Backing up files

[taylor1277]

I wanted to know when I transfer files to my slave drive. My question is should I Move or Copy the files to the slave drive. The reason that I ask is if I copy them don't I or they need access to the initial system they were on being my laptop. I have files on my slave drive and they say that they can't be accessed because it isn't the initial system, those came from my last system. I hope I am posting so someone understands what I am asking.

And one other thing about transfer files. Let say I move or copy all the files I want to my slave drive from my new system, and they are there. then 9 months down the road I want to transfer those same folders; photo, music, documents how do I go about this without getting or making duplicate files.

 

[plodr]

I NEVER move, I always copy. Why? If the computer has a hiccup while you are moving something, the file is lost or corrupted.

If something happens while you are in the process of copying, the file still remains on the original source (I assume your computer's hd) and you can copy it again.

Once I am positive I can open all the files I have transferred then I might decide to erase (I do this in stead of deleting) the originals on the computers hard drive.

To avoid duplicates when transferring back to the original location, be sure that you've removed those files. Or, if the file has the same name, you will get a popup telling you that you have the file with the same name. You are given the choice to cancel the move/transfer, or move/transfer and replace. I usually look over the details, like size, to be sure it is the same. If it is the same, I replace.

 

[taylor1277]

Okay I am talking about when i copy files to the slave drive. lets say that I have 50 files to transfer, they are all documents, lets say 8 months later I have added another 50 files to the main HD and I go and copy the 100 documents file to the slave drive again, will the first 50 that I copied to the slave drive show up again as duplicates.

 

[plodr]

will the first 50 that I copied to the slave drive show up again as duplicates.

Yes, if you haven't removed them from the original drive.

You might see sample.doc and sample(1).doc meaning it is the same document.

I see that when I download something and forget I already have it on my hard drive. I then get download.exe and download(1).exe

 

[taylor1277]

Okay great, now that we understand that part lets say I back up the documents file every 19th of the month. Is there a way to copy files from the 19th to the 19th of each month. What I am thinking is if I copy the first 50 documents and I categorize files by date. I should be able to highlight the new files from the 20th of each month to the slave drive documents file, does that sound like something that would work?
Another example is so I can explain this right, on the 19th of Dec I copy all my documents over to the slave drive,done. Then on the 19th of Feb I go into the documents on my HD look at them by date and then highlight all the new document files from Dec 20th to Feb 19th and then copy them over, it shouldn't duplicate anything then, correct? I was just looking through the selections at the top where you can look at your files by date, date modified, things like that. And this is what I came up with, is this how it should be done?

 

[Tekno Venus]

It's probably easier to let some dedicated backup software handle automated backups, then you can never forget.

In an ideal world, you should follow the 3-2-1 backup plan as described here: Backup Strategies: Why the 3-2-1 Backup Strategy is the Best. However, one copy of the files is much better than no copies of the file. So yes, you should copy! The idea of a backup is not that you use the documents in the backup, but they are there in case your main drive fails. However, if you move the files to your backup drive and the backup drive fails, you're no better off since you've lost your only copy of the files.

In terms of software, Windows 10's built in File History is OK, but I've personally seen some issues with it not backing some things up and I therefore I don't trust it.

I highly recommend Veeam Endpoint Backup (Free Desktop and Laptop backup - Veeam Endpoint Backup). It's based on the outstanding Veeam platform that is used in thousands of enterprises, but is completely free. Only takes a few minutes to set up, and can backup anything from one folder to a whole drive image. Personally, I use this software to backup my server to an external drive once a week.

The other option that is a good shout is Bvckup2 (Bvckup 2 | Simple fast backup). Very fast, very lightweight simple backup - just backs up folders from your computer to another location in real time. I use this on my main machine and my parent's computer. It's another set and forget system.

Hope this helps.

Stephen