data backed up to 2 locations in case you accidently do something wrong; here is how I back up my data: http://cdn.overclock.net/a/a3/a3e28527_b3f001eb_Mydatabackup.png
Test your code and verify it if you have any questions; just post in the thread!
If you have windows xp you will need to download this: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=17657
*How to program it!*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



*The basic syntax:*

Code:



Code:


robocopy  <Destination> [<File>[ ...]] [<Options>]

Open "*Notepad*" and create your command.

*Here is an example of my back up command:*
*Note:* This will copy everything from my documents folder to a duplicated documents folder on one of my backup drives. Any data in the destination folder will be mirrored from the source folder and anything in the destination folder that isn't in the source folder will be deleted.

Code:



Code:


Robocopy "D:\Documents" "E:\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /R:5 /W:15


"*D:\Documents*" is the source.
"*E:\Back Up\My Documents*" is the destination.
"*/E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15*" are the options I choose for my backups.
/E - Copies subdirectories. Note that this option includes empty directories
/V - Produces verbose output, and shows all skipped files
/PURGE - Deletes destination files and directories that no longer exist in the source
/R:5 - Specifies the number of retries on failed copies. The default value of N is 1,000,000 (one million retries)
/W:15 - Specifies the wait time between retries, in seconds. The default value of N is 30 (wait time 30 seconds)
Another ex. - The /MIR switch tells Robocopy you want to mirror the two folders, copying all folders (even empty ones) from the source directory and purging folders from the destination if they no longer exist on the source.

*Note:* Here is where you can find all the options for it: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733145%28WS.10%29.aspx

*For multiple locations just add another command under your first line.*

Code:



Code:


Robocopy "D:\Documents" "E:\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /R:5 /W:15
Robocopy "D:\Pictures" "E:\Back Up\Pictures" /E /V /PURGE /R:5 /W:15

*If you want to create a log follow this example:*

Code:



Code:


Robocopy "Source" "Destination" /log:C:\Desktop\ZeOtherStuffRoboLog.txt

That will allow for a log file to be created. Within it shows what has been copied and what hasn't been.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320*
> One tip I wanted to add, if you do multiple backups (ie daily/weekly/etc) you may want to use the /LOG+ option instead of simply /LOG so that it will append to your existing log file instead of overwriting it.






*Save it!*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Now that now made the script in notepad you need to save it as a .bat file where ever you like. I have mine saved in my documents in a folder called "*My Scripts*"



*Test it out!*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Now that you have the .bat file you can go ahead and run it by double clicking it and it will automatically start to back up your source to the destination.



*How do I program it to run on a schedule?*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



This is very simple and easy to do.

Open the Start Menu, type "*Task Scheduler*," and press Enter
Now go to the top left next to File click "*Action*," then from the menu click "*Create Task*"
It will bring a window up where you can create your task.
Now name it whatever you like. I named mine "Robo Backup."
Go to the *Triggers* tab and click the button at the bottom labeled "*New...*"
Now you can customize how often you want to back up.
When you're done setting up your schedule click *Ok*.
Now go to *Actions* tab and click the button at the bottom labeled "*New...*"
Under settings click "*Browse*"then select your .bat file you created earlier.
That's it basically. If you want you can customize it more under the "Conditions" and "Settings" tabs.

Now to finish click *Ok* and your schedule will be set.




*Further reading:*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocopy
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733145(WS.10).aspx
http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy30.htm
http://www.upway2late.com/projects/winrobocopy
http://theether.net/download/Microsoft/Utilities/robocopy.pdf


*Extra Info!*

*How to make the the CMD window hidden:*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



1. Open up notepad
2. Copy and paste this:

Code:



Code:


var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c BackUpAll.bat", WindowStyle_Hidden)

Instead of typing "BackUpAll" type in the name of your .bat file you made.
3. Now save as a .js file. So for example "BackUpAll Hidden.js"
4. Run it and see that it works.

Note 1: Both the .js and the .bat need to be in the same folder for it to work.
Note 2: The .bat file you made must not have any spaces in the name. If it does then the .js script you just made will NOT run.

Now you can go ahead and make the task scheduler run the .js script instead of the .bat file and you won't see the CMD window pop up!











*Locked file backup and sleep:*


Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!



Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15319445*
> Great script Sean!
> 
> Ok so I've been messing around with Robocopy and up until yesterday I was sort of annoyed that if I used Robocopy it would not be a 100% sure thing since it was not able to backup any locked or open files. For example, if you use Outlook for email and forgot to close the program before your backup program ran, it would completely skip that file and you would have no emails backed up.
> 
> Well I kept looking around on Google for a solution or alternative and ended up figuring out a really cool way to have my cake and eat it too!
> 
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> So, like I said, its true that Robocopy doesn't handle open/locked files, BUT if we use Robocopy and wrap around it another program, called ShadowSpawn, we can then duplicate the same backup style that Windows Backup uses itself -- creating a temporary shadowed copy of all the files that you want to backup so that if you end up opening or using any of the files that you're copying, it will still work!
> 
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> 
> Ok, so this is how I set it up -- anyone who is reading this, feel free to customize your setup as you wish. I wanted an automated solution that would wake my computer up every night, create a shadow copy, back up my files, and then put my computer to sleep after it was done.
> 
> What I use:
> --Windows 7 Task Scheduler (included in Win7)
> --ShadowSpawn 0.2.1-x64
> --Robocopy (included in Win7)
> 
> Ok, so the first step is to create a task in Task Scheduler. Give your task a name, mine is simply called Custom Backup. Make sure it is set to "Run with highest privileges". On the Triggers tab, set up your schedule. I have my backup run every night at midnight except for on Saturday nights (on Sat night I have the system do a full virus scan instead).
> 
> Then on the Actions tab select New, choose "Start a Program" as the action, and browse to your ShadowSpawn.exe file. Select that file and then in the "Add arguments (optional)" field, enter in your Robocopy script. MAKE SURE you change your Robocopy script to work with ShadowSpawn. It can't just be your regular Robocopy script. Instead, what you need to do is setup a drive letter (which isn't being used) as the Temporary Drive where all your files are shadowed while your backup is being made.
> 
> In my example below, I am backing up all the contents of the directory 'Stuff' on my hard drive (D to my external hard drive (Z but I am using the drive letter Q: as my temporary shadow drive. So D:\Stuff is shadowed to Q:, and then Robocopy takes everything from Q:\ and copies it to Z:\Backup\Stuff. You can put this all in as one command with your robocopy flags at the end.
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> D:\Stuff\ Q: Robocopy Q:\ Z:\Backup\Stuff /V /MIR /R:5 /W:5 /TEE /LOG+:Z:\Backup\BackupLog.txt
> 
> Be super careful about syntax errors. When you specify your fake drive, you don't include a backslash (just Q, and when you use the Robocopy command, then you do include a backslash (Q:\).
> 
> So this will now do a shadowed backup of my D:\Stuff directory to my Z:\Backup\Stuff directory. Now, I like having my computer sleep whenever its not being used, so I want to make sure it wakes up every night to run this program. Under the Conditions tab in my task, I choose "Wake the computer to run this task" and uncheck all the other boxes on that page. You can of course choose to do it however you want.
> 
> Ok so that takes care of the computer waking up, and running the backup with the shadow drive. But one thing I want is for the computer to immediately go to sleep after it has finished! I could wait for the regular idle timeout to take place before it goes to sleep, but....why wait?
> 
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> So, the next step is this. Open up notepad, copy the following text into it:
> 
> Code:
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> Code:
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> %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState
> 
> and then save it as sleepnow.bat. If you saved it correctly, the icon of the file should change from a regular text file. Put this file in a safe place and on the Actions tab of the same Task you just created, click on New and browse to the sleepnow.bat file you just created. Make sure that this action shows up BELOW the ShadowSpawn/Robocopy action in your action sequence.
> 
> And there you go!
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> Now your computer will wake up, back itself up, and go to sleep, all on its own, AND you don't have to worry about files not being copied because they were in use!
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> 
> Let me know if this helped you out, I sure hope it did!






That's all there is to it! If you have any questions or extra info for me to add let me know.


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## andrewmchugh

Nice Tut Sean
rep++


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## Sean Webster

http://www.basiccomputerinformation.ca/computer-back-up/
http://data-backup-software-review.toptenreviews.com/which-backup-solution-is-best.html
http://www.debianadmin.com/backup-basics-and-different-types-of-backup.html
http://www.pcmech.com/article/guide-to-pc-backup-options/
online/cloud
->external
->internal
->server
->cd
->usb
->tape
etc


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## munaim1

this is definitely handy, nice one sean +rep


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## Shooting Star

Nice tutorial! rep+


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## banging34hzs

this is great. + rep


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## asus6983

Nice one! +rep


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## ddietz

Good intro to Robocopy. I also use Robocopy for my backup strategy.

I would love to improve the basic technique though. I've asked this before without much success. I think I'll throw it in here to try again.

Basically, I think Robocopy is perfect if I could get it to archive the purge to a separate "deleted" folder (based on date) to prevent accidental deletion. I just don't know enough code to make it work. The idea is you have a folder structure:

Root
-a
--a1
--a2
-b
--b1
--b2
etc

Each folder contains other folders and/or files. I would like to have the backup process create a sub-folder "deleted_date" and move any purged files there. This moves the last possible source of data loss to corruption. The ideal solution to me is a backup solution that uses checksums to check for data corruption and that then mirrors your folder structure while maintaining the purged data for some specified period.

Anyone want to help code for a backup system that moves purged data to a sub folder within the final destination folder?


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## Sean Webster

Hmmm, I'm not sure on that, but there is a way to log your backup to show what has changed.

Ex.

Robocopy "Source" "Destination" */log:C:\Desktop\ZeOtherStuffRoboLog.txt*

That will allow for a log file to be created. Within it shows what has been copied and what hasn't been.


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## ddietz

Its been a little while since I played with this but what I almost had working was:

copy source to destination only new or changed files w/o purge
if files in dest not in source then create dated_deleted folder in each subfolder in source (best if only created for that subfolder having orphan files)
move dest files not in source to folder dated_deleted

This involves if/then loops which I just can't seem to figure out given the minuscule amount of code I know.

I thought it would be really cool to use this in conjunction with ZFS so that you are protected against both accidental deletion and bit level corruption.


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## t-ramp

Wow, nice guide.


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## Sean Webster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *t-ramp*


Wow, nice guide.










Thanks!


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## FreekyGTi

will have to try this when i do my next backup...thanks for the tip Sean


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## subassy

I love robocopy...I backup my steam games then run a script to sync them over to a USB drive. I also do that for updated copies of Minecraft, GW and WoW. My Firefox portable as well but I'm just weird that way. I have a separate batch for each thing I want to sync over. I like the skip-on-error feature.

I did find setting the time out and number of retries (on fail or error) to something sane eventually helped me about quite a bit.

I also applaud the tutorial.


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## Pigeon

Gonna try this! Using Areca backup and Synkron right now, i'll get around to this in a little bit


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## Sean Webster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *FreekyGTi*


will have to try this when i do my next backup...thanks for the tip Sean


Np, glad to help!









Quote:



Originally Posted by *subassy*


I love robocopy...I backup my steam games then run a script to sync them over to a USB drive. I also do that for updated copies of Minecraft, GW and WoW. My Firefox portable as well but I'm just weird that way. I have a separate batch for each thing I want to sync over. I like the skip-on-error feature.

I did find setting the time out and number of retries (on fail or error) to something sane eventually helped me about quite a bit.

I also applaud the tutorial.


Thanks for sharing your experience.









Quote:



Originally Posted by *Pigeon*


Gonna try this! Using Areca backup and Synkron right now, i'll get around to this in a little bit


Good luck!


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## Sean Webster

Bumpidy lolz


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## Sean Webster

I just made an uber script!


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## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanWebster;15286075*
> I just made an uber script!


What's it do? I am setting Robocopy up right now and following your tutorial as we speak!

One tip I wanted to add, if you do multiple backups (ie daily/weekly/etc) you may want to use the /LOG+ option instead of simply /LOG so that it will append to your existing log file instead of overwriting it.

Interested in knowing what your script does...

So far I think I'm going to do the following: Have Win7 do a daily system image, but not backup any individual files. Then have Robocopy do a complete copy of my storage drive. The only thing I'm afraid of is what if it is erroring out from time to time and if nobody checks the log file, there's no way of knowing.

*EDIT:* Ok so after reading about Robocopy some more, I'm wondering if I really should be using it or not. I read that it cannot backup open or locked files (since it doesn't use Windows' Volume Shadow service). Not sure if it is risky to be copying my entire drive if it will be skipping some things depending on what is happening on the system at the time. For example, if someone is using Outlook at that time, the outlook mailbox file will be locked and none of it will be copied over.

Sigh...the search for an automated easy backup solution continues I guess.


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## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15286362*
> What's it do? I am setting Robocopy up right now and following your tutorial as we speak!
> 
> One tip I wanted to add, if you do multiple backups (ie daily/weekly/etc) you may want to use the /LOG+ option instead of simply /LOG so that it will append to your existing log file instead of overwriting it.
> 
> Interested in knowing what your script does...
> 
> So far I think I'm going to do the following: Have Win7 do a daily system image, but not backup any individual files. Then have Robocopy do a complete copy of my storage drive. The only thing I'm afraid of is what if it is erroring out from time to time and if nobody checks the log file, there's no way of knowing.
> 
> *EDIT:* Ok so after reading about Robocopy some more, I'm wondering if I really should be using it or not. I read that it cannot backup open or locked files (since it doesn't use Windows' Volume Shadow service). Not sure if it is risky to be copying my entire drive if it will be skipping some things depending on what is happening on the system at the time. For example, if someone is using Outlook at that time, the outlook mailbox file will be locked and none of it will be copied over.
> 
> Sigh...the search for an automated easy backup solution continues I guess.


Thanks for the tip.









Hopefully out can figure something out.
Quote:


> *Interested in knowing what your script does...*


It runs robocopy for my pc to my external drive, secondary drive, and my server at once lol


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanWebster;15310562*
> It runs robocopy for my pc to my external drive, secondary drive, and my server at once lol


Very nice! Could you share it please? Sounds interesting!


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15310829*
> Very nice! Could you share it please? Sounds interesting!


Here it is, it backs up my data to 3 different locations.









And thanks a lot for the /log+ tip again. It is awesome!









Now what I want to know is how to make it a hidden process as in teh CMD window doesn't pop up. I think I can by making it a .vbs, but IDK how.









Code:



Code:


Robocopy "D:\Documents" "\\William-PC\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DocumentsRoboLogServer.txt
Robocopy "D:\Music" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Music" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\MusicRoboLogServer.txt
Robocopy "D:\Pictures" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Pictures" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\PicturesRoboLogServer.txt
Robocopy "D:\Programs" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Programs" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\ProgramsRoboLogServer.txt
Robocopy "D:\Videos" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Videos" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\VideosRoboLogServer.txt
Robocopy "D:\Desktop" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Desktop" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DesktopRoboLogServer.txt
Robocopy "D:\Downloads" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Downloads" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DownloadsRoboLogServer.txt
Robocopy "D:\Saved Games" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Saved Games" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\SavedGamesRoboLogServer.txt
Robocopy "D:\User" "\\William-PC\Back Up\User" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\UserRoboLogServer.txt
Robocopy "D:\Ze Other Stuff" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Ze Other Stuff" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\ZeOtherStuffRoboLogServer.txt

Robocopy "D:\Documents" "E:\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DocumentsRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Music" "E:\Back Up\Music" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\MusicRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Pictures" "E:\Back Up\Pictures" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\PicturesRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Programs" "E:\Back Up\Programs" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\ProgramsRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Videos" "E:\Back Up\Videos" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\VideosRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Desktop" "E:\Back Up\Desktop" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DesktopRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Downloads" "E:\Back Up\Downloads" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DownloadsRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Saved Games" "E:\Back Up\Saved Games" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\SavedGamesRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\User" "E:\Back Up\User" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\UserRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Ze Other Stuff" "E:\Back Up\Ze Other Stuff" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\ZeOtherStuffRoboLogSecondDrive.txt

Robocopy "D:\Documents" "F:\Back-Up Storage\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DocumentsRoboLogExternal.txt
Robocopy "D:\Music" "F:\Back-Up Storage\Music" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\MusicRoboLogExternal.txt
Robocopy "D:\Pictures" "F:\Back-Up Storage\Pictures" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\PicturesRoboLogExternal.txt
Robocopy "D:\Programs" "F:\Back-Up Storage\Programs" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\ProgramsRoboLogExternal.txt
Robocopy "D:\Videos" "F:\Back-Up Storage\Videos" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\VideosRoboLogExternal.txt
Robocopy "D:\Desktop" "F:\Back Up\Desktop" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DesktopRoboLogExternal.txt
Robocopy "D:\Downloads" "F:\Back Up\Downloads" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DownloadsRoboLogExternal.txt
Robocopy "D:\Saved Games" "F:\Back Up\Saved Games" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\SavedGamesRoboLogExternal.txt
Robocopy "D:\User" "F:\Back Up\User" /E /V /PURGE /XD "D:\User\Program Files\Fraps" "D:\User\Program Files\Steam" /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\UserRoboLogExternal.txt


----------



## GasMan320

Great script Sean!

Ok so I've been messing around with Robocopy and up until yesterday I was sort of annoyed that if I used Robocopy it would not be a 100% sure thing since it was not able to backup any locked or open files. For example, if you use Outlook for email and forgot to close the program before your backup program ran, it would completely skip that file and you would have no emails backed up.

Well I kept looking around on Google for a solution or alternative and ended up figuring out a really cool way to have my cake and eat it too!









So, like I said, its true that Robocopy doesn't handle open/locked files, BUT if we use Robocopy and wrap around it another program, called ShadowSpawn, we can then duplicate the same backup style that Windows Backup uses itself -- creating a temporary shadowed copy of all the files that you want to backup so that if you end up opening or using any of the files that you're copying, it will still work!









Ok, so this is how I set it up -- anyone who is reading this, feel free to customize your setup as you wish. I wanted an automated solution that would wake my computer up every night, create a shadow copy, back up my files, and then put my computer to sleep after it was done.

What I use:
--Windows 7 Task Scheduler (included in Win7)
--ShadowSpawn 0.2.1-x64
--Robocopy (included in Win7)

Ok, so the first step is to create a task in Task Scheduler. Give your task a name, mine is simply called Custom Backup. Make sure it is set to "Run with highest privileges". On the Triggers tab, set up your schedule. I have my backup run every night at midnight except for on Saturday nights (on Sat night I have the system do a full virus scan instead).

Then on the Actions tab select New, choose "Start a Program" as the action, and browse to your ShadowSpawn.exe file. Select that file and then in the "Add arguments (optional)" field, enter in your Robocopy script. MAKE SURE you change your Robocopy script to work with ShadowSpawn. It can't just be your regular Robocopy script. Instead, what you need to do is setup a drive letter (which isn't being used) as the Temporary Drive where all your files are shadowed while your backup is being made.

In my example below, I am backing up all the contents of the directory 'Stuff' on my hard drive (D to my external hard drive (Z but I am using the drive letter Q: as my temporary shadow drive. So D:\Stuff is shadowed to Q:, and then Robocopy takes everything from Q:\ and copies it to Z:\Backup\Stuff. You can put this all in as one command with your robocopy flags at the end.

Code:



Code:


D:\Stuff\ Q: Robocopy Q:\ Z:\Backup\Stuff /V /MIR /R:5 /W:5 /TEE /LOG+:Z:\Backup\BackupLog.txt

Be super careful about syntax errors. When you specify your fake drive, you don't include a backslash (just Q, and when you use the Robocopy command, then you do include a backslash (Q:\).

So this will now do a shadowed backup of my D:\Stuff directory to my Z:\Backup\Stuff directory. Now, I like having my computer sleep whenever its not being used, so I want to make sure it wakes up every night to run this program. Under the Conditions tab in my task, I choose "Wake the computer to run this task" and uncheck all the other boxes on that page. You can of course choose to do it however you want.

Ok so that takes care of the computer waking up, and running the backup with the shadow drive. But one thing I want is for the computer to immediately go to sleep after it has finished! I could wait for the regular idle timeout to take place before it goes to sleep, but....why wait?









So, the next step is this. Open up notepad, copy the following text into it:

Code:



Code:


%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState

and then save it as sleepnow.bat. If you saved it correctly, the icon of the file should change from a regular text file. Put this file in a safe place and on the Actions tab of the same Task you just created, click on New and browse to the sleepnow.bat file you just created. Make sure that this action shows up BELOW the ShadowSpawn/Robocopy action in your action sequence.

And there you go!







Now your computer will wake up, back itself up, and go to sleep, all on its own, AND you don't have to worry about files not being copied because they were in use!









Let me know if this helped you out, I sure hope it did!


----------



## ddietz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15286362*
> *EDIT:* Ok so after reading about Robocopy some more, I'm wondering if I really should be using it or not. I read that it cannot backup open or locked files (since it doesn't use Windows' Volume Shadow service). Not sure if it is risky to be copying my entire drive if it will be skipping some things depending on what is happening on the system at the time. For example, if someone is using Outlook at that time, the outlook mailbox file will be locked and none of it will be copied over.
> 
> Sigh...the search for an automated easy backup solution continues I guess.


Check robocopy /?

If Robocopy hits a file in use, it will retry the number of times ( /R;n) with a time you specify between retrys (/W:n) The defalut retry times is one million, default between tries is 30 seconds. I *think* it skips that file and continues with the process.

The solution is to run the backup late at night when nothing is in use if you keep your computers on 24/7, or to run it manually when your done. What I do is have a bat file that runs my robocopy scripts whenever I click it and I have one set to specificlly shut down the computer when its done as I turn my computer off at night. This is accomplished by having the final line of the batch being: shutdown /s.

If you leave the your computer(s) on all the time and fear forgetting to close, say outlook, before leaving and then a late night backup faults out you will need to schedule a kill for all programs before the backup. nircmd is a standalone program you can schedule that handle this. I've never used it but heard of many times over the years.

