Post by TimberWolf7.62 on Dec 21, 2009 12:25:55 GMT -5
I am not a fan of Micro$oft (that's an understatement) but I did find a nice little backup utility that they offer for free. Can't beat the price.
www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&displaylang=en
The above link gives a description and download link. I have been running it to (1) backup 2 XP computers to a Linux file server via Samba and a drive letter mapping, and (2) to sync my music from my main XP computer to what I call MusicBox, which is an XP box set up as a (you guessed it) jukebox in my gameroom.
It works nicely although setting up each and every to-and-from backup directory is a bit tedious. If all of your junk is under "My Documents" then all you have to set is one, but my directory structure is a little more complicated than that. Also if you have more than one folder to back up, READ THE DIRECTIONS and add the -R to run all "pairs" (as they call the source and target folders) when you schedule the job.
SyncToy gives the option of incremental backups to include or exclude file deletions, 2-way syncs, and some other options that should take care of all of your backup needs short of a full bit-by-bit image backup.
I recommend creating a shortcut to the logfile and checking it regularly - I have seen several people religiously run backups for years only to find that the media are blank, or corrupt, or missed the critical files they needed. The log is created under the local user folder, i.e., C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\SyncToy\2.0\SyncToyLog.log
So create a shortcut for your desktop, click on it every morning (you DID set up a scheduled job for SyncToy to run overnight, didn't you?) and Notepad will open it up for you. Free, simple, easy to set up - go for it.
www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&displaylang=en
The above link gives a description and download link. I have been running it to (1) backup 2 XP computers to a Linux file server via Samba and a drive letter mapping, and (2) to sync my music from my main XP computer to what I call MusicBox, which is an XP box set up as a (you guessed it) jukebox in my gameroom.
It works nicely although setting up each and every to-and-from backup directory is a bit tedious. If all of your junk is under "My Documents" then all you have to set is one, but my directory structure is a little more complicated than that. Also if you have more than one folder to back up, READ THE DIRECTIONS and add the -R to run all "pairs" (as they call the source and target folders) when you schedule the job.
SyncToy gives the option of incremental backups to include or exclude file deletions, 2-way syncs, and some other options that should take care of all of your backup needs short of a full bit-by-bit image backup.
I recommend creating a shortcut to the logfile and checking it regularly - I have seen several people religiously run backups for years only to find that the media are blank, or corrupt, or missed the critical files they needed. The log is created under the local user folder, i.e., C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\SyncToy\2.0\SyncToyLog.log
So create a shortcut for your desktop, click on it every morning (you DID set up a scheduled job for SyncToy to run overnight, didn't you?) and Notepad will open it up for you. Free, simple, easy to set up - go for it.