Garyminor Loc: Raleigh, NC

I have been backing up my photos by copying the latest versions to a backup folder on a internal drive, and to a backup folder on an external drive.

I've transferred files from my primary computer to the external drive, then from the external drive to my secondary computer. After working at the secondary computer, I've transferred files from the secondary computer to the external drive, then from the external drive back to my primary drive.

I've been using a program called Beyond Compare. It will compare the files in the source and destination folders, and copy any newer files from the source to the destination, overwriting the destination files.

The problem occurred when a file became corrupt somewhere in the process, and I didn't know it. Unfortunately, the corrupt file was propagated throughout the system.

I'm looking for a program that will backup my files using incremental backups. That is, the first time I backup, the entire contents will be copied to a file on the backup folder. After that, only the changed files will be copied to a different file on the same backup folder. Each successive backup will use a new file, containing only the files that were changed since the last backup. Hence the term "incremental"

I've looked at the program SyncBack, but it overwrites older files.

This may be a wakeup call if you're doing your backups like I was.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a program that does incremental backups?

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

I've always backed up manually, so can recommend no program, but I believe that no matter what program you switch to, it would be well to determine how that file became corrupted, else it could occur again. Good luck!

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

Ive heard of Beyond compare it was a file management tool for duplicate files. I didnt know it was used to move files too.
Ive never used it but there was a time I needed to check some files with different names to see if they were the same,.So I looked at a lot of compare pgms.

I move mine manually also. That way I know what I have, where its going and IF there is a problem I know it instantly and there is no chance it will infect another file

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

On my Mac, I use Time Machine for hourly incremental backups - it is flawless and maintains almost 2 years worth of backups on a 2 TB external drive. I also make use of Chronosync to maintain a mirror (built by incremental - meaning, the first run is very long, the additional runs only add new or changed files to the copy), and I also use Crashplan to maintain an incremental versioning copy in the cloud.

Now, you neglected to mention what system you run, but for windows Crashplan is available and will backup to the cloud and/or to external drives.... it does a good job, and for backup to external drives is free.

If you use a windows PeeCee, there are a host of backup programs available, including Backup Exec - which does all kinds of backups.

You can google backup software and come up with pages and pages....

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2278661,00.asp

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

So what happens when you change a file and it becomes corrupted in the process? It has been changed, so the backup software will back it up. Unless you have a way to check for corruption, you will be propagating the corrupt file by any incremental backup system.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Yes indeed you will, thats where versioning incremental comes in handy.... Time Machine will maintain versions as far back as disk space will allow, so you can restore any version of the file, Crashplan does the same thing - Chronosync I am not 100% sure of it's versioning capabilities yet.

Definitely you need to think hard about a backup system - just copying files is not gonna cut it for sure ;)

Good example of CrashPlan's versioning.... My Lightroom catalog changes very often, however Crashplan will only upload the disk blocks that have changed, so I end up with a very quick upload of only a few k, and a new version of the entire catalog file.

Crashplan Lightroom catalog versions

(Download)

AlohaBob Loc: Los Angeles, CA

In backup software, incremental generally means that the software backs up changed files only beginning at a certain point. Differential backups create a backup (each time it's run) of all files since some designated point; Differential would probably work for you. What you're talking about sounds more like file versioning which would work well for lots of smaller files, but not for big files that change a lot.

BeyondCompare is more of a tool used by programmers and other techs to find out what has changed and integrate changes.

I'm not all that up on backup software any more; my favorite for my business is Macrium.

I'm a Windows person, so that's what I'm referring to. Here are a couple of inexpensive options that would probably work for you:

1) I used FileBack PC for years; it does powerful file versioning and is very configurable; but you have to learn your way around it. https://www.maxoutput.com/FileBack/

2) Source control software is a free and very good option for versioning files and keeping backups. It doesn't work well for PDFs or images, but is great for any sort of file that is primarily text based. Git and Subversion are established and relatively easy to use once you learn your way around, but there is a pretty big learning curve. Git is my favorite. If you google TortoiseGit and TortoiseSVN you'll find free windows explorer type tools that make using this software a lot easier and easier to learn.

If you're not very technical and/or don't have a friend or relative to help you set things up and work through the learning curve, #2 is likely to be more trouble than it's worth.

For what it's worth, I think you could configure SynchBack to do a pretty good job of versioning; it's pretty configurable and flexible and you can set up LOTS of automated processes that backed up to (say) a rolling 6 weeks of versions.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Syncback will overwrite older files if you want it to. It won't if you set up the rules to not do that, and run incremental, rather than a drive sync. You probably should take a second look at it.

I have been using it for over 15 yrs - and it works great.

Garyminor Loc: Raleigh, NC

Thanks for your responses.

I'm using Windows 10, on a very fast machine. I'm quite competent using a computer, so powerful is more important than easy to use. Free is also nice.

I had forgotten about differential backup. Perhaps that is a good choice.

Garyminor Loc: Raleigh, NC

I looked for the incremental capability and didn't see it. I'll look again.

Bobbee

sent you a PM

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Having an error copied to all backups is a nightmare.

As for SyncBack, I use that with the Mirror setting. It makes the backup folders identical to the folders on C. I'm not sure what you mean by "overwrites older files." If I have Birthday on C, it will be copied to K. If it changes on C, the changes will be Mirrored onto K.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Look into Acronis. http://www.Acronis.com. I've been using it for 10 years. It also offers Cloud backup.

mallen1330 Loc: Chicago western suburbs

This sounds like you are synchronizing -- not backing up. To back up your files, you should copy them to multiple locations (CD, DVD, External HD, Cloud Storage) and leave them untouched after that. They are a "back up", not an up-to-date version of your work.

Toby

You are the first person that I have heard express this fear. It doesn’t matter how good your anti-virus software is there is still a brief period of time when you are vulnerable until they find a cure and upload it to your computer. I know this; I was a victim of the “I love you” virus 10 or 15 years ago. I lost thousands of photo files forever.
As far as I know, if you use any backup program that updates the files that have changed you are gambling. If you are virus infected your active infected files will replace you good stored files. If I am wrong please respond.
What I have been doing is to make a complete backup of all of my files periodically. I date these backups and after I have stored the latest one for several months and am pretty sure it is OK I then delete the oldest one. This takes a tremendous amount of time, both mine and the computers and many hard drives.
I can only think of 2 solutions for this problem. One is that you have a separate computer that you use for editing photo files and never use it on line or with down loaded files. A tough solution and still something may slip through.
The other solution that I think I am going to start is to put old files that I know are not corrupt onto a hard drive labeled “archive” and never touch them other than maybe pull off a file for editing and saving elsewhere. I would have one backup of these files. I would add to this drive only files that I am sure have not been contaminated, no working files. I would continue to have frequent dated backups of my working files and slowly archive them when I feel I will no longer be changing them.
I am interested in comments and solutions. If you are going to recommend software please reread the first paragraph then respond if you think you have a solution.
Thank you all in advance