You could also run tasklist and taskkill from the cmd line to see running exe processes and to kill them. The issue with any taskkill is that if the program is in a state than prompts a question at close, it still pauses. You might be able to set your program to have a default that saves automatically on close. Probably depends on the program. Not sure.

You can use taskkill /im firefox.exe|chrome.exe|winword.exe, etc to kill a program


----------



## Sean Webster

GasMan320, that is so full of awesome that I don't know what to say! lol

I'm going to put this in the OP thanks, I really appreciate it. I'll do it later when I have the chance.









And ddietz, I'll lok into that too. The taskkill tip is good.


----------



## ddietz

Nice job gasman, my reply crossed yours. I like what you found, but don't get how the shadow works. If you do shadow it will copy even locked or open files???


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ddietz;15319509*
> Nice job gasman, my reply crossed yours. I like what you found, but don't get how the shadow works. If you do shadow it will copy even locked or open files???


Yep, that is how I believe it works.

From ShadowSpawn's website:
Quote:


> *What Is ShadowSpawn?*
> 
> ShadowSpawn is a tool for working with shadow copies. Shadow copies are read-only snapshots of your disk. Working with shadow copies instead of the actual files allows you to do things like work with in-use (locked) files.
> 
> ShadowSpawn works by making a shadow copy of your disk, making it available at a drive letter, then launching (spawning) another program that you specify.


----------



## ddietz

Just installed the x64 of shadowcopy. Works awesome!

Seems that installing doe snot make it a global command in cmd. I have to navigate to the folder containing shadowspawn.exe to call it. I seem to remember there is a play to install things to make them always accessible from cmd but I can't remember it now. Anyone know that?

Also, since I am in the middle of doing something else, I have not restarted my computer. I don't know if that would affect the install or not.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ddietz;15320530*
> Just installed the x64 of shadowcopy. Works awesome!
> 
> Seems that installing doe snot make it a global command in cmd. I have to navigate to the folder containing shadowspawn.exe to call it. I seem to remember there is a play to install things to make them always accessible from cmd but I can't remember it now. Anyone know that?
> 
> Also, since I am in the middle of doing something else, I have not restarted my computer. I don't know if that would affect the install or not.


Copy ShadowSpawn.exe to C:\Windows\System32\ directory. Then it should become globally accessible.


----------



## ddietz

Yup, thanks!


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SeanWebster*


Now what I want to know is how to make it a hidden process as in teh CMD window doesn't pop up. I think I can by making it a .vbs, but IDK how.










Hey Sean,

Try creating a text file, rename it to a .js file (i called mine hiddenrun.js) and put the following lines in it:

Code:


Code:


var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c notepad.exe", WindowStyle_Hidden)

Of course replace the notepad.exe with whatever you want. You can put in your entire robocopy or shadowspawn script in there and then manually run that script or have Windows Task Scheduler handle it. Either way, you shouldn't see anything pop up -- the only proof you'll have that its running is looking for it in your processes.


----------



## DrC

Here I come with a question. I can't use the ShadowSpawn method since I need to be able to do the backups on a portable drive, so I need to do the backup when I am free to physically do it. If I store the robocopy bat in the folder I want backed up, will it back up the bat file too? Or will it get skipped since it's being used?


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC;15325312*
> Here I come with a question. I can't use the ShadowSpawn method since I need to be able to do the backups on a portable drive, so I need to do the backup when I am free to physically do it. If I store the robocopy bat in the folder I want backed up, will it back up the bat file too? Or will it get skipped since it's being used?


I'm not sure I understand what you mean. I backup to a portable external drive and I use ShadowSpawn without issues.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC;15325312*
> Here I come with a question. I can't use the ShadowSpawn method since I need to be able to do the backups on a portable drive, so I need to do the backup when I am free to physically do it. If I store the robocopy bat in the folder I want backed up, *will it back up the bat file too? Or will it get skipped since it's being used?*


It will copy it as well. I have done it a ton of times lol.









And Gasman I can't get it to work lol. CMD is hidden but the file isn't being run.

Code:



Code:


var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c Back-Up All To Second Drive", WindowStyle_Hidden)


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanWebster;15329102*
> It will copy it as well. I have done it a ton of times lol.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And Gasman I can't get it to work lol. CMD is hidden but the file isn't being run.
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
> var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
> var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c Back-Up All To Second Drive", WindowStyle_Hidden)


Try renaming your batch file to one without any spaces in it (ie BackupAllToSecondDrive) or try putting quotes around it. Also unless you're running this from the same directory that your batch file is in, be sure to copy it to C:\Windows\System32 so you can call it from anywhere.

The fastest way to test if your batch file is working is to just open a command prompt and try typing in the batch file name and see if it runs. I'm pretty sure its the spaces that are causing it.


----------



## DrC

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GasMan320*


I'm not sure I understand what you mean. I backup to a portable external drive and I use ShadowSpawn without issues.


The ShadowSpawn method you posted said to schedule a task. My only issue with scheduling a task is that I may not always be available to have the drive in during the scheduled time.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC;15331717*
> The ShadowSpawn method you posted said to schedule a task. My only issue with scheduling a task is that I may not always be available to have the drive in during the scheduled time.


Ahh, I see where you're getting confused. You don't have to schedule a task to run shadowspawn if you don't want to. You can just put your command in a regular text file, save it as a batch (.bat) file and then double click to run it whenever you feel like doing a backup.

Your code could just have:

Code:



Code:


shadowspawn C:\Source\ Q: Robocopy Q:\ G:\Destination\ /V /MIR /TEE /ETA /LOG+:G:\BackupLog.txt

Once you have that saved as a .bat file (ie backup.bat) then you could just double click on it and have it work. Be sure to make your ShadowSpawn.exe globally accessible by placing the executable in your C:\Windows\System32\ folder. Then you can call shadowspawn from anywhere.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. Good luck!


----------



## kz26

Another tool to check out is XXCOPY (http://www.xxcopy.com/). Works just as well, if not better than ROBOCOPY since it's a lot more configurable. Free for home/private use.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15330601*
> Try renaming your batch file to one without any spaces in it (ie BackupAllToSecondDrive) or try putting quotes around it. Also unless you're running this from the same directory that your batch file is in, be sure to copy it to C:\Windows\System32 so you can call it from anywhere.
> 
> The fastest way to test if your batch file is working is to just open a command prompt and try typing in the batch file name and see if it runs. I'm pretty sure its the spaces that are causing it.


Ok I have it working like this, I copied the .bat into the System32 folder to get it working.

Code:



Code:


var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c BackUpAllToSecondDrive.bat", WindowStyle_Hidden)

But I would like to get it working from this location. Is it possible? It works fine when i run it in CMD.

Code:



Code:


D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpAllToSecondDrive.bat


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanWebster;15341698*
> Ok I have it working like this, I copied the .bat into the System32 folder to get it working.
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
> var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
> var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c BackUpAllToSecondDrive.bat", WindowStyle_Hidden)
> 
> But I would like to get it working from this location. Is it possible? It works fine when i run it in CMD.
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpAllToSecondDrive.bat


So what happens if you do:

Code:



Code:


var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpAllToSecondDrive.bat", WindowStyle_Hidden)


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GasMan320*


So what happens if you do:

Code:


Code:


var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c D:\\Documents\\MyStuff\\Scripts\\BackUpAllToSecondDrive.bat", WindowStyle_Hidden)


It doesn't run...it just does nothing. My log files aren't being created so that's how I know.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SeanWebster*


It doesn't run...it just does nothing. My log files aren't being created so that's how I know.


Can you paste the contents of your batch file here?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15342601*
> Can you paste the contents of your batch file here?


Bat file

Code:



Code:


Robocopy "D:\Documents" "E:\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DocumentsRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Music" "E:\Back Up\Music" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\MusicRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Pictures" "E:\Back Up\Pictures" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\PicturesRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Programs" "E:\Back Up\Programs" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\ProgramsRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Videos" "E:\Back Up\Videos" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\VideosRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Desktop" "E:\Back Up\Desktop" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DesktopRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Downloads" "E:\Back Up\Downloads" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DownloadsRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Saved Games" "E:\Back Up\Saved Games" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\SavedGamesRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\User" "E:\Back Up\User" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\UserRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
Robocopy "D:\Ze Other Stuff" "E:\Back Up\Ze Other Stuff" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\ZeOtherStuffRoboLogSecondDrive.txt


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanWebster;15342618*
> Bat file
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> Robocopy "D:\Documents" "E:\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DocumentsRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
> Robocopy "D:\Music" "E:\Back Up\Music" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\MusicRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
> Robocopy "D:\Pictures" "E:\Back Up\Pictures" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\PicturesRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
> Robocopy "D:\Programs" "E:\Back Up\Programs" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\ProgramsRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
> Robocopy "D:\Videos" "E:\Back Up\Videos" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\VideosRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
> Robocopy "D:\Desktop" "E:\Back Up\Desktop" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DesktopRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
> Robocopy "D:\Downloads" "E:\Back Up\Downloads" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\DownloadsRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
> Robocopy "D:\Saved Games" "E:\Back Up\Saved Games" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\SavedGamesRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
> Robocopy "D:\User" "E:\Back Up\User" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\UserRoboLogSecondDrive.txt
> Robocopy "D:\Ze Other Stuff" "E:\Back Up\Ze Other Stuff" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log+:D:\Desktop\ZeOtherStuffRoboLogSecondDrive.txt


Ok so if you go double-click on your bat file in D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\ does it work?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GasMan320*


Ok so if you go double-click on your bat file in D:\\Documents\\MyStuff\\Scripts\\ does it work?


Yep, works fine. I can even type it out in cmd and it runs it fine, but as soon as it is put in the .js it won't run.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SeanWebster*


Yep, works fine. I can even type it out in cmd and it runs it fine, but as soon as it is put in the .js it won't run.


Oh ok, I see what you're saying.

Ok what if you took out the path from the .js file and just had it say the name of the batch file and then also put your .js file in the same directory as your bat file?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GasMan320*


Oh ok, I see what you're saying.

Ok what if you took out the path from the .js file and just had it say the name of the batch file and then also put your .js file in the same directory as your bat file?


Well atm the .js file is in the same folder and has the same name as the .bat. still doesn't work.

Edit: Wait! I think I did it! I reread what you wrote! I think it works now.









*We got it!*

Both the .js and the .bat need to have the same name and be in the same folder for it to work like you said.

Code:


Code:


var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c BackUpAllToSecondDrive.bat", WindowStyle_Hidden)


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanWebster;15342768*
> Well atm the .js file is in the same folder and has the same name as the .bat. still doesn't work.


Ok well I'm trying to figure out if its the .js file thats our culprit or the .bat file. We'll figure it out soon though









So in your .js file, instead of having your bat file being called, lets try putting this in instead:

Code:



Code:


var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c tree.bat", WindowStyle_Hidden)

and then in the same directory lets create a tree.bat file that has this as its contents:

Code:



Code:


tree C:\ /f /a > output.txt

Then run your .js file and see if you get any output in that same directory. If you do, then it seems like there may be something wrong with the way the .js is interacting with your robocopy .bat file. If you don't get output.txt showing up, then it might be that there's something wrong with your Windows' JavaScript installation, but that is kind of a guess on my part.

Anyways, try the code above and see what happens!


----------



## GasMan320

Oh awesome, you got it working









Yeah I think with the way our .js file code is, it just needs to be in the same directory as the actual robocopy .bat file and not use an absolute path. They can have different names though. Your .js file could be A.js and your bat file can be B.bat. That part doesn't matter.

Anyways, happy that you got it working


----------



## DrC

Okay, you guys are starting to lose me. So I'm going to post what I'm doing to see if I'm on the right page.

I need it to back up all the files in the source folder, and all the contents and folders within that source folder. I also need this to backup files in use, especially since I use things like Rocketdock which always has files in use but still needs to get them backed up. I don't want to purge any files nor do I want to create a log I won't look at. I just need any updated files copied from my source to my backup drive.

First step I do is download the 64 bit ShadowSpawn from your link.
Second, I unzipped both files from ShadowSpawn into my system32 folder.
Third, I created a bat file with this code:

Code:



Code:


shadowspawn C:\My Stuff\ Q: Robocopy Q:\ G:\Backup\Archive\ /E

Fourth, I saved the bat file in my My Stuff folder because I want it backed up too.
Then I just double click it and let it run.

Does that all sound right?


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC;15346272*
> Okay, you guys are starting to lose me. So I'm going to post what I'm doing to see if I'm on the right page.
> 
> I need it to back up all the files in the source folder, and all the contents and folders within that source folder. I also need this to backup files in use, especially since I use things like Rocketdock which always has files in use but still needs to get them backed up. I don't want to purge any files nor do I want to create a log I won't look at. I just need any updated files copied from my source to my backup drive.
> 
> First step I do is download the 64 bit ShadowSpawn from your link.
> Second, I unzipped both files from ShadowSpawn into my system32 folder.
> Third, I created a bat file with this code:
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> shadowspawn C:\My Stuff\ Q: Robocopy Q:\ G:\Backup\Archive\ /E
> 
> Fourth, I saved the bat file in my My Stuff folder because I want it backed up too.
> Then I just double click it and let it run.
> 
> Does that all sound right?


That looks good! The only thing I would recommend you do is add the /MIR flag after the /E. What /MIR will do is mirror your source folder to your destination backup folder. Lets say you decide to delete a bunch of stuff from your 'My Stuff' folder that you don't need anymore. The /MIR command will make sure it gets deleted from your backup also so that it is no longer taking up extra space in your backup drive. Of course, if you are purposefully leaving off the /MIR flag because you want to be able to go find stuff on your backup that you deleted yourself, then don't add it









Even if you don't want a log, I would have it create one the first time it runs at least so that you can be sure that it backed everything up. The log spits out a nifty little table at the end of it which shows how many files were copied, how many skipped, how many errors, etc. It might be help making you feel more confident about what's going on. Afterwards feel free to take out the /LOG option.

But yea, other than that, looks perfect


----------



## DrC

Thanks, I think I'll give it a try with the log the first time as you said. I'll probably use the mirror option on some backups, but this particular one has more than one person using the files, so I don't want to lose them in case someone accidentally deletes something the shouldn't have.


----------



## DrC

Okay, I tried it and got this error message about shadowspawn:

"The program can't start because MSVCP100.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC;15346853*
> Okay, I tried it and got this error message about shadowspawn:
> 
> "The program can't start because MSVCP100.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."


Hmm...that's strange. Maybe try downloading the Visual C++ runtime file from ShadowSpawn's Downloads page and install that. Then try using shadowspawn after that and see if it works.


----------



## Sean Webster

Hey, can .js files not be run via task scheduler? Iwas able to set it up so the pc wakes and shuts off after back up with the .bat, but when I choose the .js it won't run. Only the .bat has the ability to run for some reason.

Another issue lol.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanWebster;15347942*
> Hey, can .js files not be run via task scheduler? Iwas able to set it up so the pc wakes and shuts off after back up with the .bat, but when I choose the .js it won't run. Only the .bat has the ability to run for some reason.
> 
> Another issue lol.


That's strange, .js files work perfectly for me when run from Task Scheduler. If your .js file is on a non-boot drive, try copying it to your boot drive and then edit your Task to point to the new location and try running the task manually and see if it works.


----------



## Sean Webster

Yea, it's on a non boot drive. I'll try it out now. I really would like it to work on my non boot drive though. If not I'll just use the .bat.


----------



## Sean Webster

Well, it only runs the sleep.bat and not the backup.js. It runs the backup.bat though fine. :/


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanWebster;15348220*
> Well, it only runs the sleep.bat and not the backup.js. It runs the backup.bat though fine. :/


Hmm, can we see your backup.js and backup.bat again? Is your backup.bat trying to create your log file on a boot drive by any chance? Or in a windows protected area? That might be causing it to error out...


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15348240*
> Hmm, can we see your backup.js and backup.bat again? Is your backup.bat trying to create your log file on a boot drive by any chance? Or in a windows protected area? That might be causing it to error out...


The .bat is called "All"

The .bat

Code:



Code:


Robocopy "D:\Documents" "\\William-PC\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Documents_Server.txt
Robocopy "D:\Music" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Music" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Music_Server.txt
Robocopy "D:\Pictures" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Pictures" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Pictures_Server.txt
Robocopy "D:\Programs" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Programs" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Programs_Server.txt
Robocopy "D:\Videos" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Videos" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Videos_Server.txt
Robocopy "D:\Desktop" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Desktop" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Desktop_Server.txt
Robocopy "D:\Downloads" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Downloads" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Downloads_Server.txt
Robocopy "D:\Saved Games" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Saved Games" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\SavedGames_Server.txt
Robocopy "D:\User" "\\William-PC\Back Up\User" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\User_Server.txt
Robocopy "D:\Ze Other Stuff" "\\William-PC\Back Up\Ze Other Stuff" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\ZeOtherStuff_Server.txt

Robocopy "D:\Documents" "E:\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\DocumentsHD_2.txt
Robocopy "D:\Music" "E:\Back Up\Music" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Music_HD2.txt
Robocopy "D:\Pictures" "E:\Back Up\Pictures" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Pictures_HD2.txt
Robocopy "D:\Programs" "E:\Back Up\Programs" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Programs_HD2.txt
Robocopy "D:\Videos" "E:\Back Up\Videos" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Videos_HD2.txt
Robocopy "D:\Desktop" "E:\Back Up\Desktop" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Desktop_HD2.txt
Robocopy "D:\Downloads" "E:\Back Up\Downloads" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Downloads_HD2.txt
Robocopy "D:\Saved Games" "E:\Back Up\Saved Games" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\SavedGames_HD2.txt
Robocopy "D:\User" "E:\Back Up\User" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\User_HD2.txt
Robocopy "D:\Ze Other Stuff" "E:\Back Up\Ze Other Stuff" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\ZeOtherStuff_HD2.txt

Robocopy "D:\Documents" "F:\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Documents_External.txt
Robocopy "D:\Music" "F:\Back Up\Music" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Music_External.txt
Robocopy "D:\Pictures" "F:\Back Up\Pictures" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Pictures_External.txt
Robocopy "D:\Programs" "F:\Back Up\Programs" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Programs_External.txt
Robocopy "D:\Videos" "F:\Back Up\Videos" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Videos_External.txt
Robocopy "D:\Desktop" "F:\Back Up\Desktop" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Desktop_External.txt
Robocopy "D:\Downloads" "F:\Back Up\Downloads" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\Downloads_External.txt
Robocopy "D:\Saved Games" "F:\Back Up\Saved Games" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\SavedGames_External.txt
Robocopy "D:\User" "F:\Back Up\User" /E /V /PURGE /XD "D:\User\Program Files\Fraps" "D:\User\Program Files\Steam" /ETA /R:1 /W:1 /log+:D:\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\BackUpLogs\User_External.txt

The .js is called "All"

Maybe I should change the name?

The .js

Code:



Code:


var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c All.bat", WindowStyle_Hidden)


----------



## ddietz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC;15346853*
> Okay, I tried it and got this error message about shadowspawn:
> 
> "The program can't start because MSVCP100.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."


That is an issue from trying to use the 32 pit version on a 64bit computer. I did the same thing at first not realizing there was a 64pit version. Try downloading it again.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanWebster;15348266*
> The .js is called "All"
> 
> Maybe I should change the name?
> 
> The .js
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
> var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
> var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c All.bat", WindowStyle_Hidden)


What if you change where it says "cmd.exe /c All.bat" to "cmd.exe /c tree C:\ /f /a > output.txt" and then try running your All.js file? Does it create an output.txt file in that same directory?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15348318*
> What if you change where it says "cmd.exe /c All.bat" to "cmd.exe /c tree C:\ /f /a > output.txt" and then try running your All.js file? Does it create an output.txt file in that same directory?


Yep


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *SeanWebster;15348361*
> Yep


ok then i'm thinking it has something to do with the paths in your robocopy bat file maybe...try making a new robocopy bat file that only tries to copy one directory to some other place and feed the name of that new bat file into your All.js file and see if it works. Have it create the log in the same place as where your .js and .bat file are too, as in don't specify a path for the log, just have it say /LOG:log.txt.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15348452*
> ok then i'm thinking it has something to do with the paths in your robocopy bat file maybe...try making a new robocopy bat file that only tries to copy one directory to some other place and feed the name of that new bat file into your All.js file and see if it works. Have it create the log in the same place as where your .js and .bat file are too, as in don't specify a path for the log, just have it say /LOG:log.txt.


Ok, so it is test.bat is in the same folder, task scheduler didn't run the .js file when I clicked run. I tried running the .bat and it doesn't work via task scheduler. But the sleep.bat ran. And so did the All.bat.

The test.bat and the all.js run fine when I click on them in the folder though, just not in the scheduler...

Titled: test.bat

Code:



Code:


Robocopy "D:\Desktop\New Folder" "D:\Back Up\Desktop" /E /V /PURGE /ETA /R:5 /W:15 /log:Log.txt

All.js

Code:



Code:


var WindowStyle_Hidden = 0
var objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
var result = objShell.Run("cmd.exe /c test.bat", WindowStyle_Hidden)


----------



## DrC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ddietz;15348289*
> That is an issue from trying to use the 32 pit version on a 64bit computer. I did the same thing at first not realizing there was a 64pit version. Try downloading it again.


I'm positive I got the 64 bit version unless their links are wrong. But double checked anyhow.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15346961*
> Hmm...that's strange. Maybe try downloading the Visual C++ runtime file from ShadowSpawn's Downloads page and install that. Then try using shadowspawn after that and see if it works.


