Windows backup software

[Bryan]

For many years I've used a simple backup program that I think was provided by Microsoft. You selected the directories to copy to an external drive and it went through and copied any new files. It appears to have disappeared from my computer, and I can't now remember what it was called.  I didn't knowingly delete it, maybe a Microsoft update has purged the program ?

 

Sorry about the vagueness, put it down to advancing years !  Can anyone assist? 

 

[wiskerke]

54 minutes ago, Bryan said:

For many years I've used a simple backup program that I think was provided by Microsoft. You selected the directories to copy to an external drive and it went through and copied any new files. It appears to have disappeared from my computer, and I can't now remember what it was called.  I didn't knowingly delete it, maybe a Microsoft update has purged the program ?

 

Sorry about the vagueness, put it down to advancing years !  Can anyone assist? 

 

 

Was it Robocopy?

 

wim

edit: SyncToy does something like that but I use Total Commander. (It can however do lots of damage if you're not careful.)

Edited January 7, 2022 by wiskerke

[Bryan]

Thanks Wim, I recognise SyncToy, no idea why it has gone ! I'm not all that careful so possibly Total Commander is a tad too powerful for me !

[Joseph Clemson]

Getting a definitive answer on the web is proving difficult but it looks like Microsoft support for SyncToy has been withdrawn and the download no longer works. Apparently it had problems co-existing with Windows 10. It is still possible to find the program at other download sites, but given the lack of support from Microsoft, you many feel more comfortable looking for an alternative. I will certainly have to at some point as I used to use SyncToy too and will need something similar before too long if my backup strategy is to work properly :-(.

 

[Allan Bell]

I'm on a Mac and use "Carbon Copy Cloner". Very good. Set up and forget. Runs in background.

 

Do not know if it is compatible with windows but I think it would be.

 

Mine was free when I got it and had free updates since but I think it might be pay for now.

 

Worth a look as there may be a cut down version free.

 

Allan

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by Allan Bell

[M.Chapman]

I use FreeFileSync for cross platform backups.

https://freefilesync.org

 

Mark

[Bryan]

Thanks for all of the responses folks !

 

I looked up FreeFileSync and it appears to do much the same as SyncToy did, so could be the answer. Thanks Mark.

[aphperspective]

You could try the AOMEI Back up software. Its a free (put it in Google) will take you to it. Easy to use. I have been trying it out.

[Panthera tigris]

10 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

I'm on a Mac and use "Carbon Copy Cloner". Very good. Set up and forget. Runs in background.

 

I second that choice. luv the ease of use and automation. 

[Bryan]

I've installed and used FreeFileSync. It's free, or you can make a small donation and get some extra bells and whistles and maybe lose the ads. I chose the latter course. It provides many more options than SyncToy but at the basic level is easy to use and appears to work well. 

 

Do I really need to backup thousands of photos ? In truth probably not, those of family that might be of interest to offspring in the future, but stock photos ????

[NYCat]

4 hours ago, Bryan said:

I've installed and used FreeFileSync. It's free, or you can make a small donation and get some extra bells and whistles and maybe lose the ads. I chose the latter course. It provides many more options than SyncToy but at the basic level is easy to use and appears to work well. 

 

Do I really need to backup thousands of photos ? In truth probably not, those of family that might be of interest to offspring in the future, but stock photos ????

 

Oh my goodness. I have mine backed up multiple times. Can you really bear the thought of your work disappearing?? Of course most of mine are of places I'll never see again. 

 

Paulette

[Bryan]

3 minutes ago, NYCat said:

 

Oh my goodness. I have mine backed up multiple times. Can you really bear the thought of your work disappearing?? Of course most of mine are of places I'll never see again. 

 

Paulette

 

I guess you're right, my wife occasionally asks to see a slide show of our previous jaunts, New England in autumn is her favourite. 

 

I wish I had taken more photos when I was much younger of mundane scenes that are no more, but a lack of cash and other priorities got in the way.

[Allan Bell]

4 hours ago, NYCat said:

 

Oh my goodness. I have mine backed up multiple times. Can you really bear the thought of your work disappearing?? Of course most of mine are of places I'll never see again. 

 

Paulette

 

Agree with Paulette. I have 5 copies of each that includes RAW and TIFF plus sidecar files.  Disc space is cheap enough.

 

Allan

 

[Inchiquin]

22 hours ago, Bryan said:

 

I wish I had taken more photos when I was much younger of mundane scenes that are no more, but a lack of cash and other priorities got in the way.

 

 

I did take photos of mundane things years ago. But space to keep all the slides in an easily accessible place was always a problem and eventually I adopted a ruthless weeding-out policy and chucked away many thousands of pics that I deemed to be of neither sentimental nor artistic value. Then I joined Alamy...

 

I make a point of not regretting things - there's no point because you can't go back and regret only uses up mental energy that would be better spent on the things that you can do. But if I did do regret, this would be one of the very few candidates.

 

Alan

[spacecadet]

A few hundred more b/w pix from London in 1979 would be nice. But we were only issued with one roll of Tri-X per assignment and I was more interested in film-making anyway. Materials were a bit expensive for students.

I still love my A1 but no way do I want to pay £15 for a roll of slide film, plus processing. Crazy.

Five copies is very conscientious. I manage about one and a half. I got a 2TB external for Christmas so things have improved a bit.

Edited January 9, 2022 by spacecadet

[Bryan]

I only backup digital raw files and JPGs and can't see the point in keeping TIFFs, other than film scans or, very occasionally, work in progress.

 

I could do with purging some of my earlier digital repetitive rubbish, I've since learned to be much more ruthless.  Current size of my photo backup is 1.17 TB containing 164,741 files, it takes a long while to back up.