backup programs

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by bob palmer, Feb 1, 2020.

  1. bob palmer

    bob palmer Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2020
    Posts:
    8
    Location:
    usa
    i would like to do backups to a usb hard drive i have built up, i used to just add files to a 64gb thumb drive but one day i went to add a file and the thumb drive was not useable. so all those files were gone. so the win10 forum suggested getting some type of nas backup system but may those are not cheap. that is why i used a thumb drive. so i got a 500gb hard drive and enclosure that plugs into the usb port. yes it maynot be fast but i have a backup now on something i can recover if the drive starts giving me fits.

    so i asked the win10 guys about using windows for doing backup and yes it does but it does not like doing them to usb ports automatically. so i found this free program called corbin. and that seems to work, but i have questions and no one from corbin answers questions. so maybe this forum will help.

    what i would like to find out is will corban after it does the first backup and then i set it to differential backups delete the oldest backup to save disk space? or is there a good backup program the is not out of the world costly or even free. i don't mind paying for a good backup program but most i have found will not let you try them first to make sure they do what you need them to do for you. corban is a bit technical so to save some t/s time or the big learning curve, i figure maybe someone here has a good way to do this. thanks
     
  2. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2011
    Posts:
    4,945
    Location:
    The Pond - USA
    Bob, I think you mean COBIAN rather than CORBIN. There are many FREE file replicators/synchers which is what Cobian seems to do. I'm sure many will jump in on this. The FREE one mentioned the most here has been Karen's Replicator... give it a look.
     
  3. bob palmer

    bob palmer Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2020
    Posts:
    8
    Location:
    usa
    say thanks i will give that on a try also. i'm experimenting now with the esata port but i think that is slower than the 3.o ports. and some research seems to back that up. i have the hp probook and it has 2 3.0 ports and the esata port but the usb hard drive i have connected now in the esata port has a usb plug on it so my guess is that is using the 2.0 usb technology that this port has. i learned that the esata needs external power so my guess is that's why they have a usb port next to the esata port.

    anyway i will give that a try and see if it does better. being the taln here leans to that program. thanks much.
     
  4. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2005
    Posts:
    12,115
    Location:
    NSW, Australia
    Bob,

    Robocopy is a backup app in Win10. Fast, free of course and backups can be scheduled. Backs up to any partition with a drive letter and also to network drives.
     
  5. bob palmer

    bob palmer Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2020
    Posts:
    8
    Location:
    usa
    where in win10 is it i type robocopy in the windows start/search and i got nothing. i did see a robocopy.exe but i click it and i get nothing. it fails to show as running or even posting a shortcut on the desktop. nothing on the taskbar, so how do you start it up? thanks
     
  6. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2011
    Posts:
    4,945
    Location:
    The Pond - USA
    RoboCopy is a COMMAND LINE utility so it only runs interactively under a COMMAND PROMPT window. See HERE for lots of additional information...

    THIS is the MicroSloth description (the other reference is much better)...
     
  7. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2012
    Posts:
    1,718
    I believe folder and file synchronization is superior to backup in that the data is always accessible on the external drive as it is on the original. SyncBackFree is an excellent choice: highly configurable yet simple and intuitive, take your time to go through the (many) settings. It's also free.

    p.s. Cobian is abandonware, the last update was in 2012.
     
  8. bob palmer

    bob palmer Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2020
    Posts:
    8
    Location:
    usa
    i'm leaning that way for corbian also as no one really answers questions. so now i have a few to try. what i'm looking for is a program that will do a complete backup for the first one on the backup drive and then the next backup just do what changed. then if the drive starts to get ful delete the differential backup as needed to be able to create the next backup. so if it has a complete backup for the first backup then after that it does a backup for what has changed and then after that delete the what changed backup and put in a new one, or down that road anyway. corbian does the main backup and then will do what they call differential backups but i have yet to find where i can make it delete thsoe backups to make sace for the next one it is doing. there is no need to have tons of differential backups when only one is really needed. thanks
     
  9. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2011
    Posts:
    4,945
    Location:
    The Pond - USA
    Bob, many of the replicators in use do not have what's known as continued differentials. What they will do is update the contents (and file descriptors, if necessary) each time the backup is run keeping the target always up to date. The update usually only contains the file content changes.

    If you're looking for "archives" (file states along the way) you'll need to look a little deeper for applications that do differential archives.
     
