Need advice on backing up content

Hi Guys

Normally I don't ask for advice but since I've recently got back into Trainz, I want some advice on how to back up custom content faster, I have 150 gig of custom content on my laptop hard drive and I want to copy the userdata folder over to my external usb hard drive for future safety in case eiether drive fails you never know when that might happen, ok by making a copy of the userdata folder over to the external usb hard drive it takes a long time to copy the whole folder over, say about nine hours which is not good if my hard drive supports USB 3.0 and my laptop has USB 3.0 ports, is their a third party tool that copies faster or is their a free tool for cloning file/folders then restoring at a later date?, I tried extreme copier speeds are the same as the Windows built-in file copier, I'm using Windows 8.1 pro 64 bit.

Regards

Ahsan

Be sure your drive is plugged into an actual USB 3.0 port, which are usually blue. Also be sure you have USB 3.0 drivers installed, if your system calls for them (and probably not with Win8, but I'm not 100% on that.)

Fastcopy is a good copying tool. It's also good for syncing drives and preventing unnecessary copying, etc.

http://ipmsg.org/tools/fastcopy.html.en

RRSignal gave you some great advice, and I'll concur with the FastCopy. I use that program all the time to backup my data. It doesn't do the calculating bit to determine how long it will take for copying the stuff. It just copies the data. Once you have done a copy, you can then use a DIFF copy to copy over stuff that has been updated and or added. This will cut down your backup time considerably after the first initial copy.

John

Robocopy is also another good free option... Actually I used it today as Im getting ready to replace my PC.

the command line options I used are:

robocopy "O:\railroad simulator" "F:Trainz" /MIR /R:1 /W:1 /MT:32

replace "O:\railroad simulator" with your source directory {including quotes}
replace "F:Trainz" with your destination directory {including quotes}

/MIR = mirror directories, replacing changed, skipping the same
/R:1 = retry once for in use files
/W:1 = wait 1 second before retrying
/mt:32 = attempt 32 threads when copying (faster in most cases)

The first time it will take a while to copy it all. subsequent runs will only copy changed/new files and purging no longer in use ones like backup folders.

Hello All

Thank you all for your advice, I will try fastcopy and see how it goes.

Regards

Ahsan

Win 8.1 Pro has all the backup facilities you need built in, incorporating both real-time backup and Norton Ghost-style imaging.

See my bog entry on built-in Win 8.1 facilities to backup Trainz data:

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/entr...uilt-in-abilities-to-back-up-your-Trainz-data

Hi John

I'm having a problem, are you sure the diff setting in fastcopy is diff (Size/Date)?, after fastcopy copied anything that CMP added to the userdata folder of the TS12 directory to the backup folder of the userdata folder on my external drive the size of the backup userdata folder was almost double in size, is their something I'm doing wrong?

The initial copy of the userdata folder I used extremecopy then for anything I added to the user data folder fast copy was used

what are your settings in fast copy for the initial copy of the userdata folder (first copy)?
what are your settings in fast copy for anything added?

Regrads

Ahsan

Hi John

Exterme copy link below:
http://www.easersoft.com/

thank you for your advice by PM. I'll try that and also I used FreeFileSync, I find it much easier using that to back up the userdata folder.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/freefilesync/

Regards

Ahsan

Careful with Free File Sync, they are bundling Adware / Browser hijacker and other nasties with it in the form of Opencandy, make sure you decline it if there is an option.

clam1952 said:

Careful with Free File Sync, they are bundling Adware / Browser hijacker and other nasties with it in the form of Opencandy, make sure you decline it if there is an option.

Click to expand...

Hello

Thank you for the advice, I'll take a note of that.

anyone used COMODO Backup or FBackup?

33 Free Backup Software Tools June 2014:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/backup/tp/free-backup-software.htm

Regards

Ahsan

Ashan, you said you have Win 8.1 Pro. You don't need to add anything for backup (or be careful about its spyware), the operating system has you covered.

deneban said:

Win 8.1 Pro has all the backup facilities you need built in, incorporating both real-time backup and Norton Ghost-style imaging.

See my bog entry on built-in Win 8.1 facilities to backup Trainz data:

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/entr...uilt-in-abilities-to-back-up-your-Trainz-data

Click to expand...

deneban said:

Ashan, you said you have Win 8.1 Pro. You don't need to add anything for backup (or be careful about its spyware), the operating system has you covered.

Click to expand...

ok I will
http://freefilesync.en.lo4d.com/virus-malware-tests

FreeFileSync does copy the updated files and folders form the userdata folder to the backup folder takes less time after the initial copy, bust their is one problem with FreeFileSync when it backs up the updates to the internet folder it puts in extra files in the backed up internet folder, ie:

C:\Program Files (x86)\N3V Games\TS12\UserData\cache\internet HAS 63,349 Files, 0 Folders

and the backup folder

F:\Trainz Backup 300614\UserData\cache\internet HAS 72,339 Files, 0 Folders

Everything else in both userdata folders match.

Regards

Ahsan

deneban said:

Ashan, you said you have Win 8.1 Pro. You don't need to add anything for backup (or be careful about its spyware), the operating system has you covered.

Click to expand...

I'm trying the windows 8.1 method now, followed your tutorial with no problems.

Great, give it a positive comment.