Just did this, and it seemed to do the trick for the error. I ran the bat file and a window popped up. Then a bunch of text appeared but it disappeared before I could read what it said. I now see why you create the log, because it helps to see that it worked right. Well it didn't seem to work right because none of the files moved over, and I didn't get a log either. Here's the code I used for this computer:

Code:



Code:


shadowspawn D:\Laptop Q: Robocopy Q:\ N:\backup\Laptop /E /LOG+:N:\BackupLog.txt

It seems I'm getting closer, but not quite there yet.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC;15348734*
> Here's the code I used for this computer:
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> shadowspawn D:\Laptop Q: Robocopy Q:\ N:\backup\Laptop /E /LOG+:N:\BackupLog.txt
> 
> It seems I'm getting closer, but not quite there yet.


Hmm, try switching out the /LOG+ for the regular /LOG flag. I'm thinking maybe if you don't have that log file created yet, it might be erroring out over it. Other than that, I don't see any reasons it shouldn't be working.


----------



## DrC

finally got it to work. But found another hitch. I tried it for a different folder, and turns out it doesn't seem to like it when my folder has a space in the name. For example:

Code:



Code:


shadowspawn D:\Laptop Q: Robocopy Q:\ N:\My Files\Laptop /E /LOG+:N:\BackupLog.txt

Any suggestions? I'd prefer not to rename all of my folders so the name has no spaces.


----------



## Sean Webster

Use an _ instead lol. That is what I did, I don't like that either.


----------



## ddietz

I thing paths containing spaces should be enclosed in double quotes ("path"). It is best in the future to avoid spaces and most symbols.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ddietz;15363177*
> I thing paths containing spaces should be enclosed in double quotes ("path"). It is best in the future to avoid spaces and most symbols.


This is correct. Put quotes around paths that have spaces in them. C:\My Documents ==> "C:\My Documents\"


----------



## DrC

Well turns out it didn't like the backslash at the end. I had this:

Code:


Code:


shadowspawn D:\\Laptop\\ Q: Robocopy Q:\\ "N:\\My Computer\\backup\\Laptop\\" /E /LOG:N:\\BackupLog.txt

It didn't work, so on a hunch I removed the backslash at the end of "Laptop" to this:

Code:


Code:


shadowspawn D:\\Laptop\\ Q: Robocopy Q:\\ "N:\\My Computer\\backup\\Laptop" /E /LOG:N:\\BackupLog.txt

This worked flawlessly now, so just another thing for everyone to look for.

Now that I've finally gotten this to work (first +rep for you guys helping), I wanted to mention a couple of initial observations. First, this tool is very helpful if you want to back up files from multiple folders on your computer without having to remember which folder to look for to back up each time you do it. For instance, if you want to back up your music folder in My Documents, but also the folder where your Outlook database is stored, and everything on your desktop, it's an easy way to do it each time since it remembers all the locations for you.

Second seems to be my only beef about this so far. It appears that this backup method doesn't take any less time for the actual back up time. I tested with a small folder to compare. The folder and contents were 334kb and took about a second to copy with the traditional copy and paste. With robocopy, I timed it to be about 13 seconds. I'm starting to wonder if this will be problematic when I start looking at my work files with multiple folders where each folder is several GB's of info. The amount of time for it to complete a back up with large folders may be more than I can handle.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC;15363521*
> Well turns out it didn't like the backslash at the end. I had this:
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> shadowspawn D:\Laptop\ Q: Robocopy Q:\ "N:\My Computer\backup\Laptop\" /E /LOG:N:\BackupLog.txt
> 
> It didn't work, so on a hunch I removed the backslash at the end of "Laptop" to this:
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> shadowspawn D:\Laptop\ Q: Robocopy Q:\ "N:\My Computer\backup\Laptop" /E /LOG:N:\BackupLog.txt
> 
> This worked flawlessly now, so just another thing for everyone to look for.
> 
> Now that I've finally gotten this to work (first +rep for you guys helping), I wanted to mention a couple of initial observations. First, this tool is very helpful if you want to back up files from multiple folders on your computer without having to remember which folder to look for to back up each time you do it. For instance, if you want to back up your music folder in My Documents, but also the folder where your Outlook database is stored, and everything on your desktop, it's an easy way to do it each time since it remembers all the locations for you.
> 
> Second seems to be my only beef about this so far. It appears that this backup method doesn't take any less time for the actual back up time. I tested with a small folder to compare. The folder and contents were 334kb and took about a second to copy with the traditional copy and paste. With robocopy, I timed it to be about 13 seconds. I'm starting to wonder if this will be problematic when I start looking at my work files with multiple folders where each folder is several GB's of info. The amount of time for it to complete a back up with large folders may be more than I can handle.


The beauty of Robocopy is not the time it will take to copy the first time, but the time it will take to copy every time after that!







Robocopy is a little slow on its first go, but if you remove the /LOG flag, it does seem to go quite a bit faster. However, after your first backup is made, Robocopy will only update files that have changed or been newly added, so after the first run, it should be much faster for you. It took me about 3.5 hours to backup 365GB the first time but now it only figures out what changed and copies/deletes that. My computer wakes up at midnight for about 5-10 minutes and then goes back to sleep.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GasMan320*


The beauty of Robocopy is not the time it will take to copy the first time, but the time it will take to copy every time after that!







Robocopy is a little slow on its first go, but if you remove the /LOG flag, it does seem to go quite a bit faster. However, after your first backup is made, Robocopy will only update files that have changed or been newly added, so after the first run, it should be much faster for you. It took me about 3.5 hours to backup 365GB the first time but now it only figures out what changed and copies/deletes that. My computer wakes up at midnight for about 5-10 minutes and then goes back to sleep.










Same here, I just have mine set for every night as well, but at 2:15 lol. Wake up and everything is updated. Even when i run it in the day it only take a few seconds to a few minutes to update 3 different drives.


----------



## GasMan320

Sean,

How come you don't use ShadowSpawn?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GasMan320*


Sean,

How come you don't use ShadowSpawn?


Should I? lol

I haven't the need for it. What are the benefits?


----------



## DrC

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GasMan320*


The beauty of Robocopy is not the time it will take to copy the first time, but the time it will take to copy every time after that!







Robocopy is a little slow on its first go, but if you remove the /LOG flag, it does seem to go quite a bit faster. However, after your first backup is made, Robocopy will only update files that have changed or been newly added, so after the first run, it should be much faster for you. It took me about 3.5 hours to backup 365GB the first time but now it only figures out what changed and copies/deletes that. My computer wakes up at midnight for about 5-10 minutes and then goes back to sleep.










I hope so. I just tested it again with the same 334kb folder by adding a small text file to see how fast it would go to copy over added files and it still took about 13 seconds to compute it all. Again, that file would normally take a second to copy and paste, so it seems like it takes it a little time for it to compute which files are updated.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SeanWebster*


Should I? lol

I haven't the need for it. What are the benefits?











I think you should definitely use it. It makes sure that you're actually copying over everything you tell Robocopy to copy over. If you have any open or locked files in any of the folders that you have Robocopy set to run on, Robocopy isn't going to be able to access them. ShadowSpawn makes it work just like Windows backup (and other paid backup solutions) by shadowing that volume before initiating the robocopy command on it.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *GasMan320*


I think you should definitely use it. It makes sure that you're actually copying over everything you tell Robocopy to copy over. If you have any open or locked files in any of the folders that you have Robocopy set to run on, Robocopy isn't going to be able to access them. ShadowSpawn makes it work just like Windows backup (and other paid backup solutions) by shadowing that volume before initiating the robocopy command on it.


Ah, ok. I'll set that up tomorrow then.


----------



## Sean Webster

I still didn't set it up lol.

And, Bumpin


----------



## DrC

To update, this has been working great. It's taking a few minutes to backup my archives for 100 gbs and more.


----------



## Sean Webster

Bump!


----------



## Sean Webster

Anyone need help or have tips?

I'm editing the op


----------



## firestorm1

does this back up the OS or is it just for data? im looking for something different. been using acronis for a while now and im wondering if there is something else out there or should i just keep using what ive been using?


----------



## Sean Webster

This is for data back up, but there are a few apps that do system images if you want. Including windows 7 natively via. backup and restore center, clonezilla, EasUs todo backup, etc. just to name a few.


----------



## Oedipus

Robocopy works really well, but it would be even better if there was a switch to kill the entire job (or at least move on to the next part of the batch job) if any locked or inaccessible files are found. This limitation has caused us some serious headaches.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Oedipus;15527023*
> Robocopy works really well, but it would be even better if there was a switch to kill the entire job (or at least move on to the next part of the batch job) if any locked or inaccessible files are found. This limitation has caused us some serious headaches.


Go back and read the first post in this thread. I've outlined a way for you to run Robocopy AND deal with files that are locked or in use, with the help of another little tweak called ShadowSpawn.


----------



## DrC

You should be able to just close it if you want to stop the operation.


----------



## Sean Webster

I just found a cool tool similar to robocopy's purpose, I am still messing with it though. The mirror option seems good. Now I need to see if I can set a schedule.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/freefilesync/


----------



## infected rat

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*


I just found a cool tool similar to robocopy's purpose, I am still messing with it though. The mirror option seems good. Now I need to see if I can set a schedule.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/freefilesync/


Yes this is a great tool, I've been using it for data backup for a long while now. You can mirror directories over local and network drives. Combined with a good drive imaging program such as Macrium Reflect free you can cover all the backup bases.

With freefilesync I have two main batches, one which copies data around on my local drives, then a second one which copies to my file server. You could also easily add one for an external drive.


----------



## DrC

Can you guys think of any reasons why robocopy wouldn't work on a jump drive? I tried it on a 4gb sandisk mini cruzer and it didn't back up the files I had on there. Tried it on a different drive and same results.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DrC*


Can you guys think of any reasons why robocopy wouldn't work on a jump drive? I tried it on a 4gb sandisk mini cruzer and it didn't back up the files I had on there. Tried it on a different drive and same results.


The drive letter is the wrong one? That's what I can think of atm.


----------



## DrC

I checked and triple checked both drives. So I'm not sure. Anyone got a jump drive wanna test it out to make sure I'm not on something?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:



Originally Posted by *DrC*


I checked and triple checked both drives. So I'm not sure. Anyone got a jump drive wanna test it out to make sure I'm not on something?


Can you paste your code?


----------



## DrC

Code:



Code:


shadowspawn "E:\Pres Files 15-2220c" Q: Robocopy Q:\ "C:\Users\DRC\Documents\Office\Office\Daily Files\My Stuff\Pres Files 15-2220c" /E


----------



## Sean Webster

I am thinking it is the spaces? I don't use shadow spawn with mine so I can't really tell for sure. Can you run a plane robocopy code to the flash drive and see if it works?


----------



## DrC

Remember a few pages back we talked about the spaces, which is why those directories are in quotes. This fixed it before and is how I got it to work with my external hard drives.


----------



## Sean Webster

IDK, hopefully Gasman comes in here


----------



## GasMan320

Hey guys, the reason you can't use shadowspawn with USB flash drives is because the source drive must be an internal disk OR report itself to Windows as a local disk rather than a flash drive. Shadowspawn basically uses the Volume Shadow Copy Service in Windows7 (VSS) and below are the requirements for the VSS to function:

Microsoft Windows XP with SP1 installed. All subsequent versions of Microsoft Windows include VSS.
32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) version of Microsoft Windows installed
The files you want to backup must reside on a NTFS formatted partition. An internal FAT32 drive can be backed up only if you also have an NTFS partition available.
The files you want to backup must reside on local disks (or external hard drives that report themselves to Microsoft Windows as local disks).
So yeah, kind of a bummer that it won't work for USB flash drives. Good news however is that you can still use robocopy without shadowspawn to backup those drives.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320;15629827*
> Hey guys, the reason you can't use shadowspawn with USB flash drives is because the source drive must be an internal disk OR report itself to Windows as a local disk rather than a flash drive. Shadowspawn basically uses the Volume Shadow Copy Service in Windows7 (VSS) and below are the requirements for the VSS to function:
> 
> Microsoft Windows XP with SP1 installed. All subsequent versions of Microsoft Windows include VSS.
> 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) version of Microsoft Windows installed
> The files you want to backup must reside on a NTFS formatted partition. An internal FAT32 drive can be backed up only if you also have an NTFS partition available.
> The files you want to backup must reside on local disks (or external hard drives that report themselves to Microsoft Windows as local disks).
> So yeah, kind of a bummer that it won't work for USB flash drives. Good news however is that you can still use robocopy without shadowspawn to backup those drives.


yay, i still haven't used shadow spawn!









Thanks for the info


----------



## DrC

Bummer. But at least robocopy works. I see an update needed


----------



## Sean Webster

Will do soon.


----------



## GasMan320

Hey Sean, I just noticed that all of the places where we have code samples in this thread, the new forum software is making two backslashes appear when there is only one. The solution to this is to hit edit on your posts where it has the double backslashes and then just hit save and it should fix the problem. Don't want anyone to have trouble running this script because of the double backslashes!


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *GasMan320*
> 
> Hey Sean, I just noticed that all of the places where we have code samples in this thread, the new forum software is making two backslashes appear when there is only one. The solution to this is to hit edit on your posts where it has the double backslashes and then just hit save and it should fix the problem. Don't want anyone to have trouble running this script because of the double backslashes!


Alright, thanks.









I think my friend is having an issue with something, I told him to post in here about it, but he hasn't so far. lol
Quote:


> hey i used your backup guide and it works great. One little problem though. The only way i can access the file is through checking the folder options and disabling hide windows protected files. Is there anyway around it?


----------



## DrC

Have you guys tried any of this on XP?


----------



## Sean Webster

You can be the first


----------



## DrC

I'm setting up the machine right now, so when it's ready I'm going to try it. Though I'm just curious about robocopy, since you guys mentioned it comes with Windows 7.


----------



## Sean Webster

You should just need to download it from the link I have in the guide, once installed you should be set.


----------



## DrC

So far no luck with using this in XP. Will get back to it, as there's something else I wanted to throw out there.

From my tests, it doesn't look like it updates the files if it's a new file, it only updates it if it sees that there's a difference in the files. Thus you can end up backing up old files rather than new ones. Here's the scenario:

I created three folders on my desktop named 01, 02, and 03. In side folder 01, I placed a text file that said "Folder 1". I ran this batch file:

Code:



Code:


shadowspawn "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\01" Q: Robocopy Q:\ "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\02" /E
shadowspawn "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\02" Q: Robocopy Q:\ "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\01" /E
shadowspawn "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\01" Q: Robocopy Q:\ "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\03" /E
shadowspawn "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\02" Q: Robocopy Q:\ "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\03" /E
shadowspawn "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\03" Q: Robocopy Q:\ "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\02" /E
shadowspawn "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\03" Q: Robocopy Q:\ "C:\Users\Zoidberg\Desktop\01" /E

I set this up to see if files would be exchanged from all three folders equally. Once done, my text file was in all three folders. No problem.

I opened up the text file in Folder 02, and edited to say "Edited Folder 2 text." I saved it and ran the same batch. I open up my test files in all three folders afterwards to find that it says "Folder 1". I thought I might have did something wrong, so I tried it again but this time I opened the file inside Folder 03. This time I edited this file to say "Edited Folder 3 text". I ran the batch and the text files in each folder now reads "Folder 1".

My conclusions:

1. Obviously the order of the commands count.
2. More importantly, it doesn't just back up the files that are updated. It updates it if it sees that there's a difference in the files, even if it was older. Thus it will replace files from the source to the destination if there is any difference in the files, but note that the files will get moved from the source folder. Tough lesson to learn, as this means I have overwritten files I did not intend to.


----------



## Sean Webster

If you use these options it may help

Code:



Code:


/V /PURGE


----------



## DrC

What does V do? I've tried the purge command too, and learned that it's something you need to be extremely careful with if you're trying to exchange files between more than two drives. I ended up losing a whole folder of stuff because one of my source folders were empty.

I'm trying to find a command that will update the most recent files that are changed, and not necessarily just files that are different. One of my drives is an external, and sometimes I want to be able to use the files from home at work and be able to keep them all updated without worrying about which computer I'm accessing the files from. The method I have above only works if you make sure that you only work from the source files, and not one of the other computers.


----------



## GasMan320

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> What does V do? I've tried the purge command too, and learned that it's something you need to be extremely careful with if you're trying to exchange files between more than two drives. I ended up losing a whole folder of stuff because one of my source folders were empty.
> 
> I'm trying to find a command that will update the most recent files that are changed, and not necessarily just files that are different. One of my drives is an external, and sometimes I want to be able to use the files from home at work and be able to keep them all updated without worrying about which computer I'm accessing the files from. The method I have above only works if you make sure that you only work from the source files, and not one of the other computers.


I think the issue is that you're thinking of Robocopy as a sync tool. It is only a backup tool, not a sync tool. Whatever is on A will go to B. If B is newer than A, it doesn't matter, A will STILL go to B.

I am sure there's some good synchronization tools out there -- in fact Microsoft makes a great one called SyncToy which you may want to give a try.


----------



## Sean Webster

Yea, what gasman said, I just learned of sync toy today lol.

I use the purge b/c the HDD i back up to is only suppose to be a mirror of my drive.


----------



## DrC

What's the difference between the purge and mirror functions?


----------



## Sean Webster

The /mir option is equivalent to the /e plus /purge options with one small difference in behavior:

With the /e plus /purge options, if the destination directory exists, the destination directory security settings are not overwritten.

With the /mir option, if the destination directory exists, the destination directory security settings are overwritten.


----------



## DrC

I'm trying SyncToy too. It's okay if you want to sync two folders, but there doesn't really seem to be a way to sync multiple folders on a computer to one location on the external hard drive without having to run it multiple times for each sync.

EDIT: NVM. Looks like you can run more than one at a time.


----------



## Sean Webster

Why are these back up programs so confusing!







lol


----------



## DrC

Tell me about it. Have you found a way to group different actions in SyncToy? I'd just like to be able to create different sets of syncs depending on which hard drive I have in.


----------



## Sean Webster

I never used it but I made one folder sync set lol, I just deleted it...

want to try freefilesync? It seems easier to understand imo lol. i just use the mirror option. there are others too.

Or are you trying something different? Like synchronizing folders that each may be modified?

I have a plan...make this thread into the uberest backup thread ever!!! I will compile a ton of back up software and test them out and make mini tuts for us...want to help?


----------



## DrC

I can give you my feedback based on my experiences









But yes, I'm syncing folders that each may be modified at different times. I guess I'll check out freefilesync. How much is this freefilesync?


----------



## Sean Webster

It is free i think, not sure though.









list of softwares so far:

Freefilesync
Microsoft SyncToy
Easus Todo back up
Easus Disk Copy
Clonezilla
AceBackup
FBackup
GenieTimeline Free
PureSync
Toucan
Paragon Backup & Recovery (Advanced) Free
SyncBackSE
Macrium Reflect or Windows Backup and Restore
GFI Backup
Back It Up!
Cobian Backup
Comodo Backup
Recuva


----------



## DrC

Robocopy/Shadowspawn work great on XP. Tried freefilesync and synctoy, but I'm back to shadowspawn. Just much quicker after the initial run.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> Robocopy/Shadowspawn work great on XP. Tried freefilesync and synctoy, but I'm back to shadowspawn. Just much quicker after the initial run.


lol, I feel the same way. I was going to switch, but robocopy is just too good


----------



## Ratjack

alright, I have my script all written out to backup my files and produce log files. I ran into an issue of the system trying to back up ...\documents\mymusic and ..\documents\myvideos etc... obviously those dont exist so under the documents backup I added the /XJD option to avoid those junctions.

The only problem I have now is when I am backing up and have the log script included I can no longer see what is currently being backed up and what percentage. All it shows me now is the log files being created, any ideas?

here is my script:

robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Pictures" "B:\Back Up\Pictures" /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyPictures.txt
robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Videos" "B:\Back Up\Videos" /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyVideos.txt
robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Documents" "B:\Back Up\Documents" /XJD /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyDocuments.txt
robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Music" "B:\Back Up\Music" /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyMusic.txt
robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Downloads" "B:\Back Up\Downloads" /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyDownloads.txt
robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop" "B:\Back Up\Desktop" /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyDesktop.txt


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ratjack*
> 
> alright, I have my script all written out to backup my files and produce log files. I ran into an issue of the system trying to back up ...\documents\mymusic and ..\documents\myvideos etc... obviously those dont exist so under the documents backup I added the /XJD option to avoid those junctions.
> 
> The only problem I have now is when I am backing up and have the log script included I can no longer see what is currently being backed up and what percentage. All it shows me now is the log files being created, any ideas?
> 
> here is my script:
> 
> robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Pictures" "B:\Back Up\Pictures" /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyPictures.txt
> robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Videos" "B:\Back Up\Videos" /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyVideos.txt
> robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Documents" "B:\Back Up\Documents" /XJD /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyDocuments.txt
> robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Music" "B:\Back Up\Music" /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyMusic.txt
> robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Downloads" "B:\Back Up\Downloads" /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyDownloads.txt
> robocopy "C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop" "B:\Back Up\Desktop" /e /v /PURGE /r:4 /W:15 /log:C:\Users\Jeremy\Desktop\RobocopyDesktop.txt


That's just how it is, I was sad when I learned that lol. But, I like having the logs better so I know what copied and didn't. You can also use the log+ option to update the existing one.


----------



## Ratjack

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> That's just how it is, I was sad when I learned that lol. But, I like having the logs better so I know what copied and didn't. You can also use the log+ option to update the existing one.


ok, well I guess logs are the better way to go... otherwise the things that are "same" go by too quick to tell if it worked. So the log+ will basically just replace the old one as to where log will just keep adding more files to my desktop?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ratjack*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> That's just how it is, I was sad when I learned that lol. But, I like having the logs better so I know what copied and didn't. You can also use the log+ option to update the existing one.
> 
> 
> 
> ok, well I guess logs are the better way to go... otherwise the things that are "same" go by too quick to tell if it worked. So the log+ will basically just replace the old one as to where log will just keep adding more files to my desktop?
Click to expand...

