File Backup Question

I occasionally (every 3 months) back up my hard drives (I am using three
computers, all similarly configured) to an external storage device. I tend
to back up the My Documents folders somewhat more frequently (monthly). My
two desktops are Vista 64s, and the laptop is a Vista 32-bit. I use the
laptop as the master, so to speak, and will occasionally update the My
Documents folders of the desktops from this machine.

As one might expect, I sometimes overwrite the same file on the desktops
with an older file from the laptop. What I would really like is an easy to
use piece of software that updates a file only if it is newer (later time
stamp) than what is being updated. This would run much more quickly, and
also prevent me from overwriting newer files.

Gordon Biggar
Houston, Texas

On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:28:53 -0500, Gordon Biggar wrote:

> I occasionally (every 3 months) back up my hard drives (I am using three
> computers, all similarly configured) to an external storage device. I tend
> to back up the My Documents folders somewhat more frequently (monthly). My
> two desktops are Vista 64s, and the laptop is a Vista 32-bit. I use the
> laptop as the master, so to speak, and will occasionally update the My
> Documents folders of the desktops from this machine.
>
> As one might expect, I sometimes overwrite the same file on the desktops
> with an older file from the laptop. What I would really like is an easy to
> use piece of software that updates a file only if it is newer (later time
> stamp) than what is being updated. This would run much more quickly, and
> also prevent me from overwriting newer files.
>
> Gordon Biggar
> Houston, Texas

robocopy, which is part of Windows now. It's a command line app.

robocpy is supposed to stand for Robust Copy, not robocop...and it's
complicated, but tends not to overwrite older files.


--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom

On 31 Mar 2010, "Gordon Biggar" <> wrote
in microsoft.public.windows.vista.general:

> What I would really like is an easy to use piece of software that
> updates a file only if it is newer (later time stamp) than what is
> being updated. This would run much more quickly, and also prevent
> me from overwriting newer files.

Look for the Microsoft utility Robocopy. It's a command line copy
utility that has very flexible options regarding that kind of thing.
I's not super easy to use, but I think it will do your job better
than most anything else.

On 31 Mar 2010, "Gene E. Bloch" <not-> wrote in
microsoft.public.windows.vista.general:

> robocopy, which is part of Windows now. It's a command line app.

I believe you're right! I find it on my Vista computer, but I don't
remember ever installing it there. Good move on MS's part.

On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:37:30 -0700, "Gene E. Bloch"
<not-> wrote:

>On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:28:53 -0500, Gordon Biggar wrote:
>
>> I occasionally (every 3 months) back up my hard drives (I am using three
>> computers, all similarly configured) to an external storage device. I tend
>> to back up the My Documents folders somewhat more frequently (monthly). My
>> two desktops are Vista 64s, and the laptop is a Vista 32-bit. I use the
>> laptop as the master, so to speak, and will occasionally update the My
>> Documents folders of the desktops from this machine.
>>
>> As one might expect, I sometimes overwrite the same file on the desktops
>> with an older file from the laptop. What I would really like is an easy to
>> use piece of software that updates a file only if it is newer (later time
>> stamp) than what is being updated. This would run much more quickly, and
>> also prevent me from overwriting newer files.
>>
>> Gordon Biggar
>> Houston, Texas
>
>robocopy, which is part of Windows now. It's a command line app.
>
>robocpy is supposed to stand for Robust Copy, not robocop...and it's
>complicated, but tends not to overwrite older files.

For a somewhat easier to use program, look into RichCopy 4.0. It's
free, basically Robocopy with a graphical interface. Actually, I
prefer to use Robocopy (which I use daily, with batch files to
generate the command line commands), but some prefer RichCopy.
--
Charlie Hoffpauir

Everything is what it is because it got that way....D'Arcy Thompson

On 31 Mar 2010, Charlie Hoffpauir <> wrote in
microsoft.public.windows.vista.general:

> For a somewhat easier to use program, look into RichCopy 4.0. It's
> free, basically Robocopy with a graphical interface. Actually, I
> prefer to use Robocopy (which I use daily, with batch files to
> generate the command line commands), but some prefer RichCopy.

