Windows help: My wife uses a windows 10 based laptop. She dragged and dropped some 36,000 pics from one external HD to another. The process took almost a day to complete. My question...

brian43053 Loc: Buffalo, NY

My wife uses a windows 10 based laptop. She dragged and dropped some 36,000 pics from one external HD to another. The process took almost a day to complete. My question is this - is there a windows based app that will allow her to only add any new files from hard drive A to B next time she wants to back up her files?

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

if this is a back up issue - look at GoodSync. It works constantly in the background according to the rules you set.

Graham Smith Loc: Cambridgeshire UK

brian43053 wrote:

My wife uses a windows 10 based laptop. She dragged and dropped some 36,000 pics from one external HD to another. The process took almost a day to complete. My question is this - is there a windows based app that will allow her to only add any new files from hard drive A to B next time she wants to back up her files?

SyncBack. It's free.

juan_uy Loc: Uruguay

brian43053 wrote:

My wife uses a windows 10 based laptop. She dragged and dropped some 36,000 pics from one external HD to another. The process took almost a day to complete. My question is this - is there a windows based app that will allow her to only add any new files from hard drive A to B next time she wants to back up her files?

The manual, not recommended, way is when you copy again the files select "skip" for existing files.

There are several applications that can perform what you need.

I personally use/recommend:
- SyncToy: Free app from Microsoft, although is not being developed nowadays, the latest version works fine.
- FreeFileSync: Another free app, more power.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

brian43053 wrote:

My wife uses a windows 10 based laptop. She dragged and dropped some 36,000 pics from one external HD to another. The process took almost a day to complete. My question is this - is there a windows based app that will allow her to only add any new files from hard drive A to B next time she wants to back up her files?

That is called an incremental backup. After initial backup of the entire drive, the succeeding ones will add only the changes that occurred. (adds new images)
There are many programs. I have used Acronis for 15 years - It is not a free program. Here's the link to a free 30 day trial.
https://www.acronis.com/en-us/homecomputing/thanks/acronis-true-image-2020/

Mark

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

The only things on my photo computers are photos, no other files, those are on my "other" computer. So I use LR to copy or move files to another drive, and ignore duplicates.

What really is awful is uploading my back ups to the cloud (also, not backing up the system, just the photos) The only internet available in my area is satellite (extremely expensive) or my air card, extremely slow.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

brian43053 wrote:

My wife uses a windows 10 based laptop. She dragged and dropped some 36,000 pics from one external HD to another. The process took almost a day to complete. My question is this - is there a windows based app that will allow her to only add any new files from hard drive A to B next time she wants to back up her files?

Why did shy drag that many over in the first place? I only just drag a very few to another drive!

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

juan_uy wrote:

The manual, not recommended, way is when you copy again the files select "skip" for existing files.

There are several applications that can perform what you need.

I personally use/recommend:
- SyncToy: Free app from Microsoft, although is not being developed nowadays, the latest version works fine.
- FreeFileSync: Another free app, more power.

I also use SyncToy - works great!

John Sh Loc: Toronto, Australia

You could always try putting the new files in a separate folder and just copy that. But then aren't all your files in meaningful folders? That would make life easier and the wife happier. Win Win.

brian43053 Loc: Buffalo, NY

BboH wrote:

if this is a back up issue - look at GoodSync. It works constantly in the background according to the rules you set.

thank you

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

brian43053 wrote:

My wife uses a windows 10 based laptop. She dragged and dropped some 36,000 pics from one external HD to another. The process took almost a day to complete. My question is this - is there a windows based app that will allow her to only add any new files from hard drive A to B next time she wants to back up her files?

Has she tried copy/paste?

fetzler Loc: North West PA

First, I NEVER drag and drop -too risky.

I will assume that you have all photos in one directory. You may have sub-directories under this directory this is not a problem. Create a photo directory on the new drive. In File Explorer open the source directory and select all files (Ctrl-A) then copy the files (ctrl-C). Go to the detestation directory and paste the files (Ctrl-V). The first time it will take a long time as all files will need to be copied. When you need to copy the files again to update some files repeat the process. Windows will copy only the new files. It will then ask you what to do with with the remaining files. Use the menu to only transfer files that have a different date and size. Any files that have been updated will then be transferred.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Windows has a built-in backup utility. I can’t remember the name of it but you can Google it up. I’ve never used it but it sounds simple enough. What you’re trying to do is called a partial backup, including only the files in the previous backup. But alas, a full backup every now and then is useful to have available.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

brian43053 wrote:

My wife uses a windows 10 based laptop. She dragged and dropped some 36,000 pics from one external HD to another. The process took almost a day to complete. My question is this - is there a windows based app that will allow her to only add any new files from hard drive A to B next time she wants to back up her files?

One easy approach is to place new images into new folders on the computer. Even better, organize those folders by calendar year and include a YYYYMMDD parameter into the folder name. Example: 2019 / 20190903 - Labor Day Swimming

Result: you can easily identify new folders to be copied onto the back-up HD. I sometimes need to expand my HD, say jumping from 2TB to larger 4TB drives. Yep, that initial population can be a 24-hour event. But, everything added new after that can be identified by the folder name and / or sorting the modify date on the folders and picking the ones with change-dates since that last copy to the HD (or comparing the sort order of change dates on the HD). Of course, this can be done better with software that does essentially the same comparison.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

If you want to do it manually, in detail view, just click on the top of the date column in file explorer to arrange the files by date.