Log+ updates the existing log file, for example it will combine two logs into one text file rather than completely replacing the existing. So you will have one section from say the first time you ran it, then below/above (forgot which lol) you will have it have a section from the second time you ran it. I have a folder for my logs, just make one yourself and change the directory for them.
Quote:


> otherwise the things that are "same" go by too quick to tell if it worked


That is b/c if the file didn't change since the last update it doesn't need to be recopied over.


----------



## Recipe7

I have a question Sean, but first want to thank you for the SSD/HDD guides you have here on OCN, really thorough and informing.

Now, I have a OCZ Agility 30gb running my Windows 7 right now. I recently ordered a Crucial m4 64gb to replace it.

The life left on my Agility shows 81%, and has been dropping the past 1.5 years at a constant pace. Would it be ok to make a copy of my Agility to my Crucial? Would the 81% make any problems and situations which will prevent the Crucial from running up to par? If you think this is ok, can I use the Robocopy software to do the 1:1 copy?

My last question is that I am running a MB which does not have a SATA3 port, just a wannabe Marvell. Will I see a noticable difference comparing the Agility and Crucial considering that the Crucial will basically be running on a SATA2 port just like my Agility?

Thanks for your help Sean


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Recipe7*
> 
> I have a question Sean, but first want to thank you for the SSD/HDD guides you have here on OCN, really thorough and informing.
> 
> Now, I have a OCZ Agility 30gb running my Windows 7 right now. I recently ordered a Crucial m4 64gb to replace it.
> 
> The life left on my Agility shows 81%, and has been dropping the past 1.5 years at a constant pace. Would it be ok to make a copy of my Agility to my Crucial? Would the 81% make any problems and situations which will prevent the Crucial from running up to par? If you think this is ok, can I use the Robocopy software to do the 1:1 copy?
> 
> My last question is that I am running a MB which does not have a SATA3 port, just a wannabe Marvell. Will I see a noticable difference comparing the Agility and Crucial considering that the Crucial will basically be running on a SATA2 port just like my Agility?
> 
> Thanks for your help Sean


Glad you like it.

Robocopy is for file back up, not system images. You will need to use the built in windows system imaging or clonezilla or similar. That 81% life stuff isn't something really to go by imo, and it will not carry over to the M4 .

Use the Intel ports, the Marvell are crap.

You may or may not notice a difference in use b/w the 2 drives, though you should notice a little more snappiness and slightly faster loading for apps. I know I didn't really notice a difference b/w sata 2 and 3 on my M4 also.


----------



## Recipe7

Would do you suggest I use, the Windows system imaging or the Clonezilla? After taking a look at Clonezilla, it seems a bit complicated.


----------



## Sean Webster

I would use the one built into windows. I haven't tried clonezilla myself lol

Also, there is ToDo back up that should be easy as well if windows doesn't work for you.


----------



## Recipe7

Will check them both out, see what I'm comfortable with. Thanks Sean, appreciate it!


----------



## DrC

Acronis gets good reviews too. I personally use Norton Ghost and it's easy as can be. You can install the software or boot from the dvd directly to do backups and re-installs of images.


----------



## ErOR

Thanks a bunch Sean for this guide, now I can automate sync with my music server.

Here's how I do it over the network.

net use Z: \\servername\music /u:username password
Robocopy "G:\Music" "Z:" /E /V /PURGE /R:5 /W:15 /log+:C:\Logs\Robocopy\Robolog.txt
net use Z: /delete


----------



## Sean Webster

Wow, it's been a month since last post....bump


----------



## icor1031

This may have been covered, but I want to warn you:
Never, Ever use (i.e.) "F:" as the source.

It will act as if it's moving the files, but only some will move - and those that do will become invisible. What's worse, the folder you moved them to becomes invisible, too. I ruined two or three sets of data backup this way. Trying to recover quickly.

When I say invisible, I mean.. You can't see it, even with 'show invisible folders' enabled.

*yikes*


----------



## amdgig

.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amdgig*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Recipe7*
> 
> Would do you suggest I use, the Windows system imaging or the Clonezilla? After taking a look at Clonezilla, it seems a bit complicated.
> 
> 
> 
> The only thing wrong with win7 system imaging is that it ovewrites or appends the image if there is one aleady there (i use a external usb hdd) ,, no cumulative are kept for example a 30/1/12 image is on the backup drive then do a backup and system image and the 30/1/12 image gets ovewritten to the date you just did 30/2/12 and so far there is no way to keep the older one as well as create a newer one , very poor imo for such a good thing
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .
Click to expand...

Yes you can, simply rename it.: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html


----------



## amdgig

.


----------



## Sean Webster

It's a trap!

Hehe. Yea I have a way. Simply open up the explorer via clicking load driver or similar, forgot exactly, but then you can rename them and choose which to use.









I understand what you mean tho.

I think I'm goin to transform this thread soon too, make it a full kit back up guide with different software too.


----------



## DrC

I haven't seen any issues with using the F drive. I've done several so far without folders going .


----------



## amdgig

.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amdgig*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> It's a trap!
> Hehe. Yea I have a way. Simply open up the explorer via clicking load driver or similar, forgot exactly, but then you can rename them and choose which to use.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I understand what you mean tho.
> I think I'm goin to transform this thread soon too, make it a full kit back up guide with different software too.
> 
> 
> 
> LOL , as you understand what i mean i'll just reiterate for the others , but i'll type first that i am sure MS will fix the issue up at a later date , surely they'll listen to all those techs/it bods , i'll be looking forward to it too...its fast on USB3 with a fast *external* spinpoint at 1TB , not to mention all that room for half a dozen images with room to spare!
> 
> 'reiterated' As it stands , system images are overwritten and not accumilative , so if your relying on a image that you really really knew that was absolutly fine and it had all the programs on it you needed AND did not want to have to reinstall alot of stuff/programs but one had a hiccup? just after you had done a system image 2 days ago but your really nice one was 1 week ago =Tough Luck
Click to expand...

And like I said, I have 5 different backups and can restore from any of them fine with them stored on my server.


----------



## amdgig

.


----------



## amdgig

.


----------



## amdgig

.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amdgig*
> 
> Hi Sean , i'll get back to you in a day or so , the other day i crashed the system , no partition at all , (part my fault as i was clicking the button!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ) and had to use the image but found a drama .
> 
> I have to test out another image that i renamed (after all went well and i did another image just in case) to see if it is available , but the main issue was that the usb3 external hdd was not available or seen until i loaded a driver so i just used usb2 where it was seen straight away.
> 
> cheers


Test disk may have been able to restore the partition.

Also, I finally ditched Windows imaging tool lol. I now use Easus ToDo Backup.









http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds#post_15524169


----------



## firestorm1

how to do i keep the script file for future use? when i started it, the file disappeared.


----------



## amdgig

.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *firestorm1*
> 
> how to do i keep the script file for future use? when i started it, the file disappeared.


stupid antivirus lol
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *amdgig*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Test disk may have been able to restore the partition.
> Also, I finally ditched Windows imaging tool lol. I now use Easus ToDo Backup.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds#post_15524169
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Sean , i had to look up test disk , it might have too , but the system image way would be easy for me (or simpler  , i just like the click a button to fix things
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .
> 
> Re; the win7 native imaging , i had to wait to make sure i had the time and patience as i was aware i had to do many reboots to check things out and not stuff things up
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> , 1st , as your probably aware one can not rename a backup or find any others in the recovery console booting from either the win dvd or your flash drive idea , but one probably can if you fish about on the external hdd viewing it in the explorer like view in the console and i stress that i did not try it , too much bother for me!
> 
> On the USB3 external HDD issue i had , i could not find it on usb3 and had to use usb2 , there is a' load driver' on the system recovery options page , i had/have found the driver on the motherboard cd and popped it in the bootable win7 flash-drive from your other thread (great idea too as its faster) .
> 
> The driver took a bit of digging to find on the motherboard cd , but just in case there is any relevance for anyone its at Mb cd/chipset/Etron/program files/usb3 host controller/drivers/64bit or 32bit , i just copied that over to the flash drive , and then when the usb3 external hdd was turned on and it did not show up i just loaded the driver and 'hey presto' it was there
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok on the ToDo software , i think i'll just stick to one image a week and hopefully ms will fix up system imagery and the shortcomings soon , have you noticed if you schedule a backup it turns off the automatic system restore , i want both! , so I'll also have to stick with the manual backups for now .
> 
> Re;the flash drive , with the method used have you noticed that there is no eject listed (r/click drive) or if there is (taskbar) it says cannot eject as its in use? or is it just this pen-drive i am using , but once the drive got corrupted? , i think just by pulling it out of the usb2 slot and it kept coming up with /boot/bdc ######## not valid , i just redid the method and copied over win7.64 again and it was fine and now ill be just closing the comp down instead if its plugged in , as i think it might be that it is listed as a hdd when plugged in? , but I'm no expert either
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> , obvious aye!
> 
> cheers and thanks
Click to expand...

From that wall of text it looks like you are all set and good? lol Sorry tired atm.


----------



## firestorm1

haha yea. its al sorted out now.


----------



## amdgig

.


----------



## kevindd992002

The default copy switch of robocopy is /COPYAT if you don't specify any copy options. This is the code I'm using:

robocopy C:\ D:\Backup RAMDisk.img /copyall /R:5 /W:15 /V /log:\Users\Kevin\Desktop\robocopy_log.txt

The RAMDisk.img file that I'm copying is a compressed image file. Now with that syntax /COPYAT will be used which means that it will copy all attributes of that file. Whenever I run this, I successfully copy the file but it doesn't retain the compression attribute of that file.

What could be wrong with this? Both source and destination are NTFS-formatted.


----------



## tsm106

I just use karen's replicator. It's a lot simpler than this.

rip karen.


----------



## kevindd992002

@GasMan

I'm trying to use shadowspawn with robocopy here but I'm running into some problems. How do you exactly use the additional parameter field in the task scheduler when creating a task for shadowspawn.exe? Putting my .bat file in that field did nothing to the task.


----------



## stubass

do i have to have paths to folders or can i just back up drive to drive??
this doesnt seem to work but i want drive to drive only..

Code:



Code:


Robocopy "D:\" "E:\" /E /V /PURGE /R:5 /W:15

i cant get this to work, both are non partitioned data drives..









saved as .bat and tried double clicking on it and the cmd prompt just blinks and nothing happens


----------



## Sean Webster

It is for folders, not drives/partitions. You have to make a folder and back up to another folder.

Code:



Code:


Robocopy "D:\Folder" "E:\Folder" /E /V /PURGE /R:5 /W:15


----------



## stubass

i thought it would be, but was hoping.. thanks mate


----------



## kevindd992002

With the /ETA switch of robocopy, will the ETA info be shown in the log file if you use /log ?


----------



## She loved E

Hey Sean - just finished skimming this... another great & simple tutorial for a really important function. Thanks to your various Windows guides I know way more than I ever wanted to about Windows... in a good way!









I have a general question about backing up my system... hopefully this is the right place for it and you can give me some advice. I am currently backing up my system with Win Backup & Restore. I have it set to do a daily backup & system image. However, after using it for under two weeks I've noticed the backup size start to increase dramatically. Right now it is double the size of the drive it is backing up. Is this normal? I understand 20-30 GB is the system image, but I don't understand why the backup itself would need to be significantly larger than the source drive. Backups have also been taking longer than I'd like... its not as significant as the size issue but I assume Win backups aren't incremental as each backup is taking over three hours for about 600GB of data.

Because of my current experience with Win B&R I might try robocopy out for a while to see if it is a better option for me. Any other ideas or recommendations?

TIA!
Kyle


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *She loved E*
> 
> Hey Sean - just finished skimming this... another great & simple tutorial for a really important function. Thanks to your various Windows guides I know way more than I ever wanted to about Windows... in a good way!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have a general question about backing up my system... hopefully this is the right place for it and you can give me some advice. I am currently backing up my system with Win Backup & Restore. I have it set to do a daily backup & system image. However, after using it for under two weeks I've noticed the backup size start to increase dramatically. Right now it is double the size of the drive it is backing up. Is this normal? I understand 20-30 GB is the system image, but I don't understand why the backup itself would need to be significantly larger than the source drive. Backups have also been taking longer than I'd like... its not as significant as the size issue but I assume Win backups aren't incremental as each backup is taking over three hours for about 600GB of data.
> 
> Because of my current experience with Win B&R I might try robocopy out for a while to see if it is a better option for me. Any other ideas or recommendations?
> 
> TIA!
> Kyle


First, robocopy won't work for disk image back up or of the sort, but I have a good program for that. It is just meant for file/folder backup. It works great and is fast as it only backs up changed files/folders. However, after using FreeFileSync for a while I like that better for my data backup needs. It is very easy to use and you can set it up to work on task scheduler. I need to make some guides for it, but if you need help I can help you as you go along.

I think Windows uses incremental backups or something thus the larger and larger size. It may redo the whole back up every time still. I don't like that myself.

For backup imaging maybe check out this thread: http://www.overclock.net/t/1227835/how-to-disk-and-partition-cloning-backup-restoration-migration

I use Acronis True Image WD Edition Software instead of the Windows tool. it is free if you have a WD drive in your system, or you can use Seagate DiscWizard if you have a Seagate drive. It is very good backup and recovery software imo. If you want test it out and see if you like it.


----------



## She loved E

Thanks for the advice Sean! I'll give Acronis and/or FreeFileSync a shot. AFAIK the disc image portion of backup & restore works as advertised (haven't tried to restore yet.... so that's a big assumption







). My files are very straightforward... no partitions or anything... just backing up a 2TB HDD to a 2TB portable HD.


----------



## She loved E

quick update... I found out the reason my backup was so big was that two backups were being stored for some reason. I deleted one and I'm back down to a reasonable size.


----------



## Sean Webster

Nice


----------



## 45nm

Sean. Great backup guide and topic you have here. I was looking for a comprehensive Backup syntax example and this is exactly what fits my requirements. I am currently using Xcopy for my Backup are there any advantages or disadvantages to Robocopy vs Xcopy ?

Note the /ETA switch shows the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the copied files. Since it wasn't explained on the first page I included it here.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *45nm*
> 
> Sean. Great backup guide and topic you have here. I was looking for a comprehensive Backup syntax example and this is exactly what fits my requirements. I am currently using Xcopy for my Backup are there any advantages or disadvantages to Robocopy vs Xcopy ?


I forgot what it was that made me want robocopy over it. lol
Quote:


> Note the /ETA switch shows the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the copied files. Since it wasn't explained on the first page I included it here.


Yea, I need to give this thread a overhaul and add a ton of info and guides soon. lol


----------



## 45nm

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> I forgot what it was that made me want robocopy over it. lol
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Note the /ETA switch shows the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the copied files. Since it wasn't explained on the first page I included it here.
> 
> 
> 
> Yea, I need to give this thread a overhaul and add a ton of info and guides soon. lol
Click to expand...

Sean is it possible to use the Log switch with the other switches. I tried creating the Test Backup example with the following Code:

Code:



Code:


Robocopy "D:\Documents" "E:\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /R:5 /W:15 /log:D:\Log\RoboLog.txt

However I noticed it doesn't function properly when the /log switch is added. Is it perhaps due to the order in which the /log switch must be implemented before the other switches ?

I am looking forward to this thread update and overhaul since Backup is an essential must.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *45nm*
> 
> Sean is it possible to use the Log switch with the other switches. I tried creating the Test Backup example with the following Code:
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> Robocopy "D:\Documents" "E:\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /R:5 /W:15 /log:D:\Log\RoboLog.txt
> 
> However I noticed it doesn't function properly when the /log switch is added. Is it perhaps due to the order in which the /log switch must be implemented before the other switches ?
> I am looking forward to this thread update and overhaul since Backup is an essential must.


Yes, the log switch should not interfere when used with other switches. The order doesn't matter as well.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *45nm*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> I forgot what it was that made me want robocopy over it. lol
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Note the /ETA switch shows the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the copied files. Since it wasn't explained on the first page I included it here.
> 
> 
> 
> Yea, I need to give this thread a overhaul and add a ton of info and guides soon. lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sean is it possible to use the Log switch with the other switches. I tried creating the Test Backup example with the following Code:
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> Robocopy "D:\Documents" "E:\Back Up\My Documents" /E /V /PURGE /R:5 /W:15 /log:D:\Log\RoboLog.txt
> 
> However I noticed it doesn't function properly when the /log switch is added. Is it perhaps due to the order in which the /log switch must be implemented before the other switches ?
Click to expand...

I know when I tried to have the ETA switch with the log switch the ETA would not show.

Does the Log folder exist? Has it been created already? If not that could be the issue.
Quote:


> I am looking forward to this thread update and overhaul since Backup is an essential must.


Yea, I need to add a lot of info as to why to backup, what to backup and to where, different methods, programs to use, guides on freefilesync cause I <3 it (lol), etc.


----------



## 45nm

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> I know when I tried to have the ETA switch with the log switch the ETA would not show.
> Does the Log folder exist? Has it been created already? If not that could be the issue.


Does the Log Folder necessarily need to be created. I was under the Impression that just like XCopy it would automatically create the folder.


----------



## Sean Webster

Not for that, it needs to be made first. Try it lol.


----------



## 45nm

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Not for that, it needs to be made first. Try it lol.


That's exactly what it was. It apparently needs a Pre-created folder to store Verbose output.

For logging perhaps also include the /tee switch ?
Quote:


> "Writes the status output to the console window, as well as to the log file."


----------



## 45nm

Sean is it possible to append a "Date" to the end of the Folder name using RoboCopy without manually specifying it each time and changing the batch file to reflect the new date?


----------



## Sean Webster

No idea.


----------



## johnko1

Good guide,but I still prefer raid 1(or anything else that offers mirroring),it makes me feel safer.Although to be sure you should have a ups incase of powersurge.

Sorry if I went off-topic


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *johnko1*
> 
> Good guide,but I still prefer raid 1(or anything else that offers mirroring),it makes me feel safer.Although to be sure you should have a ups incase of powersurge.
> 
> Sorry if I went off-topic


Yea, but RAID is not a backup solution. It would suck if the array gets corrupt, both drives fail, or something. Then the data is gone. I always suggest a copy of data away from the PC you are backing up. I usually back up to my server and an external.


----------



## Boyboyd

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Yea, but RAID is not a backup solution


A lot of people forget this. Raid was never intended to be a backup solution.


----------



## johnko1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Yea, but RAID is not a backup solution. It would suck if the array gets corrupt, both drives fail, or something. Then the data is gone. I always suggest a copy of data away from the PC you are backing up. I usually back up to my server and an external.


How can a raid array get corrupt?
I always have and external drive for backing up my precious data


----------



## terraprime

So does this work with hard drives that are failing? Cause Im currently trying to get files off my HD103SJ as its read and writes performance has drop significantly from low 90's to no more then 12mbps with current pending sectors rising like crazy. chkdsk will hang and will disconnect from the motherboard if to much HD activity is done.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *johnko1*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Yea, but RAID is not a backup solution. It would suck if the array gets corrupt, both drives fail, or something. Then the data is gone. I always suggest a copy of data away from the PC you are backing up. I usually back up to my server and an external.
> 
> 
> 
> How can a raid array get corrupt?
> I always have and external drive for backing up my precious data
Click to expand...

Google, there are many ways lol. Think, how does data get corrupted?

First few Google links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_corruption
http://superuser.com/questions/112683/does-raid-1-protect-against-corruption
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *terraprime*
> 
> So does this work with hard drives that are failing? Cause Im currently trying to get files off my HD103SJ as its read and writes performance has drop significantly from low 90's to no more then 12mbps with current pending sectors rising like crazy. chkdsk will hang and will disconnect from the motherboard if to much HD activity is done.


If if the HDD works, it will work.It is a lot easier to set up a script to back up certain folders than to do it manually.


----------



## terraprime

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Google, there are many ways lol. Think, how does data get corrupted?
> First few Google links.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_corruption
> http://superuser.com/questions/112683/does-raid-1-protect-against-corruption
> If if the HDD works, it will work.It is a lot easier to set up a script to back up certain folders than to do it manually.


Well i noticed it had a retry option to skip files that are unreadable so thats why I was asking. As it will not read recently written files as it throws out a i/o error when reading some of the files.









EDIT: And the SMART (01) Raw Read Error Rate is steadily going up as well, hopefully that doesnt mean that Im getting dirty data....but no hardware ECC recovers so, idk.


----------



## johnko1

I decided to have a backup hdd for each hdd,for ex. Data,Backup Data,Songs,Backup songs etc.But I want to be as safe as possible,because in case of power/psu failure all hdds may die.That's why I connected all backup hdds to a switch so that I can decide when to power them,usually once in a week.I believe that if I add a ups(I had a power failure because of thunders and I was scared for my data) too I will be extra safe!

What do you think?


----------



## DuckieHo

You might want to have preamble explain redundency vs back-up vs archive.


----------



## johnko1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DuckieHo*
> 
> You might want to have preamble explain redundency vs back-up vs archive.


Not sure if I understood that.I'm not going raid as you suggested because of possible file/raid corruption.


----------



## DuckieHo

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *johnko1*
> 
> Not sure if I understood that.I'm not going raid as you suggested because of possible file/raid corruption.


I was talking to Sean.


----------



## johnko1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DuckieHo*
> 
> I was talking to Sean.


I'm sorry. I thought you were sean


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *johnko1*
> 
> I decided to have a backup hdd for each hdd,for ex. Data,Backup Data,Songs,Backup songs etc.But I want to be as safe as possible,because in case of power/psu failure all hdds may die.That's why I connected all backup hdds to a switch so that I can decide when to power them,usually once in a week.I believe that if I add a psu(I had a power failure because of thunders and I was scared for my data) too I will be extra safe!
> 
> What do you think?


i think you are going overboard crazy safe....in a good way.









I back up my data to 2 or 3 HDDs at a time myself.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DuckieHo*
> 
> You might want to have preamble explain redundency vs back-up vs archive.


