Question from an eejit - backing up data

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jack Sheet
  • Start date Start date
J

Jack Sheet

Hi, hope you can help.
I have an external hard drive to which I periodically back up the documents
from my laptop. I do this by copying "My Documents" folder in Windows
Explorer and pasting the entire folder into the external drive, overwriting
the previous version. This is for me an unsatisfactory solution because I
am prompted whether I want to overwrite existing files previously backed up.
If I answer yes, or yes to all, then it takes an age to complete the backup
(about 100 Gb). If I answer no, then it stops the copying operation
entirely. I do not get a (desired) prompt: "Copy and paste only files that
are either missing from the destination folder or have an earlier "last
modified" date in the destination folder." Can I achieve this by loading a
Command Prompt and using a DOS copy command, and if so, what switches or
arguments should be appended to the command to achieve this? Is there a
better method? Thanks.
 
Xcopy, which is included with Windows (Windows\system32
folder) will do what you want to do. (there are other free
programs on the internet that will do this job better.)

Create a batch file with the following line

XCOPY "C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\*USER NAME*\MY
DOCUMENTS\*.*" X: /M /E /G /R /C /Y

The quotes around the first section is required. The
*Username* is to put in your user name. The X: is the
destination drive (you can also put in your destination
folder but it is not necessary.) The switches will copy all
files with changed file attribute set and reset the
attribute.


If you go to command prompt and type xcopy /? it will list
all switches.
Hope this helps.
 
Jack Sheet said:
Hi, hope you can help.
I have an external hard drive to which I periodically back up the documents
from my laptop. I do this by copying "My Documents" folder in Windows
Explorer and pasting the entire folder into the external drive, overwriting
the previous version. This is for me an unsatisfactory solution because I am
prompted whether I want to overwrite existing files previously backed up. If I
answer yes, or yes to all, then it takes an age to complete the backup (about
100 Gb). If I answer no, then it stops the copying operation entirely. I do
not get a (desired) prompt: "Copy and paste only files that are either missing
from the destination folder or have an earlier "last modified" date in the
destination folder." Can I achieve this by loading a Command Prompt and using
a DOS copy command, and if so, what switches or arguments should be appended
to the command to achieve this? Is there a better method? Thanks.
Click to expand...


You might want to look into this program available from Microsoft.

SyncToy v1.4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...54-C975-4814-9649-CCE41AF06EB7&displaylang=en

The downside to installing this program is that it requires Microsoft .NET
Framework v2.0, which takes up almost 100MB of HD space, be installed as well.

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
Thanks for the link. This looks like it fits the bill perfectly. Many
years ago, before XP came on the scene, I used to use something similar
called 4DOS which was a complete command.com replacement. Sort of lost
track of command line functions since then. I recall another product "Take
Command" produced by the same outfit that does the same sort of stuff for a
GUI. I just did some googling and find that it is still out there, at
http://www.jpsoft.com/tcmddes.htm
although the price seems to have shot up over the years.
 
Thanks for the help LVT

LVTravel said:
Xcopy, which is included with Windows (Windows\system32 folder) will do
what you want to do. (there are other free programs on the internet that
will do this job better.)

Create a batch file with the following line

XCOPY "C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\*USER NAME*\MY DOCUMENTS\*.*" X: /M /E
/G /R /C /Y

The quotes around the first section is required. The *Username* is to put
in your user name. The X: is the destination drive (you can also put in
your destination folder but it is not necessary.) The switches will copy
all files with changed file attribute set and reset the attribute.


If you go to command prompt and type xcopy /? it will list all switches.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
 
Nepatsfan said:
You might want to look into this program available from Microsoft.

SyncToy v1.4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...54-C975-4814-9649-CCE41AF06EB7&displaylang=en

The downside to installing this program is that it requires Microsoft .NET
Framework v2.0, which takes up almost 100MB of HD space, be installed as
well.

Good luck

Nepatsfan
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. Looks like it has a sort of "briefcase" feel to it. I
never could get on with briefcase. I have .NET framework 2.0 on the system
already, but it looks as though xxcopy will do the trick for me now. Thanks
again.
 
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