Backup/Sync tool suggestions?

[cgh1977]

Based on a quick Google search, have a look at: Sync Tools (wade through a few) Top Results in Sychronization Software I used Cobian a few years ago and stopped (I don't remember why). Currently, I need something similar myself but I haven't looked at anything yet. Here are some that I will be taking a closer look at: DirSync Pro (free)
Unison (FOSS)
All Way Sync ($19.95, free for limited personal use)
FreeFileSync (FOSS)

modified on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 3:50 PM

[sgtahan]

I've used Allway Sync[^]. Did a good job. Free until a size limit is reached. Pretty cheap for the unlimited version.

Steve Tahan Savannah River Site Aiken, SC

[Lost User]

Cobian's latest version works pretty clean - my only frustration is that it doesn't neatly label backups. My solution was to write a .VBS script that alters the simple 'backup.*' to 'ccyymmdd_backup.*' (I know, you can use macros, but it's not as simple to process - for my other requirements.) For functionality's sake, I set it to keep 15 generations - after the rename, it sorts by name and deletes each file beyond the 15th one listed). Works well - on XP, 7, Win2k3, and Win2k8. FYI, I'd previously used Comodo (didn't work well on 2k8), and fBackup (not as clean). Pair Cobian with a couple of USB External drives, set up duplicate entries (do the same backup to EACH drive each day, and ignore failures), and just swap out the drives daily - you'll always have an offsite copy. :)

[elchalateco]

I've been using NovaStore Novabackup. It has never failed on me yet, fairly simple to use.

[shipstech]

I have had great luck with cwrsync: http://www.itefix.no/i2/node/10650[^]

[crab]

Robocopy will do everything you need. Combine that with 7-zip and Bob's your uncle.

[ormonds]

D:\robocopy >destination> /S /XF pagefile.sys *.tmp $RECYCLE.BIN /MAXAGE:2 /R:0 /LOG:d:logfile

[Mike Naughton]

I have been using GoodSync (http://www.goodsync.com/) for about a year, and I'm very happy with it. I use it with a thumb drive to sync my laptop with my desktop -- one of its really nice features is that it will sync both ways (so if I forget and change something in one place it won't overwrite the changes but will sync them back to the other place). If there's a conflict (something changed in both places) it warns me and does nothing until I choose which direction should win. It's pretty cheap for what it does -- you need one license for each machine you run it on, but they were running a deal where I got the second license for very cheap. I recommend it highly.

[Hans van der Horst]

Using Super Flexible File Synchronizer- www.superflexible.com, cheep and works like a dream.

[usoniajoe]

I've used SyncBackSE from 2brightsparks.com to sync my home and work desktops via USB key daily and my entire data partition via external USB drive (bi-weekly or so) for almost four years now. For my purposes it works great, serving as both sync and backup, maintaining all of my data on three drives. It performs well and has more settings than you can imagine! What's more, many of them are actually useful! There are now three versions, free and two paid tiers. Definitely worth downloading the free version to gauge whether the performance will meet your needs...

[Steven Quick]

Robocopy is actually pretty good for this, included in Vista, 7, 2003 and 2008. MS resource kit version can be downloaded for older OSes. Basically create a bat file with the command and options you want. Example: Mirror D: to E: with retries, logging and skipping some junk files & folders

robocopy D: E: /ZB /MIR /R:3 /W:5 /NS /NC /NDL /NP /XD RECYCLER "System Volume Information" /XF *".DS_Store" /LOG+:%Date:~-4,4%%Date:~-7,2%%Date:~-10,2%_Backup.txt

Alternatively there is a new GUI for robocopy called RichCopy http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.04.utilityspotlight.aspx[^]

[chrisb44]

I've had no problems with Windows Home Server - it backs up everything each night. I've even restored a computer from it. It just seems to work...

[gregthecanuck]

Don't mess around. If you can afford it set up a PC with Windows Home Server. It does a nice job of backing up, plus much more. For example, it enables remote access to your PC, has add-ins for "cloud" backups, does streaming, file sharing, etc... The nicest thing is the restore is very good. If you PC completely explodes it makes it very easy to do a complete restore. Otherwise you can drill-down through your backup archives and do selective restores.

