What is Reddit's opinion of
FreeFileSync?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
100 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
I've been using Free File Sync.
To automate the backup process, look in the tutorials section of the site where they have a video tutorial to set up a scheduled task to do the backup (or real time sync for backup as soon as files are changed).
<strong>Versionierung</strong> ist auch eingebaut, jedoch wird stets eine Kopie angelegt und keine Diff (oder wie auch immer es richtig genannt wird).
Ich bin mit dem Programm super zufrieden. Die <strong>Automatisierung</strong> muss manuell über den Windows Aufgabenplaner eingerichtet werden.
Großer Vorteil des Programms ist der <strong>Umgang mit wechselnden Laufwerksbuchstaben</strong>. Das heißt, dass z.B. meine exterene Festplatte "Backup Toshiba" heißt und FreeFileSync dann nach "[Backup Toshiba]/Backup Notebook/" speichern kann, anstelle der ständig wechselnden Laufwerksbuchstaben (z. B. F:).
Make sure to run it once in mirror mode BEFORE you start shuffling files and folders. The tool will create a pair of databases that will be used to track file moves. You will need the option to track moved files in the app.
I personally like to use FreeFileSync
You can have it do a comparison by name + date modified, or even by contents.
Just edit 1 of the lines in the config file to enable file verification.
Edit: Forgot to mention it supports Windows, Linux, MacOS :)
Try a data recovery software?
https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva
Also next time I recommend an online backup with version control, or a mirror backup to different drive or something: https://freefilesync.org/
DO NOT throw it away. A lot of times when a HDD fails there is still plenty of data on it that can be recovered, you just might have to pay up the ass for it. I've had two HDD's fail on me before I learned my lesson and setup backups. Both times I was able to get pretty much everything back, but I had to pay $400-500 each time. Even if you don't have the money now, keep it, as it might be worth it to you when you do have the cash. The data I had my HDD's was invaluable, so I was more than willing to pony up. The company I used was local to me at the time but here's their website.
I feel for you, but hopefully this is a learning experience. I've since setup my own backup system using an external hard drive and FreeFileSync. And my next thing is to try to get my extra important files into a cloud.
I'm using Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows on all my computers for complete backups. It's free and you can backup to a SMB share on your NAS.
If you are just looking for file level backups, FreeFileSync can be set to save versioned copies of modified or deleted files.
8 hours is nothing, a few years ago I lost ALL my life works because of a cryptolocker that infected both my HHD and external drive (as the external drive was plugged when the infection happened). That was extremely painful.
Apart from source control which has already been mentioned, I recommend this great free program to sync files between local drives: https://freefilesync.org/
Have a look at synchronizing.
Instead op a copy, only new and changed files are moved.
Just an example
Media players have this option too: https://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MusicBee/MusicBee\_Sync.htm
It's meant as a manual backup/merging software, but it has a tool called RealTimeSync that lets you run jobs automatically once it detects changes.
Also has some good cmd features for further automatisation.
I've been running SyncThing for about a year between work, home, and NAS, and fiddled with this idea early on to add USB & eSATA externals to the mix, found that FreeFileSync with real time sync for some things, scheduled batch for others worked easier.
So each time you have to install steam, VD, Skyrim vr and copy wabbajack?
I don't use onedrive but maybe you can keep your MO2 folder on onedrive, before playing make it accessible offline (force onedrive to download files to cloud computer), then start MO2 from onedrive. After you finish plying wait for onedrive to sync files to it's servers. I know this could be done with google drive.
Alternatively you could look into file syncing software . I use FreeFileSync (https://freefilesync.org/), but I don't think it supports onedrive.
For saves you can use steam cloud saves if you disable MO2 profile specific saves, or sync your MO2 folder with onedrive after each gaming session (with profile specific saves enabled).
In addition to copying your MO2 folder (with your wabbajack install) you would have to copy some files to skyrim vr folder, things like SKSEVR and 3D sound.
Some mods store settings in their own local files (for example vrik keeps your gestures and holster information) so again those files need to be synced (not a problem if you use synchronizing software), or just never change any mod settings.
Seems like a chore to set up, but doable.
Check out FreeFileSync. It's a great piece of software that's simple to use and can still sync with Google drive without having the app installed. It might sort out 1 or 2 of your requirements, if not all.
If your use-case is closer to copying two external disks or two disks without using RAID, there are multiple utilities that can automatically backup from one drive to another, Microsoft Backup is one if you are using Pro (correct me if I am wrong as it has been awhile since I compared Home and Pro). I use FreeSileSync which has an autosync function, I don't recall if it comes with the standard or donation edition and will update this post tomorrow to verify. https://freefilesync.org/download.php I like the interface and some of the features.
> So, if I can't somehow copy over the whole system as is (looks like I might just have to accept this)... then I have to try to think of everything I need to copy over ahead of time.
Pretty much. You could also try to preserve your RAID 0 install on an external harddrive or something so you'd have access to everything instead of later realising you forgot to copy something. To copy all files (but NOT the partition layout etc) to another drive I suggest https://freefilesync.org/ which is very reliable and quite fast.
