I lost 2 HDs at the same time due to a faulty motherboard & power outages... Lost huge amount
I tried Acronis & it worked well but the thing I didn't like was the fact that Acronis encrypts all the files into one large file (for efficiency, I guess). This is fine and as I say, works well. However, it does mean that I can't take my external HD to a client/friend etc and show/share images....
So, I found better software that was FREE that is specifically written for photographers. It is so good, in fact at just a touch of a button I can synchronise or contribute (add) any file type to any directory spanning across as many hard drives as you want/need. Internal or external.
As far as I am concerned, The copied/backup files are readable on any PC even without extra software. The files are an exact copy of the original.
with my set-up....
drive C: 500gb - internal - system & master
Drive D: 500gb - internal backup
500gb - additional backup
500gb - additional backup & archive
350gb - additional backup & archive
...SynchToy will do the multiple backups as & when I need....
stillresonance wrote:
I haven't looked too much into it yet but there should be some way to set it up, perhaps when formating the drives setting the drive letter to something that would be past the normal series of C,D,E,F etc. Setting the drive letter to something like W at the time of formating may work, since you wouldn't have more than one of them docked at a time it shouldn't interfere, I haven't tested it yet. I wonder if there is a type of backup software out there that is designed for hot swapable drives, I'm looking at this from a perspective of having worked with tape backups in IT enviro. The tapes and devices would be assigned to a "media pool" for backup purposes and then when media in that pool was available it would be able to write to it. This was using ArcServe software and Symantec software for running the backups. I'm not sure what a more consumer equivalent would be, but it's something to look into....Show more →
You can set up the current version of Acronis to do this. YOu just need, as you said, to allocate a fixed drive letter and set a 5 minute backup for each drive. When the drive is unplugged the program pauses when the drive is plugged in it resumes. All you would need to do is have two scriptrs running (one for each backup drive) that both backed up your working drive.
Here's the idea... you set up projects in which you define pairs of folders to synchronize. The folders can be on the same machine or different machines. Sync can be bidirectional or one-way. You can define the logic that controls what will sync and what will not. I use bidirectional sync to keep up to date copies of files on two machines (laptop, desktop). The software is very easy to use, and has a nice graphic interface that makes it easy to see at a glance how the files are going to synchronize.
forgot to add, the same company makes a product called "Active Backup". I haven't used it but it sounds more like a versioning software to me. The sync software above seems like a better fit for scheduled back up and/or synchronization.
I use Personal Backup. On the simple end it can sync exactly and also has more complex such as encrypted zip files on an ftp server. Lots of options and variables in a decent interface. Easy enough to schedule. The price cannot be beat at free.
Just want to mention that for photo backups in particular, what one really is doing is making a copy of the image files. Since no real compression is needed, the "standard backup" with compression is not needed.
Hence the task is really to synchronize one's active files with multiple backup copies. And I strongly suggest AVOIDING any program that uses a proprietary format. Acronis, as an example, is good for backing up a system partition and can be used to fully restore a bonked system. But that is not what you are really needing for photos. Photos are just data and for jpg's data that is already compressed. You are far better off to have these backed up image files accessible by standard software than to have your images bundled up inside a proprietary file format.
Thus what I suggest that you want is actually as simple as doing a copy to your backup drive. For that the synch programs and xcopy types can work just fine.
The next issue is how you can avoid duplicates and avoid overwriting progressively post processed images. That can be done by setting up how you structure the location(s) of your image files, directories & sub directories when you work with them so that Basically I utilize the directory structure to help catalog images taken. And then by using a separate directory structure for images I have worked with (the ones "in focus" that is.).
So I have a double set of backups, one for "source" or "as taken" images where everything I shoot goes; and a second for "working" images, which is where I work with the better images. with 3 sets of drives for each.
Rodney O wrote:
Just want to mention that for photo backups in particular, what one really is doing is making a copy of the image files. Since no real compression is needed, the "standard backup" with compression is not needed.
Hence the task is really to synchronize one's active files with multiple backup copies. And I strongly suggest AVOIDING any program that uses a proprietary format. Acronis, as an example, is good for backing up a system partition and can be used to fully restore a bonked system. But that is not what you are really needing for photos. Photos are just data and for jpg's data that is already compressed. You are far better off to have these backed up image files accessible by standard software than to have your images bundled up inside a proprietary file format.
Thus what I suggest that you want is actually as simple as doing a copy to your backup drive. For that the synch programs and xcopy types can work just fine.
The next issue is how you can avoid duplicates and avoid overwriting progressively post processed images. That can be done by setting up how you structure the location(s) of your image files, directories & sub directories when you work with them so that Basically I utilize the directory structure to help catalog images taken. And then by using a separate directory structure for images I have worked with (the ones "in focus" that is.).
So I have a double set of backups, one for "source" or "as taken" images where everything I shoot goes; and a second for "working" images, which is where I work with the better images. with 3 sets of drives for each.
From what I understand of Acronis, there is a file-level type of backup that is great for images, email, etc... as well as the full system backup. Also, you can set the backups for no compression or encryption.
Don't the Acronis files have to be handled only by Acronis software? Which leaves you pretty dependent on that package to deal with your backups? And in the future you would be dependent on any Acronis updates maintaining compatibility with your older files.
So I still suggest a simple xcopy / sync will be a safer as well as a less proprietary backup for the OP. Easy to access in the future. As long as the file system and the specific image format are still supported, you can get to your image files. One is often better off keeping a safety measure as simple as possible.
Acronis has its place, but not necessarily for backing up already compressed files. And not necessarily for important data like images which one may want to access many years from now.
