Hiya!

I'm rather annoyed, when I want to make a backup of my documents there is no need to copy lots of gigabytes of stuff everytime because only a few files will be new or changed.

I tried windows explorer, Total Commander, UltraExplorer and ExplorerXP.. but all seem to revert to windows explorers method of copying files, so you get the usual screen:

''This folder already contains a folder / file named xyz. Do you still want to copy? yes / yes to all / no / cancel

Sure I can do yes to all, but then it will copy 20GB of the same stuff thats already there! I only want it to copy the few new pictures and excel files..

How hard can that be!

Total Commander has the option to replace only with newer files.

is there any reason why you dont use automated backup software for that sort of thing?

Use something like SVN or rsync.

SVN sucks... don't do it please.

Rsync is better, but still not optimal.

This isn't meant as a tread hijack, but I'm looking for something similar. If someone knows a program that suits my needs, it would be appreciated.

It shouldn't only copy all new or modified files, but also delete the ones that were deleted in the original and not only capable of copying 1 folder with its subfolders (e.g. 'my documents') but various folders and files from various directory's on different drives.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

SVN sucks... don't do it please.

What is better then? Git?

Definitely.

SCM's aren't the right tool for this kind of job really. A properly created backup solution is, or even Rsync.

SCM's aren't very fantastic for large files (yet morons do it anyways).

Quote from ALT0160 :

This isn't meant as a tread hijack, but I'm looking for something similar. If someone knows a program that suits my needs, it would be appreciated.

It shouldn't only copy all new or modified files, but also delete the ones that were deleted in the original and not only capable of copying 1 folder with its subfolders (e.g. 'my documents') but various folders and files from various directory's on different drives.

This is definitely the job for rsync.

Quote from backup.cmd :

c:
cd "C:\Documents and Settings\Luser\My Documents"
rsync -av --delete . q:\mydocs_backup
d:
cd "d:\games\lfs\data"
rsync -av --delete spr q:\setups

Note that there are several rsync ports to windows and some have problems with paths (the reason I use cd in the example) and some have other strange problems.
I should also mention that rsync starts to get really nice when on linux so you can use --link-dest for incremental backups etc (you can still pull the files from a windows machine with rsyncd running)

SVN is the wrong tool for the job becuase it can´t pick the changed part out of most windows files. Would have been the right tool if it was source code. (I would rather use mercurial than svn in a server less environment though)

SVN and CVS are always the wrong choice. Git is so much better in a server and server less environment. Local repositories are awesome, as are working with a remote repository.

I thought using "No to all" would work.

EDIT: Scratch that, this would mean only files with different names would copy.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

SVN and CVS are always the wrong choice. Git is so much better in a server and server less environment. Local repositories are awesome, as are working with a remote repository.

I like SVN because it is integrated into the IDE I use when coding at home, making it the right choice.

Git on the other hand is entirely console driven, whilst i'm no stranger to the CLI - it simply doesn't compare to having powerful fully fledged integration directly into the environment from which i'm working.

Git isn't always the right choice. Further Git doesn't syncronise folders (and respective permissions) but only files, making live cache folders potentially problematical or in the least inolving manual configuration each time one is created.

Backup software sounds too complicated for something thats just supposed to overwrite when source is newer than target option..

I can't find it in Total Commander; it gives me the Windows Explorer copy dialog box.

rsync sounds a bit techy but I'm from the Dos age so that might work.. However i only see source code to download? And I read its for linux? :S

If you're using XP, xcopy should be able to do this. Vista and W7 have robocopy (and xcopy, but it's older). Both are command line tools.

E.g.:
xcopy c:\important d:\backups\important /S /E
Action: copy only newer files from source to destination. /S includes subdirectories, /E includes empty subdirectories. You can add a specific on-or-newer date with /D:m-d-y, but by default only newer files are copied.

robocopy c:\important d:\backups\important /MIR
robocopy c:\important d:\backups\important /S /E
Action: the lower one is the same as xcopy. /MIR mirrors the entire source, including directory structures and by default newer files only.

Quote from Niels Heusinkveld :

rsync sounds a bit techy but I'm from the Dos age so that might work.. However i only see source code to download? And I read its for linux? :S

I dont remember which version I use maybe this: http://sourceforge.net/projects/rsyncwin32/
Cygwin variant is quite good also or maybe http://www.itefix.no/i2/taxonomy/term/39 is the one to use.

There are several search for win32 rsync

Just tested on Directory Opus. It has a "Skip identical" option (skips overwrite if name, size and date are the same). Maybe that would work?

Quote from Niels Heusinkveld :

Total Commander

My total commander is "asking" this.

A better option would be "Commands > Syncronize Dirs", there you can compare the files by content and only copy the modified ones.. Shouldn`t take really long even comparing 20 gigs.
It could get not-responsive in the meanwhile, but just let it crunch..

/totalcmd