Backup / Sync solution needed for external drive 1

[creative01]

Hello All,

I'm running Windows Server 2003, and would like to find a solution for regularly syncing files on the server drive to an external USB. I'd love to find a piece of software that can just mirror the contents of the internal drive, and then copy over the changed files only once a day. Essentially, I'm looking for a sync solution that'll work with a schedule, and isn't too expensive (free is always preferable

Thanks for your help!

 

[dearingkr]

I've used a program called Second Copy for years.
It's not free, but it is cheap; Shareware, about $30 I think.

MCSE CCNA CCDA

 

[58sniper]

robocopy from the resource kit can be scripted and scheduled. It will do mirroring.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[creative01]

dearingkr - thanks! this looks perfect!

 

[jet042]

As 58sniper said, robocopy is a great tool for this. We use it for that exact purpose. You just need to put the commands in a batch script and then schedule the batch to run however often you need.

 

[58sniper]

And it's free, and supported by Microsoft.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[creative01]

Does robocopy have a GUI? I'm not very comfortable with the command line. I'm IT for my company, but mostly because there's no one else who can do it.

So, I need something that's easy to configure right from the get go.

Thanks!

 

[58sniper]

There is a GUI interface available for it. But the limitation is that you can only choose one source and one destination.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2006/11/UtilitySpotlight/

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[Yardyy]

just to mention that you have to very carefull when using the mirror function of robocopy, it is a very powerful tool, but very dangerous as well.

i use it daily to back up about 80Gb of data to an external usb drive, i dont need to backup all of it but on a daily basis there could be changes that have been made to some several thousand files, some very small in size..

robocopy does a mirror in about 3 mins flat.

the syntax that you need is ::

robocopy /MIR source destination

hope that helps

Many Thanks
Yurov Ardyy