External HDD for backup

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by khanyash, Apr 2, 2015.

  1. khanyash

    khanyash Registered Member

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    I have a seperate partition i.e "E" on my system for personal stuffs.
    Now I have got external HDD so I will copy the whole partition to external HDD.
    Now all the personal stuffs will also be on the system & over time stuffs will be added/changed/removed. So instead of copying everything to the external HDD everytime, how can I only copy the changed/added ones & also remove the deleted ones from external HDD?
    Any good & reliable free software?

    Also there are quite many duplicates in "E" drive, how can I remove duplicates?
    Any good & reliable free software?

    Win 7 64
     
  2. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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  3. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    Everybody is going to have their favorite tools, and use them in different ways.

    I'm currently using the last freeware version of EasyDuplicateFinder, 2.41. The latest version, which is payware, is bloated and the interface is starting to be dumbed down. The webpage looks like spam, but it isn't.
    http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1334
    http://www.easyduplicatefinder.com/

    Then there is CloneSpy!
    http://www.clonespy.com/?Home

    I like FreeFileSync and DirSync, too.
    http://www.freefilesync.org/
    http://softology.com.au/dirsync.htm
     
  4. khanyash

    khanyash Registered Member

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    FreeFileSync for copying files to external HDD, right?
    I actually checked it but couldn't find how to use it the way I have mentioned in my opening post?
    Can it be used that way & how plzz?
     
  5. khanyash

    khanyash Registered Member

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    The sync mode seems to work the way I am looking for.
    I will have to check it & see how it works.

    Any experience how reliable is it?
     
  6. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Bvckup 2 last FREE version (Final BETA) may be downloaded from the bottom of their HomePage... a wonderful File Replicator. The Final BETA is of production quality...
     
  7. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    I think you want to mirror. Make the external disk look exactly like what you have on E:

    "E:\test" = "ExternalDriveLetter\test"

    With the mirror function, what is on the right side will be made to look like the left side. You can use the COMPARE function to scan and review the changes.

    Despite all the flash and fanfare exhibited in FFS I use DirSync much more. A single click lets me work through a simple batch file like so:

    "C:\test1" "E:\test1"
    "C:\test2" "E:\test2"
     
  8. khanyash

    khanyash Registered Member

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    I installed the beta & it mention update available & update details mention this is a production release & 14 day trial will be started & users can downgrade to beta for free version.
     
  9. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Well... it's supposed to be the BETA. If it isn't, just downgrade.

    If you want the BETA, I can make it available for you to install... lemme know if needed.
     
  10. khanyash

    khanyash Registered Member

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    I installed the beta & its fine.

    I just mentioned that the production release was available as an update & then came to know that there is no free version but beta version is free, right?

    But must say clean & good interface with good options.

    Is the beta stable enough to work on production system & reliable will work properly?

    First I thought will be feature limited freeware but visited the site & came to know that no free version.

    Any experience of fastcopy?
    Just tested it quickly to see if it works the way I have mentioned in my opening post & it works. But the test was very quick involving just 2 folders & 4 notepad files that I kept modifying to test if it works good.

    I am not looking for realtime thing but manual thing.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2015
  11. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    MerleOne has a lot of experience with this app. I used it recently to copy a data partition to a USB3 external HD....

    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thre...se-for-cloning-a-hdd-100.374689/#post-2475073

    Bvckup 2 took 137 minutes for the same test.

    A FastCopy Sync backup took 11 seconds. (after the data had already been copied)
     
  12. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    I was part of the BETA test program and the last public BETA was solid as a rock... I still use it on a lot of family systems. It will be missing some of the most recent added features but for what your described need it, BVCKUP2 should work just fine...
     
  13. angstrom

    angstrom Registered Member

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  14. Alexhousek

    Alexhousek Registered Member

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    Regarding the BETA of BVCKUP2, I just installed it and tried it. It backed up or synced 3.52 GB of my documents, files, pictures, and music in 2 minutes and 35 seconds! That was unbelievably fast....
     
  15. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    ...and when it backs up your changes at the next interval, it will only write the DELTA (difference... parts of the file that changed), not a whole new copy of the file.

    Alex, the author, has tuned this li'l devil very well. I've been using it for months and love the set'n'forget nature of it. it's a very nice li'l app!
     
  16. khanyash

    khanyash Registered Member

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    Can it delete files/folders in the destination if the files/folders doesn't exist in source?
     
  17. khanyash

    khanyash Registered Member

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    In Sync mode, only modifications & new files/folders are copied instead of everything, m I right?
    So its something like delta feature of BVCKUP2 mentioned by RollbackFrog in the post above?
     
  18. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    It does that automatically. It's primarily a FILE REPLICATOR, keeping the DESTINATION in sync with the SOURCE. There is an option to "set aside" (in a separate folder on the TARGET) the most recent file deletions... just in case.
     
  19. khanyash

    khanyash Registered Member

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    I will test it & post any queries here.
     
  20. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    What is the method of detection of file differences?
     
  21. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    If they've changed, I assume he compares them but only writes the differences... I don't know of another way.
     
  22. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Alex,

    I downloaded and installed Bvckup 2 on the day I did the test. That test was copying everything (excluded $RECYCLE.BIN, System Volume Information) in an internal HD partition to a USB3 external HD partition.

    I'm currently copying the same internal HD partition to another internal HD partition. Different HDs. I'll download another Bvckup 2 and do the test later this morning.
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2015
  23. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    What I meant was how does it know if a file has changed, does it scan bit-by-bit and compute a checksum? Or does it look at date/filesize. Or some other method?
     
  24. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    I'm sure it uses top level file/folder modified info. I know when you use their REAL TIME feature and you select a top level folder but only some sub-folders for processing, everytime anything in that top level folder changes, it jumps to look at its responsible sub-folders... and may find nothing changed... the change was elsewhere in the top level folder.1

    I know it also uses checksums for some of its detection but don't know the details.

    Alex's FORUMs have a lot of information available about the product... he's been very forthcoming about details.
     
  25. khanyash

    khanyash Registered Member

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    I am also going to copy everything from my internal HD partition i.e "E" i.e Personal Data Drive to external HD.
    During my quick test I saw Recycle & System Volume Information, should I not copy these to external HD?
     
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