Best way to set up a weekly auto-backup?

[Spork829]

Looking for a (preferably free) software solution that will automatically backup a given folder from one internal drive to another in the same system at regular intervals (probably weekly). I would do it manually, but it'll probably have to happen in the middle of the night so that would be troublesome. Suggestions?

[Cool Guy]

The problem is I don't know what Operating System you are referring to.  If you are on Windows you can use filehistory  or the standard Backup built into Windows.  If you're on linux use rsync, it's a command line tool but also has an install-able gui if you want to use that.  

 

If you are comfortable programming, you could write a powershell script to compress and copy the data with a new name based on the date and set it as a schedule using the shell. If you are on Linux you could do the same, just write a shell script that copies files and archives and compresses them and just chuck it on a cron job.

 

Just my advice, I'm not the smarted person so there is probably many people here who will correct me.  But just an idea. 

[LtStaffel]

I'm on Windows and scheduled this task with Task Scheduler (it's a Powershell Script). I don't know of an easy way to compress with PowerShell.

Spoiler

if(Test-Path J:){
$PATH = "J:\Backups\$((Get-Date).ToString('yyyy-MM-dd'))"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $PATH
Copy-Item C:\Users\flyin $PATH -Recurse -Force

$FLPATH = "J:\Backups\FL_Studio_Plugins"
if(!Test-Path $FLPATH){New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $FLPATH}
Copy-Item 'I:\FL Studio\Plugins' $FLPATH -Recurse -Force
Copy-Item 'I:\FL Studio\VSTx64' $FLPATH -Recurse -Force
Copy-Item 'I:\FL Studio\VSTx86' $FLPATH -Recurse -Force

$MUSICPATH = "J:\Backups\Music"
if(!Test-Path $MUSICPATH){New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $MUSICPATH}
Copy-Item 'I:\Music' $MUSICPATH -Recurse -Force

$TOOLSPATH = "J:\Backups\pentest"
if(!Test-Path $TOOLSPATH){New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $TOOLSPATH}
Copy-Item 'I:\pentest' $TOOLSPATH -Recurse -Force

$MATERIALSPATH = "J:\Backups\Materials"
if(!Test-Path $MATERIALSPATH){-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $MATERIALSPATH}
Copy-Item 'I:\Assorted\Materials' $MATERIALSPATH -Recurse -Force
}

 

If you are on Linux you could write an equivalent Bash script and put it on cron

[Spork829]

16 minutes ago, Cool Guy said:

The problem is I don't know what Operating System you are referring to.  If you are on Windows you can use filehistory  or the standard Backup built into Windows.  If you're on linux use rsync, it's a command line tool but also has an install-able gui if you want to use that.  

 

If you are comfortable programming, you could write a powershell script to compress and copy the data with a new name based on the date and set it as a schedule using the shell. If you are on Linux you could do the same, just write a shell script that copies files and archives and compresses them and just chuck it on a cron job.

 

Just my advice, I'm not the smarted person so there is probably many people here who will correct me.  But just an idea. 

 

9 minutes ago, LtStaffel said:

I'm on Windows and scheduled this task with Task Scheduler (it's a Powershell Script). I don't know of an easy way to compress with PowerShell.

  Hide contents

if(Test-Path J:){
$PATH = "J:\Backups\$((Get-Date).ToString('yyyy-MM-dd'))"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $PATH
Copy-Item C:\Users\flyin $PATH -Recurse -Force

$FLPATH = "J:\Backups\FL_Studio_Plugins"
if(!Test-Path $FLPATH){New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $FLPATH}
Copy-Item 'I:\FL Studio\Plugins' $FLPATH -Recurse -Force
Copy-Item 'I:\FL Studio\VSTx64' $FLPATH -Recurse -Force
Copy-Item 'I:\FL Studio\VSTx86' $FLPATH -Recurse -Force

$MUSICPATH = "J:\Backups\Music"
if(!Test-Path $MUSICPATH){New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $MUSICPATH}
Copy-Item 'I:\Music' $MUSICPATH -Recurse -Force

$TOOLSPATH = "J:\Backups\pentest"
if(!Test-Path $TOOLSPATH){New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $TOOLSPATH}
Copy-Item 'I:\pentest' $TOOLSPATH -Recurse -Force

$MATERIALSPATH = "J:\Backups\Materials"
if(!Test-Path $MATERIALSPATH){-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $MATERIALSPATH}
Copy-Item 'I:\Assorted\Materials' $MATERIALSPATH -Recurse -Force
}

 

If you are on Linux you could write an equivalent Bash script and put it on cron

Sorry should have specified, the system will be running Windows 10. I assumed that the windows backup feature was just a one-time thing, can it actually run on a schedule? I have pretty limited programming experience so I wouldn't know where to start with a Powershell script.

[KuJoe]

Just now, Spork829 said:

I assumed that the windows backup feature was just a one-time thing, can it actually run on a schedule?

Yes, and the built in Windows backup feature has come a long way over the years. I haven't used the Windows 10 backup, but I just pulled it up and the features look better than the Windows 7 backup tool so I say give it a shot. The only thing is there is no option for weekly, you can set it anywhere from every 10 minutes to daily but not weekly.

[Spork829]

Just now, KuJoe said:

Yes, and the built in Windows backup feature has come a long way over the years. I haven't used the Windows 10 backup, but I just pulled it up and the features look better than the Windows 7 backup tool so I say give it a shot. The only thing is there is no option for weekly, you can set it anywhere from every 10 minutes to daily but not weekly.

Damn, daily definitely isn't ideal. What I'm backing up is important but often unused for multiple days, so if something went wrong it might re-sync and lose everything before I even knew.

[KuJoe]

6 minutes ago, Spork829 said:

Damn, daily definitely isn't ideal. What I'm backing up is important but often unused for multiple days, so if something went wrong it might re-sync and lose everything before I even knew.

Well good news, you can tell it how long you want to keep backups for so you can store multiple versions of your backup so you can go back to whichever backup you need (assuming you have it set to save that far back).

[Spork829]

Just now, KuJoe said:

Well good news, you can tell it how long you want to keep backups for so you can store multiple versions of your backup so you can go back to whichever backup you need (assuming you have it set to save that far back).

I'd prefer not to use that because the drive I'm going to use for the backup will fill up pretty fast, considering each backup will be upwards of 50GB and it's only a 500 gig drive. But I suppose if there are no better options, that will do.

[KuJoe]

5 minutes ago, Spork829 said:

I'd prefer not to use that because the drive I'm going to use for the backup will fill up pretty fast, considering each backup will be upwards of 50GB and it's only a 500 gig drive. But I suppose if there are no better options, that will do.

It looks like the Windows 7 backup tool is still accessible in Windows 10. You can select the backup destination, what you want to backup, then schedule it for weekly at a specific time and day of the week. Problem solved.

 

Control Panel -> Backup and Restore (Windows 7)

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, KuJoe said:

It looks like the Windows 7 backup tool is still accessible in Windows 10. You can select the backup destination, what you want to backup, then schedule it for weekly at a specific time and day of the week. Problem solved.

Oh awesome! TYVM. Now it's just a matter of figuring out how to mount the 2.5 inch HDD I'm going to use for the backup into my server case which only has mounts for 3.5 inch...

[KuJoe]

1 minute ago, Spork829 said:

Oh awesome! TYVM. Now it's just a matter of figuring out how to mount the 2.5 inch HDD I'm going to use for the backup into my server case which only has mounts for 3.5 inch...

You can get mounting brackets or you can use one of these (I use these in my servers for local backups): https://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Velocity-Performance-Upgrade-VEL-SOLO-X1/dp/B0090IA3AU

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, KuJoe said:

You can get mounting brackets or you can use one of these (I use these in my servers for local backups): https://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Velocity-Performance-Upgrade-VEL-SOLO-X1/dp/B0090IA3AU

Skeptical about how securely that would hold the drive on though, as it's a 2.5 inch HDD.

[KuJoe]

Just now, Spork829 said:

Skeptical about how securely that would hold the drive on though, as it's a 2.5 inch HDD.

It's designed for 2.5" drives, there are holes on the bottom to screw the drive in and attach it. I've shipped out many servers with these installed and never had any disconnect or break during shipping.

[Spork829]

Just now, KuJoe said:

It's designed for 2.5" drives, there are holes on the bottom to screw the drive in and attach it. I've shipped out many servers with these installed and never had any disconnect or break during shipping.

Ok, well I do have a spare PCIe slot in there so that's definitely a consideration. Thanks!

[Mikensan]

You can just use robocopy and throw it into a schedule.

Without looking I feel like Windows 10 would be using delta copies, which means when it does run it's not going to backup the entire file all over again. Only if there's a change to the file, and then just the change itself. Like if you have a word document that's 10mb, and the next day you add 1mb worth of stuff to it, it would only backup 1mb. Then if you need either the 10mb version or 1mb version, it can restore either one.

 

Basically if it's 50gb today, and by friday it's only 51gb, well you're only going to use 51gb worth of space until you add more data.... Which is why Daily isn't that big of a deal for backups.