Yeah! I was thinking that too. I just hate i don't have the time atm to do it. School just started again and i'm a great procrastinator.


----------



## johnko1

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> i think you are going overboard crazy safe....in a good way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I back up my data to 2 or 3 HDDs at a time myself.


I wouldn't go crazy if my hdd with family photos and videos didn't start dying.I was lucky to backup all data to another hdd but I wont always be so lucky...


----------



## Sean Webster

Bumping for any advise on things to add/edit.


----------



## johnko1

Sean,I plan to buy 2-3 wd red 3TB.Can you explain me what is zfs format?From what I understood it checks the drive for errors so data corruption chance is reduced.I may end up doing raid-5 eventually,that's why I'm asking about it (soft raid)

Still haven't found an OS that suits my needs,some friends suggested freenas or fileserver.What's your opinion about that?

I may buy the hdds early 2013,when the prices fall or stabilise








PS.(3tb wd red costs 165 euro here!!)


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *johnko1*
> 
> Sean,I plan to buy 2-3 wd red 3TB.Can you explain me what is zfs format?From what I understood it checks the drive for errors so data corruption chance is reduced.I may end up doing raid-5 eventually,that's why I'm asking about it (soft raid)


No clue, I've only used hardware RAID and NTFS. lol.
Quote:


> Still haven't found an OS that suits my needs,some friends suggested freenas or fileserver.What's your opinion about that?


No clue. I only used Windows for my stuff, I've no experience or knowledge with anything else. My "server" is actually my dad's PC that is on 24/7 and I just have my RAID 5 array in there for movies.
Quote:


> I may buy the hdds early 2013,when the prices fall or stabilise
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS.(3tb wd red costs 165 euro here!!)


That is ridiculous!


----------



## selluminis

Nice, now to figure it out!!!


----------



## bringonblink

I've been growing more concerned about backing up my data after i got passed the 1tb on my HDD.

I have a SSD for OS and then my 2TB for data.

At the moment i image the SSD onto the 2TB once a month, and i have all my user folders on the 2TB too.

Originally i was thinking i would buy another 2 3TB'S and RAID 1 them. The more i thought about it, the less i liked it as a backup solution, so now i'm thinking of buying a 4TB external and backing up the 2TB to it each week.

Ideally, i would like to both RAID and backup, but can not afford it at the moment.

I'm still thinking if it would be better to do an image backup of my 2TB, or to do incremental backups and compress them.

Can anyone recommend a good 4TB external? I have been looking at this, but it seems to be getting mixed reviews.

Lastly, i have lots of 4gb MKV video files. Does anyone know how well these can be compressed for backup?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bringonblink*
> 
> I've been growing more concerned about backing up my data after i got passed the 1tb on my HDD.
> 
> I have a SSD for OS and then my 2TB for data.
> 
> At the moment i image the SSD onto the 2TB once a month, and i have all my user folders on the 2TB too.
> 
> Originally i was thinking i would buy another 2 3TB'S and RAID 1 them. The more i thought about it, the less i liked it as a backup solution, so now i'm thinking of buying a 4TB external and backing up the 2TB to it each week.
> 
> Ideally, i would like to both RAID and backup, but can not afford it at the moment.
> 
> I'm still thinking if it would be better to do an image backup of my 2TB, or to do incremental backups and compress them.
> 
> Can anyone recommend a good 4TB external? I have been looking at this, but it seems to be getting mixed reviews.


Well, that is 3TB!









It should be fine tho. I really don't look into customer reviews on market sites. Remember any backup is better than no backup.








Quote:


> Lastly, i have lots of 4gb MKV video files. Does anyone know how well these can be compressed for backup?


That is nothing. I have a 8TB RAID 5 array with 1TB free filled with 8-20GB sized MKV movies lol.









IDK if you can compress them, however you can possibly re-render them in a smaller format or something...have fine with that!


----------



## CrazyHeaven

Before reading this thread and with the recent failure of a few of my drives in a very short time period I decided to get more serious at backing things up. Needless to say my hdd were a mess. I couldn't format anything to make room for a new install when my drive went down because I didn't have the space to move things around. I finally decided to organize it all though it is going to take some time. It is shocking to me how messy virtual space can get. Already, I've deleted around 300GB's of stuff that I apparently couldn't find and redownloaded or just no longer needed. Can't wait to go through and finish sorting everything so I can know exactly what I have left and will need to look at keeping. I've already uploaded all family pictures and videos via dropbox. Doing game saves later on today though they aren't as important to me though I'm really getting off topic.

I read through your guide and I love the flow of it and it is exactly the steps I was planning to follow minus the raid. Raid takes up too much room and cost too much for me to support to reduce system failure. Instead I'd rather start working in the cloud if at all possible and would love to know of some cheap/free solutions for this. Currently have dropbox (60GB), box.net(50GB) and google drive(5). Been considering paying for a online backup service but as of right now I'm unsure of how much space I'd need. It is looking like it will be at lot less than I thought it would be.

For programs (games, apps, etc), I started a google spread sheet for keys and links as to where I brought them along with their names. I don't have any plans on backing up the files themselves in the event of the failure. Also plan to use a separate spreadsheet for receipts that works with my phone. Project files are automatically sync by syncing my document folders to dropbox 24/7 in the same way that Sean does.

As you can see I'm heading more towards the cloud route is important to me since raid isn't an option and I don't have anywhere else to store my data. I figured if I keep the data on my drives and in the cloud if one is lost I would replace it with the other. Go in and check on my stuff every few days to week to make sure everything is going as it should and hopefully it will all be fine.

I notice a lot of people are having a hard time finding space for those movies. I either stream mines or burn them to disc and make a copy of the disc. If I lose it then it isn't much of a worry to me.

My Samsung drive came for Norton Ghost and my WDD drive came with Arconis and I'm running windows 7 ultimate. I think all of those should give me nice backup options if I take the time to learn how to use them.


----------



## bringonblink

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Well, that is 3TB!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It should be fine tho. I really don't look into customer reviews on market sites. Remember any backup is better than no backup.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is nothing. I have a 8TB RAID 5 array with 1TB free filled with 8-20GB sized MKV movies lol.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IDK if you can compress them, however you can possibly re-render them in a smaller format or something...have fine with that!


Woops meant to link to this.

Yeah i just wanted to get an idea if i could save space for backup


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *CrazyHeaven*
> 
> Before reading this thread and with the recent failure of a few of my drives in a very short time period I decided to get more serious at backing things up. Needless to say my hdd were a mess. I couldn't format anything to make room for a new install when my drive went down because I didn't have the space to move things around. I finally decided to organize it all though it is going to take some time. It is shocking to me how messy virtual space can get. Already, I've deleted around 300GB's of stuff that I apparently couldn't find and redownloaded or just no longer needed. Can't wait to go through and finish sorting everything so I can know exactly what I have left and will need to look at keeping. I've already uploaded all family pictures and videos via dropbox. Doing game saves later on today though they aren't as important to me though I'm really getting off topic.
> 
> I read through your guide and I love the flow of it and it is exactly the steps I was planning to follow minus the raid. Raid takes up too much room and cost too much for me to support to reduce system failure. Instead I'd rather start working in the cloud if at all possible and would love to know of some cheap/free solutions for this. Currently have dropbox (60GB), box.net(50GB) and google drive(5). Been considering paying for a online backup service but as of right now I'm unsure of how much space I'd need. It is looking like it will be at lot less than I thought it would be.
> 
> For programs (games, apps, etc), I started a google spread sheet for keys and links as to where I brought them along with their names. I don't have any plans on backing up the files themselves in the event of the failure. Also plan to use a separate spreadsheet for receipts that works with my phone. Project files are automatically sync by syncing my document folders to dropbox 24/7 in the same way that Sean does.
> 
> As you can see I'm heading more towards the cloud route is important to me since raid isn't an option and I don't have anywhere else to store my data. I figured if I keep the data on my drives and in the cloud if one is lost I would replace it with the other. Go in and check on my stuff every few days to week to make sure everything is going as it should and hopefully it will all be fine.
> 
> I notice a lot of people are having a hard time finding space for those movies. I either stream mines or burn them to disc and make a copy of the disc. If I lose it then it isn't much of a worry to me.
> 
> My Samsung drive came for Norton Ghost and my WDD drive came with Arconis and I'm running windows 7 ultimate. I think all of those should give me nice backup options if I take the time to learn how to use them.


here's a comparison of some cloud options: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/dropbox-gdrive-skydrive/

Overall i only use cloud for my docs because I dont have many, cloud storage is too expensive for me for my other files. There is no way I'd be able to afford 2TB + of backup space lol. HDDs here are much much cheaper.









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bringonblink*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Well, that is 3TB!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It should be fine tho. I really don't look into customer reviews on market sites. Remember any backup is better than no backup.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is nothing. I have a 8TB RAID 5 array with 1TB free filled with 8-20GB sized MKV movies lol.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IDK if you can compress them, however you can possibly re-render them in a smaller format or something...have fine with that!
> 
> 
> 
> Woops meant to link to this.
> 
> Yeah i just wanted to get an idea if i could save space for backup
Click to expand...

I don't see why you shouldn't.

that as a backup and two 2tb drives in RAID 0 would be a good setup.


----------



## johnko1

Some info please before I pull the trigger.If I do raid-1 with 2 wd red 3TB can I add one more in the future and make the array raid-5 without formatting/losing data?

Also if I have raid-5,can I expand it (install more hdds on the array)

Thanks,
John


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *johnko1*
> 
> Some info please before I pull the trigger.If I do raid-1 with 2 wd red 3TB can I add one more in the future and make the array raid-5 without formatting/losing data?
> 
> Also if I have raid-5,can I expand it (install more hdds on the array)
> 
> Thanks,
> John


Yes you can using the onboard Intel controller.


----------



## DrC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bringonblink*
> 
> Woops meant to link to this.
> Yeah i just wanted to get an idea if i could save space for backup


I compress mine with Handbrake on the AppleTV 2 setting. They're not full 1080p--I see a difference in resolution but it's hardly noticeable. It's still really good, and it streams much better to my tv. I'm okay with the tradeoff on resolution with the huge file size difference. Most of mine will land around the 1.5 - 2 Gb size.


----------



## webtax

hi! i'm new to backing things up









currently i have mirrored (with free file sync) all the data into a pc i use as media center, so it serves those two purposes. But now with all this apocalypse stuff, 3 days of shadows and magnetic disturbances, i want to backup to an optic. Well, truth is i got a bluray writer on a deal, so i want to backup anyway









Thing is, i have 25gb discs, and the data to backup is over 25 gb, my questions is:

*- What's the best way to deal with the 25gb cap?*
Maybe i can use an application like acronis and make single backup divided in mutiple files, and with added compression.
I kind of want the backup to be kind of accesible, so i don't have to install a full app suite to access it, or to recover some specific files. Can the free version of acronis recover specific files?

Should i just divide the data by myself? anyone else backing up to bluray??

regards

edit: ended filling only two blurays so i just copied them as a normal data disc.


----------



## freitz

I just read through you Back up Data guide. Nice Job. However I was looking for more specific advise.

I currently only back up things like photoshop drawings and pictures which I manually back up onto a external hard drive every so often. However the external harddrive is old but portable. My question is, now I am moving to a much larger case (SM8 caselabs) and I have the room to add more drives. I currently Use a 128gb intel 510 for my OS and a couple of games. My 500GB blue WD drive hosts my pictures music etc. I recently got married... traveled to many places, and have some priceless family photos that I can not do without. What would you recommend? I would like to have a clear plan for when I move to windows 8 along with my build improvments that I will be doing next week once my case comes. I am open to buying a larger disk drive and possibly another SSD depending on cost.


----------



## Lord Xeb

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *freitz*
> 
> I just read through you Back up Data guide. Nice Job. However I was looking for more specific advise.
> 
> I currently only back up things like photoshop drawings and pictures which I manually back up onto a external hard drive every so often. However the external harddrive is old but portable. My question is, now I am moving to a much larger case (SM8 caselabs) and I have the room to add more drives. I currently Use a 128gb intel 510 for my OS and a couple of games. My 500GB blue WD drive hosts my pictures music etc. I recently got married... traveled to many places, and have some priceless family photos that I can not do without. What would you recommend? I would like to have a clear plan for when I move to windows 8 along with my build improvments that I will be doing next week once my case comes. I am open to buying a larger disk drive and possibly another SSD depending on cost.


Personally, if you have a lot of stuff you don't want to loose, I would create a RAID 5 (3 2TB or 3TB drives, or if you don't need that much space, go with 3 1TB drives. Will give you 2TB usable) to store your data on (and have your user folder contents remapped to to the RAID as well). Then setup some kind of backup using software (maybe Sean can expand on this) and back up the REALLY important stuff to an external.

RAID5 is not a 100% fool proof, but it is definitely much better than having just a single drive.


----------



## freitz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lord Xeb*
> 
> Personally, if you have a lot of stuff you don't want to loose, I would create a RAID 5 (3 2TB or 3TB drives, or if you don't need that much space, go with 3 1TB drives. Will give you 2TB usable) to store your data on (and have your user folder contents remapped to to the RAID as well). Then setup some kind of backup using software (maybe Sean can expand on this) and back up the REALLY important stuff to an external.
> RAID5 is not a 100% fool proof, but it is definitely much better than having just a single drive.


I was thinking of maybe using 128gb as OS let I do have a 1TB for files etc... And have a additional drive that backs up just my important files and another drive that backs up the whole system? Any thoughts? Not really sure how to do it but right now I just manually back up my important files


----------



## Lord Xeb

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *freitz*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Lord Xeb*
> 
> Personally, if you have a lot of stuff you don't want to loose, I would create a RAID 5 (3 2TB or 3TB drives, or if you don't need that much space, go with 3 1TB drives. Will give you 2TB usable) to store your data on (and have your user folder contents remapped to to the RAID as well). Then setup some kind of backup using software (maybe Sean can expand on this) and back up the REALLY important stuff to an external.
> RAID5 is not a 100% fool proof, but it is definitely much better than having just a single drive.
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking of maybe using 128gb as OS let I do have a 1TB for files etc... And have a additional drive that backs up just my important files and another drive that backs up the whole system? Any thoughts? Not really sure how to do it but right now I just manually back up my important files
Click to expand...

Have that extra drive you have for backup backup the entire system. The probability of 2 drives failing at the same time is low. So if you have a 128GB SSD + 1TB data drive. Then get a 2TB for backing up and using something like Acronis to backup the data to that 2TB drive. Then this way, even if your 1TB fails, you have everything on your 2TB and you can easily restore from it.


----------



## DrC

Wouldn't it make more sense to keep your backup drives identical to simplify it? I've just noticed things get much more complex once you start doing different things for different backup drives. I would also add a couple additional portable drives to store in a safe. Likelihood of two drives failing is lower than one, but the probability of accidentally damaging your portable backup drive is good too. I personally keep three additional backup drives in a fireproof safe. One backs up as often as my portable, one backs up once every two weeks, and the third backs up every few months. This way I have a safely stored backup of everything that is current. You wouldn't believe how often files get corrupted and the corrupted files get backed up (maybe it's just me). My two week back up has saved me several times because of this. My third back up is just in case because I'm anal.


----------



## freitz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> Wouldn't it make more sense to keep your backup drives identical to simplify it? I've just noticed things get much more complex once you start doing different things for different backup drives. I would also add a couple additional portable drives to store in a safe. Likelihood of two drives failing is lower than one, but the probability of accidentally damaging your portable backup drive is good too. I personally keep three additional backup drives in a fireproof safe. One backs up as often as my portable, one backs up once every two weeks, and the third backs up every few months. This way I have a safely stored backup of everything that is current. You wouldn't believe how often files get corrupted and the corrupted files get backed up (maybe it's just me). My two week back up has saved me several times because of this. My third back up is just in case because I'm anal.


i was thinking of doing what the posted before you suggested just getting a large 2tb and back up every. But also keep my spare 1TB and back up just the pictures internally again. Also I have a 750gb portable that I put most important stuff on as well. Not quite sure how to set up a internal backup of certain files.


----------



## DrC

How do you mean? Wouldn't just adding an additional internal drive solve that?


----------



## Ellis

What options do I have for creating an image of my SSD? I just tried the Windows Backup and Restore option - it worked quite well but it doesn't keep the image in one neat file, rather all over the place on my drive. Is there a program I can use from within Windows that I can schedule to image the whole drive?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ellis*
> 
> What options do I have for creating an image of my SSD? I just tried the Windows Backup and Restore option - it worked quite well but it doesn't keep the image in one neat file, rather all over the place on my drive. Is there a program I can use from within Windows that I can schedule to image the whole drive?


Yea...

http://www.overclock.net/t/1227835/how-to-disk-and-partition-cloning-backup-restoration-migration


----------



## Ellis

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Yea...
> http://www.overclock.net/t/1227835/how-to-disk-and-partition-cloning-backup-restoration-migration


Oh, I missed that one! Brilliant, thanks again Sean


----------



## khoralin

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *johnko1*
> 
> Can you explain me what is zfs format?From what I understood it checks the drive for errors so data corruption chance is reduced.I may end up doing raid-5 eventually,that's why I'm asking about it (soft raid)
> Still haven't found an OS that suits my needs,some friends suggested freenas or fileserver.What's your opinion about that?
> I may buy the hdds early 2013,when the prices fall or stabilise
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS.(3tb wd red costs 165 euro here!!)


Searching through this thread I didn't see anyone replying to this with information, so I think I will take a stab at it. Although this comes about 2 months after your posting Johnko1, if you planned on purchasing/setting up your system at the beginning of 2013 I hope this information is still useful to you and can provide some insight.

So, ZFS stands for Zetabyte FileSystem and was developed may years ago by Sun Microsystems for use in their Solaris operating systems. Over the years the functionality of ZFS has not only been expanded to include features such as integarted compression and encryption, but it has always found its way onto other operating systems, most notably Linux and various BSD distributions.

Now, regarding your question as to what it is. Think of ZFS as combining an LVM (Logical Volume Manager) and a filesystem together into the same package. That is, ZFS keeps track of the physical disks and the logical volumes on top of it as well as providing filesystem-type functionality. Setting up a Raid-5 within ZFS is certainly doable, although within ZFS it is called a raidz (or raidz1). I actually have raidz setup on 4 x 1.5TB and a separate raid-mirror (ZFS nomenclature for a Raid-1) using 2 x 1TB disks without any problems.

Aside from the OSes that I mentioned above FreeNAS does appear to support ZFS and certainly seems like a route that is possible. I have not personally used FreeNAS so I can not speak to it.

Hopefully, that has answered your questions. If I ultimately missed the mark, or you have more questions feel free to follow up. I didn't want to get into the weeds, so to speak, with techincal details as I wasn't sure if you wanted that level of detail. I would be more than happy to though if you would like









Aside from the one link I have posted below, which simply points to the ZFS Wikipedia article, there are some very good blog entries scattered on the web, particularly on the Sun site that can provide some good information. I didn't not have any of these readily handy at the moment, but might be able to find them if there is interest.

References (because everyone loves references):
ZFS (Wikipedia) - Decent article explaining history of the filesystem, progression of features, operating systems that support ZFS, and many additional references for further reading.


----------



## bluephish

Finally setup backup for my PC: I'm trying Acronis TrueImage 2013 out and have it set up in the following manner:

128GB OS (SSD) is backed up using Version Chain Scheme onto an extra 1TB drive that I haven't been using. This locks one original full backup and then performs both full and differential backups. The help file mentions that it saves out daily backups for a month and then a full monthly backup up to 6 months back.

2TB PRIMARY DATA (HDD) is backed up using nonstop backup. Which saves changes every 5 minutes to another 2TB drive.

If everything works properly and how I understand it to, this should hopefully provide me with good options to restore my OS if I run into any issues, and also provide me with both a full backup and detailed revision history for my data to protect me from both hardware and human error.

Any thoughts on whether this is a good idea? Anyone run into any issues with Acronis using these two backup methods?

Thanks!


----------



## soupy

Sean, First off I want to say great job creating these tutorials! I followed your Windows 7 guide. Now I am trying out Seagates DiscWizard.

Question: I have all my main programd set up. Most used programs are on Intel 240 GB 335 SSD. I install some other programs on my data drive (D. I also want to attemt to move my user folder to the data drive by useing Symlinks. Will I be able to backup a image of my SSD and if needed use it next time I need rather then a new install of Windows 7? Do I need to include my data drive in the image?

Thanks,
Ken


----------



## Sean Webster

BUMP! BACKUP YOUR DATA NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

Opps, i missed some replies. If anyone still needs help now let me know. Sorry.


----------



## rseiler

Nice guide, as usual.

One suggestion for the Robocopy section: include a /MIR example, too, since that's sometimes more appropriate to use than multiple lines and is easily missed among the dozens of switches.

Also, is there a single page that includes links to your various guides? I've come across them at the top of various forum subsections, but discoverability that way is low. I thought it might be in the pull-down menu, but don't see it.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rseiler*
> 
> Nice guide, as usual.
> One suggestion for the Robocopy section: include a /MIR example, too, since that's sometimes more appropriate to use than multiple lines and is easily missed among the dozens of switches.
> Also, is there a single page that includes links to your various guides? I've come across them at the top of various forum subsections, but discoverability that way is low. I thought it might be in the pull-down menu, but don't see it.


Can you explain what the MIR switch does?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *rseiler*
> 
> Nice guide, as usual.
> 
> One suggestion for the Robocopy section: include a /MIR example, too, since that's sometimes more appropriate to use than multiple lines and is easily missed among the dozens of switches.


ok
Quote:


> Also, is there a single page that includes links to your various guides? I've come across them at the top of various forum subsections, but discoverability that way is low. I thought it might be in the pull-down menu, but don't see it.