[JasonPSage]

I know this reply might seem COY - but you know what.. if you make a reasonable batch file, you get a problem free back up, only does new and changed files, and keeps a log. If you combine this solution with the ZIP file solution someone recommended below in another comment ( WinZip's command line tool is pretty sweet - I bought it a while back and used it on a system where a lot of ZIP file thrashing was needed and it worked great) I make a Batch file that dumps files and date time stamps to a log so I can check that it's working etc. I delete the log from time to time... and I set up the Windows Schedular to fire off this batch file at a time I'm usually in bed sleeping. Works Great. Here is my batch file verbatim:

echo ------ BEGIN BACKUP >> f:\backup.log
date /t >> f:\backup.log
echo ------ BEGIN BACKUP >> f:\backup.log

echo ------ BEGIN BACKUP GFX >> f:\backup.log
REM md e:\zcdgfx
REM xcopy f:\zcdgfx\. e:\zcdgfx\. /s /e /c /d /y >> f:\backup.log
echo ------ END BACKUP GFX >> f:\backup.log

rem echo ------ BEGIN BACKUP LINUX X01 FOLDERS >> f:\backup.log
rem xcopy x:\. f:\xfiles\. /s /e /c /d /y >> f:\backup.log
rem md e:\xfiles
rem xcopy f:\xfiles\. e:\xfiles\. /s /e /c /d /y >> f:\backup.log
rem echo ------ END BACKUP LINUX X01 FOLDERS >> f:\backup.log

echo ------ BEGIN BACKUP DEV02 Documents and Settings folder DATA >> f:\backup.log
echo Backing up Documents and Settings folder
xcopy "C:\Documents and Settings\Jason\." "f:\files\home\DRIVE_C_BACKUP\docs_n_settings\." /s /e /c /d /y
echo ------ END BACKUP DEV02 Documents and Settings folder DATA >> f:\backup.log

echo ------ BEGIN BACKUP DEV02 F: FILES FOLDER >> f:\backup.log
md e:\files
xcopy f:\files\. e:\files\. /s /e /c /d /y >> f:\backup.log
echo ------ END BACKUP DEV02 F: FILES FOLDER >> f:\backup.log

echo ------ END BACKUP >> f:\backup.log
date /t >> f:\backup.log
echo ------ END BACKUP >> f:\backup.log
echo . >> f:\backup.log
echo . >> f:\backup.log
echo . >> f:\backup.log

Know way too many languages... master of none!

[damithrajapakse]

This page[^] lists 14 recent FOSS sync tools. At the bottom it has a link to a *much longer* list of sync tools. Still, syncing terabytes of data is a tall order :-p

[Edwin Smith]

I use Small Business Server myself. I have a double redundant RAID and I backup weekly to a pair of SATA drives in a plug in cage. You could always use Xcopy with a scheduled job to backup new or modified files to a networked PC on your LAN. The Schedule could be as often as you feel comfortable.

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't.

[gregthecanuck]

Hi Edwin - Something you must consider is: - why am I backing up? A) In case my laptop explodes/is stolen B) In case I accidentally lose some valuable files C) To go back in time to prior versions Things like Xcopy backup sound good until your hard drive explodes or you want to go back in time. With WHS you can reinstall your setup from scratch in an hour or two. No need to reinstall Windows, applications, settings or data. It completely re-images your drive. If you use your laptop or desktop for work or anything else time-critical the investment in WHS more than pays for itself when you need to do a restore. Do you have the lengthy hours it takes to manually re-install Windows, the service packs, updates, applications, their updates, etc? I don't. WHS is way under-marketed for what it does. It is a great product for any household with more than one PC. I back up all my home PCs (up to 10 are supported, I believe).

[Mark_Wallace]

DarrylHadfield wrote:

Pair Cobian with a couple of USB External drives, set up duplicate entries (do the same backup to EACH drive each day, and ignore failures), and just swap out the drives daily - you'll always have an offsite copy.

That's exactly the same thing that I do (great minds obviously really do think alike). The other thing I do is maintain three live copies of my main working directories in different locations with unscheduled back-ups, which I run when I'm finished working on one of the machines. It's so simple to do, and lets me move from location to location just picking up where I left off.

I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

[chh31]

Have a look at Beyond Compare (www.scootersoftware.com). I am already using it for years and it has never disappointed me. Chris

[Lost User]

What, backups for real-time? My friend, do I have nuggets of gold for you... Dropbox is the simplest, although it's limited by overall size. Abuse a few friends, get enough referrals, and you jump from the 2gb they give you initially, up to 10gb of free space. I like Dropbox, since it's the simplest mechanism for "poor man's replication" - I use it extensively, both personally and professionally. Another option that not many seem to use.. is SkyDrive. If you look on Lifehacker, there's a tutorial in there somewhere where you can hook yourself up to Skydrive, and map it to a local system drive letter - the only snag is that you have a cap of 50mb per file (but the 25gb of storage makes up for that somewhat). Run it right.. and you're laughing. Alternately, stand up a VMware environment, and either light up a true SAN, or use a VM SAN appliance to masquerade cheap SATA2 disks as SAN.. replicate that via various and sundry means (set up a P2P VPN between the two and blindly synchronize everything in specific LUNs on your SAN) to the system you park at a friend's place, and you have a poor man's adaptation of a very high-level enterprise solution. You're welcome. :)