ROBOCOPY, used in the automated manner described at the beginning of this thread, will do ALL of this. And if you use it in the script it is automatic, on the schedule you set up. (I have one client that runs this every 30 minutes during the work day, alternating between three destinations (targets).)

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

And you certainly have a valid reason not to automate. I opted, instead, to get three high capacity drives, rotate them, and hot-swap them in the MSS. If I had to be swapping media I would have second thoughts.

Problem is that I would not do it regularly. If you have the disci-pline (and the time to swap the disks) all the more power to you! I don't so I automate.

Now lets get back on the AUTOMATIC BACKUP discussions, please...

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

Thanks, I have seen truecrypt before but had forgotten about it.



You'll need to wait for the next version of WHS, presumably based on Server 2008 and incorporating Microsoft's bitlocker feature.

_________________
Synology DS411: 2 * WD20EARX and 2 * WD20EARS
DIY Small Business Server 2011
MP 8-core 2.26GHz, 2012 MBA13 i7/8GB/256GB, AppleTVs, iPhone

Discussions go where they go.

_________________
Synology DS411: 2 * WD20EARX and 2 * WD20EARS
DIY Small Business Server 2011
MP 8-core 2.26GHz, 2012 MBA13 i7/8GB/256GB, AppleTVs, iPhone

hello john, welcome back to this thread

any thoughts on my issue with rich copy not remembering its own backups?

to clarify cliff....

if i open rich copy and backup my MUSIC folder....if i delete or add or modify any file in this folder, richcopy recognizes it and only copies over the deleted, added or modified file. if i close rich copy and open it and back up again, it does everything accordingly

however, if i change the source folder to backup to say VIDEOS, then switch back over to the MUSIC folder, it seems to forget that i JUST backed up the music folder...so it just re-copies over the entire MUSIC folder all over again....as if i've never backed it up.

am i never suppose to change the source directory?

John does this happen with robocopy?

also, can you confirm that robocopy recognizes deleted folders? cause with rich copy, if a folder is deleted in the source directory, the destination directory only reflects the files WITHIN said folder as being deleted but keeps the folder there....empty

where do i set these options? in the script or in robocopy?

how easy is it to set up robocopy? i just spent all day on saturday learning and testing richcopy...are the options similar ?

It is not at all clear that that will work with DE.

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

One thought -- use a tool that works! Seriously, I'd prefer that discussion be in a separate thread, guys... If you want to continue that how about starting one on RICHCOPY?


Yes, ROBOCOPY will remove folders from the target if they are removed from the source. (And it handles renames as well.) I believe this was also confirmed (by Cliff?) above.

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

ok, based on everything, i guess i should switch back to robocopy. mr bick....any response to my above quoted post? it's about robocopy

Alll that is in the script, specifically in the call to ROBOCOPY:

You would make changes to the source by changing the D:\shares to address lower levels of the Shared Folder structure as desired (with corresponding changes to the target in the T:\Shares portion.


All the "options" are right there in that command line. Other than modifying the target to point to whereever you mapped your unmanaged drive you do not have to do anything really. You can, of course, change the path and file name for the log file (and if you do you will need to change the rename statements further down in the script). All the options should be fine as they are already but feel free to look at the documentation and adjust them if there is something that would better suit your needs. (It''s all described in the ROBOCOPY help.)

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

gotcha.

what about the "COPY IF" options....like:

copy over if the file has been edited, changed or deleted.

are those all in the script to? or are those setting within Robocopy the program?

i assume they are in robocopy the program. if so, are those options similar to Richcopy and the do they use the same terms?

what about scheduling it when to run? also in the robocopy program?

so if i change the script to just D:\, i then have to change the T: to just T:\ correct? and all the folders in D:\ will be automatically created?

wait, does the T stand for "TARGET" or is T the drive letter? i thought your script assumed the unmanaged drive was E:\. just clarifying

EDIT: after some googling, seems the copy options in robocopy are just / switches that directly translates to teh command prompt robocopy which i think the script initiates. sooo.....is it safe to assume that script has all the copy IF switches i need?

Alll the options are set with switches in the command line. ALL the options. There is nothing else. Period.

I highly recommend installing RoboCopy on your PC, opening a command prompy and executing "robocopy /?' to see detailed descriptions of all the options.

And YES, as I have said multiple times, everything you want is there wit the options I have in the script at the start of this thread.

EDIT: The one exception is the scheduling. Once you have the script working manually you need to schedule it with the Windows Task Scheduler: Start-->Control Panel-->Scheduled Tasks-->Add Scheduled Task.

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

sorry if im making you repeat yourself, im just making sure

what about the T part above? keep it T:\?

and finally, what is the robocopy WHS plug in?

just to allow people to run robocopy from within the WHS console rather than having to RDP in it?

this plug in never gets used if i just use the script does it?

Is there a RoboCopy Add-In for WHS? I am unaware of it. I searched for one last night and only found a 12 Jan 2010 reference that was a request for one. If you have seen such a thing please post a link and I'll look at it.

In any event, such a thing is NOT needed for this script. (And if you want to run it from the console you can use the Advanced Admin Console Add-In to set up a user-defined command to run it from Advance Admin. I have actually done that.)

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch