Backup your music files
- Thread starter GOS
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It's called Perfect Backup. Freeware
I'm not sure what my expectations would be if after copying files to a drive I then use a backup program to copy them over. I'm not trying to worry you, it is just that the two processes most likely follow different rules. If your plan was to overwrite all of the files on your external drive, it probably doesn't matter. It appears that the program in its simplest form is just doing a file copy, so you should be okay. But back to you question... A program has multiple ways of deciding which files to copy and when. If the program is grabbing the file names directly from the File Allocation Table and not sorting them in any way, then the order of files will be different than what you are looking at when you look at your folders. If the program is not backing up files because they exist or they are newer, then you might not see them on whatever list is showing up. Hopefully the program gives you a nice big log so you can verify it is doing what you want.
My master files are not kept on my "media server". So, I do a copy every night using Microsoft's SyncToy. It's a free app, pretty easy to use and doesn't overwrite newer files. I also use it for my car. I have flash drives that I take into the car. If the drive is not in my computer, SyncToy just ignores the backup process.
I hope something in here helped.
You touched on several points that I wondered about. First, I debated erasing my 10TB drive and starting from scratch. Then I thought, why do that? Let the program sort it all out. I honestly have no idea if the program is looking at my 10TB drive first, then figuring out if something has changed and simply adding/updating it. It seems, based on what I read before I downloaded it....it certainly would do that.I'm not sure what my expectations would be if after copying files to a drive I then use a backup program to copy them over. I'm not trying to worry you, it is just that the two processes most likely follow different rules. If your plan was to overwrite all of the files on your external drive, it probably doesn't matter. It appears that the program in its simplest form is just doing a file copy, so you should be okay. But back to you question... A program has multiple ways of deciding which files to copy and when. If the program is grabbing the file names directly from the File Allocation Table and not sorting them in any way, then the order of files will be different than what you are looking at when you look at your folders. If the program is not backing up files because they exist or they are newer, then you might not see them on whatever list is showing up. Hopefully the program gives you a nice big log so you can verify it is doing what you want.
My master files are not kept on my "media server". So, I do a copy every night using Microsoft's SyncToy. It's a free app, pretty easy to use and doesn't overwrite newer files. I also use it for my car. I have flash drives that I take into the car. If the drive is not in my computer, SyncToy just ignores the backup process.
I hope something in here helped.
Now, since the files on the 10TB drive were already there by a different means, not sure if the program is smart enough to see them as "the same".
I guess you'll know more when it is completed. If the log files don't give you enough info, try grabbing a bunch of directories and doing a right click "Properties" on them. Then do that with the original files and see if there are any differences. If you have different drive formats, the size may not be exact, but the number of files should be. I'll start with the entire drive and see if the number of files are the same. If not, I'll grab like 10 folders at once and compare. It is a great way to get a quick check to see if your data is probably okay.
GOS, Windows or Apple?
Windoze
I use Total Commmander.
Source in left pane, target in right.
F5 from the root to copy.
You can skip all which will ignore existing files
Overwrite all which will do an entire replacement copy
Overwrite older in case you have changed the files in the source, tags, art, etc.
Shateware, quicker than the native Explorer and so much more powerful. I use it in oh so many ways.
Source in left pane, target in right.
F5 from the root to copy.
You can skip all which will ignore existing files
Overwrite all which will do an entire replacement copy
Overwrite older in case you have changed the files in the source, tags, art, etc.
Shateware, quicker than the native Explorer and so much more powerful. I use it in oh so many ways.
If you use it make sure to go into prefs to make the mouse work like windows or it will act weird.
I can't stand using the back up programs - out of worry that they will copy over only new folders and not the old folders which I have altered with new album covers or improved tagging. I need the entire 13-14 TBs of data copied fresh to a fresh drive. No updates of some things but not others. So I take my old backups, delete everything and then highlight and drag over new data - sections at a time to the backup drives. All manual, and all perfect and no worry about what it though did not need to be copied over. I have too much on the line now, too deep into this with years spent getting it right.
Backup programs are designed to move newer files into the backup area. That is their whole purpose in life. I pay for my backup programs and test them regularly. There should be little fear of issues, if you have a good program. I also put everything in to the cloud. So, I have 2 completely separate backups of all of my data. My online backup, Backblaze, says that I have something like 23tb of backup sitting on their servers.
I use a backup synchronization application for Windows called BeyondSync. It doesn't bother copying folder and files that have already been done (based on your configuration) instead focusing only on new files and folders, or ones that have been changed. After the first backup, subsequent ones go really fast, even with 100's of thousands of files to sift through and analyze. Maybe other folks use similar sync apps that they could recommend too.
There are plenty of ways to sync a cat... I use Microsoft's free SyncToy which does a good job as long as you don't move directories around. One of the fastest out there is FastCopy (also free). It takes a bit more knowhow, but is very flexible. Microsoft also has RoboCopy, which is command line based, but could be put into a batch file. Understanding switches on a command line is required to use this one. For real backups, I use Cloudberry Backup, Acronis Backup (for the system drive) and Backblaze (for remote backup... one reasonable yearly fee and unlimited backup space).
I won't go into a lot of detail (becasue I don't understand the detail), but my backup crashed in the middle of the night. The error message said my 10TB ran out of space. So, I resorted to erasing the 10TB drive and starting over. No chance I should have ran out of space as my NAS drive only has 6.8TB of music on it. I even checked the folders, etc. They looked identical, so not sure what the hell happened.
1. Multiple versions of files that changed between backup runs (as Infomas mentioned)? Whether or not to keep them and how many generations to keep may be configurable in your backup software.
2. Backup drive keeping deleted files in a recycle bin until they're manually deleted? That may also be configurable.
3. Have you moved or renamed files on your primary drive since the last backup? Your backup software may need to be explicitly told to delete backups of primary files that no longer exist.
Does your backup software have the ability to launch a dry run? That would let you quickly see what will be copied or deleted as it's just building a "Here's what I would do" list but not actually performing any copying or deleting. It's usually a good idea to do one of those first if you can--if you see something that doesn't make sense, you can look into it before potentially doing something you might want to un-do but can't. Generally a dry run only takes a few seconds.
While your frustration is understandable, it's probably not a good idea to wipe out an entire backup and start from scratch. Aside from the stress on both drives, there's always the (admittedly slim) possibility that your primary drive will chose exactly that moment to self-destruct.
In my Quick Launch listings, I have e.g. DVDA, DVDA backup, SACD, SACD backup, so on, and so on listing folders on different HDD's.
Every time I rip something I make a copy on two different drives. (although drives may contain more than one file type)
Except for BD's, where one copy goes on the main machine, copy on archive drives on my second pc until it fills up, then on the shelf.
Whenever possible, rips are in .iso format. I always have a copy on at least two different HDD's.
Old fashioned, stupid to some maybe, but it works for me. Simple to play from the pc. No wasted time trying to compress .iso files.
C: drive and my D: Documents drives I use regular Macrium backups.
Every time I rip something I make a copy on two different drives. (although drives may contain more than one file type)
Except for BD's, where one copy goes on the main machine, copy on archive drives on my second pc until it fills up, then on the shelf.
Whenever possible, rips are in .iso format. I always have a copy on at least two different HDD's.
Old fashioned, stupid to some maybe, but it works for me. Simple to play from the pc. No wasted time trying to compress .iso files.
C: drive and my D: Documents drives I use regular Macrium backups.
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