Windows 10: robocopy backup of important files

hi,

I have a standard Windows 10 build and I'm using y to backup my data to an external drive. The goal is just to capture all my data so if the PC fails/gets stolen etc. I can restore my data on to another PC.

I'm doing a backup of c:\users\ as this seems to capture all my data. Are there any other folders you think I should backup?

I've excluded the 'AppData' folder as this seems to have a lot of stuff which is not data. Is that OK or do you think that should be backed up? Are there any other folders you think I should skip?

Thank you very much for your comments.

:)

 

SyncTOy

IMO and based on my research, SyncToy is very unreliable. In my Windows 10 system, it doesn't sync new files/folders. Moreover, it deletes files and folders in the destination even though I've set it to "Echo", and the source files and folders are intact.
This is dangerous.

I switched to the command-line tool Robocopy which supports the /MIR (mirror) argument to create a mirror folder and subfolders, exactly the same as source folder.

RoboCopy Command-line examples

robocopy "d:\backup" "F:\WD-Elements\backup" /MIR

To exclude a file type (example *.bmp) from being Synced:

robocopy "c:\users\ramesh\Desktop" "F:\WD-Elements\Desktop" /MIR /XF file *.bmp

Get used to RoboCopy, and you'll certainly love it. It's a fantastic tool. You can save the commands to a .CMD or .BAT file and set it to run from Startup folder or Schedule it, or start manually.

Robocopy - Help

Robocopy

 

Robocopy backup won't work

I tried to use the built-in Windows program called Robocopy to back up my files using the following command on the command line:

robocopy Documents J:\robocopy /e

This command works fine on my laptop

But it would not work on my desktop computer for some reason

It just shows the very command that I typed over and over again repeating the command over and over on a new line each time, and it doesn't copy the files. There is no explanation for why.

On the other hand, using Windows Backup / File History works just fine, but I don't want to use Windows Backup because I don't like the format that the files are saved in.

Why isn't Robocopy working? How do I solve this?

 

Welcome to the forum. Unless you have a lot of data putting everything on Google drive or ondrive is the best option there both free giving up to 20 gigs just save to that folder and it will sync on its own. A local hd is ok but if you have a fire, flood or robed its gone the cloud you can go anywhere in the world and get it and if you get a new pc it will all come back on its own without you doing anything. You can get a gui for robocopy now http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...ght2006_11.exe

 

Long ago I wrote myself a batch file to automate using Robocopy to back up my data. Since my Windows 7 upgraded to Windows 10 I continue to use it. It's now quite sophisticated and accepts command line parameters for things like specifying the drive to back up to, the name of the backup directory to create and whether to do a full or incremental backup.

At the heart of the full backup are the commands:

Where:
%mybackupdrive% is, by default the UNC path to a network drive, unless I specify another drive in the command line.

%1 is the name of the backup, I use names of the form YYYY-MM-DD so I don't loose track (plus File Explorer's 'sort by name' puts them in date-order).

/xjd is required to prevent infinite recursion of directories caused by junction points.
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-d...sting-bug.html

/r:0 prevents seemingly endless retries on any locked files.

attrib +A *.* /s along with Robocopy ... /m is the key to doing incremental backups. First the archive attribute is set for al files, Then the full backup backs up all files which have their archive attribute set and clears it. For an incremental backup the attrib command is skipped so that only new/modified files will be copied (they're the only ones with an archive attribute) .

As to what else to backup, well you may want to reconsider excluding all of AppData. Almost all your software keeps their configuration settings there. For instance, your Firefox profile, extensions and bookmarks are in: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla

PS: for a 'belt and braces' approach, I also have my File History pointing to my network drive.

You can never have enough backups. *Biggrin

 

thanks Samuria, the cloud suggestion was a good idea, however I have a lot of photos so for now I'll just back up to a hard drive which I keep at a remote location.

Bree, thanks very much for your tips and suggestions.

A friend suggested I use the mirror flag /mir do you know if there's any disadvantage to using that as opposed to using the attrib command? I think the mirror ensures that only recently changed files are copied.

 

I just used /m because in the early version of my batch file I had used Xcopy rather than RoboCopy - the /m switch works much the same in both, so it got carried over (I've used Xcopy since it was introduced in Dos 3.2, some 30 years ago). The mirror flag /mir should work just as well (if not better) but I haven't tried it (yet), so can't comment. Here's what the author of RoboCopy had to say about /mir ...
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/...e-permissions/

 

Thanks Bree, I used DOS that came with Windows 3.11 but I don't think that was version 3.2!

 

Robocop,

You are comparing chalk & cheese. The /mir switch has nothing to do with file attributes. The /m switch does. /mir Mirrors a directory tree
/m Copies only files for which the Archive attribute is set, and resets the Archive attribute.
Switches such as the /m switch operate on the source to select which files RoboCopy chooses to work with on that occasion.

The /mir switch operates on the destination instead. It tells RoboCopy to update files on the destination from the source [where the source has newer ones] and to delete files on the destination that no longer exist in the source.

So if you RoboCopy source files abcd then you will have abcd on the destination as well
but if you later delete d from the source you will still have d on the destination.
Results after next RoboCopy -
d will stay on the destination if you RoboCopy with the /m switch
d will be deleted from the destination if you RoboCopy with the /mir switch

The /mir switch can be very useful.
1 I use RoboCopy /mir as part of my backup regime. It creates a complete mirror image of all my files on the external HDD that I connect for that backup. If my computers ever failed or the place went up in flames then I could restore all my own folders & files just as they had been at the time the last RoboCopy was made.
2 I also use RoboCopy /mir as part of my network syncing routine.

Denis

 

Denis, thank you very much for the explanation. /mir is perfect for me. Cheers