Creating a batch file to backup through a network.

[de8212]

Has anyone ever done this to backup files/folders through a network? Can someone post examples or maybe point me to a tutorial on this?
I'd like something that would run on a schedule and backup several folders and overwrite them every other day or so.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Sure, this is pretty easy to do using a program like Robocopy. It's even easier if you use SyncBack (it's free) to do it.

 

[Tarrant64]

You may even be able to set it up to do incremental backups. I have no clue whether this is for windows or linux, either way, just wanted to let you know with incremental backups you may be able to save time. That way, you're not always overwriting data, just whatever data has changed.

 

[doan]

I use Xcopy to back-up my files to my server

xcopy/D/E/H/Y "D:\Source" "\\Server_pc\share_name\folder"

This will back-up the entire contents of the source folder including creating new directories if required. It only copies new or modified files. I've used this for several years. The only downside is that its a once way sync, any deletions on the backup are manual.

 

[de8212]

thanks for the info BlueWeasel. I'll look into Syncback.
Tarrant, yes incremental backup is fine for waht I need.

doan. Can you tell me a littel more about what that command is? Is it just something you type into a command prompt? If so, I want this to be automated. Any more details?

 

[doan]

xcopy runs from command line in win2k/XP. To automate it you can create a text file and save it as "backup.bat" and it will run with a double-click.

To get more info about xcopy type xcopy/? at the command line

 

[lansalot]

Make an entry for it in 'scheduled tasks' to run at 4am daily or whatever.

Prefer robocopy with the /purge option myself, to maintain an identical tree. ie, what I delete in source gets deleted in backup automatically.

 

[doan]

Thanks Lans, I'll have to check out robocopy

 

[de8212]

I just tried SyncBack and it seems to do what I want but I have two quesitons.

WIll it work on Win2k server? Scanned their site but couldn't find.

Will it do an incremental backup on files that have changed or will it replace the entire folder. there may be an option in the settings but I don't see it.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
de

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: lansalot
Make an entry for it in 'scheduled tasks' to run at 4am daily or whatever.

Prefer robocopy with the /purge option myself, to maintain an identical tree. ie, what I delete in source gets deleted in backup automatically.

I would think that's bad for a backup, but that is a personal opinion. It's also no Sarb/Ox compliant.

 

[de8212]

bump
Anyone knwo about it working with win2k server and if it just updates folders or does it replace the entire folder evenif there are no changes?

 

[Bozo]

xcopy is native to Windows, so it will work in Win2K server.
Go to Start;Run. Type in cmd and press Enter. When the command window opens, type in xcopy /? and press enter. That will show you all the options for xcopy.

Bozo 😀