Storage essentials thread: http://www.overclock.net/t/1227308/storage-essentials-thread









Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *rseiler*
> 
> Nice guide, as usual.
> One suggestion for the Robocopy section: include a /MIR example, too, since that's sometimes more appropriate to use than multiple lines and is easily missed among the dozens of switches.
> Also, is there a single page that includes links to your various guides? I've come across them at the top of various forum subsections, but discoverability that way is low. I thought it might be in the pull-down menu, but don't see it.
> 
> 
> 
> Can you explain what the MIR switch does?
Click to expand...

The /MIR switch tells Robocopy you want to mirror the two folders, copying all folders (even empty ones) from the source directory and purging folders from the destination if they no longer exist on the source.

I don't like to use the MIR because it copies even empty folders, however that is because i don't need it to or want it to copy empty folders.


----------



## AzzaM

Super guide. Slowly sorting out my backup system and this has helped loads. Thanks.


----------



## Kashyapr07

Hello Sean,

This is my first post.

I had a few questions about backing up partitions along with C:

On a UEFI based machine - Is it sufficient if I backup Windows 7 drive (C:\) and the EFI partition? Will this ensure successful boot upon restoration?
Since EFI has the boot loader, will such systems have the System reserved partition too?

Many thanks in advance.

Your guides are full of knowledge. Thanks a ton for writing such guides.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Kashyapr07*
> 
> Hello Sean,
> 
> This is my first post.
> 
> I had a few questions about backing up partitions along with C:
> 
> On a UEFI based machine - Is it sufficient if I backup Windows 7 drive (C:\) and the EFI partition? Will this ensure successful boot upon restoration?
> Since EFI has the boot loader, will such systems have the System reserved partition too?
> 
> Many thanks in advance.
> 
> Your guides are full of knowledge. Thanks a ton for writing such guides.


Yea, make a image containing all the partitions on the C drive and you should be set.


----------



## kevindd992002

I just reinstalled my OS on my new Plextor 128GB M3 SSD and want to create a 1:1 image before installing my usual programs. I just want to know which settings are important when using Acronis. I don't want any backup scheme because I only want one system imag so I chose Full in the backup method and schedule is turned off. I have only one main partition for my OS in my SSD (system reserved partition is deleted). My concerns are these:

1.) What is the use of a sector-by-sector copy and do I need to enable it? IIRC, it copies all sectors of the SSD and so the image size will be the same as the size of the whole SSD.

2.) What is the difference between Disk backup mode and Partition backup mode?

3.) If I choose the standard copy method (NOT sector-by-sector) and recover from that image, will all data be in the same exact sector of the SSD as the original source disk?

Thanks for the help.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> I just reinstalled my OS on my new Plextor 128GB M3 SSD and want to create a 1:1 image before installing my usual programs. I just want to know which settings are important when using Acronis. I don't want any backup scheme because I only want one system imag so I chose Full in the backup method and schedule is turned off. I have only one main partition for my OS in my SSD (system reserved partition is deleted). My concerns are these:
> 
> 1.) What is the use of a sector-by-sector copy and do I need to enable it? IIRC, it copies all sectors of the SSD and so the image size will be the same as the size of the whole SSD.


Yep, it is an exact backup of every sector of the drive. im not sure if it is going to be the full capacity of the drive or just the space written to.
Quote:


> 2.) What is the difference between Disk backup mode and Partition backup mode?


disk will backup all data on the drive, aka all partitions.

partition backup allows you to choose your partitions to backup.
Quote:


> 3.) If I choose the standard copy method (NOT sector-by-sector) and recover from that image, will all data be in the same exact sector of the SSD as the original source disk?


Yes, it will have all the same data.
Quote:


> Thanks for the help.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Yep, it is an exact backup of every sector of the drive. im not sure if it is going to be the full capacity of the drive or just the space written to.
> disk will backup all data on the drive, aka all partitions.
> 
> partition backup allows you to choose your partitions to backup.
> Yes, it will have all the same data.


But it won't be in the exact same sector location as the original after recovery, right?

And SSDs don't have actual sectors, right?


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

It really doesn't matter if the data isn't on the same sectors. The computer will still find it just fine.


----------



## kevindd992002

Ok. But for mechanical HDDs, it would be better for the OS to be on the most internal sectors for better performance,right? It is the reason of short stroking?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Yep, it is an exact backup of every sector of the drive. im not sure if it is going to be the full capacity of the drive or just the space written to.
> disk will backup all data on the drive, aka all partitions.
> 
> partition backup allows you to choose your partitions to backup.
> Yes, it will have all the same data.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But it won't be in the exact same sector location as the original after recovery, right?
Click to expand...

same sector backup:
Quote:


> What is a sector-by-sector backup (raw image)?
> 
> The sector-by-sector backup allows you to create an image of all sectors of the selected partition. This image will contain not only sectors with data but also sectors that are free. As a result, this image will be equal in size to the disk being imaged, as there will be no data compression. This method is useful if a partition being backed up is not supported by Acronis True Image Home 2010 or is corrupted. In this case, all sectors of this partition are included in this image and will be restored.


It will be in similar sectors relatively once restored.
Quote:


> And SSDs don't have actual sectors, right?


logical sectors, aka made up ones
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Ok. But for mechanical HDDs, it would be better for the OS to be on the most internal sectors for better performance,right?


I don't understand the q.
Quote:


> It is the reason of short stroking?


http://searchsolidstatestorage.techtarget.com/definition/Short-Stroking
Quote:


> Short stroking is the practice of formatting a disk drive such that data is written only to the outer sectors of the disk's platters.
> 
> In I/O-intensive environments, short stroking reduces latency and increases performance because it reduces the time the drive actuator spends seeking sectors on a platter. The actuator arm, which holds the disk read head, moves across the disk platter in much the same way as a record player arm moves across a vinyl album. Short stroking limits the maximum distance the disk read head can be from any point on the drive by confining the disk read head to the outside edge of the disk.
> 
> Short stroking can be used in conjunction with data tiering. In such a scenario, the least important data resides in the middle of the disk, taking longer to fetch, while critical data lives on the outer edges where the robotic arm can reach it more easily.
> 
> Environments that implement short stroking typically have to make up for the reduced capacity utilized in each disk drive by increasing the number of disk drives. This is not only expensive, it is wasteful. Solid-state storage, which has zero seek time, can be a cost-effective alternative. For example, if an organization is short stroking hard drives to 25%, it may be more efficient for the organization to purchase one solid state drive instead of 4 mechanical hard drives. Even if the price of the storage media is comparable, the organization will save on power and cooling.


----------



## kevindd992002

Oh ok. My goal is to make an exact copy of a disk and recover it if needed in the same exact sector location. I mixed it up, short stroking is installing the OS in the outer sector locations because data there will be faster to access. Installing the OS would first put data in the outer sectors, right? Or does it put it in random locations?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Oh ok. My goal is to make an exact copy of a disk and recover it if needed in the same exact sector location.


Just doing a normal full system image will suite you fine. No need for sector by sector.








Quote:


> I mixed it up, short stroking is installing the OS in the outer sector locations because data there will be faster to access. Installing the OS would first put data in the outer sectors, right? Or does it put it in random locations?


Installing the OS would first put data in the outer sectors, however, if you don't limit the partition size then it can spread data throughout the disk capacity.


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Just doing a normal full system image will suite you fine. No need for sector by sector.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Installing the OS would first put data in the outer sectors, however, if you don't limit the partition size then it can spread data throughout the disk capacity.


Ok. So after recovery, is the "initial" OS data still in the outer sectors?


----------



## EddieTripod

Ok, settled on a backup routine, but have some factors to consider before implementing. This is for a Samsung notebook with a 256 Gb SSD for C drive and 750Gb HDD for E drive. I also keep a 2Tb USB 3.0 external drive always hooked up via USB 3.0. Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

I also have a 2nd 2Tb ext USB 2.0 drive which I use for archiving, backups of backups, etc. I keep that in a fire safe when not archiving. I've also made copies of most precious data to DVD's and keep at my sisters house. Family pix, vids, legal docs, etc.

All I have installed now is Microsoft Security Essentials, some photo editing programs and lots of free utilities.

I have the movable folders from my user folder(everything but appdata) moved to my E drive.

I don't have games installed yet, but I plan on installing many, including Steam games where I'd like to use GameSave Manager with steam spreader.

Here's my plan, and it would be great to get some feedback as to whether it's a solid one, or if you see any issues with it. I'd also appreciate any input on the order in which to install these apps so that they work with each other in the best possible way:

1- Macrium Reflect Free to do weekly or bi-weekly images of my C drive(the o.s. drive).
2 - Freefilesync to do daily mirror of E drive (Data drive).
3 - Create a folder on E called "Steam", which is, from what I've read, the place to install my Steam Games.
4 - Install GameSave Manager with steam spreader. - I have no experience with steam, so I'm a newb on those programs. From posts I've read, doesn't seem too complicated.

Here's my questions.

1-For using Macrium reflect Free, since I have the movable user folders on the E drive, will I need to do a "system image" which would INCLUDE the E drive, as opposed to being able to just do a "system image" for my C drive?

-If I do not have to include E, would you send the "c only system image" to the E drive(my data drive). or just straight to the external USB drive? If I need to include the E drive, I would send the image to my external USB. If I do not have to include E, would my "mirrored system image" from E to external using freefilesync be just as effective, or would it be best to keep it separate? Or, for redundancy, create a C system image to both my E drive AND my external drive?

-In what order do you think it best to install and run these apps? I was thinking of 1)installing Macrium 1st, creating a baseline system image, and then 2)install freefilesync, get that program up and running, and then 3)start installing Steam, gamesave-Manager w steam spreader, my games etc.

- For the 2nd 2Tb external usb drive, would simple copy and past from my active external drive to the archive external drive cause any issues with system images if I ever need to use one? Same for the "mirrored data"?

-Last but not least, in searching the faqs and reading instructions for these programs, none of them say anything about preparing your system 1st. My specific concern is "should I leave my system restore settings as is" or should I turn off system restore if I'm using these programs? I have system restore turned on for all my drives now-between 3-12% depending on the drive size.

-Am I leaving anything else out, like the system restore issue? I DO have hibernate turned off completely, and the notebook is set to only sleep if the battery goes under 3%, which is never.
Used most of the tips within Sean's guide for installing Win 7, so most issues covered there are done on this notebook.

Thanks in advance for any and all input!


----------



## Nestala

Hey Sean,
I'm currently planning out my fileserver/backup server, and I wanted to know if it would be a good backup solution if I would just have 2 drives, 1. for the data and on the 2. I just copy the data 1:1 with a programm like FreeFileSync. Every month or so I would also backup the data to an external HDD.
Would this be enough? Can I also copy the data to my external HDD with FreeFileSync, or do I have to do it manual by myself every time?


----------



## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Ok. So after recovery, is the "initial" OS data still in the outer sectors?


Bump!


----------



## JAM3S121

Hi, I'm considering making a 1tb raid 0 array of two 500gb samsung drives I have.

If I wanted to back this data up peridiocally how much space would I need on a seperate drive? Surely not 1tb right?


----------



## lagittaja

Hey Sean!
Wonder if you'd be able to give few examples on what kind of 3.5" HDD enclosures I should be looking at.
I've got two Samsung 1TB drives that I'd like to utilize as backup for my HTPC's drive.
I've first thought about just grabbing two USB3.0 enclosures and schedule ATIH to put backups on them.
Now I thought that hrmm, wonder if the drives will be able to spin down in these enclosures. And whether or not a waking computer would make the drives spin up again even though nothing would access them. Since the HTPC uses Win7 sleep with a 20minute timer I started thinking about that..

But now wouldn't a decent 2x3.5" NAS be perfect for this. I could just set the drives to RAID1 and let the NAS sleep/spin down the drives (can they?) When they're not used and it wouldn't mind about the HTPC waking from sleep every now and then.
I mean I don't want the hdd's spinning all the time neither a nas that's running all the time. Just some simple off-the-computer solution.

Of course the NAS would be more expensive choice. Or perhaps a simple 2x3.5" LAN enclosure would do fine. I don't know heck about these storage things..
Most I'd like to pay is something line 150euros. For example in finland dns-320l is like 100euros, err nsa320 is 107euros and nsa325 is 135euros or TS-212 is 188euros. Some examples for ya. I'll probably order from germany anyway so their prices will be a tad cheaper.

Sent from my GNote


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Just doing a normal full system image will suite you fine. No need for sector by sector.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Installing the OS would first put data in the outer sectors, however, if you don't limit the partition size then it can spread data throughout the disk capacity.
> 
> 
> 
> Ok. So after recovery, is the "initial" OS data still in the outer sectors?
Click to expand...

yep, the recovery program should format the drive and when recovery starts it should start at the beginning LBAs.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *EddieTripod*
> 
> Ok, settled on a backup routine, but have some factors to consider before implementing. This is for a Samsung notebook with a 256 Gb SSD for C drive and 750Gb HDD for E drive. I also keep a 2Tb USB 3.0 external drive always hooked up via USB 3.0. Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit.
> 
> I also have a 2nd 2Tb ext USB 2.0 drive which I use for archiving, backups of backups, etc. I keep that in a fire safe when not archiving. I've also made copies of most precious data to DVD's and keep at my sisters house. Family pix, vids, legal docs, etc.
> 
> All I have installed now is Microsoft Security Essentials, some photo editing programs and lots of free utilities.
> 
> I have the movable folders from my user folder(everything but appdata) moved to my E drive.
> 
> I don't have games installed yet, but I plan on installing many, including Steam games where I'd like to use GameSave Manager with steam spreader.
> 
> Here's my plan, and it would be great to get some feedback as to whether it's a solid one, or if you see any issues with it. I'd also appreciate any input on the order in which to install these apps so that they work with each other in the best possible way:
> 
> 1- Macrium Reflect Free to do weekly or bi-weekly images of my C drive(the o.s. drive).
> 2 - Freefilesync to do daily mirror of E drive (Data drive).
> 3 - Create a folder on E called "Steam", which is, from what I've read, the place to install my Steam Games.
> 4 - Install GameSave Manager with steam spreader. - I have no experience with steam, so I'm a newb on those programs. From posts I've read, doesn't seem too complicated.
> 
> Here's my questions.
> 
> 1-For using Macrium reflect Free, since I have the movable user folders on the E drive, will I need to do a "system image" which would INCLUDE the E drive, as opposed to being able to just do a "system image" for my C drive?


depends on the folders, if it is your documents folders then you dont need to include it, that can be used with free file sync, but if they are programs you installed with .exes or .msi's, then you should backup the E as well with the C.
Quote:


> -If I do not have to include E, would you send the "c only system image" to the E drive(my data drive). or just straight to the external USB drive?


Wherever you like. I do to my data drive then mirror that to my backup drives.
Quote:


> If I need to include the E drive, I would send the image to my external USB. If I do not have to include E, would my "mirrored system image" from E to external using freefilesync be just as effective, or would it be best to keep it separate? Or, for redundancy, create a C system image to both my E drive AND my external drive?


I think i answered this in my previous reply.
Quote:


> -In what order do you think it best to install and run these apps? I was thinking of 1)installing Macrium 1st, creating a baseline system image, and then 2)install freefilesync, get that program up and running, and then 3)start installing Steam, gamesave-Manager w steam spreader, my games etc.


order doesn't matter
Quote:


> - For the 2nd 2Tb external usb drive, would simple copy and past from my active external drive to the archive external drive cause any issues with system images if I ever need to use one? Same for the "mirrored data"?


nope
Quote:


> -Last but not least, in searching the faqs and reading instructions for these programs, none of them say anything about preparing your system 1st. My specific concern is "should I leave my system restore settings as is" or should I turn off system restore if I'm using these programs? I have system restore turned on for all my drives now-between 3-12% depending on the drive size.


set to whatever you like. I have it disabled as I do weekly system images.
Quote:


> -Am I leaving anything else out, like the system restore issue? I DO have hibernate turned off completely, and the notebook is set to only sleep if the battery goes under 3%, which is never.
> Used most of the tips within Sean's guide for installing Win 7, so most issues covered there are done on this notebook.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any and all input!


cant think of anything really...tho i've only had 3hrs of sleep lol.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Nestala*
> 
> Hey Sean,
> I'm currently planning out my fileserver/backup server, and I wanted to know if it would be a good backup solution if I would just have 2 drives, 1. for the data and on the 2. I just copy the data 1:1 with a programm like FreeFileSync. Every month or so I would also backup the data to an external HDD.
> Would this be enough? Can I also copy the data to my external HDD with FreeFileSync, or do I have to do it manual by myself every time?


sounds good, its what I do for my files

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *JAM3S121*
> 
> Hi, I'm considering making a 1tb raid 0 array of two 500gb samsung drives I have.
> 
> If I wanted to back this data up peridiocally how much space would I need on a seperate drive? Surely not 1tb right?


however much space you plan on using + more .I'd just get a 1-2TB drive.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lagittaja*
> 
> Hey Sean!
> Wonder if you'd be able to give few examples on what kind of 3.5" HDD enclosures I should be looking at.
> I've got two Samsung 1TB drives that I'd like to utilize as backup for my HTPC's drive.
> I've first thought about just grabbing two USB3.0 enclosures and schedule ATIH to put backups on them.
> Now I thought that hrmm, wonder if the drives will be able to spin down in these enclosures. And whether or not a waking computer would make the drives spin up again even though nothing would access them. Since the HTPC uses Win7 sleep with a 20minute timer I started thinking about that..
> 
> But now wouldn't a decent 2x3.5" NAS be perfect for this. I could just set the drives to RAID1 and let the NAS sleep/spin down the drives (can they?) When they're not used and it wouldn't mind about the HTPC waking from sleep every now and then.
> I mean I don't want the hdd's spinning all the time neither a nas that's running all the time. Just some simple off-the-computer solution.


having the drives spin all the time can be better than letting them spin down often.
Quote:


> Of course the NAS would be more expensive choice. Or perhaps a simple 2x3.5" LAN enclosure would do fine. I don't know heck about these storage things..
> Most I'd like to pay is something line 150euros. For example in finland dns-320l is like 100euros, err nsa320 is 107euros and nsa325 is 135euros or TS-212 is 188euros. Some examples for ya. I'll probably order from germany anyway so their prices will be a tad cheaper.
> 
> Sent from my GNote


id just get separate external enclosures for the drives and hook up to your network somehow to backup to as stand alone backup space. Idk on which to suggest tho as I haven't used external enclosures before...just a docking station lol.


----------



## lagittaja

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> having the drives spin all the time can be better than letting them spin down often.
> id just get separate external enclosures for the drives and hook up to your network somehow to backup to as stand alone backup space. Idk on which to suggest tho as I haven't used external enclosures before...just a docking station lol.


Yeah I do know that and understand your point completely but I was planning to use Acronis TI to schedule the backups on a weekly basis so having the drive spin all the time is useless and waste of power when I'd only need them once a week.
How about I'd grab NSA-310 and put one of my drives there. At least it's product page says it can sleep the disks and it has some power schedule feature. Doesn't cost much either, something along the lines of 70e.


----------



## XeoNoX

Microsoft's built in Windows Backup wasn't sufficient for me and had problems with the way i have certrain drives setup. Easus Todo back up and Freefilesync seem to work great for me and best of all they are both FREE!! thanks for the list of recommendations Sean.


----------



## freitz

I am looking for a 2-3TB external.

I was looking at the Porsche Lacie or the WD my book.

Also looking at WD live personal cloud HD's

Thoughts?


----------



## freitz

picked up a synology S213air using 2x 2tb WD red drives as a backup solution in Raid 1 Then purchasing a external to back up the NAS.

What are your thoughts? Viable backup solution?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *freitz*
> 
> picked up a synology S213air using 2x 2tb WD red drives as a backup solution in Raid 1 Then purchasing a external to back up the NAS.
> 
> What are your thoughts? Viable backup solution?


sounds good to me.


----------



## freitz

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> sounds good to me.


Actually going to do a Synology Hybrid Raid so I can easily upgrade still good?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *freitz*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> sounds good to me.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Actually going to do a Synology Hybrid Raid so I can easily upgrade still good?
Click to expand...

I never used any prebuilt NAS boxes before so IDK.


----------



## seross69

sub for reference !!


----------



## Sean Webster

I think this needs a bump


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Agreed! With emphasis on RAID NOT being a backup!


----------



## XeoNoX

by "proper definition" its a data "backup", but its not a recommended form, its always good and excellent habit to do a external drive or remotely stored backup.


----------



## espn

Nice work.


----------



## ASUSfreak

I'll bump it again, and also subbing it. But I'll have to dig in a little deeper before I understand it it seems









But not know as I just flashed my graphics card, so need to OC now ehahaha


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ASUSfreak*
> 
> I'll bump it again, and also subbing it. But I'll have to dig in a little deeper before I understand it it seems
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But not know as I just flashed my graphics card, so need to OC now ehahaha


backup before you flash duh! lol


----------



## ASUSfreak

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> backup before you flash duh! lol


bumping once more









backup data before a GPU flash? Nope, I never do that







--> if the card-flash fails, I'll install another card that is somewhere in da house here


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ASUSfreak*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> backup before you flash duh! lol
> 
> 
> 
> bumping once more
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> backup data before a GPU flash? Nope, I never do that
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --> if the card-flash fails, I'll install another card that is somewhere in da house here
Click to expand...

And what if the flash somehow corrupts your data? Granted, it's a very remote possibility but why take chances. It takes me only a few minutes to do a complete backup using a folder/file syncing program (FreeFileSync). In fact, I make two local data backups, one after the other, every day and just before making any kind of system file changes. I image my boot drive once a week using Macrium Reflect Free (here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect) and just before making any system changes (I save the images to a data drive so they will also get backed up).


----------



## sherlock

Hi,I want an opinion on Incremental vs Full backup

I am currently running my Sig Rig with the following backup plan with Acronis True Image(2013):

C Drive(SSD, OS & Games) full back up to D(Media and downloads, 2TB HDD) Drive weekly and I keep the newest 2 images
D Drive full backups to E Drive(Backup Drive #1, 2TB HDD) weekly, and I keep the latest image
D Drive full backups to F Drive(Backup Drive #2, 2TB external HDD) monthly.