Whole system: Use timeshift (sudo apt install timeshift).
Home partition / personal files: Use an external hard drive (best formatted with ext4 or another Linux file system that supports links) and use a synchronisation software of your choice. Personally, I use FreeFileSync, but that's just because I'm used to it. There are also battle-tested Linux native tools such as rsync (terminal-based, pre-installed with Ubuntu) and grsync (which is a graphical front-end for rsync).
Additional tip: I always create a separate partition to which I install /home. That way I can bork up / wipe my system partition without causing damage to my personal files. (Still, this does not replace regular backups, it's just more convenient.)
Transfer only Windows? Nope. Are all of you files only on your HDD? If your HDD fails, do you have a backup of your files? What?!? You're not backing up your stuff? This is very, very bad, my friend. Back up your files to some kind of external drive (Mr. Bezos sells them for $50-$60), take your HDD out of the computer, install Windows on the SSD (I recommend using Patch My PC to reinstall 3rd-party programs quickly), put the HDD back into the computer and format it, then copy your personal files back to the HDD. You can then use FreeFileSync to keep your files backed up and updated between your internal and external hard drives so you won't lose all your shit when your 5 year-old HDD dies.
FreeFileSync !
Très bon utilitaire pour ce genre de chose et tu peux même (avec RealTimeSync faire de l'automatique).
Ça va te montrer tous les fichiers qui sont potentiellement impacté (ceux que tu vas envoyer) et tu peux très simplement choisir ceux que tu ne veux pas envoyer (si jamais tu as des besoins spécifiques).
Bien entendu tu peux : envoyer des deux côtés (càd modifier les deux sources si jamais tu écris sur la source 2), miroir (source 1 -> source 2), mise à jour (source 1 -> S2 uniquement les nouveaux fichiers ou ceux màj).
https://freefilesync.org/manual.php?topic=synchronization-settings
Windows 10 backup is old and not updated anymore. Use Macrium Reflect Free to image your entire drive to the Seagate, and/or use FreeeFileSync to back up individual folders
I think im too stupid for robocopy sometimes. I get overloaded with all the switches available and feel like im going overwrite the entire environment. I have had HUGE success with https://freefilesync.org/. its GUI and gives me a much better feel of what's bring copied for command line morons like me.
good luck
What is the goal of this project?
Why do the files need to land in Folder X and move to Folder Y?
Otherwise, you might the automation with an app like FreeFileSync - https://freefilesync.org/
If you want to create a full image backup I'd use Macrium Reflect. If you want to backup certain files/folders instead of your entire disk I'd use FreeFileSync.
I haven't checked out file syncing programs in a while, but back when I had to do it a lot, my favorite program was FreeFileSync. Did a great job of only transferring the files that were updated or new, and should work for your purposes.
Are you trying to back up to Dropbox specifically, or were you just using that as an example?
I use FreeFileSync's RealTime Sync feature to automatically mirror any changes on my data drive to another drive every few minutes, sort of a poor-man's RAID Level 1.
This isn't an exact answer but it is a workaround. After I do a large file copy (tens or hundreds of thousands of files) I run a verification with a file synchronization program. This identifies the errors due to too long file names, odd characters in file names and errors due to open or changed files. (Most times it completes the copy successfully too!)
I like best a simple old program called SynchronizeIt! from www.grigsoft.com
A more complicated but feature-complete solution is FreeFileSync from freefilesync.org/
If you don't want real time sync, which is what others are recommending, then try Freefilesync. Sync's both ways. Manually run, it shows what will be synced before it does it. You can save the settings as a file and then this can be set to run every x days/weeks/months etc via Task Scheduler.
Surprised SyncBack only does one way - maybe that's a limitation of the free one. I upgraded to Pro years ago for the SFTP function and it does two way sync.
I use this to sync a lot of files most of the time.
Even if there are errors you can set it to continue without stopping, so good files will still be able to be copied and you can deal with the problem files later
don't forget the most crucial option: verify the files. in this way it will both mirror all of the content while at the same time verify that the file that you mirrored from A to B is actually the exact bit-to-bit copy.
You can't enable this GUI, you need to manually enable it by editing " GlobalSettings.xml".
Here's the how
Freefilesync (https://freefilesync.org/download.php) is good and free but only syncs to Gdrive (in addition to local drive and network. Syncovery (https://www.syncovery.com/) is paid but offers more options.
i mirror my drives because it's the easiest way to do it and i don't need anything more. if you're not tech saavy or frankly just want mirrored backups, you don't really need RAID.
use this https://freefilesync.org/
free OOS and will compare directories stated in wherever you want. i basically mirror my primary backup drive to my secondary drive. so any changes to any file, it will overwrite or add it to the specified directory stated.
you can automate it but i don't like doing that since there are sometimes i'm doing maintenance and i don't want the other drive to write all files when i know i'm gonna delete them.
