Automatic backup programs

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Does anyone have a recommendation for an automatic backup program? I’d like to be able to have a series of files backed up to CD once a week (or more) without having to do this manually through Windows’ copy and save to acrobatics. Preferably, the program would recognize files that haven’t changed since the previous save and ignore them for other changed files. I know that Karen’s Replicator has often been recommended here but I can’t for the life of me set it up to do a weekly save to a CD. Any suggestions?

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I use Roxio Creator Classic, define the different drive:folder(s) that I want to back up and save as a project. All I have to do is open Creator open the project, pop in a CD or DVD and run the project. This CD DVD will be readable by any CD DVD player.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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I use Roxio Creator Classic, define the different drive:folder(s) that I want to back up and save as a project. All I have to do is open Creator open the project, pop in a CD or DVD and run the project. This CD DVD will be readable by any CD DVD player.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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I have used xxcopy for this purpose. There are a myriad of switches that can be used for all kinds of synchronized backups. Once you’ve written a simple batch file for the task, it’s just a matter of running that. Look for the /clone switch (and “Differential Backup”) on the website for details.

Alan

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For what it’s worth, I use NTI’s Backup Now! but it’s not free. I don’t use it for CD backup but that seems to be what it’s designed for. Now, as for “automatic” I don’t know what will happen if you put a CD in your burner, setup a schedule to backup certain files in the middle of the night, and ….. You’ll have to try it to see. Sorry. In my case I do the above, but to a LAN destination rather than CD.

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I’m with Al on NTI Backup. I use it to burn backups to CD-RW. Individual backup routines are saved, which the scheduling feature runs whenever you say.
I leave a CD-RW in the burner(unless it’s in use), and alternate each night between a full, and a differential backup of my data files (about 90M and 5M, typically). Each morning the tray is out, and I know the burn was completed. With compression, it takes about 10 days to fill the CD. Changing out the CD-RW and erasing the oldest of 3 CDs that I use for this is the only maintenence. I keep the newest copy at the office.
I periodically generate one-offs of data backup to another drive for files that don’t need daily protection.
The only downside I can see, but haven’t experienced, is that the backup file is NTI-proprietary…you need the program to restore. It’s not a big issue for me since I have DOS restoreable images to get back into business after a catastrophe.

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Thanks to everyone for the replies. I’m giving the NTI Backup Now program a trial run. It’d be nice if it were but if it works as well as Rick says, then I’ll put down my money. Thanks again for the different options

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Also, check out Karen Kenworthy’s Replicator. It is

Joe

--Joe

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See his original post, Joe.

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Oops!! I’ve been on vacation and must be having trouble getting my eyes to focus on a monitor again.

Joe

--Joe

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Oops!! I’ve been on vacation and must be having trouble getting my eyes to focus on a monitor again.

Joe

--Joe

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See his original post, Joe.

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Also, check out Karen Kenworthy’s Replicator. It is

Joe

--Joe

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Sorry for the redundant info. What happens with Replicator when you setup the job? Can you post the job settings?

Joe

--Joe

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Hi Joe,

Sorry to be slow in getting back to you. In Karen’s Replicator, the job is impossible because the program won’t allow me to select my CD-DVD drive (Replicator asks for a destination folder). It is altogether possible that I’m doing something obviously stupid here and that there is an easy workaround, but the point of my backups is to have them on a CDR so that I can move them around with me. I hope this makes sense.

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Hi Tony,
Can’t you just type in your CD-DVD drive letter and a folder name – assume the drive letter is e – E:backup_folder. You’d need either Roxio’s Direct CD or Nero’s InCd or XP built-in CD burning for this to work.

Joe

--Joe

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I gave that a shot but it didn’t work for some reason. Here’s an excerpt of the log with the errors:

6/4/2004 5:34:55 PM: Logging Started Computer=ATL User=Anthony App=Karen’s Replicator v2.2.3
6/4/2004 5:34:55 PM: Running Manual Job: Bi-Weekly Backup
6/4/2004 5:34:55 PM: Copy Failure: Could not Open Destination File (File Possibly In Use/Locked): E:Backup Folder My DocumentsBudgetrecherche2003.pdf
6/4/2004 5:34:55 PM: Copy Failure: Could not Open Destination File (File Possibly In Use/Locked): E:Backup Folder My DocumentsBudgetrecherche2004.pdf
6/4/2004 5:34:55 PM: Copy Failure: Could not Open Destination File (File Possibly In Use/Locked): E:Backup Folder My Documentscalendrierop

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Do you have some software that allows drag and drop of files to your CD-DVD burner?

Joe

--Joe

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Thanks for the quick replies, Joe. What I’ve done in the past is use XP’s copy to CD-DVD function to line up the folders/files that I want to backup and then burned them. But since I do get paranoid about the tons of things now on my hard drive, I wanted a weekly backup of all of my documents/files, and that just added up to lots of clicking and dragging, thus the reason for finding a program that could do it all for me.

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You’re welcome Tony. Not much help so far. Are you using CDs or DVDs? What kind of media +/-R or +/-RW?

Joe

--Joe

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I’m using CD-RW at the moment but I sometimes also use CD-R depending on what’s in the office at the moment.

