How to know which files to transfer to backup hardrive

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Nick
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So, I’ve copied all my files from my external hard drive to another one as a backup.. so when I’m adding loads of different files to my normal one, how do I know which ones I’ve already transferred or is there a software that will copy them
Over for me say once a week or something because I’ve completely lost track?

thanks for any help
Nick
 
If you're using Windows there's a utility called Robocopy which you already have. It's a bit of a faff to use but I've been using it for years to mirror the non-OS files from my PC to my NAS. A task set up in Task Scheduler makes this happen overnight, every night. Post the path of a folder you're copying plus where you're copying it to and I'll give you a Robocopy line that you can copy into a batch file and modify for any other folders you need to copy.
 
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you set up profiles - for each folder you wish to backup from your PC to your external HDD

i do Pictures, Documents, Music, etc etc each morning

it creates a 'mirror' on the HDD - deleting/and adding files as needed
 
So, I’ve copied all my files from my external hard drive to another one as a backup.. so when I’m adding loads of different files to my normal one, how do I know which ones I’ve already transferred or is there a software that will copy them
Over for me say once a week or something because I’ve completely lost track?

thanks for any help
Nick

You can download and install any various backup software. They're designed differently but generally have similar methods. They can be set up to automatically back up your files in various ways...

  • All files or new and recently changed files only
  • Automatically as soon as a file had changed
  • Automatically on a pre-set day and time
  • Manually whenever you want

Depending on the backup application software's design. The automatically backup on pre-set day and time, can vary to suit your needs, such as...

  • Every 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes
  • Every hour, every two hours, 6 hours, 12 hours
  • Every day at same time, every two days, every 7 days

For example...

My Workflow folder which contains my current work, files that I am working on, which are saved every time I add more text, paragraph, make changes to an image file, graphic design file, etc. It is set to backup every half hour.

My User folder, where Windows tend to keep Documents, Pictures, etc, would have files changed only once a day, or every few days. So they get backed up every 6 hours.

My Archives folder which is where I store finished files, including photographs, gets manually backed up when I know I've completed a project and transfer the file from Workflow folder to Archives folder.

And they all are set to backup only new and recently changed files to save time, otherwise if set to backup all files, you could be waiting a while for the backup software to complete backing up files that had not even changed and are still the same files.
 
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