> so what your saying is get one HDD u/4TB of one manufacturer, and a second HDD u/4TB with another manufacturer just to be sure I don't get " off the line " defects?
yes that is what i'm saying. i personally recommend that option since 2 different mediums is a pain in the ass or expensive (ssds, blu-rays, tape). it just helps mitigate the risk. now the likelihood that your drives will fail at the same time is minimal, but it's always a good idea to just have a mix. what you could also do, instead of buying from the same retailer, buy from another but the same brand. that way there is a good chance the same drives didn't come from the same manufacturing process for the day again, mitigating the risk that they could become duds.
also, just get seagate barracudas or WD blues. those are kinda the standard atm. only people with niche uses get other stuff.
a good mindset is, this is for data retention. be prepared to buy a new drive the moment one fails or you send it back for warranty.
I've used Free File Sync for picture backup. You can have two directories and set it to compare one and mirror to the other. I would do this every so often to have a mirror backup of photos. I didn't want it to run constantly so I would use this to make a weekly/monthly backup of an external HDD.
I believe TeraCopy does similar but don't have much experience with that.
2x file duplication using Stablebit Drivepool
offline external HDDs that I do weekly backups to using Freefilesync (free Open Source software )
if I had better upload bandwidth I would probably be a BackBlaze customer ( $60/Computer/Year
unlimited data.)
I believe https://freefilesync.org/ is one of the more popular backup programs, I like it at least. I think you can change the options to move instead of copy if that's all you want.
Defragging is becoming less of a concern in the modern era and it mostly applies to cleaning up after deleting files. So if you moved files from DRIVE:A to DRIVE:B you might want to defrag DRIVE:A. That said, there is no need to do it very often; it won't even make a difference unless you created a significant amount of free space (100+ GB) the bigger the better.
DO NOT DEFRAG SOLID STATE DRIVES. It will NOT make it a difference, and it will waste read/write access on the drive. R/W access is becoming more generous, more than we ever need before we replace computers every 4 years or so but still; don't waste it.
I guess if I answer the first question now I'll have all three in reverse order so, why not. THEORETICALLY If you had a playlist with each episode automatically playing after the previous; then there might be millisecond-faster loading if the episodes were defragmented right next to eachother, in consecutive order. Its a bazillion times more effort than you'll ever notice results from.
Get or make a DAS & u can add 4 or 8 or more HDDs, with one USB3 connection. No RAID, NAS, etc required. Despite what u mite read u don't NEED to get excessive with expensive equipment or command line software.
I use a Mediasonic PROBOX 4 Bay Hard Drive Enclosure (HF7-SU3S3) JBOD works well. I use external HDD(s) for backups (with freefilesync.org), connected only when doing backups.
If ur system has a spare PCI Express slot a USB3 4 port card can be had for $12 dollars.
I suggest looking @ Stablebit Drivepool for perks including live file duplication.
Someone was complaining earlier here that it started to require a recurrent donation to keep some features unlocked. What was that about, do you know?
Ah, voila - https://freefilesync.org/faq.php#donation-edition
- Parallel file copy
- Auto-updater (Windows)
- Portable version (ZIP)
- Silent installation
These are called "Donation Edition" and cost $5/month.
First adware, now this. The dev is clearly trying to monetize their work. It's only fair, except they are also trying to keep Free in the name. They should really stop trying to sit on two chairs with one butt and just release "PaidFileSync". It will have its audience.
I use it, but not directly. What I use a lot is FreeFileSync. Use the settings to enable using VSS. Then you can copy or sync locked files. I have used FreeFileSync for years for syncing and backing up important files, and am very happy with the quality of the software and its design.
I dropped Qsync. Tbh, is a fairly BAD software. You have severe restrictions on what folders you are allowed to sync.
I suggest a free, open source instead: FreeFileSync
Much more customizable, and you can make it work with any folder (external drives, other folders in your hard disk, etc).
Take a look at FreeFileSync or SyncToy. I use FreeFileSync for quite a few things, like what you are looking to do.
If this is part of a migration effort, I would recommend Double-Take Move. (I think Carbonite has re-branded this as one of their migration tools)
I use FreeFileSync to create my offline backups. It just mirrors directories, nothing fancy, but works very well.
Really, plain Robocopy also works just as well. I only use FFS because it has a GUI that allows me to preview changes and get a better idea of data movement.
I do not really trust dedicated backup software when alternatives exist - often they try way too hard with fancy features and you just end up with proprietary data formats and proprietary bugs.
For online backups I use Backblaze B2 and Duplicacy. This takes some doing to set up, though.
Yes, you need to initialize and format the drive before use. If you open the disk management control panel, it should be fairly straightforward there. The default format settings are fine. You can name it whatever you like, yes. Edit: if it already shows up in This PC then it is already formatted. You can format it again, though, just to be sure it did not come with weird settings by default.
I like to use free file sync: https://freefilesync.org
It will require some tinkering, but once you have it set up it is actually pretty nice. I think it is pretty easy to use. It is very lightweight, atleast in my testing.
Hope this can help you. :)
Try Free File Sync... https://freefilesync.org/
or if you want a more complete backup option, try: https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
These two programmes are my choice of backup software, and have been for several years.
I use Macrium Reflect to make weekly full backups, daily differential backups, and weekly disk image backups to my Qnap TS-453A 8 TB Nas. This is for two desktop computers on my network.
I use Free File Sync, to back up the Nas to 2TB usb 3 portable drives daily (differential backups) and weekly (full file and image backups) I also use Free File Synch to make backups of specific folders to my Nas and to my portable drives.
Free File Sync has a very easy learning curve, and Macrium reflect has a moderate learning curve as it has more backup options than Free File Sync.
I use FolderSync Pro on my phone to backup to my NAS at home. It is scheduled in the app to happen in the middle of the night and requires that my phone is both charging and connected to my home network before it starts the backup. You could set up a shared folder on your laptop to accomplish something similar.
You could create a share on both drives and basically do the sync twice from your phone to have redundancy. You could also use something like FreeFileSync installed on the PC to mirror the files from the first drive to the second instead of copying them twice from your phone. That could also be a scheduled task so you really don't have to manually do any of it.
You'd probably want to look into something like <code>git-lfs</code> to help store the much, much, much larger sized files of a video project than vanilla git was designed to handle.
Seeing as how most NLE's use a proprietary project file format, version control benefits gained by using git would probably be zero. diff wouldn't show you anything useful, for instance. But, you could always use a repo to store versions of your projects as you go, checking things in and out as you work.
Using some sort of mirroring app (FreeFileSync for instance) is a much better way to sync, mirror, and update project folder hierarchies between volumes, IMHO.
If you have folders that are almost the same (with one different because it was duped and worked in) then one of the best programs for a quick comparison is FreeFileSync which is available for both linux and windows.
It's filters will be able to tell you which files are the same, and which ones do not have a match. They layout it has makes it much easier to mentally sort through what is going one with the differences.
I use something called FreeFileSync to create a local copy of my iCloud Drive every time I boot my PC.
It also has a addon called RealFileSync, which syncs file across two folders. So with that you could sync a file on your PC with one on your iCloud Drive.
Just to give another option, I use FreeFileSync. It is more annoying to install, but for what I use it for (duplicating directory trees comparable to rsync), I much prefer its GUI over competing CLI tools because of its great visual feedback to status / errors / etc. But, it is not really an OS restore tool, per se, to replace timeshift.
You can try something like FreeFileSync to backup the files. You can easily set it up to copy only what you want, to skip the files you don't want to copy, and at the end, save the settings to a file that can be double clicked to run again with the exact same commands only copying the files that were changed.
EaseUS todo Backup - Data backup/Disaster Recovery (https://www.easeus.com/backup-software/) for disaster recovery/general backups.
FreeFileSync for backing up folders (https://freefilesync.org/).
Both are free and very good.
You can try FreeFileSync, which is available for Mac OS X, and does do a form of verification (it will try to do a binary compare of the files it just copied, but that doesn't necessarily mean it didn't get corrupted there. It just means it copied it, and then tried to do a binary comparison and it still matched). Some services will cache the data in memory and not read it from disk, so you may not find out about data corruption until later. More info is here - look under "VerifyCopiedFiles".
Not sure if you can do live updates but check out FreeFileSync https://freefilesync.org/ it can go off a whole drive or a particular folder. In theory you could mirror all these separate drives to different folders in your big drive with no issue. May be a way to automate it, not sure though as I usually run manually. Worst case you can save your mirror profiles and manually update each separately on a reoccurring basis.
> If I backed up modlists every time it'd take me forever.
As others said there are mod organizer applications for most famous games that fix this problem, but also if you're modding some game that is not supported by any mod organizer application you can use FreeFileSync to update your backup as it only copies the files that were changed, so it takes a lot less time.
I used freefilesync for a little while but I think I stopped using it because it prevented my system from sleeping. I eventually switched everything over to owncloud/nextcloud.
FreeFileSync can do this: https://freefilesync.org/. You can set the destination just to synchronize new/changed files without deleting the files that were deleted on the source drive.
There may be better solutions, but for my own projects I simply use an external USB and a really good piece of software called FreeFileSync.
Here's the link: https://freefilesync.org/
I've used this software for years, and I donate from time to time. It's high enough in version that it's bug free to my knowledge (but it always has been for me.)
It has various settings for mirroring your drive, or just updating new files, etc. Very powerful, very stable, and "free" as in donationware.
A donation gets you a version that automatically updates, but is otherwise the same. If you like it though, throw some money his way if you can. It's better and more stable than any brand name backup software I ever tried.
Yeah, I had the same thing, had to do a bit of a strange workaround to get it to save highlights automatically post game but it works a treat, if you have the same problem feel free to give it a go.
The specific problem I had was that highlights were being created under the temporary folder and then once I existed the post game screen the files got deleted.
You can confirm this if you see video files of deaths/kills after a game in the location you have setup in GeForce Overlay > Settings > Highlights > Temporary Files location ie. *C:\GforceExperience\TempHighlights* or whatever.
I setup realtimesync to watch *C:\GforceExperience\TempHighlights\Hunt Showdown* , then when it detected a file was created in there, it automatically ran a batch file to copy the files to another folder for example.
xcopy "C:\GforceExperience\TempHighlights\Hunt Showdown*.*" "C:\GforceExperience\Hunt Showdown\" /Y
It comes with RealTimeSync, which automatically runs sync jobs when you connect external storage devices.
And to prevent it from copying to any connected drives, you can change the drive letter of your desired drive using Windows Disk Management to an uncommon letter (Like A: or X:).
5D is a DAS; no networking. Best guess is to leave it connected to the Mac and use a folder-sync software to backup (to a DSM shared folder) and keep it updated "from time to time".
FreeFileSync is a free and open-source program used for file synchronization. It is available on Windows, Linux and OS X. The project is backed by donations. Donors get a few additional features such as an auto-updater, parallel sync, portable version, and silent installation. It has received positive reviews.
From what I have found:
>That depends how the corruption occurs. If you open a Microsoft Word file in notepad, edit the foreign characters, and save it, it will corrupt the file, but it will still be perfectly healthy as far as the OS and other programs are concerned. If a drive is going bad and a SECTOR has corruption, it may detect and return a data redundancy or cyclical read error. The first is file content corruption and the second is file corruption. FFS will NOT detect file data corruption but will detect file corruption if it is unable to read the file.
https://freefilesync.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6539
https://freefilesync.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1930
Easiest way: Install https://freefilesync.org/download.php (utterly safe as you can check via https://www.virustotal.com/gui/) and after choosing both Old folder and New folder let it <Compare> the Contents.
You can "Skip" the same files that exist on both sides but mismatches or matches each other. What you're looking for is <Missing> files that exists on Old Folder (your non Steam shortcuts, Custom Artwork etc.) but doesn't exist on New Folder. You can se this program to "Selectively" SYNC them back into your New Installation.
Probaj https://freefilesync.org/
Ne znam baš da li bi to mogao da radi, ali znam da može da se podesi da svakog dana recimo radi sinhronizovanje sa jednog na drugo mesto, pa možda kao neka opcija može da radi i brisanje?
Na linuxu je ovo mnogo jednostavnije, imaš at za jednokratne operacije ili crontab za periodične.
You may want to look at FreeFileSync https://freefilesync.org/
​
https://freefilesync.org/manual.php?topic=synchronization-settings :
Detect Moved Files
FreeFileSync is able to detect moved files on one side and can quickly apply the same move on the target side during synchronization instead of a slow copy and delete. To make this work, FreeFileSync requires a file system that supports file IDs (as alternative to file paths) and database files ("sync.ffs_db") to compare the current file system state against the time of the last synchronization.
The Two way variant already creates database files, therefore, detection of moved files is always active.
The Mirror variant however, does not use the database files to find synchronization directions, so detection of moved files is not enabled by default. If you don't mind the creation of the database files, you can enable this feature by selecting the Detect moved files checkbox.
[Users like you provide all of the content and decide, through voting, what's good and what's junk.]
> Does anyone strongly recommend a Cloud solution?
I think OneDrive has plans for 1 TB storage but the next problem you'll probably run into is your ISP. They'll probably flag your account for excessive upload if you run backups daily or weekly.
> have 3 external HDs and am looking for a solution to have one master backup HD. Is the best way to purchase a 10 TB+ HD and port all photos from multiple HDs over to that one?
I would highly suggest you start organizing your files/folders first. From my experience dealing with multiple drives, it will be massive headache if you don't do this. But when you get all your files merged together and organized properly, it will pay off in the end.
Just recently, I had to do a full backup of my NAS drive because it was already developing bad sectors. This drive had the new file structuring that I started following not too long ago. I did the backup then restored them on the new drive, plugged it in and everything is exactly the same. All my files were intact.
Also its best to get the same matching capacity so you can do mirror backups. I recently picked up this software called FreeFileSync. This is what i used to perform that data migration to my new drive. And it works well too.
> Looking for a program like freefilesync
If OP is wondering why Singular_Brane echoed Freefilesync back... it's probably because it can already do this and more in their video tutorials.
Regardless of which DAW you use -- when you finish a song, it is useful to archive the original tracks.
I like to archive a folder of original tracks and a folder of busses. The busses are most easy to reconstruct a track later, if needed.
I didn't do this in the 90s, and I regret it now.
Ideally you would export in a standardized format, like WAV. All tracks should be exported from the same point - from the beginning. That way when you reinsert them into another DAW, the timing lines up.
If you are concerned about file size you can use .ZIP or .7Z to archive them, since "blank" space in a WAV reduces to zero storage cost... But that's one more standard you have to worry about in terms of accessing the files later. (Although .ZIP and .7Z are pretty standard.)
Finally, I should mention freefilesync.org -- a rather incredible backup solution which is free (donationware.) I've used it for a decade now, to handle backups. (Not affiliated, just a fan. It has saved me numerous times.)
I use FreeFileSync for file synchronization, and I believe this should work for your purposes. If the two computers are networked, then it should be simple enough to set up. If the two computers aren't directly networked, then you can use FreeFileSync in conjunction with some cloud hosting application (OneDrive, DropBox, Google Backup and Sync) to make things work.
Why not try https://freefilesync.org/download.php its you can specify many options of sync, even if file is compared by content.
Probably can be ok totalcommander - synchronize folders
Replying to my own thread :
I searched for “sync” instead of “backup” and that made a big difference in the results from google.
Now I found this one called Freefilesync.org. Gonna give it a try.
I just use external hard drives that are stored in a waterproof fireproof safe when not actively backing up my data.
I use FreeFileSync to keep the drives updated and the structure matching my server. I only add 2-3 movies a month, so this manual process isn't that big of a deal. I'm sure you could use rsync and automatically backup to an offsite location without too much of an issue.
Open-source just means that the source code to the program is open for anyone to see and (possibly) contribute to with their own ideas. Usually on Github or Gitlab, self-hosted if it's a larger project. From the websites you mentioned, only the first one is open source, the others are pretty sus to me.
Extremely useful to backup your stuff to an external drive or in the cloud with one push of a button. It also has a real time feature that does your backup while you write. Great if you don't want to use Google Docs, but want to have the real time backup feature .
I use FreeFileSync for my backups. With 120k maps it takes a few minutes to scan, and the initial copy is best done manually, but beside that I never had any problems with it.
Macrium Reflect Free does differential images. Not the same or as convenient as incremental, but free and works fine for backup purposes.
FreeFileSync is pretty self-explanatory for docs, photos, etc.
i've started using freefilesync anytime i need to verify things actually copied to a folder etc. the first run will take a while to scan both folders and do the compare but then you can go through and see what's in each location that's not in the other.
> Poza tym wolałbym, aby pliki na dysku były normalnie przeglądywalne (jak na zwykłym zewnętrznym), bez działania jakimś innym programem.
To sprawdź FreeFileSync. https://freefilesync.org/
Tylko synchronizuje dwa foldery między sobą. Jest kilka opcji jak ma to robić. W miarę prostu w obsłudze, i możesz sobie tworzyć skrypty jak masz kilka folderów do synchronizacji.
Just take baby steps, start with a single hard drive and a good syncing tool. Rsync is great tool but can be a little complex, perhaps another tool like FreeFileSync can help sync/mirror your files. It’s available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
BTW, another tool that I find absolutely useful is PhotoSync. With it I am able to transfer photo/videos from iPhone/iPad to many target destinations (e.g. Mac). It also allows me to delete the photo/videos from mobile after copying and gives option to keep my favorites on phone (as tagged). Furthermore, you can specify a folder and file naming scheme during the transfer, you can have it auto-create folders by year and rename your files as you wish. This way you can have your family/daughter’s picture nicely stored and organized. Just a thought, I have 4 Kids and can relate how important it is to capture our Kids as they grow up! Wish you all the best!
iPhone/iPad https://apps.apple.com/us/app/photosync-transfer-photos/id415850124
> Any recommendations on a solution closer to what I'm looking for
>person definitely not representing Acronis on an official capacity?
That part I didn't get :) Could you elaborate? :)
This is one of two main reasons I use FreeFileSync (don't let the name fool you) The other is REAL progress and copy speed information. I can copy to 10+ places including network and cloud storage.
Ignore any "Cloud Station" solutions. They are deprecated to Synology Drive.
I would use a PC-based solution... much lower overhead on both your systems.
>FreeFileSync
Thanks ... where does it say that it will recognize moved files?
UPDATE: found it: https://freefilesync.org/manual.php?topic=synchronization-settings
Will check it out
I'm pretty happy with Duplicate Cleaner 4: https://www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/duplicatecleaner.html
Used to have several portable copies of the old 2.05 free version for a very, very long time, but I can't deny that the new version is even more powerful, especially for the different-files-but-similar-content like music.
Used it a lot to dedupe any filetype, from photos to assets, music & video files, pdf, etc.
That being said in your case any software would do, as long as it focuses on duplicate files with the same hashes and/or size/content.
You have also Alldup as u/Lumpy_Assistant2888 said or DupeGuru, as well as u/mrobertm 's own upcoming software
Once you have your files organized without duplicates, it's time to use a solution to backup your files. A great, free tool to do this would be FreeFileSync, which can be configured at will and, as the names implies, is, well, free: https://freefilesync.org/
You just create a first configuration then select "mirror" on the green wheel, set up the folder(s) you want to back up and the destination folder(s), wait for the first copy to be finished (it's usually much faster than than Windows Explorer filecopy).
The next time after scanning your files it will consider what changed from your source folder(s), if something has been removed, added, modified, or rename. If you do your backup regularly or don't change much stuff, FFS usually finishes the next backups in a matter of seconds or minutes !
You have 10G, you have a fast cache, why do you still want to have full real-time copy on your desktop PC?
You could use this: https://freefilesync.org/
Nextcloud would be the other option (with recycle bin bonus).
Windows? Its even possible without software. Right click on the folder > advanced share > define user and read only permissions. Now use Unraid's unassigned devices to mount this share. Finally use rsync -a --delete /mnt/disks/pc/share /mnt/user/share. But the Unraid share needs the "prefer" or "only" cache setting.
But beware. rsync does not check if a file is changed while it's reading it (which could cause corrupt files). I don't know if freefilesync does it. I mean Nextcloud does it.
There's no magic hub but you can easily do what your like to do. There's some dual drive USB 3 docks for cheap on Amazon. Pick one up, plug the drives in the PC, then use something like FreeFileSync, robocopy, or a version of rsync to sync up sets of your photos. Label each drive with what's on each one. Keep them organized and in order and then store them on site or off site.
You can use 7Zip or WinRar to wrap your photos in something like a tar file and stage them into 100GB (or whatever) blocks before transferring. You can encrypt the drives with Veracrypt if you plan to store them off-site and don't want someone random browsing the photos if they come across your off site storage.
Anyway that should be enough to get you on a Google journey. Happy backup!
None of the cloud storage services I've used allow you to use a removable drive as a target so I don't think changing to a different cloud storage will help.
While not automatic, you could use something like this software: FreeFilesSync
I believe you would need to manually initiate the sync but other than that, it should do want you want.
You can use something like https://freefilesync.org/ or if you want to copy it manually https://www.codesector.com/teracopy will verify all your files are there. When I’m working on a project I usually work off 2 external drives. One main with all my media and one backed up. You could do the same with an internal drive and an external drive.
FreeFileSync. It's free and it syncs files. It's also quite intuitive to set up and easy to use. And there's an auto-sync version. Plus versions for Windows and Linux, should you need them.
If you want something a bit more powerful than the built in file copy then try https://freefilesync.org/
Or if that seems too complex TeraCopy is great too.
Backing up the C:\Users folder should be enough to retain everything but programs (as long as you haven't created folders for personal data manually in the C:\ root for example).
As for reinstalling Windows: https://reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/ek2eqh/questions_about_moving_to_an_ssd/fd5kaa3/
Oh and if you have more than 1 internal harddrive I recommend physically unplugging or disabling from your BIOS all drives the except the one you're installing Windows on for the duration of the process. This way you guarantee Windows gets installed in the right place and the install doesn't get split across multiple drives.
Sounds like the software is having trouble locking the files down for moving. It might be that VSS is locking the files for its own purpose and not letting robocopy do its thing. The worse the server performance the worse the issues will be if you are trying to write data to that poor performing server.
With so many new things in Windows doing strange things, I would take a look at freefilesync.org. This software can be configured to run manually or as a scheduled task. There is even a real time sync that will watch a folder for updates and then when it finds updates it runs a sync again. Very powerful software that i have used over the years. If the product does good for you donate to help the dev out.
If you don't want the data compressed and a 1 to 1 copy then you could use FreeFileSync. I've been using it a couple of months and have verified what its doing everytime I sync. You can set exclusions and you can backup any folder (including root folder) to any folder on the target drive. You can't duplicate your sync. Like copying D:\ to G:\ at the same time as D:\Random to G:.
If you are syncing multiple drives to one large partition on the target drive, then you should put each folder you want to sync on its own line with the corresponding folder on the large backup drive.
Don't forget to sync every top level folder you want to include and then format your source or you won't have a duplicate.
When you run the program in it compares the directories and copies missing data over/creates missing subdirectories. In the mode I use its one way sync.
You can save your settings directories, mode, exclusions in a .ffs file and the last one used is loaded on startup. You can click the reverse icon and you can use drive 2 to restore drive 1. If you miss a folder in your sync list you obviously have no data to restore and u lose the original data if not backed up elsewhere.
As its a sync its not a backup, there is no versioning (at least to my knowledge); so that's why I check what its doing before giving the OK.
Its got an interface which shows the biggest changes at the top as percentages and lists all the files being copied on the left pane, and deleted on the right. It has a toggle to display only changes. It has more features but I think I've summarised enough.
https://freefilesync.org/ There is a donation button and no advertising even on the installer.
FreeFileSync might be for you, it's been rock-solid for many many years for me, backup or sync, this never let me down:
The UI might seem a bit "weird" at first but I promise, it's very well thought out. (There's been a slight change in the file display in the very latest version 10.25, which isn't yet perfect, but I bet that will get improved in the next versions, and it shouldn't be a biggie either way)
The download options for linux aren't that great I guess, but look for it in connection with your distro, e.g. https://software.opensuse.org/package/FreeFileSync
In particular, if you can live with having a little database file at the root of the folder pairs, checking for changed files is really fast if you compare by "file name and size". Though to be honest I haven't even tried it much without the database, which is optional -- it might be fine either way.