I am considering changing my D->E Drive backup from full to incremental backup and do it daily(instead of weekly). What are the risk involved and do you think I should do it?


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

When using incremental backups, you have to have the original and all the incremental backups to be able to restore the drive from the images. There is a slight danger that you may lose one of the incrementals and lose the entire backup. Full images are safer. The ones for your C: drive shouldn't take too long to make nor take up much room.

Imaging is the best way to backup your C: drive but takes too long for backing up your other drives. a folder/file syncing program, such as =http:/[URL=http://sourceforge.net/....net/projects/FreeFileSync/]FreeFileSync[/URL], is much faster and is more efficient. A folder/file syncing program basically copies files from one folder to another. When set to mirror, it will copy only any changes since the last backup from the source drive to the destination drive, basically giving you an exact copy of the source drive. It works very similar to imaging with incrementals except you get a working copy of the source drive.

Saving your C: drive images to your D: drive is a convenient way to access them for restoration and you are wise to backup up the D: drive to another drive. However, it would be safer if both your E: and F: drives were external. An internal backup drive is subject to many of the things, such as viruses/malware, power surge, etc., that can cause the source internal drive to lose data. Since any drive can fail with little or no warning, including a backup drive, having two backup drives is much safer. Keeping one offsite will also help to protect against fire, flood, theft, etc.

I use Macrium Reflect Free (here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect) to image my C: drive once a week and before making any changes to the system. I save the images to my E: drive. The E: drive gets backed up daily to two external drives (actually, bare internal type drives I plug into a hot swap bay; a dock would also work) using FreeFileSync. I also have two external backup drives in a safe deposit box at my credit union. I swap those with the backup drives at home at least once a month.


----------



## sherlock

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> When using incremental backups, you have to have the original and all the incremental backups to be able to restore the drive from the images. There is a slight danger that you may lose one of the incrementals and lose the entire backup. Full images are safer. The ones for your C: drive shouldn't take too long to make nor take up much room.
> 
> Imaging is the best way to backup your C: drive but takes too long for backing up your other drives. a folder/file syncing program, such as sourceforge.net/projects/FreeFileSync/]FreFileSync[/URL], is much faster and is more efficient. A folder/file syncing program basically copies files from one folder to another. When set to mirror, it will copy only any changes since the last backup from the source drive to the destination drive, basically giving you an exact copy of the source drive. It works very similar to imaging with incrementals except you get a working copy of the source drive.
> 
> Saving your C: drive images to your D: drive is a convenient way to access them for restoration and you are wise to backup up the D: drive to another drive. However, it would be safer if both your E: and F: drives were external. An internal backup drive is subject to many of the things, such as viruses/malware, power surge, etc., that can cause the source internal drive to lose data. Since any drive can fail with little or no warning, including a backup drive, having two backup drives is much safer. Keeping one offsite will also help to protect against fire, flood, theft, etc.
> 
> I use Macrium Reflect Free (here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect) to image my C: drive once a week and before making any changes to the system. I save the images to my E: drive. The E: drive gets backed up daily to two external drives (actually, bare internal type drives I plug into a hot swap bay; a dock would also work) using FreeFileSync. I also have two external backup drives in a safe deposit box at my credit union. I swap those with the backup drives at home at least once a month.


Thanks for that info, Arconis True Image can do Folder syncing and I will use that to backup my D Drive to E Drive instead of having D image to E. That sounds like a better option than having D incremental backup to E.

I do have another External hard drive(G) with a very old image of D drive on it. It is very old and usb2.0, therefore takes a long time to transfer the backup image so I have semi-retired it. But I think I will bring it out and update the backup image on it.


----------



## levontraut

thank you


----------



## Sean Webster

Your welcome


----------



## kevindd992002

I use shadowspawn as a scheduled task to backup some files from my C drive. It works properly in Windows 7 but when I migrated to Windows 8.1, it's giving me an (0x8001) error code in Task Scheduler. The log file of the robocopy process itself goes through just fine though, so my files are being copied properly but I'm not sure what that error code say. The weird thing is that this only happens sometimes and not consistent. When I try to manually run the task, sometimes it gives me a successful status.

The task just runs a batch file saved in c:\windows\system32 and the batch file includes these:

shadowspawn C:\Users\{user folder}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{firefox profile} Q: robocopy Q:\ D:\Backup sessionstore.js /R:5 /W:15 /V /COPYALL /log:C:\robocopy_log.txt

shadowspawn C:\Users\{user folder}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{firefox profile}\bookmarkbackups Q: robocopy Q:\ D:\Backup\bookmarkbackups /R:5 /W:15 /V /COPYALL /PURGE /log+:C:\robocopy_log.txt

shadowspawn C:\Users\{user folder}\Desktop Q: robocopy Q:\ D:\Backup\Desktop /R:5 /W:15 /V /E /DCOPYAT /COPYALL /PURGE /log+:C:\robocopy_log.txt

What can I do to troubleshoot this further?


----------



## kevindd992002

BUMP! Sean?


----------



## Sean Webster

No clue.


----------



## levontraut

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> I use shadowspawn as a scheduled task to backup some files from my C drive. It works properly in Windows 7 but when I migrated to Windows 8.1, it's giving me an (0x8001) error code in Task Scheduler. The log file of the robocopy process itself goes through just fine though, so my files are being copied properly but I'm not sure what that error code say. The weird thing is that this only happens sometimes and not consistent. When I try to manually run the task, sometimes it gives me a successful status.
> 
> The task just runs a batch file saved in c:\windows\system32 and the batch file includes these:
> 
> shadowspawn C:\Users\{user folder}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{firefox profile} Q: robocopy Q:\ D:\Backup sessionstore.js /R:5 /W:15 /V /COPYALL /log:C:\robocopy_log.txt
> 
> shadowspawn C:\Users\{user folder}\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\{firefox profile}\bookmarkbackups Q: robocopy Q:\ D:\Backup\bookmarkbackups /R:5 /W:15 /V /COPYALL /PURGE /log+:C:\robocopy_log.txt
> 
> shadowspawn C:\Users\{user folder}\Desktop Q: robocopy Q:\ D:\Backup\Desktop /R:5 /W:15 /V /E /DCOPYAT /COPYALL /PURGE /log+:C:\robocopy_log.txt
> 
> What can I do to troubleshoot this further?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> BUMP! Sean?


I take it that the app needs java?

also what are those switch's and their meanings?
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> No clue.


Sean.
do you think that the app might be spazzing out.. like a memory leak or something?

also what are those switch's?


----------



## kevindd992002

switch.txt 7k .txt file


Shadowspawn does not need java.

I've attached a file that explains the different switches for robocopy and I'm not sure if any of the switches are causing problems because when I manually run these, they all come with a return code of 0 (successful)


----------



## xxpenguinxx

Just like to say thanks for this awesome guide. I've been using FreeFileSync for last year or so at home and work to keep files synced between my PCs and backup server.


----------



## DrC

I've been having trouble with shadowspawn working on windows 8.1 as well. I set up a laptop for my sister and it backed everything up initially. But I tried it again this weekend and it acted really funny. It had the initial window pop up as usual, but then it followed by several other windows popping up and disappearing quickly. Needless to say it didn't back anything up. I ended up having to use ToySync to do it. It gets the job done, but I don't like that I can't tell what order to back up different folders.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> I've been having trouble with shadowspawn working on windows 8.1 as well. I set up a laptop for my sister and it backed everything up initially. But I tried it again this weekend and it acted really funny. It had the initial window pop up as usual, but then it followed by several other windows popping up and disappearing quickly. Needless to say it didn't back anything up. I ended up having to use ToySync to do it. It gets the job done, but I don't like that I can't tell what order to back up different folders.


Try FreeFileSync? Its my go to now.


----------



## DrC

Is this the one?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> Is this the one?


----------



## DrC

So just to follow up, FreeFileSync does the trick. Works pretty well. Before I start getting more advanced with it, will it run the backups in the order listed if I do more than one at a time?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> So just to follow up, FreeFileSync does the trick. Works pretty well. Before I start getting more advanced with it, will it run the backups in the order listed if I do more than one at a time?


I'm 99% sure it does them in order. However, I am not sure that it will update the sync settings say you want to backup a backup folder you just backed up to right before it...You can just run the back up again tho to get around that if it doesn't work right.


----------



## DrC

I guess I'll do some test runs to see if it responds that way. I'd just like it to back up some folders first before I mirror my drive to some external drives.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> I guess I'll do some test runs to see if it responds that way. I'd just like it to back up some folders first before I mirror my drive to some external drives.


Let me know how it goes, I want to configure the same, I just haven't had much time to do any exploring with school and work taking up all my time as of late.


----------



## DrC

okay so i've run some tests. it seems kinda buggy. it will update in the order that's listed, but just not right away.

for example if i edit or add a new file to "01", it copies it to "02" but not "03" right away. in fact I have to close out of the program, and reopen the ffs_gui file for it to do it right. so it seems if i want it to update in order, it does, but just not in one shot. not sure this is getting the job done.


----------



## Sean Webster

Yea, so it seems it does the scan before it starts the sync and locks in a list of what to update then. It will sync folders as they are when it starts only and not update the folders through the sync. So if you sync folder a->b but later on down the list have b->c, it will only update b->c as b was when the sync first started, not update the sync to reflect that there was an update from a->b before hand. So thus you would have to do it again after. Doing a to b syncs works fine, a to b to c needs to be done in separate steps.


----------



## djriful

So many software on the list, however, I've never cloned a drive before.

My OS Drive is a GPT, which is the best software for 1:1 clone for GPT disk?

Edit: My plan is Single GPT disk Clone to RAID0. I assume I can't clone it back directly to the RAID0 disks. Can it be done?

Single GPT Disk -> Clone to a temporary drive -> back to new RAID0 disks.

I'm on Windows 8.1 Pro 64x full UEFI.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *djriful*
> 
> So many software on the list, however, I've never cloned a drive before.
> 
> My OS Drive is a GPT, which is the best software for 1:1 clone for GPT disk?


Macrium reflect has great reviews by users. I personally use Acronis True Image and haven't given Macrium a chance lol.


----------



## djriful

Let's say I clone my Win8.1 GPT to a temporary drive. Then I boot from the temporary drive and setup the RAID0 on those 2 new Disks, after it's done. I just clone back onto the RAID0 disks.

Am I doing it right? I remember Windows requires the RAID driver on installation but cloning from a non-raid installed Windows, am I missing something?


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *djriful*
> 
> Let's say I clone my Win8.1 GPT to a temporary drive. Then I boot from the temporary drive and setup the RAID0 on those 2 new Disks, after it's done. I just clone back onto the RAID0 disks.
> 
> Am I doing it right? I remember Windows requires the RAID driver on installation but cloning from a non-raid installed Windows, am I missing something?


I haven't done that yet, so I can not verify. One suggestion would to make sure you have the SATA mode set to RAID before you do the cloning. If it is not set to RAID now, do this. Simply set Windows to boot into safe mode upon next boot via msconfig, then go into the BIOS and make sure RAID is set, then boot to safe mode, reboot into normal boot mode. Then install IRST driver. Then create the RAID 0 array. Clone to the RAID 0. Remove the current OS drive. See if it boots. there may be some other steps to try and things to look into, but i dont have much time to type atm.


----------



## DrC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Yea, so it seems it does the scan before it starts the sync and locks in a list of what to update then. It will sync folders as they are when it starts only and not update the folders through the sync. So if you sync folder a->b but later on down the list have b->c, it will only update b->c as b was when the sync first started, not update the sync to reflect that there was an update from a->b before hand. So thus you would have to do it again after. Doing a to b syncs works fine, a to b to c needs to be done in separate steps.


Bummer. It's a nifty program otherwise. Guess I'm gonna have to stick to synctoy.


----------



## Sean Webster

Oh gosh, synctoy? But it is soooo bad! How can you use that outdated slow software? lol


----------



## djriful

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *djriful*
> 
> Let's say I clone my Win8.1 GPT to a temporary drive. Then I boot from the temporary drive and setup the RAID0 on those 2 new Disks, after it's done. I just clone back onto the RAID0 disks.
> 
> Am I doing it right? I remember Windows requires the RAID driver on installation but cloning from a non-raid installed Windows, am I missing something?
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't done that yet, so I can not verify. One suggestion would to make sure you have the SATA mode set to RAID before you do the cloning. If it is not set to RAID now, do this. Simply set Windows to boot into safe mode upon next boot via msconfig, then go into the BIOS and make sure RAID is set, then boot to safe mode, reboot into normal boot mode. Then install IRST driver. Then create the RAID 0 array. Clone to the RAID 0. Remove the current OS drive. See if it boots. there may be some other steps to try and things to look into, but i dont have much time to type atm.
Click to expand...

Bah, thanks for the info. I almost had it working but the Acronis stop loading for cloning in UEFI boot. I was able to install raid driver into the original Windows 8.1 drive to boot it under RAID configurations.

Now I just end up fresh install Windows 8 -> 8.1. I guess it's better this way.


----------



## DrC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Oh gosh, synctoy? But it is soooo bad! How can you use that outdated slow software? lol


lol. Yeah but it works. It just does what I need it to do. Only issue I have now is that if a file is being used, that it won't get backed up. That was one thing I loved about Shadow Spawn, but it won't backup a network drive and doesn't work on Windows 8...so there's that.

But now that I've been working with Syntoy and trying to get around all the imperfections from each program, I've just gotten more organized with my folders. So I'm going to give FreeFileSync a shot again. If it backs up network folders, then it should be good to go. I like the fact that you can save each back command as a separate file.


----------



## DrC

I ran the backup last night before going to bed with FreefileSync. But about halfway through there was an error because it couldn't update a file that was missing. But rather then continue with the backup, it had to wait for me to prompt it to do so. So I ended up having to wait this morning for it to finish the other half of the backup. Is there a way around this so it continues?


----------



## espn

Do you guy use cloud to backup? I use cloud in China, free 2TB.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> I ran the backup last night before going to bed with FreefileSync. But about halfway through there was an error because it couldn't update a file that was missing. But rather then continue with the backup, it had to wait for me to prompt it to do so. So I ended up having to wait this morning for it to finish the other half of the backup. Is there a way around this so it continues?


Under sync settings



under handling errors set to ignore.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *espn*
> 
> Do you guy use cloud to backup? I use cloud in China, free 2TB.


I use dropbox to back up my documents folder. It is only like 2-5GB worth of data.


----------



## espn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Under sync settings
> 
> 
> 
> 
> under handling errors set to ignore.
> 
> I use dropbox to back up my documents folder. It is only like 2-5GB worth of data.


I use cloud to backup personal photos and videos, around 50GB.


----------



## Sean Webster

If I were to backup my photos and videos it would be illogical for me to use cloud backup. I have too many terabytes of data for that and too slow of an upload speed.


----------



## espn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> If I were to backup my photos and videos it would be illogical for me to use cloud backup. I have too many terabytes of data for that and too slow of an upload speed.


China cloud offers 2TB for free, my speed is few MB per second so size like 50GB is still possible. I just need to upload once so it is ok.


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

I would not trust any free cloud storage for backups. They are rarely encrytped and are notorious for disappearing with little or no warning.


----------



## DrC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Under sync settings
> 
> under handling errors set to ignore.


well i feel blind now. lol. thanks. worked like a charm. i'm really digging this program the more i use it. love the fact that i can save a whole configuration file to do my backups. only minor thing i wish it would do is allow me to just use a checkbox system in case i just want to do parts of it. it can be cumbersome hitting the remove button each time.

do you know if you are able to get it to run two separate backup files? i have two different configurations that i'd like to have it run the first set, and then run the second set of backups once it's done.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> I would not trust any free cloud storage for backups. They are rarely encrytped and are notorious for disappearing with little or no warning.


i simply don't trust any cloud system for anything valuable. once it's out there, i find it hard to believe it can't be broken into.


----------



## espn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> I would not trust any free cloud storage for backups. They are rarely encrytped and are notorious for disappearing with little or no warning.


I use Baidu cloud, it is the biggest internet company in China.


----------



## 45nm

Sean how is the new Acronis TrueImage? I have heard and read that from about a few years ago the new versions were causing all sorts of issues with backups and the computers themselves. I am considering trying it out but am hesitant about it especially in light of some of the scathing reviews.


----------



## Sean Webster

IDK, I've been using 2014 for cloning and system images. I have experienced some corrupted system image files though. Not a concern for me tho as I really never really restore from system images. Just clone. I use free file sync for my file back ups.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> well i feel blind now. lol. thanks. worked like a charm. i'm really digging this program the more i use it. love the fact that i can save a whole configuration file to do my backups. only minor thing i wish it would do is allow me to just use a checkbox system in case i just want to do parts of it. it can be cumbersome hitting the remove button each time.
> 
> do you know if you are able to get it to run two separate backup files? i have two different configurations that i'd like to have it run the first set, and then run the second set of backups once it's done.
> i simply don't trust any cloud system for anything valuable. once it's out there, i find it hard to believe it can't be broken into.


You can do so in task manager by setting it up on a schedule.


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> IDK, I've been using 2014 for cloning and system images. I have experienced some corrupted system image files though. Not a concern for me tho as I really never really restore from system images. Just clone. I use free file sync for my file back ups.


I prefer imaging for system backups and have successfully restored from verified images numerous times (I have yet to have an image restoration fail). For imaging and cloning, I prefer Macrium Reflect Free (here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect) over Windows' Michael Mouse imaging program. I now use cloning only when replacing an old drive with a new one, such as swapping out a HDD with a SSD or repopulating a replacement data drive or backup drive. For regular data backups, I also use FreeFileSync.


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> I would not trust any free cloud storage for backups. They are rarely encrytped and are notorious for disappearing with little or no warning.
> 
> 
> 
> i simply don't trust any cloud system for anything valuable. once it's out there, i find it hard to believe it can't be broken into.
Click to expand...

When you get down to the brass bananas, anything can be broken into, including your own computer. A good cloud backup service (such as Carbonite, CrashPlan, or Backblaze) will be as secure as anyone can get. The thing to remember, the more places you keep your backups in, the safer it will. I would never trust a cloud backup for my sole backup unless the service backed up my data in multiple geographic locations. For most people, having a local backup and an offsite backup will be adequate. A good cloud backup service is an easy way to maintain an always up-to-date offsite backup unless you have a large amount of data and/ or generate a lot of it due to slow internet transfer speeds. Faster plans exist but are expensive. I use my Carbonite backup to supplement my offsite backups (HDDs in a Credit Union safe deposit box) so I can recover data added or changed since last I put the HDDs in my safe deposit box. I also can access data from my Carbonite account when I'm on the road and have a secure internet connection.


----------



## espn

For personal photos and videos I have two local copies, one in desktop and one in external hdd, plus a copy in cloud. Hard to imagine all 3 screw up at once.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> When you get down to the brass bananas, anything can be broken into, including your own computer. A good cloud backup service (such as Carbonite, CrashPlan, or Backblaze) will be as secure as anyone can get. The thing to remember, the more places you keep your backups in, the safer it will. I would never trust a cloud backup for my sole backup unless the service backed up my data in multiple geographic locations. For most people, having a local backup and an offsite backup will be adequate. A good cloud backup service is an easy way to maintain an always up-to-date offsite backup unless you have a large amount of data and/ or generate a lot of it due to slow internet transfer speeds. Faster plans exist but are expensive. I use my Carbonite backup to supplement my offsite backups (HDDs in a Credit Union safe deposit box) so I can recover data added or changed since last I put the HDDs in my safe deposit box. I also can access data from my Carbonite account when I'm on the road and have a secure internet connection.


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *espn*
> 
> For personal photos and videos I have two local copies, one in desktop and one in external hdd, plus a copy in cloud. Hard to imagine all 3 screw up at once...










As long as the cloud copy is encrypted, that's a reasonably solid backup scheme, far better than most computer users have.

I agree it's highly unlikely for all three to die at the same time. Having your computer and onsite backup go south can happen due to fire, theft, natural disasters, human error, etc., which is the reason for the offsite backup. Since any HDD can go belly up at any time with little or no warning, including backup HDDs. I use two, identical HDDs for every HDD in my computer for my onsite backup and two more for my offsite backup. Yes, I am paranoid but I once lost both the original data and a backup at the same time. My main data drive in my computer got corrupted (long story but just call it user error for here) but the data was still on the HDD; the HDD just kept dropping out and I had to reboot to get it back again. When I figured out the HDD was messed up somehow, I tried to clone it to one of the backup HDDs for that drive before formatting the original drive to clear up the problem (this was back before I started using FreeFileSync). The clone failed and I lost the data on the backup HDD.

Fortunately, I had the second backup to save my bacon. Otherwise, I would have had to go to my credit union to retrieve the offsite backup to recover most of the lost data and get the rest from Carbonite. That would have been annoying since this happened Saturday morning and I would have had to with until morning got get the other backup HDD and wait a day or few to recover the data that had been changed and/or added since I had put the drive in my safe deposit box. However, I had the second onsite backup drive and knew what data I had added since the backup was updated so I temporarily copied the new data to another drive in the computer, formatted the corrupted drive, cloned the data on the second onsite backup to the reformatted drive, the copied the temp files on the other internal HDD back to the now restored main data drive. I was more or less down (I could still web surf while the cloning went on) only four hours instead as much as three or more days.


----------



## DrC

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Under sync settings
> 
> 
> 
> 
> under handling errors set to ignore.


So I've been using this and it looks like that setting isn't saved. You have to do this every time you run the backup.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DrC*
> 
> So I've been using this and it looks like that setting isn't saved. You have to do this every time you run the backup.


When you set it up in task scheduler you can have it ignore all warnings. When running it manually from the program I can see it doesn't save that at as a setting.

*How do I program it to run on a schedule?*
This is very simple and easy to do.

