Backups
How to Backup
Local Backup
Windows includes backup software, and you can get free or paid software that will do the job. One important point to keep in mind when choosing your software is whether it does a direct copy of files, or if it does a backup that will put your files into a "ball" of data that will require the software to "unball". What I mean by this is that if you had a backup, and you needed to restore some or all of those files, would you need to run the software program to do the restore, or could you just go to the backup location, choose your backed up files, and continue from there? Windows Backup places everything into a ball that you would need to access via Windows Backup. I prefer to do a simple copy of files to another location, then I can just look in that location, see what's there, and move on. My recommended online backup does a simple copy to an online location, although you need to software to restore. My local backup does a simple file copy to an external drive. The program I use is SyncToy, from Microsoft. It's simple to set up, does the backup when you schedule it, and you never have to worry about it.
1. Download and install SyncToy.
2. When you open the program, look for a row of button across the bottom of the window. To get started, select Create New Folder Pair.
3. Click Browse to navigate to each folder that you want to back up. The Left Folder is always the folder you want to back up. The Right Folder will be the folder on your backup device. In my example shown below, the Left Folder is the location for my My Documents folder on my computer. The Right Folder is the location on my external hard drive where the backup will be located.
4. The next step is to tell the program how you want the backup done. There are 3 options here, and they are typical options for syncing.
Synchronize: New and updated files are copied both ways. Renames and deletes on either side are repeated on the other.
Echo: New and updated files are copied left to right. Renames and deletes on the left are repeated on the right.
Contribute: New and updated files are copied left to right. Renames on the left are repeated on the right. No deletions.
For a backup of regular documents and pictures, you would probably want to use Contribute. This option does not do deletions, so if you accidentally delete a file in your computer, you will still have a backup.
5. Select a name for the specific backup. This will allow you to search for a specific file if you have several folders backed up.
When this process is complete, you will have a list of the backups that you set up.
If you decide not to do a specific folder pair, you can delete it. Just select the button Delete Folder Pair.
Now you have to schedule the backup, so it can be done automatically. (These instructions are straight from the Help file for SyncToy.)
Windows Vista / 7
1. From the Start menu, select All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Task Scheduler, or search for the program in the Start Menu search bar.
2. Select Create Basic Task in the Actions pane on the right.
3. Add a Name and Description and select Next.
4. Choose when you want the task to start and select Next.
5. Choose date/times (if applicable) to run task and select Next.
6. Choose Start a Program option and select Next.
7. Select Browse and locate the SyncToyCmd.exe.
8. Type -R in the Add Arguments textbox. –R all by itself will run all folder pairs that are active for run all. If you want to run just a single folder pair, add –R “name of pair” to the end of the command line.
Note: If the folder pair name contains a space, surround it with quotation marks, as the example above shows. For another example, assume that SyncToy is in the folder named C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0\ and that you want to run a folder pair named "My folder pair." Enter the command line as follows, including the quotation marks: "C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0\SyncToyCmd.exe" -R "My folder pair." Note that there are two sets of quotation marks in this case: one is around the path to the SyncToy program file and the other surrounds the folder pair name.
Windows XP
1. From the Start menu, select All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Scheduled Tasks.
2. Select Add scheduled task to start the Scheduled Task Wizard. You will see a list of possible programs to run.
3. Select Browse and locate the SyncToyCmd.exe.
4. The wizard will next prompt you to enter how often you want to run the scheduled SyncToy (for example, daily, weekly, et cetera). Select a frequency.
5. The next page asks when to start the task. Select a start time.
6.
The next page asks for the user name and password to run the program under. Enter your user name and password.
7. The final page contains an option to open the properties dialog when the wizard ends. Select this checkbox.
8. Modify the Run textbox to include the –R command line option. –R all by itself will run all folder pairs that are active for run all. If you want to run just a single folder pair, add –R “name of pair” to the end of the command line.
Note: If the folder pair name contains a space, surround it with quotation marks, as the example above shows. For another example, assume that SyncToy is in the folder named C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0 and that you want to run a folder pair named "My folder pair." Enter the command line as follows, including the quotation marks: "C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.0\SyncToyCmd.exe" -R "My folder pair." Note that there are two sets of quotation marks in this case: one is around the path to the SyncToy program file and the other surrounds the folder pair name.