Don't the Acronis files have to be handled only by Acronis software? Which leaves you pretty dependent on that package to deal with your backups?
Yes it does create a proprietary file. I use Acronis & it is great at making archive files. BUT it is in an Acronis format. It will create ONE huge file, combining all the individual files and folders into it.
You can not transport and read the resultant Acronis file to another machine that does not have Acronis on it. In other words, you can't take your images (or other files) and view them on any computer.
So I still suggest a simple xcopy / sync will be a safer as well as a less proprietary backup for the OP. Easy to access in the future. As long as the file system and the specific image format are still supported, you can get to your image files. One is often better off keeping a safety measure as simple as possible.
110% agree...
I created a batch file to xcopy thousands of files and incrementally update them. Then I discovered Microsoft's SynchToy (FREE) that does the same job but can be set up in different ways depending on your needs...I do really recommend at least taking a look at it - It is so quick & easy...
For links etc, see my post #22 above
Acronis has its place, but not necessarily for backing up already compressed files. And not necessarily for important data like images which one may want to access many years from now.
Ok, I see what you guys are saying. Yes, that is true. I wasn't looking at it as taking the backup to view the files on a different computer/location. Just as a safety backup.
I've taken the lazy way out & ordered one of these to try, plus 2 more to give as Christmas gifts. I ran a full back up once it arrived to see how it did & am quite satisfied with the result. It copies photos and their folders perfectly without any kind of compression, and it DOESN't back up the system files nor programs from within Windows, but did copy those that weren't contained in the Windows Program Files folder. It assumes that we have the disks needed for a reload if needed. In my case I have a mirrored drive with all of that already plus several USB back up drives but knowing that my daughter & stepdaughter don't & who will need to fix things when they loose their primary hard drive I now feel better.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. After looking into the numerous and varied choices I finally settled on Goodsync.
I have been using it for about a week and it is working flawlessly, as it should. It was really between this software and acronis but for the reasons that others spoke about (proprietary files created by the software etc) goodsync won me over.
I really like the ability of goodsync to find a sync'd folder on one of my external hard drives no matter which drive letter the computer assigns to it and the programs ability to search for folders that are not currently connected at startup and when I do eventually connect the drive (stored out of the office) it will sync it up at that time.
The one thing I wish the software did that acronis does is create a system image in case of a HD failure but Windows 7 has the ability to do that so it really wasn't an issue...except for the fact that W7 is currently unable to create said system image...but that is another story.
I have just received a PM from a member asking some questions about SyncToy. I post it here as it may be of interest to others...
I'm very interested in sync toy, and you seem to have a good handle on it as it relates to us photographers.
Does synctoy update the back up incrementally- ie. can it be set just to up date the new or edited images in folders?
Is there a way to have no compression on the back ups?
To answer the last question first. SyncToy2 does not compress or encrypt the files in any way - it is a straight copy process. That is one of the things I like about it. I back up to several different internal and external drives. I can take one of my external drives with me when I go to Europe and view my backed up files on my laptop or any one else's computer.
It is a while since I set up SyncToy2 and I must reset it shortly because I have stopped doing one major ecommerse website & need to purge a few gigabyte from various drives.
Basically, there are 3 modes that you can set up on SyncToy2.
You set up the source directory (left folder) and a destination directory on another drive (right folder)
*Synchronise:
New and updated files are copied both ways (left to right and right to left). Renames and deletes on either side are repeated on the other. In other words, the pair of folders will be identical to each other. Perfectly synchronised.
* 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. There are no deletions.
I have written a couple of articles on backing up which you might find of interest.
The first one is 'an emergency backup' written for our security team who assist in virus/trojan removals. It is aimed at folk with little or no computer knowledge. The process utilises inbuilt XP/Vista 'copy/paste' process. Click Here
The second one is on our sister website TecHandbook.com. This article describes the setting up of SyncToy2 to do several different backup processes.
Although there are the 3 basic processes 'synchronise, echo & contribute', you can set up as many different combinations of backups as you need.
This article is written on SyncToy2.0. The current version is 2.1 but I have upgraded yet....
When you first implement SyncToy2 as the backup regime, depending on how many files you have, it will take a time... about 1 minute per gigabyte...20 Gb = 20 minutes or there abouts...
However once the system has been initialised, it only takes a few seconds to update the backups and is not inconvenient to backup several times a day or say at the end of a session.
You can grab your free copy of SyncToyV2.1 From Microsoft by clicking here
Edit: The techsupportforum & techhandbook websites I refer to are purely help sites. We have no commercial interests at all - we do not sell anything!
Donald Gray wrote:
So, I found better software that was FREE that is specifically written for photographers. It is so good, in fact at just a touch of a button I can synchronise or contribute (add) any file type to any directory spanning across as many hard drives as you want/need. Internal or external.
As far as I am concerned, The copied/backup files are readable on any PC even without extra software. The files are an exact copy of the original.
Good article and similar to what I do. I use SyncToy on two different machines. I have it setup on my primary workstation with my Images folder in synchronize mode to my file server. I have it installed again on my file server with my folder pairs setup in Contrib mode to a external hard drive.
The one thing I think your article is missing is automating the scheduling backups via SyncToy. Perhaps most others are better about it than I am, but I've found that if I have to rely on myself to manually initiate a backup it won't get done nearly as often as it should. So I now have my workstation setup to automatically run all folder pairs at midnight to my file server, and my file server automatically runs all folder pairs at 3 am to my external hard drive. Plus if I need to I can always manually initiate a backup on either system.
In this scenario I would have to lose my images drive on my workstation, my four drive raid5 array on my file server AND my external hard drive to suffer a total loss.