*Create the batch file:*


First of all you need to create a backup batch file. This is really easy. Just setup your folders you want to backup as you normally would picking the source and destination.
Once set, at the top go to Program > Save as batch job...
Tinker with your settings how you like. Under Batch settings I set Error handling to Ignore, uncheck show progress dialog, and have it generate a log.
Once done save as what ever you want. I call mine Backup.
Now you need to go into Task Scheduler to set it to a schedule.

*Set Schedule:*


Open the Start Menu, type "*Task Scheduler*," and press Enter
Now go to the top left next to File click "*Action*," then from the menu click "*Create Task*"
It will bring a window up where you can create your task.
Now name it whatever you like. I named mine "FreeFileSync."
Go to the *Triggers* tab and click the button at the bottom labeled "*New...*"
Now you can customize how often you want to back up. I run mine daily at 5 A.M.
When you're done setting up your schedule click *Ok*.
Now go to *Actions* tab and click the button at the bottom labeled "*New...*"
Under settings click "*Browse*"then select the *FreeFileSync.exe*, located: "C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync\FreeFileSync.exe"
Where it says *Add arguments* put the location of your batch file you created earlier, for example mine is: "D:\Data\Documents\MyStuff\Scripts\Backup.ffs_batch"
That's it basically. If you want you can customize it more under the "Conditions" and "Settings" tabs.

Now to finish click *Ok* and your schedule will be set.


----------



## espn

How do you guys organize personal photos and videos? I have few carmea, phones in the passed that I took photos with, and there were many vacation trips or other events. How do you guys using folder, pic/video name to organize similar stuff?


----------



## xxpenguinxx

I end up doing it manually. I just sort by date and then drag the pictures to whatever folder they belong in. Most cameras just shove everything in one folder so auto syncing doesn't work that great when trying to be organized.


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xxpenguinxx*
> 
> I end up doing it manually. I just sort by date and then drag the pictures to whatever folder they belong in. Most cameras just shove everything in one folder so auto syncing doesn't work that great when trying to be organized.


I pretty much do the same thing. I pull the SD card from the camera and put in the card reader, then manually copy the pictures to one or more destination folders. I can always rename the photos in mass with sequential numbers using Irfanview or just do them manually one at a time later.


----------



## cta

freefilesync seems lazy to create new folders ;\

for example...

drag = d:\media\test
to = e:\

error = blah blah < you can ignore

after sync...

check e:\ and the tree looks not right... everything is spreading...

oh boy... it will be correct if you use right filetree... like d:\media\test > e:\media\test... ;\

so my point... is there easy software to do mirror everything? even you dont have to create something... but you also can select appdata folder from os ssd and sync to e:? (to be e:\appdata) ?

ps. have you check this http://www.organyze.com/product/organyze-file-sync-software ?


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Curious. I use FreeFileSync for my backups and my backup drives are exact copies of the drive being backed up. Once set up, which is fairly easy, it takes only one click to update a backup.


----------



## cta

yup...use batch to sync... or use schedule task to do daily, monthly, etc... (look at his instruction)

i also notice that it didnt copy exactly (different size, folder and files)... it missed some system files and other... i dont want it to miss anything...


----------



## Sean Webster

That organyze software looks sketchy. Nothing for it comes up on the web. It has a completely historic GUI. Not interested in it, especially with no web search results backing it.

Quote:



> Originally Posted by *cta*
> 
> yup...use batch to sync... or use schedule task to do daily, monthly, etc... (look at his instruction)
> 
> i also notice that it didnt copy exactly (different size, folder and files)... it missed some system files and other... i dont want it to miss anything...


Remove the default filters and it will copy everything... 1:1



Also, remember that a lot of stuff in the appdata folder may be locked by the OS if it is the current running profile appdata folder. So it may not be copied unless you are logged into another profile.

An alternative you can use is robocopy through CMD or you can even do system images.


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *cta*
> 
> yup...use batch to sync... or use schedule task to do daily, monthly, etc... (look at his instruction)
> 
> i also notice that it didnt copy exactly (different size, folder and files)... it missed some system files and other... i dont want it to miss anything...
> 
> 
> 
> Remove the default filters and it will copy everything... 1:1
> 
> 
> ...
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about the files that are filtered out. They are files that are generated by the system on all HDDs and, if you let them be copied from one HDD to another, they will just waste space or may even cause some problems. There will be a tiny difference in total size taken up but that doesn't mean any data was lost (don't ask me how I learned that).
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> ...Also, remember that a lot of stuff in the appdata folder is locked so it may not be copied unless you are logged into another profile..


Unless you moved appdata to another drive other than C:, I wouldn't worry about it. It should be included in a system (OS and programs) backup, which is better done by imaging.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> ...An alternative you can use is robocopy through CMD or you can even do system images.


Imaging is too time and space intensive for backing up data but is probably the best method for backing up System files (I image my entire boot drive). My preferred weapon program for imaging is Macrium Reflect Free (here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect).


----------



## cta

sean, its not 100% of 1:1 so i used "file context" to be 99.999999% of 1:1...

lady, true but never know if one byte is huge different so i dont risk that... ;p

and i will check that software...

thanks... only system files tht i back up is c:\users... ;p


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cta*
> 
> ...lady, true but never know if one byte is huge different so i dont risk that... ;p...


That's when you have to learn to trust people with more experience than you. Sean has forgotten more about drives than you and I combined will ever know. I've already gone though the hassle (and time waste) of comparing folder by folder to see what was deleted and the only things that were deleted were unneeded System files that apply only to the source drive and aren't needed by the destination drive because the System has already given it its own set, especially since there is a possibility the two different sets may conflict with each other.

And don't stick your tongue out at me, young man!


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:
Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald* 


> Unless you moved appdata to another drive other than C:, I wouldn't worry about it. It should be included in a system (OS and programs) backup, which is better done by imaging.
> Imaging is too time and space intensive for backing up data but is probably the best method for backing up System files (I image my entire boot drive). My preferred weapon program for imaging is Macrium Reflect Free (here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect).


The OS still locks files in the appdata folder, so they can not be copied when that user profile is signed in. In order to fully back up a user profile folder you need to log out of that one user's account. Boot into safe mode as another admin user. Then sync the user folder directory.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *cta*
> 
> sean, its not 100% of 1:1 so i used "file context" to be 99.999999% of 1:1...
> 
> lady, true but never know if one byte is huge different so i dont risk that... ;p
> 
> and i will check that software...
> 
> thanks... only system files tht i back up is c:\users... ;p


What is the point of backing up your appdata folder anyways? Just do the folders inside in which you actually need the data. For example I back up my Thunderbird appdata folder and Lightroom appdata folder only. Everything else in appdata is useless for me.

Freefilesync also shows you what it is not able to copy over so you can at least see if that file is useful to you. For example when copying over my user folder to elsewhere I got errors with a few completely irrelevant folders and files in the appdata folder only...files that are useless to me and pointless to back up.

If you want to just backup C:\users you will need to make a system image or use Windows backup utility...which makes compressed file folders of your profile.

If you want to back up a specific profile and folder structure and all you need to do what i stated earlier: In order to fully back up a user profile folder you need to log out of that one user's account. Boot into safe mode as another admin user. Then sync the user folder directory.


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Unless you moved appdata to another drive other than C:, I wouldn't worry about it. It should be included in a system (OS and programs) backup, which is better done by imaging.
> 
> Imaging is too time and space intensive for backing up data but is probably the best method for backing up System files (I image my entire boot drive). My preferred weapon program for imaging is Macrium Reflect Free (here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect).
> 
> 
> 
> The OS still locks files in the appdata folder, so they can not be copied when that user profile is signed in. In order to fully back up a user profile folder you need to log out of that one user's account. Boot into safe mode as another admin user. Then sync the user folder directory...
Click to expand...

Curious. I haven't noticed that problem when imaging my C: drive with Macrium Reflect. Imaging isn't the same as copying.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> Curious. I haven't noticed that problem when imaging my C: drive with Macrium Reflect. Imaging isn't the same as copying.


exactly...Imaging isn't the same as copying. you dont have that issue when making a system image


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> Curious. I haven't noticed that problem when imaging my C: drive with Macrium Reflect. Imaging isn't the same as copying.
> 
> 
> 
> exactly...Imaging isn't the same as copying. you dont have that issue when making a system image
Click to expand...

And that was what I had been talking about.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> false
> And that was what I had been talking about.


the burden of proof lies on you.

in my use system images = 1:1.

Folder/file sync = 1:unlocked files.


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> false
> 
> And that was what I had been talking about.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> the burden of proof lies on you.
> 
> in my use system images = 1:1.
> Folder/file sync = 1:unlocked files.
Click to expand...

We have a failure to communicate (William Bendix as Chester A. Riley). Again, that's what I've been saying. Yes, you can't copy a file that's in use. You can image one, however. Unless you have moved the AppData folder from C: to another drive or partition, there is no point in using a folder/file syncing program on it; an imaging program is better suited for that.


----------



## cta

lady, i wont.. ;]

according to the information

\System Volume Information\ = system restore << i dont enable it
\$Recycle.Bin\ << never have it.. shift + del is my friend...
\RECYCLER\ << same above
\RECYCLED\ << same above
*\desktop.ini << nope... mine is not
*\thumbs.db << is one of my problem... about 32 gb on my 1tb... well i visit a lot of files when i need..

again... thumbs took 32 gb is which didnt make sense to me... so thats why i want 1:1 copy because there must be something....

sean, users = my setting... i am tired of re-do all of my setting such as idm, utorrent, potplayer, and other...

another note; a long time ago, the stupid windows stored something value in that appdata that i dont know... i almost lost a lof of "very" important information when i format the windows..... it took me a while to track where the important information is...

appadata = click, set up and forget...


----------



## Sean Webster

Do what works for you. Your needs are yours alone, while my needs are mine alone.

thumbnail files can be remade easily. Utilize a SSD and it wont matter.

if you want 1:1 user folder back up you need a special tool or system imaging tool to do it while the current profile is active.


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Do what works for you. Your needs are yours alone, while my needs are mine alone.
> 
> thumbnail files can be remade easily. Utilize a SSD and it wont matter.
> 
> if you want 1:1 user folder back up you need a special tool or system imaging tool to do it while the current profile is active.


Sean, are you all right? I'm agreeing with you, for crying out loud!


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> Sean, are you all right? I'm agreeing with you, for crying out loud!


Communication errors it seems. haha

however,

Quote:


> Unless you have moved the AppData folder from C: to another drive or partition, there is no point in using a folder/file syncing program on it; an imaging program is better suited for that.


even on another drive the appdata folder will still have locked files. being on C: vs D: has no bearing on that...at least i would think...


----------



## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> Sean, are you all right? I'm agreeing with you, for crying out loud!
> 
> 
> 
> Communication errors it seems. haha
> 
> however,
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Unless you have moved the AppData folder from C: to another drive or partition, there is no point in using a folder/file syncing program on it; an imaging program is better suited for that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> even on another drive the appdata folder will still have locked files. being on C: vs D: has no bearing on that...at least i would think...
Click to expand...

The point I'm trying to make (and failing at it miserably, apparently) is if the AppData folder is left on the C: drive/partition, it would be pointless to use a folder/file syncing program on it. Imaging would be more effective, especially when imaging the entire C: drive/partition.


----------



## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lady Fitzgerald*
> 
> The point I'm trying to make (and failing at it miserably, apparently) is if the AppData folder is left on the C: drive/partition, it would be pointless to use a folder/file syncing program on it. Imaging would be more effective, especially when imaging the entire C: drive/partition.


I see what you are saying, but it is coming with the assumption that the person backing up is doing system images or have that as an option. 

I'm coming from the mindset that the person is not doing system images as well and only doing folder/file backups. Their sole backup is of the user folder. You can make a image of say the D: drive if the user folder is on there too tho.


----------



## svefn

hi guys, anyone using macrium reflect 6.1? why does it auto create a small partition in the beginning of my disk, or did I clicked something wrong.. I didnt download the winPE files just yet. Was fiddling around trying to create a USB boot ISO.

so my question is, does the newest version create small partitions (I assume its for recovery) in your disk?


----------



## Shadow11377

Have you ever used the program called DSynchronize?
It might be a worthy addition to the list of programs you have in this thread.

It's used to sync folders.
The program is free and has a nice amount of features and settings.

Edit: Almost forgot.
You can find the program on the maker's website here. Just scroll down a bit to find it.
http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/


----------



## ruffhi

Ohhh ... a backup thread. Backup is something that I am serious about ... mainly because I have come close to losing my data a few times.

Here is my PC setup / backup approach ...


I have all system files, windows user accounts, etc on my C drive (on a 512Gb SSD)

I have all of my data files (pictures, documents, videos, home movies, d/l software, manuals, etc) on a home server (FreeNAS, 8 4TB drives in Raidz3)

The NAS also has our DVD collection, recorded TV and is a PLEX server (all under the 'Media' folder)

My main PC has 1 x 1TB WD Blue drive that has 5 directories (Gen0, Gen1, Gen2, Gen3, Gen4)

Each night at 1:00am an incremental backup (Acronis True Image 16) of my C Drive is backed up to Gen0

Each night at 2:15am an incremental backup of the non-Media folder info on my NAS is backed up to Gen0

Each Wednesday morning Gen4 is trashed, Gen3 is renamed Gen4, Gen2 --> Gen3, Gen1 --> Gen2, Gen0 --> Gen1, new Gen0 is created
Note: If no initial file found during incremental backup, Acronis performs full backup

Each month or so (ie one complete generational cycle) I remove the 1TB Blue from my computer (it goes to work) and replace it with 2nd 1TB Blue (comes back from work)

At any one point in time I have the original copy, 5 local copies from the prior 5 weeks, 5 offsite copies from weeks 6-10.

I do not have any 'media' folder backup. If that dies, I loose my electronic copy of DVDs (I still have the DVDs) and recorded TV.

The Acronis processes email me nightly with a dump of their 'results'.

I would like to include a cloud option in the above but I don't want to have to pay for it. Any thoughts?

Any thoughts on my general approach and ways it could be improved?

Another feature that I want to include is to rope in my wife's Apple mac. It seems I should be able to use Time Machine with a connection to the NAS ... and then my regular process should capture it. Any suggestions on this angle?


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## RoddimusPrime

So what do you find to be the best solution for the following?

Pictures Online (Flickr, etc.)
Server and Software Solution
Videos (esp. online)

Also, for saving Adobe PS files, etc. online do you still recommmend Drop Box?


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## espn

Do you guys consider my backup solution for family photos and videos is safe enough?

1 copy in Toshiba 4TB Enterprise Cloud HDD in desktop
1 copy in external WD 2.5" HDD
1 copy in cloud storage


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## espn

FreeFileSync is still the best choice now?


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## Sean Webster

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RoddimusPrime*
> 
> So what do you find to be the best solution for the following?
> 
> Pictures Online (Flickr, etc.)
> Server and Software Solution
> Videos (esp. online)
> 
> Also, for saving Adobe PS files, etc. online do you still recommmend Drop Box?


1. You store originals of your photos on flickr?

2. The answer could be anything....

3. Again, storing originals on a streaming service?

Your questions are way way to vague. Elaborate?

As for dropbox, I store all my important docs in my dopbox folder as a 4th backup.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *espn*
> 
> Do you guys consider my backup solution for family photos and videos is safe enough?
> 
> 1 copy in Toshiba 4TB Enterprise Cloud HDD in desktop
> 1 copy in external WD 2.5" HDD
> 1 copy in cloud storage


Yeah, all you need is at least 3 copies total.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *espn*
> 
> FreeFileSync is still the best choice now?


That's what I still use. I have no need for anything else personally. I sometimes do image backups of my OS with Acronis True Image, but for my other files I just mirror my main data folder to my server every night and to externals 2-4 times a month now.


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## espn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> 1. You store originals of your photos on flickr?
> 2. The answer could be anything....
> 3. Again, storing originals on a streaming service?
> 
> Your questions are way way to vague. Elaborate?
> 
> As for dropbox, I store all my important docs in my dopbox folder as a 4th backup.
> 
> Yeah, all you need is at least 3 copies total.
> That's what I still use. I have no need for anything else personally. I sometimes do image backups of my OS with Acronis True Image, but for my other files I just mirror my main data folder to my server every night and to externals 2-4 times a month now.


ok thanks


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## spinFX

Nice guide, very thorough, OP! I reckon you could condense this info into a poster or something that would be a very useful thing for people who can't handle text walls.

If no one has mentioned it yet, urBackup is one of the best backup solutions, it's new and it's free.

You can run it from your server and it will backup all the machines running the client.
Handles everything you can think of and is free.

I think Macrium Reflect / Backup should also get an honorable mention also.


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## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spinFX*
> 
> Nice guide, very thorough, OP! I reckon you could condense this info into a poster or something that would be a very useful thing for people who can't handle text walls.
> 
> If no one has mentioned it yet, urBackup is one of the best backup solutions, it's new and it's free.
> 
> You can run it from your server and it will backup all the machines running the client.
> Handles everything you can think of and is free.
> 
> I think Macrium Reflect / Backup should also get an honorable mention also.


Imaging, such as what Macrium Reflect Free does, is fantastic for backing up the System files (OS, programs, etc.) but data is far better backed up with a file/folder syncing program like FreeFileSync.


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## espn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Sean Webster*
> 
> 1. You store originals of your photos on flickr?
> 2. The answer could be anything....
> 3. Again, storing originals on a streaming service?
> 
> Your questions are way way to vague. Elaborate?
> 
> As for dropbox, I store all my important docs in my dopbox folder as a 4th backup.
> 
> Yeah, all you need is at least 3 copies total.
> That's what I still use. I have no need for anything else personally. I sometimes do image backups of my OS with Acronis True Image, but for my other files I just mirror my main data folder to my server every night and to externals 2-4 times a month now.


For FreeFileSync, would there chance that I accidentally wrongly click then wrongly sync and delete new photos or videos?


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## xxpenguinxx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *espn*
> 
> For FreeFileSync, would there chance that I accidentally wrongly click then wrongly sync and delete new photos or videos?


You can tell it to move deleted files to another folder.

- Click the green gear next to synchronize.
- Go to the Synchronization tab.
- Where it says Delete Files, change it to versioning, and select the location you want to save deleted files to.


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## Lady Fitzgerald

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xxpenguinxx*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *espn*
> 
> For FreeFileSync, would there chance that I accidentally wrongly click then wrongly sync and delete new photos or videos?
> 
> 
> 
> You can tell it to move deleted files to another folder.
> 
> - Click the green gear next to synchronize.
> - Go to the Synchronization tab.
> - Where it says Delete Files, change it to versioning, and select the location you want to save deleted files to.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I have an entire drive devoted to versioning but you can just use a folder somewhere.


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## espn

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *xxpenguinxx*
> 
> You can tell it to move deleted files to another folder.
> 
> - Click the green gear next to synchronize.
> - Go to the Synchronization tab.
> - Where it says Delete Files, change it to versioning, and select the location you want to save deleted files to.


If I dont do this setting, the deleted files go to windows recycle bin?


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## espn

Any good partition backup software suggestion?


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## espn

I found out this which is a very cool:
Comparing 20 Drive Imaging Software Backup/Restore Speed and Image Size
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/10-commercial-disk-imaging-software-features-and-backuprestore-speed-comparison/2/
Finally I use Redo Backup and Recovery to create a backup. It is very user friendly. I tried Clonezilla but I really don't need that many functions and may let me chose wrong thing and screw thing up. Both are top 2 in sourceforge for this kind of backup software.

I just need to use Redo Backup to restore the OS drive. I could only select drive but not partition to restore, even though I chose a partition to backup before. Luckily it didn't erase the other partition of the same drive which I use for storage. Anyone knows how does it work?


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## fragamemnon

@Sean Webster

A couple of things that I've always wanted to say.










Synkron is a great cross-platform tool which can do multiple types of file/folder backups to various locations. It has a powerful scheduler and you can define a granular backup strategy if you can grasp the logic of the options provided in the GUI. Downside is, it hasn't been updated in a while, however I've experienced no issues with it.
Backing up to a cloud should be proceeded to with great caution. Any important information should be encrypted (I'm sure that's mentioned at some point in the thread).
The free edition of Acronis True Image will *NOT* activate if all the WD, Seagate, and Intel drives in the system are in a RAID array(s). You need to have at least one stand-alone drive in order to successfully activate it.
That would be all, thank you.

It's a great guide and one can guess at the effort and time you've invested into it. Awesome stuff.


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## Lady Fitzgerald

Thanks for the Synkron link!


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## BrjSan

Thanks for the good guide and hope i can find some help.

Am looking for dual hard drive docking station, 3.0, supporting 8TB each slot, for backup.

Googling the web, i can see whats the market recommends (inateck, Star tech, Thermaltake, cable matters ... etc) but seems like no solid review, as on the other hand you find people reporting failure.

I am interested if somebody over here that already got any model to share his feedback.

peace


----------



## ruffhi

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BrjSan*
> 
> Thanks for the good guide and hope i can find some help.
> 
> Am looking for dual hard drive docking station, 3.0, supporting 8TB each slot, for backup.
> 
> Googling the web, i can see whats the market recommends (inateck, Star tech, Thermaltake, cable matters ... etc) but seems like no solid review, as on the other hand you find people reporting failure.
> 
> I am interested if somebody over here that already got any model to share his feedback.
> 
> peace


I don't ... but check this thread. iBruce might be able to chip in a comment or two.


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## FlashFir

Is there any free backup software that does image level backups that have exclusions? Both Acronis nonpaid and Easeus todo backup don't do exclusions


----------



## jjpjimmy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *FlashFir*
> 
> Is there any free backup software that does image level backups that have exclusions? Both Acronis nonpaid and Easeus todo backup don't do exclusions


Veeam


----------



## honegod

We have a failure to communicate (William Bendix as Chester A. Riley).

"What we have here is "failure to communicate. " "

One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

"One small step for man, one (oh crap I screwed it UP!!) giant leap for mankind "

Whoever stole the "a" from Neil, and gave it to William, MUST PAY !!!


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