Beware! Richcopy is quite buggy. Some of is options do NOT work as
advertised. I forget if the overwrite options are among the non-
working, but if you try it, be very careful! It is a whole lot faster
than Robocopy, but it might not be worth it if it stomps on your data.

On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:59:42 -0400, Nil wrote:

> On 31 Mar 2010, "Gene E. Bloch" <not-> wrote in
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.general:
>
>> robocopy, which is part of Windows now. It's a command line app.
>
> I believe you're right! I find it on my Vista computer, but I don't
> remember ever installing it there. Good move on MS's part.

It's evidently been around for a few years, but I only became fully aware
of it a few days ago. I vaguely knew such a thing existed, but I didn't
know that it was now built in and I didn't know its name. Google helped.

Handy when I want to back up a camera SD card without rewriting all the
files that are already backed up (that's what motivated me to track it
down). It has many other uses, of course.

--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom

Nil wrote:
> On 31 Mar 2010, "Gordon Biggar"<> wrote
> in microsoft.public.windows.vista.general:
>
>> What I would really like is an easy to use piece of software that
>> updates a file only if it is newer (later time stamp) than what is
>> being updated. This would run much more quickly, and also prevent
>> me from overwriting newer files.
>
> Look for the Microsoft utility Robocopy. It's a command line copy
> utility that has very flexible options regarding that kind of thing.
> I's not super easy to use, but I think it will do your job better
> than most anything else.
I use XCOPY with the /D option in a bat file.

Jim

"Jim" <> wrote in message
news:hp1qq3$i58$...
> Nil wrote:
>> On 31 Mar 2010, "Gordon
>> Biggar"<> wrote
>> in microsoft.public.windows.vista.general:
>>
>>> What I would really like is an easy to use piece of
>>> software that
>>> updates a file only if it is newer (later time stamp)
>>> than what is
>>> being updated. This would run much more quickly, and
>>> also prevent
>>> me from overwriting newer files.
>>
>> Look for the Microsoft utility Robocopy. It's a command
>> line copy
>> utility that has very flexible options regarding that
>> kind of thing.
>> I's not super easy to use, but I think it will do your
>> job better
>> than most anything else.
> I use XCOPY with the /D option in a bat file.
>
> Jim
You may want to look into a program called 'SyncBackSE'. It
is a great piece of software with excellent support. I am
just a user that uses it to synchronize files between two
laptop computers over a network.

David

There certainly appears to be a lot of support for the ROBOCOPY utility!

Naturally, I tried it and struck out immediately. I tried to copy the Excel
Files folder from within the Documents folder as a test to a flash drive. I
used the following command line (with F: as the location of the flash drive
in the USB port):

ROBOCOPY C:\Documents\Excel Files\ F: /MIR

The system came back and said that it couldn't find the source directory.
I'm wondering whether we are back to eight-letter file name designations?

Also, if I were to restore eventually from an external drive, will the
program overwrite all files that I have on the hard drive, regardless of
time stamp?

Thanks for all of the individual responses.

Gordon



"Gordon Biggar" <> wrote in message
news:eyp$...
> I occasionally (every 3 months) back up my hard drives (I am using three
> computers, all similarly configured) to an external storage device. I
> tend to back up the My Documents folders somewhat more frequently
> (monthly). My two desktops are Vista 64s, and the laptop is a Vista
> 32-bit. I use the laptop as the master, so to speak, and will
> occasionally update the My Documents folders of the desktops from this
> machine.
>
> As one might expect, I sometimes overwrite the same file on the desktops
> with an older file from the laptop. What I would really like is an easy
> to use piece of software that updates a file only if it is newer (later
> time stamp) than what is being updated. This would run much more quickly,
> and also prevent me from overwriting newer files.
>
> Gordon Biggar
> Houston, Texas