i need to create a scheduled task for backing up folders

[ThePiston]

I have a business and an extremely important folder of my patient's files that need to be backed up daily. I want to keep multiple copies all over the network on different computers. I have Ghost but that makes special files and that freaks me out... I'd rather just have normal copies of the files.

Does anyone know how to just make a scheduled task with a command line that tells Windows to copy a folder (or just update the contents of what has changed since the last copy)?

 

[BlueWeasel]

I'd recommend using a program like SyncBack (the free version). It makes setting up different profiles and copying files over the network to other computers extremely easy. It runs in the background and you can give it scheduled times to run.

 

[ThePiston]

it doesn't create proprietary files does it?

 

[brainwrinkle]

Microsoft has a good free program you can download from their website called Synctoy. You make folder pairs, which can have one of any five ways of backing up each other. I've never tried to schedule it, though.

Wait, it's got a whole section on scheduling it in the help.

What do you mean by proprietary files?

 

[ThePiston]

Norton Ghost will backup drives but it creates .v2i files that need to be reformed using Ghost. I just want a normal copy of certain folders and files. I was told you can use a text file to create some code that the command prompt will execute as a scheduled task. That would be easiest and wouldn't require an extra process running in the background all the time. I'm wary of freeware, especially on work computers. (even though I own the company)

 

[brainwrinkle]

Well, Synctoy is from MS, so you shouldn't have too many worries about that. If you don't trust MS, you shouldn't be using Windows.

I use Synctoy to mainly back up my flash drive. It creates an exact copy, as a regular folder. I even used it to consolidate my music collection from two computers over a network.

It looks like you use the Windows scheduler to schedule Synctoy, so it won't be running in the background.

 

[imported_LoKe]

You could just have a scheduled task to run a batch file to copy the folders to a new directory.

 

[ThePiston]

yeah, that's a good idea, do you know the scripts for copying- that keeps the folders identical without copying over and over? i.e. it only does what it needs instead of completely copying the folder over.

 

[imported_LoKe]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean...Like, not over-writing and just adding what files aren't there?

 

[ThePiston]

well, if you just do a simple "copy c:\folder d:\folder" it will stall because it will ask you whether or not you want to copy over the files. There is a way to script it so that it will only alter the files that have changed since the last copy.

 

[oog]

you can use ntbackup.

 

[Vikesrock]

You can either run copy with the /y parameter to supress that message or you can use xcopy.
Xcopy can be used to copy only the files that have been changed since a date you specify. If you do not specify a date it will copy all files that are newer in the source direcxtory than in the destination directory. This seems to accomplish what you want.
Example:
xcopy c:\folder d:\folder /d /y

edit: if you want to include subdirectories of "folder" you also need the /s paramater.

 

[ThePiston]

yeah, i want to only change the files that have been added/deleted since the last update. here's what i have so far (came from a friend)
set LogFile="D:\ACE Scripts\ACE Backup Log.txt"
net time | find "time" > %LogFile%
echo - - - - - - - - - >> %LogFile%

net stop sdradiusd >> %LogFile%
net stop acesrvc >> %LogFile%
net stop oad >> %LogFile%
net stop logmaintsvc >> %LogFile%
net stop sdadmind >> %LogFile%
net stop sdcommd >> %LogFile%
net stop jsed >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc10 >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc9 >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc8 >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc7 >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc6 >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc5 >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc4 >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc3 >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc2 >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc1 >> %LogFile%
net stop syncsrvc0 >> %LogFile%
net stop brksrv >> %LogFile%

rd /s /q "D:\ACE Backup"
xcopy C:\ACE\*.* D:\"ACE Backup"\*.* /s /e /h /v >> %LogFile%

net start brksrv >> %LogFile%
net start acesrvc >> %LogFile%
net start sdradiusd >> %LogFile%

echo - - - - - - - - - >> %LogFile%
net time | find "time" >> %LogFile%

 

[Senator]

Someone already mentiond Syncback. It does everything you want - and it's free. You can set up multiple profiles to run at specified times to back up individual files or whole folders. You can back up to other computers over your network. There's no proprietary file format - it simply copies the files you want and puts them in a location of your choice.

You can either sync (make sure the destination folder always has the same files as the source folder) or back up (make sure the destination folder has any new or changed files from the source folder), which is what you seem to want.

Download it and give it a try. You can have a profile up and running within five minutes.