  10. bob palmer

    bob palmer Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2020
    Posts:
    8
    Location:
    usa
    no that is what i'm looking for. what i may have to do is go in and delete the oldest differential every time. if i recall years ago i either ran a window program or some other program that did that you ran the first backup and then it ran every week if that is how you set it up to do and then all it did was anything that changed. and then it the third or forth backup it did it would then go back and delete the oldest backup so it took a long time to fill a drive.

    i had an extra hard drive in my tower pc and that was just for backups and it never di fill up. but by now that program is gone. and i just do not remember what it was called anymore. back then you got them free to try and if it did what you wanted then you bought it.

    i had a video store that had a very large program and to keep up with the customers data i ran that program, either window or another one. what it did was update the customer data base every week. and if i deleted a customer that custome got taken out of the database as a backup and i had to restore a few times and those customers never were back in the program. so i know at one time it was possible. now with the nas systems they may have changed the way backups are done.
    thanks
     
  11. The Seeker

    The Seeker Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2005
    Posts:
    1,338
    Location:
    Adelaide
    Check out Bvckup 2. A paid program, but worth every penny.
     
  12. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2011
    Posts:
    4,945
    Location:
    The Pond - USA
    It sounds like the OP would like to keep multiple differentials of FileBackups, at the moment Bvckup2 only does 1-level with its "archiving."
     
  13. angstrom

    angstrom Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2013
    Posts:
    126
    Location:
    Switzerland
  14. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2011
    Posts:
    4,945
    Location:
    The Pond - USA
    I stand corrected, I think. @angstrom , are those folders differentials (which the OP wanted) or individual FULL backups?

    I'm learning something every day :)
     
  15. bob palmer

    bob palmer Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2020
    Posts:
    8
    Location:
    usa
    so i tired the syncback_backup but that one once i ran the backup and it closed i had to run the setup again. that will never work. i'm not going to run the setup program every week.

    now i have karan's running but then again i have not found the setting that keeps it in the back so at the set time it just runs. corbian does that as well. i did find in karan's that you can delete the other backups so now i have it set to do differential, or filed that have changed and will look tl see if it deletes the oldest folders/files or if it just deletes the complete drive and starts over.

    so if it does this i will see how to make it so it will start up by itself, so later today if this program deletes files/folder and just keep the latest data on my drive, i will set it to do a backup later tonight or tomorrow morning and then reboot the pc and then delete the test backup usb drive and see if karan's starts and does the backups like i want. i will reboot and let it do the firs full backup if it will with what i have in the settings and then i will reboot and see if it does the differentials.

    does anyone know if karan's has a forum for help with this program?

    thanks.
     
  16. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2006
    Posts:
    23,936
    Location:
    UK
  17. sdmod

    sdmod Shadow Defender Expert

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2010
    Posts:
    1,159
    Not a forum but Karen's Power Tools is here

    Frequently Asked Questions

     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2020
  18. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2011
    Posts:
    4,945
    Location:
    The Pond - USA
    ...and there is a Trouble Ticket support System... which is very, very rare for FREE software.
     
  19. sdmod

    sdmod Shadow Defender Expert

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2010
    Posts:
    1,159
    DSynchronize by Dimio might be worth a look


    I love the Dimio attitude. I wish all software was like this.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2020
  20. angstrom

    angstrom Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2013
    Posts:
    126
    Location:
    Switzerland
    Full backups. Basically N replicas of the source, updated in rotating order. There's also an option to retain past copies of modified files, but they aren't grouped, so it may or may not qualify as "differentials" depending on its exact definition. I am planning to rework this however, so they will be grouped by date/time.
     
  21. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2012
    Posts:
    1,718
    If you're talking SyncBackFree, it's not the backup option you should chose but the mirror one:
    sync.png

    That option will keep the backup disk always equal to the original, and you can schedule the task as well.

    https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/syncback-free-review.html
     
  22. bob palmer

    bob palmer Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2020
    Posts:
    8
    Location:
    usa
    how do you get syncback to run in the background? i tried the program and i had to run the setup every time i wanted to run it. thanks
     
  23. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2012
    Posts:
    1,718
  24. bob palmer

    bob palmer Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2020
    Posts:
    8
    Location:
    usa
    thansk but i do not see that in the free version. and i have to go into the download section of windows and find this program everytime i try to run it. it is not in the program folders or on the desktop. so if i have to do this every time i will not bother. at this time i trying to get karan's backup to go how i want but that is giving me fits. if i do not get that soon i will just copy all the files i wan now and then to a thumb stick and then every month do a windows backup of the complete system and be done with it, i have spent way to much time on this already.

    in the past i just had a windows backup on a usb hard drive and i had all the pictures and doc's and downloaded programs on a thumb drive. but i was trying to make this a bit more automatic. and it is looking like it is more work than how i have been doing this all along. thanks for the help.
     
  25. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2012
    Posts:
    1,718
    But it is there. Check Dedoimedo's review I linked some posts above.
     
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.