Windows is doing what it does best.....

[Smoblikat]

......being a steaming pile of defecation. So I have two 2tb drives, one is my main one that gets accessed daily (7200rpm) and the other is a caviar green that gets disabled and inaccessible after im done copying files to it. Thats not the problem though, the problem is that I want to be able to simply highlight all the files on my 7200rpm and have them copy over to my backup, which has all the files on it except the new ones I put on the 7200rpm. Since 99% of the files are already on the backup I was expecting to be able to select the do not copy option from a popup and have only the new files go into their respective places since all the directories are the same (mirror image of eachother, not RAID1). According to windows that is impossible, it claims that I dont have enough space (need like 1.06tb more) to copy the files over, is there any way I can just copy over the files and ONLY add the new ones and ignore the rest? Windows doesnt think so.

EDIT - I hope I explained this properly.

 

[utahraptor]

Are you attempting to copy everything including c:\windows and c:\program files? It does not make a lot of sense to copy that kind of stuff since you can't really restore from it.

 

[Burner27]

Applications like Acronis True Image Home 2012 will allow you to do Incremental and Differential backups so that you can copy over only the files that have changed or have been added since your last full backup. Here's a link on differential vs incremental backups - http://www.acronis.com/resource/solutions/backup/2005/incremental-backups.html

Is this what you mean to do?

 

[corkyg]

Sounds like you might be a candidate for an automatic incremental backup system. Utahraptor makes a lot of sense. A good backup plan would help. What needs to be backed up? How often does it need to be backed up? Is a complete rewrite needed or will incremental changes work?

 

[Smoblikat]

I figured I didnt say it properly, my fault. An incremental backup wouldnt work because my drive is essentially removed from windows after im done copying files over to it. Once I copy my files I remove its drive letter then disable it in device manager so nothing can access it. The files on the drives are just my data files, movies, game ISO's, music, files...etc. so not my windows stuff. I frequently add new movies and games as I get them and im always finding new music, plus all my word files and gameplay videos/pictures. So it isnt very economical to find all the files one by one to add them, I was thinking of getting a replacment for windows explorer since Ive always wanted one, would that fix this problem?

 

[Coup27]

You need to use a file sync program, such as PureSync.

I have a similar system to you. I use Puresync to copy the "My Documents" folder on my SSD onto my HDD which is also in my system so I have a local backup.

PureSync is the best sync program I have tried because unlike others (ie MS SyncToy) it scans every folder and file on both the sides of the sync for the changes so no files get missed.

There is nothing wrong with Windows Explorer, I just think you are trying to do something with it that Sync programs are designed for.

 

[Topweasel]

Just creating a Xcopy backup script should work fine. It won't delete files that have been removed but its quite easy to have it add and replace just new/edited files. That way you can just run it when you connect the drive up.

 

[Smoblikat]

Just creating a Xcopy backup script should work fine. It won't delete files that have been removed but its quite easy to have it add and replace just new/edited files. That way you can just run it when you connect the drive up.

How would I do that? Deleting files would be nice, though I rarely delete files since its mainly storage so its not needed.

Ill check out puresync. But is it an automatic backup solution, or do I run it whenever I want?

EDIT - For those who are just seeing this and dont feel like reading everything ill shorten it:
I have two drives, one gets removed once I copy all my files to it from the other drive. I want to be able to add the new files from the source drive but not have to replace the ones that are already on both drives, and if possible I would like to haev the files that are not on the source drive be deleted from the second drive.

 

[mikeymikec]

xcopy last time I looked has problems handling lots of files (IIRC, it flips at 9999 files).

I use robocopy (comes with Vista/7, and can be freely downloaded from MS for XP):

ROBOCOPY SOURCE DESTINATION /MIR /R:0

Mirrors the contents of the source to the destination, and will automatically skip past files it can't access.

When you run it once, it has to copy all the files. When you run it the second time, it will look for differences and only mirror across any changes (deleted, edited and added files).

One curious bit of behaviour in it is that if you tell it e.g.:

ROBOCOPY C:\ "D:\Backup of C drive" /MIR /R:0

The folder "Backup of C drive" is super-hidden (attrib +S +H). You could write a script that reverses those attributes after the robocopy.

Robocopy has a lot of command switches to make it more flexible, so it's worth reading the guide for it.

 

[Coup27]

Ill check out puresync. But is it an automatic backup solution, or do I run it whenever I want?

I've only ever used the free version and I have never seen a scheduler in it. That's really what you want though as your backup drive is disabled until you want to use it.

I really think this is the way to go. Simple program to sync anything new from folder(s) 1 into folder(s) 2. File renaming, newer version, deletion, all gets mirrored everytime. The reason I rate PureSync over SyncToy and some of the others is because it scans both folders everytime for the changes in the files, where as SyncToy and it sounds like robocopy aswel cache the files into a database and then works out the differences after that. I remember SyncToy used to miss files due to this method.

 

[Smoblikat]

I've only ever used the free version and I have never seen a scheduler in it. That's really what you want though as your backup drive is disabled until you want to use it.

I really think this is the way to go. Simple program to sync anything new from folder(s) 1 into folder(s) 2. File renaming, newer version, deletion, all gets mirrored everytime. The reason I rate PureSync over SyncToy and some of the others is because it scans both folders everytime for the changes in the files, where as SyncToy and it sounds like robocopy aswel cache the files into a database and then works out the differences after that. I remember SyncToy used to miss files due to this method.

xcopy last time I looked has problems handling lots of files (IIRC, it flips at 9999 files).

I use robocopy (comes with Vista/7, and can be freely downloaded from MS for XP):

ROBOCOPY SOURCE DESTINATION /MIR /R:0

Mirrors the contents of the source to the destination, and will automatically skip past files it can't access.

When you run it once, it has to copy all the files. When you run it the second time, it will look for differences and only mirror across any changes (deleted, edited and added files).

One curious bit of behaviour in it is that if you tell it e.g.:

ROBOCOPY C:\ "D:\Backup of C drive" /MIR /R:0

The folder "Backup of C drive" is super-hidden (attrib +S +H). You could write a script that reverses those attributes after the robocopy.

Robocopy has a lot of command switches to make it more flexible, so it's worth reading the guide for it.

Thanks everyone, ill check out Puresync in a bit, robocopy sounds like a good option aswell but using a program seems simpler than writing a script. Im no noob to programming, though I dont like to do it when I dont have to.