Backup Utilities

[bjwe]

Tracey

Trust me. SecondCopy 2000 most definitely does NOT copy whole directories each time - it only copies those files which have changed. If you are in any doubt you can look in its log file which will contain full details of which files have been copied when and also any error conditions encountered (such as file in use). I have absolutely no idea if 2ndCopy is better or worse than the other programs you mention.

It is worth recognising that 2ndCopy operates by polling (ie scanning) the source and destination directories to determine if a file has changed and should be copied. For this reason it does not make sense to run it too frequently. Other programs (eg diskeeper) I suspect operate by intercepting O/S Interrupts when a file has been closed. Personally, I prefer the former just because it is simple and foolproof. The second method could get flooded with interrupts if, say, I copied a whole batch of files to my source directory; this in turn would mean that the number of processes available to the backup program would have to be throttled and arrangements would have to be made to remember which interrupts had been received but not acted upon in the event of the system shutting down before they had all finished. An unlikely situation you might say, but that is what bulletproof software is all about. With the simpler polling scenario you just have to restart (by automatic schedule) the backup again when the system is restarted and everything comes out in the wash.

But I don't understand why I would want to copy a fle as soon as it were closed (saved). I normally save my work every 5-10 minutes which means that my backup is going to run every 5-10 minutes. If I keep 3 generational copies than my oldest backup is going to be 30 minutes old. That's not a lot of use to me.

As far as I can see there are 3 disaster scenarios I want to avoid:

1) the application corrupts the output.
2) I make some changes that I subsequently want to back out.
3) My hard disk fails

I take care of (1) by configuring all my applications to rename the input file (eg .bak)before saving the output.

In the case of (2) I name my files file_1.xar, file_2.xar etc

In the case of (3) I use SecondCopy to incrementally backup to a separate drive.

Brian

[dalel]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>But I don't understand why I would want to copy a file as soon as it were closed (saved). I normally save my work every 5-10 minutes which means that my backup is going to run every 5-10 minutes. If I keep 3 generational copies than my oldest backup is going to be 30 minutes old. That's not a lot of use to me.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Everything you said made sense to me except the 30 minute time period. Your backup software should also backup the NEW generational copies as soon as they are generated, so it would backup twice in that 30 minutes, if I understand you right. It wouldn't back up the original, because you didn't alter it. Am I misreading this?

Because of your #1 disaster scenario, I can see why saving at a short interval might be disastrous, because it would just backup the messed up copy that the application corrupted. I will have to give that some thought, and maybe lengthen my backup interval, so that I have time to revert to the backup copy before the backup software overwrites it with the corrupted file. Of course, saving generational copies would solve this, too.

I hope that made sense! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Good points!

Can anyone else think of any other file disaster scenarios that might occur?

http://talkgraphics.infopop.net/1/Op...&ul=1101906325 [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] Eye Site Web Design
Why, I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, sir, because I’m not myself, you know...
- Lewis Carroll

[traceyp]

Brian

I've already said in an earlier message that Quik Sync works by monitoring the source directories every 15 seconds for changed/new files. So, from what you say about the way that Second Copy works(and I still remain to be convinced), the programs are no different in that respect. Quite frankly I would prefer to have three revisions, the oldest being 30 minutes rather than leave it until the next time Second Copy kicks in.

Apart from this I've already junked Second Copy as I wasn't at all sure of the way it worked. It seemed to be OK but at the same time it seemed to be forever copying files from directories I hadn't touched for days and, for me at least, I found it slowed my PC down quite noticeably and that is something I don't want.

No, I'm happy with my choice of backup utility and I certainly can't afford to keep changing my mind about it. I've got Quik Sync now and I'll have to stick with it for now.

Tracey

[bjwe]

Tracey, you still remain to be convinced about what exactly? If you don't believe me, here is an extract from the 2ndCopy help file and it is unequivocal - it is the very first paragraph from the overview section.

"Second Copy 2000 allows you to keep a "second copy" of all your important files at a different location. Set it up once and forget about it. Second Copy 2000 will copy your files at specified intervals in the background without manual intervention. Initially it will copy all specified files. In subsequent runs it will only copy new or changed files."

Brian

[bjwe]

Ok correction. If I keep 3 generational copies than after I have been working for 40 minutes my oldest backup is going to be 30 minutes old. But most importantly I will have lost my original which when I started was the current backup and which after 40 minutes has been relegated to generational copy -4 which is automatically deleted (because I have configured it to keep only 3 generational copies).

Brian

[traceyp]

Brian

[It seemed to be OK but at the same time it seemed to be forever copying files from directories I hadn't touched for days]

This is why I'm NOT totally convinced and this message is my last on the subject. After all, it is up to us all as to what we want and what suits us best. I know what I believed at the time and in spite of what you say, I DO still remain to be convinced.

I was almost on the point of registering Second Copy as I thought that was the only such utility out there. However, I was left with a niggling doubt in my mind that it didn't do what I wanted it to do. So no, I wasn't going to pay for something that I wasn't sure would suit my purposes. When I found Quik Sync I very quickly found that it did what I wanted.

You're very happy with Second Copy. Great, stick with it. I'm very happy with Quik Sync so I'm sticking with it. We've both got what suits us best so let's leave it at that can we please Brian.

Maybe I AM wrong about Second Copy and I apologise for any upset I may have caused. The last thing I want to do is upset to ANYONE. It was an honest error and what I said was said honestly since it is what I believed at the time. OK, you've put me right but at the end of the day we've both got what we are happy with - lets leave it like that and, if you like, lets agree to disagree. All the best Brian.

Tracey

[dalel]

Risto's troubles reminded me that I have not updated anyone on my backup situation.

I have been using Polder Backup and Window Scheduler for two months now, without a single problem. The two programs work perfectly together and use very little resources, so I usually don't even notice they are working.

I still have a demo of Second Copy, just in case.

Once again, If anyone is interested in backing up for free, here are the URL's:

http://www.splinterware.com - Window Scheduler

http://www.xs4all.nl/~philippo/PolderBackup.htm

http://talkgraphics.infopop.net/1/Op...&ul=1101906325 [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] Eye Site Web Design
Why, I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, sir, because I’m not myself, you know...
- Lewis Carroll

[Gaussian]

I'm really happy that it works for you Dale.
I also want to share my experiences. I have been using Second Copy now for more than a month and I'm very satisfied too. It's simple to set up and after that you don't even notice when it's making a back up. I make a backup every hour and archive 5 versions max. Works great and it never crashed.
I use it with Win2k.

Web site: http://www.centered.com/

Price: $29.95

[dporter]

Hi All,

I've just started playing around with a free Backup utility called 'EXBACKUP-IT-UP'. So far it look pretty good and has a built in scheduler.

Check it out.

http://www.rdcomp.net/

regards, Dave Porter

[hmck]

Having read the long discussion on this rather important topic the one thing that comes over is that what suits one person does not always suit everyone. We all seem to have as many preferences/requirements for backup as we have operating systems.

For example, I keep my Xara and Exported image files on my main computer hard disc but I have two external 80 Gbyte Lacie FireWire hard discs for backup. And the programme that I use for the backup is freeware and is called Rapid Backup by Mike Lin (http://www.mlin.net/). This, although there is an automatic option, I prefer to use manually as it is so remarkably fast. Like most of the programmes discussed it just saves any altered files from the selected directory and the 15 seconds that it takes, every 30 minutes or so, is time that is very well spent. My exported .tif files are quite big, typically 200MBytes, and this routine with two backup hard discs has been in operation for many months with absolutely no problems.

Hugh McKerrell