Duplicating Files on Two Hard Drives to Make a Backup

[ddouglass]

You do have those capabilities (incremental and differential) in most back-up programs.

[seawolf]

Thanks, Dale...I understand all of that. The point is that none of the programs use the primary folder information as a reference to DELETE those songs/files that no longer exist. They only ADD new or changed files.

DC

[bryant]

Originally Posted by seawolf

Thanks, Dale...I understand all of that. The point is that none of the programs use the primary folder information as a reference to DELETE those songs/files that no longer exist. They only ADD new or changed files.

DC

Man, I could sure use something like that too as a lot of the DJ programs I use store song information in their database files, but when I end up deleting files from the main song folder, the information stays and eventually clogs , slows down, or corrupts the database entirely.

What I do for a workaround is every once in a while completely delete the backups, then re-backup the entire main drive again (twice). Takes all night for each!!

[seawolf]

Found one at http://newtonsoftware.co.uk/clone/. It's free for 30 days, then US$30 for single license, US$48 for 2-10 licenses.

It compares any two folders (or drives, if you wish). It looks at the first drive, makes a list, then looks at the second. If the parameters are correctly set, it will delete files from the second drive that are not on the first and add the files that are missing from the second drive. The result is a perfect clone of the two folders/drives.

You can set up any number of folders you want to have syncronized in addition to your Hoster files. You might want to sync your "My Documents" folder or your email files, etc. Just select the pair and assign the parameters, click and it does the rest.

It has the capability of using several methods of comparison, but date is the most common. Therefore, if you edit the songs database in Hoster, it will back up the entire file. If you change or delete a song, the songs folder will be updated accordingly. It is fast and so far, safe.

I ran several tests and no problems. It does have a few rough edges, but if you are careful, it will work as advertised.

Enjoy!!
DC