The basic idea is to set up folder pairs, then go through the comparison / filter / and sync settings. Then you click "compare", and it shows you what it would do if you clicked synchronize, in the column between the folder pairs. And there you can manually change the action, e.g. if something shows "conflict", you can decide which side gets copied to which, or if nothing should be done for that file. You can also right-click the line and easily create a filter from it, e.g. to exclude a specific file from sync.
Then you can also save those settings as a batch file and start it with a batch as an argument, then it does the comparison and sync in one step, and it can also autoclose or shutdown the machine when it's done.
Once this is set up, use FreeFileSync (https://freefilesync.org/) and RealTimeSync to automatically copy the files once they arrive in the PC drive.
I use Sonarr to download files when they are available, then FreeFileSync and RealTimeSync to copy them to a NAS with Plex installed. I don't have to manually download or copy much anymore.
I've been using Allway Sync which is pretty straightforward I think, and there's also FreeFileSync (which I never used but is widely used/recommended)
For imaging I've been using Macrium Reflect (which is the go-to for many)
You should choose at least 2 external hard drives for backup - both individual files/folders and full system backup.
Backup, backup, backup. Working at a well-known office supply store and working computer repair for 15 years I've seen way too many anguished people lose all of their digital life by not backing up.
For only 2-3 TB I think external HDD fits well ... Unless you want something fancier. For convenience I recommend a piece of software that can help you with backing up (especially the numerous small files like photos that is harder to keep track off). The software I am talking about is FreeFileSync.
Of course for even more convenience you can replace the external HDDs with a small 2 bay NAS and fill it with 2 x 4TB drives.
From Microsoft:
System Restore is a Microsoft® Windows® tool designed to protect and repair the computer software. System Restore takes a "snapshot" of the some system files and the Windows registry and saves them as Restore Points. When an install failure or data corruption occurs, System Restore can return a system to working condition without you having to reinstall the operating system. It repairs the Windows environment by reverting back to the files and settings that were saved in the restore point.
It does NOT save your personal files. Back up your personal files to an external drive using software like FreeFileSync or a cloud backup like Google Drive or Dropbox. Or image your entire drive to an external drive with software like Macrium Reflect Free.
Using 10-15 GB of your drive space for System Restore is plenty.
FreeFileSync: https://freefilesync.org/
Simple, intuitif, il faut juste lui indiquer les dossiers d'origine et les emplacements de destination, bien configurer en appuyant sur la roue verte pour que ça soit bien en mode miroir (DD-> Externe), et ça roule.
Lorsque que tu veux mettre à jour, même en ayant une masse de nouveaux fichiers, il te suffit juste d'appuyer sur Comparer pour voir quels seront les changements, puis d'appuyer sur synchroniser (en vérifiant bien d'être en mode miroir). Il va prendre ton dossier de référence comme base et juste ajouter/supprimer les fichiers différents ou modifiés de l'emplacement de destination.
J'ai pas connu plus simple, la copie est très rapide, plus rapide que win, zéro plantage, message d'erreur alors que lorsque windows copie mal, il arrête tout sans forcément te prévenir.
FreeFileSync fonctionne autant avec les disques dur/clés/DD Externes que sur des dossiers d'autres ordis branchés en réseau, et la versatilité ne s'arrête pas là, ça a l'air de fonctionner en FTP et Google Drive, pas encore testé.
Depuis que j'ai découvert FFS, je l'utilise pour tout: sauvegardes sur clés/HD externes ou internes, transferts/sauvegardes entre le pc fixe et pc portable/tablette, etc...
> wiztree
Good to see this program getting more and more recognition! It's so much faster than windirstat, and the extra features are handy too.
Another great one is https://freefilesync.org/ - it deserves at award for its amazingly powerful previewing functionality/GUI. There's nothing quite like it when it comes to previewing what will occur before you actually execute the sync.
Remove Empty Directories has a nice interface too.
Critical for your long-term storage strategy: the disk drives must be mirrored (SHR1). Meaning that the usable storage will be 6TB. Don't even think of "adding" both drive sizes (Stripping). If you need more than 6TB, either buy a bigget NAS or bigger drives. This is non-negotiable.
What I really don't get is the Lightroom catalog in an external flash-drive (USB?). Is it faster than internal drive?
You can create a separate volume in the NAS for TimeMachine. Or you can just assign the whole free space to it and forget about copying and syncing folders. (And no need to keep reading.)
Yes, you have to copy everything to the NAS at the inauguration time. No miracles; lots of patience.
Now, regarding synchronizing internal folders with the NAS, if you want to do it semi-automatically (but with more control and granularity) I strongly recommend FreeFileSync
try freefilesync for linux. https://freefilesync.org/
keep in mind you have to share the drive to linux and then use linux to sync
it's powerful and totally free. please let me know how it goes after you try it out.
offsite, I use Backblaze.
$5/ month. they allow external drives to be backed up so I have my Drobo in there, and it backs it up.
beyond that... it's not automatic, but, I bought and extra 10Tb drive and use Frefilesync runs Mac win or Linux, and created a job that backs up everything, I keep the drive in my desk at work, bring it home once a month, and run the backup over the weekend and then return the drive to work.
does that help?