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I’m not sure about Replicator being able to use XP’s built-in burning. Do you have Roxio, Nero, or some other CD burning software available?
Joe

--Joe

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Sorry to be so long in getting back to you, Joe. I don’t have Roxio or Nero on my PC but it came loaded with Sonic, which Dell Europe puts on its PCs. I’ve been trying out the ZipBackup program that’s advertised in the Woody’s letters and it allows me to select my CD-DVD drive for the backup. It’s quite easy to use and allows all of the options I originally mentioned: partial or full backup, write to CD-DVD drive but it doesn’t have a scheduler, meaning I have to run it myself each evening. The added plus is that the files are in WinZip format allowing for easy backup elsewhere (i.e. my wife’s PC) in case everything melted down on my PC.

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Terrific!!! Glad you found something that works for you.

Joe

--Joe

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Terrific!!! Glad you found something that works for you.

Joe

--Joe

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Have you looked at the Windows Task Scheduler? It should be able to schedule any task you want to start whenever you want it to run.
Start: all programs: accessories: system tools: scheduled tasks

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Have you looked at the Windows Task Scheduler? It should be able to schedule any task you want to start whenever you want it to run.
Start: all programs: accessories: system tools: scheduled tasks

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Sorry to be so long in getting back to you, Joe. I don’t have Roxio or Nero on my PC but it came loaded with Sonic, which Dell Europe puts on its PCs. I’ve been trying out the ZipBackup program that’s advertised in the Woody’s letters and it allows me to select my CD-DVD drive for the backup. It’s quite easy to use and allows all of the options I originally mentioned: partial or full backup, write to CD-DVD drive but it doesn’t have a scheduler, meaning I have to run it myself each evening. The added plus is that the files are in WinZip format allowing for easy backup elsewhere (i.e. my wife’s PC) in case everything melted down on my PC.

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I’m not sure about Replicator being able to use XP’s built-in burning. Do you have Roxio, Nero, or some other CD burning software available?
Joe

--Joe

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I’m using CD-RW at the moment but I sometimes also use CD-R depending on what’s in the office at the moment.

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You’re welcome Tony. Not much help so far. Are you using CDs or DVDs? What kind of media +/-R or +/-RW?

Joe

--Joe

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Thanks for the quick replies, Joe. What I’ve done in the past is use XP’s copy to CD-DVD function to line up the folders/files that I want to backup and then burned them. But since I do get paranoid about the tons of things now on my hard drive, I wanted a weekly backup of all of my documents/files, and that just added up to lots of clicking and dragging, thus the reason for finding a program that could do it all for me.

Reply | Quote

Do you have some software that allows drag and drop of files to your CD-DVD burner?

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

I gave that a shot but it didn’t work for some reason. Here’s an excerpt of the log with the errors:

6/4/2004 5:34:55 PM: Logging Started Computer=ATL User=Anthony App=Karen’s Replicator v2.2.3
6/4/2004 5:34:55 PM: Running Manual Job: Bi-Weekly Backup
6/4/2004 5:34:55 PM: Copy Failure: Could not Open Destination File (File Possibly In Use/Locked): E:Backup Folder My DocumentsBudgetrecherche2003.pdf
6/4/2004 5:34:55 PM: Copy Failure: Could not Open Destination File (File Possibly In Use/Locked): E:Backup Folder My DocumentsBudgetrecherche2004.pdf
6/4/2004 5:34:55 PM: Copy Failure: Could not Open Destination File (File Possibly In Use/Locked): E:Backup Folder My Documentscalendrierop

Reply | Quote

Hi Tony,
Can’t you just type in your CD-DVD drive letter and a folder name – assume the drive letter is e – E:backup_folder. You’d need either Roxio’s Direct CD or Nero’s InCd or XP built-in CD burning for this to work.

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Hi Joe,

Sorry to be slow in getting back to you. In Karen’s Replicator, the job is impossible because the program won’t allow me to select my CD-DVD drive (Replicator asks for a destination folder). It is altogether possible that I’m doing something obviously stupid here and that there is an easy workaround, but the point of my backups is to have them on a CDR so that I can move them around with me. I hope this makes sense.

Reply | Quote

Sorry for the redundant info. What happens with Replicator when you setup the job? Can you post the job settings?

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I’m giving the NTI Backup Now program a trial run. It’d be nice if it were but if it works as well as Rick says, then I’ll put down my money. Thanks again for the different options

Reply | Quote

I’m with Al on NTI Backup. I use it to burn backups to CD-RW. Individual backup routines are saved, which the scheduling feature runs whenever you say.
I leave a CD-RW in the burner(unless it’s in use), and alternate each night between a full, and a differential backup of my data files (about 90M and 5M, typically). Each morning the tray is out, and I know the burn was completed. With compression, it takes about 10 days to fill the CD. Changing out the CD-RW and erasing the oldest of 3 CDs that I use for this is the only maintenence. I keep the newest copy at the office.
I periodically generate one-offs of data backup to another drive for files that don’t need daily protection.
The only downside I can see, but haven’t experienced, is that the backup file is NTI-proprietary…you need the program to restore. It’s not a big issue for me since I have DOS restoreable images to get back into business after a catastrophe.

Reply | Quote

For what it’s worth, I use NTI’s Backup Now! but it’s not free. I don’t use it for CD backup but that seems to be what it’s designed for. Now, as for “automatic” I don’t know what will happen if you put a CD in your burner, setup a schedule to backup certain files in the middle of the night, and ….. You’ll have to try it to see. Sorry. In my case I do the above, but to a LAN destination rather than CD.

Reply | Quote