Duplicating Files on Two Hard Drives to Make a Backup

[seawolf]

Having been a "geek" since 1978 and being basically lazy, I have developed a keen interest in computers and generally try to find a simple and easy way to achieve the desired result(s).

We all know that safety in redundancy is imperative in hosting karaoke shows. There is nothing more embarassing than to have a catostrophic equipment failure 2 hours into a show. To prevent the humiliation, I have developed a couple of solutions that might benefit my fellow KJ's.

First, a replacement internal hard drive for a laptop is a cheap and easy way to go. You don't need a whopper, just make it big enough for the OS and the Hoster program and files--you don't need all the games and other junk that comes with the original, so just use your recovery disk and then nuke the junk. As an example, a new 100gb 7200rpm SATA replacement drive for my HP laptops is $115. Once it is formatted with the operating system and all necessary software installed, it is a matter of a couple of screws, unplug & re-plug and the swap is complete. I can do it with either of my laptops in less than 5 minutes. These drives are available on the web from a variety of suppliers.

Second, if your LT is older and the hard drive is NOT easily replaceable or you are using a desktop in a semi-permanent installation, then the preparation of a bootable external USB drive is the answer. Most later BIOS settings permit booting from a number of sources, either external or internal. Either way, for less than $200, you can have a fool-proof insurance policy with you at all times.

MTU permits the installation of their software on 2 machines, so the second drive shouldn't be a problem.

Keep 'em singing,

DC

Admin Note: We encourage making a backup copy of your hard drive. We sell a USB 1 TeraByte external hard drive for less than $200.

IMPORTANT NOTE:Using a copy of your Karaoke songs (KMA, MP3+G, ZIP, etc.) on a SECOND system is ILLEGAL. You can loose all your show audio and karaoke equipment, and even the vehicle you use to transport it with, in addition to large fines.

[billyo]

i second that..i did a clone ( 2 of ea on )both of my laptops hdd ( show and back-up )..and now i dont have to worry about my hhd crashing..and i have all my kma files back-up on on several hdd's.

[seawolf]

The only downside I have encountered is that if you edit your songs, you have to do it to ALL drives. So far, I have not found a program that will allow you to clone a directory. Laplink and others of that ilk make both equal, but if you have deleted songs from the master, Laplink will replace them with files from the spare.

Does anybody out there know of a true "folder cloning" program?

DC

[billyo]

I used Acronis software and it will clone everything in your drive.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by seawolf

The only downside I have encountered is that if you edit your songs, you have to do it to ALL drives. So far, I have not found a program that will allow you to clone a directory. Laplink and others of that ilk make both equal, but if you have deleted songs from the master, Laplink will replace them with files from the spare.

Does anybody out there know of a true "folder cloning" program?

DC

If you do a back-up, and select just that folder then "restore" it to the other location it is the same as cloning. It may take a couple of minutes longer, but does work.

[seawolf]

Looks to me like an opportunity to fill a niche. In the old days of tape backup, you had the option to perform "incremental" or "differential" backups, copying only the changed files. That didn't, however, delete the files in the target folder.

It would be great to have that type of flexibility with today's technology, telling the program to make folder "A" identical to folder "B", etc. indicating direction of data flow a la Laplink.

DC

[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

[admin]

I changed the title and did some "shortening" of posts to make it more concise. This is a keeper!

[bendrew]

I'm using a good program to backup my database everytime i made some changes or add or edit the source drive. It will backup the target drive same as the original ones. And you have some options to select and very easy. I'm not sure if I can mention the program or not in this forum. But it save me a lot of time to update my target drive. Also, You can do it too in a network environment.

[Ernie]

Bendrew,
One has already been mentioned!! So I'm sure it's okay to mention another. I think anytime there is software out there that would benefit MTU users, and it doesn't conflict with MTU's software, I can't see where there would be a problem. So, whatchyagot?

Thanks

[bendrew]

Ernie,

I used this software Allway Sync Pro v6.3 and have no problem synchronizing my database everytime i made changes or edit my original folders. You can use it for free with some limitations and if you like it you can buy the license for a good fee. Your problem is my problem before until i happened to try this program. There's so many out there but i choose this one for easy usage.
Just search for this to go to their website. I have 22,000 kma's collections and it takes me half the time to sync it compare to either delete and copy or move the files. The good thing is when you update your folders or files, you don't miss anything between the source files and the target files. .....

[Ernie]

Thanks,
I'll give it a try.

[MCM0726]

Ok, I read the first post, and just learned that Hoster allows you to download the program to two computers. What do you do if you forgot to do that? Is there a way to copy it to another computer? I tried doing that with an external hard drive and it says that my registration information didn't match.



I might just be out of luck, but if anyone knows what I can do to make this work, please let me know. I'm very afraid now of my computer crashing and me left with no program.

Thanks!

[Beavis]

your allowed to install hoster full version on 2 computers. hoster lite only 1 computer.

[MCM0726]

Right, I have the full version. I actually downloaded it a couple years ago and upgraded a few months ago. I'm wanting to back up everything to an external hard drive just in case, but it won't let me open the Hoster application on another computer. Should I buy a program like Norton Ghost to back it up, or is there another option?

[Beavis]

you dont need the program to back it up. just find all your kma's and drag and drop them to an external hard drive for safe keeping.


i love nortons ghost, it will clone an exact copy of your hard drive to another hard drive any size and all you have to do is swap hard drives.

you really should have started a new thread.

[Beavis]

if you do buy ghost, make sure you buy the latest version, the older ones make you restart your computer and it runs before start up. the new version runs while your in windows.