Serial Backups

[Bridgeman]

I want to do backups serially, i.e. a set of six successive daily backups.
However, as scheduled, each daily backup simply overwrites the previous days
one rather than creating a new one, or appears to. I checked whether using
Incremental rather than Normal would do what I wanted but it seems not. Is
there a way to do what I want?

 

[sgopus]

an incremental will do what you want, just do a full backup first, as it will
use the full as a comparison to write the incremental.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I want to do backups serially, i.e. a set of six successive daily backups.
However, as scheduled, each daily backup simply overwrites the previous
days
one rather than creating a new one, or appears to. I checked whether
using
Incremental rather than Normal would do what I wanted but it seems not.
Is
there a way to do what I want?

It depends on what backup program you use and if you specify that new
backups are to be appended to the existing backups, overwrite them or
written to a unique file name each time.

 

[Bridgeman]

Thanks for the speedy response guys. I was using the Windows Wizard and
thought I'd set up as Appending the new files that's why I am puzzled that it
seems to overwrite the existing backup. If I use Incremental will that
create a separate daily backup? I would like to specify a unique file name
(the date basically) for each backup so how do I do that and still have it
scheduled automatically?

 

[Mike Torello]

Thanks for the speedy response guys. I was using the Windows Wizard and
thought I'd set up as Appending the new files that's why I am puzzled that it
seems to overwrite the existing backup. If I use Incremental will that
create a separate daily backup? I would like to specify a unique file name
(the date basically) for each backup so how do I do that and still have it
scheduled automatically?

Yes, you will get a separate daily backup, but it will be a fraction
of the size of the original and it won't be able to be used as a
stand-alone... it requires all backups that preceded it if a restore
is needed.

About specifying a unique file name for each: even third party apps
won't let you do that. You specify the name of the original and they
append 1, 3, 4 etc. to the end of that to show the serial nature of
all of the incrementals.

 

[Bridgeman]

Hi Pegasus,

Thanks for your speedy reply. I use the Windows Backup Wizard writing to
an external HDD and am almost certain that I used Append. I expected to see
a backup with the new days date, but instead the backup had the same file
name but the create date was a day later than the original. I set the job
up using Task Scheduler. Is there a way, using whatever Windows provides, to
write a new backup file each day with it's own unique id, e.g. the date, or
should the Append facility do that? Would using Incremental as sgopus
suggests be the answer?

 

[Bridgeman]

Thank you Mike,

I understand what you've said. I'll retry using Append. How do I id the
appended files?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Here is what you can do. The approach below will use your existing backup
command but will create a backup file that reflects today's date.

1. Click Start/Run/notepad c:\MyBackup.bat{OK}
2. Allow a new file to be created.
3. Put these lines inside:
@echo off
set FileName=X:\Backup-%date:/=-%.bkf
**** /F "%FileName%"
4. Save and close the file.
5. Run it.
6. Check the result.
7. Check the backup log file.
8. Schedule c:\MyBackup.bat to run instead of the previous backup job.

Notes about Step 3 above:
- Replace "X:" with the drive letter of your external backup drive.
- Replace **** with the whole ntbackup command that you will
find in the Task Scheduler under your backup job. Use copy & paste
to get it into your batch file.
- Replace the /F ... parameter from the original command with
/F "%FileName%", as shown above.

Post again if you have any questions.

 

[Bridgeman]

Thanks Pegasus. I’m still not able to get it to work. When I did as you
said Run/Start/notepad the Run panel appeared and I typed in Notepad
c:\MyBackup.bat and OK. That brought up the Notepad screen. I clicked
File/New. I then typed in @echo off set FileName=J(the external
HDD):\Backup-%date:/=-%.bkf I then cut and pasted the schedule command as
directed and replaced the F parameter with
F “%FileName%†(I’ve also replaced %FileName% with%J%) but it still doesn’t
work. When I click Save, the Save As screen appears. All it shows in the
File Name window is *.txt The Save As Type shows Text Document (*.txt) and
Encoding as ASCI. When I Save as C:\MyBackup.bat it tells me that file
already exists do I want to overwrite it. I did so, closed it and did the
Start/Run and it showed the c:\MyBackup.bat but when I click OK a panel with
a black background appears for an instant then disappears. I’ve tried it
several times and the panel is a Windows 32\cmd.exe It shows a panel saying
looking for backup devices and then reverts to a Welcome to the Back Utility
Advanced mode but it was on screen far too briefly to be read in full and
nothing further happens. What have I done wrong?

When I checked the backup file this a.m it had increased in size so I’m
assuming that the Append instruction is working. However, when I check what
files are backed up it only shows the one file, not the string of daily files
that I would have expected.

I only seem to be able to access the Backup Log information when I use the
Backup & Restore screen and select Restore. Is that the only way of seeing
what’s in the log?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

It seems you went off the rails at the very start. Here is my first step
again, expanded even further:
1a. Click the Start button.
1b. Click Run.
1c. Type the letters c:\MyBackup.bat
1d. Click the OK button.
1e. You will see a panel that says "Cannot find the c:\MyBackup.bat file. Do
you want to create a new file?"
1f. Click the Yes button.

To check if you got this part right, perform these steps:
- Click the Start button.
- Click the Run button.
- Type the letters cmd
- Click the OK button.
You are now in a so-called "Command Prompt".
- Type these letters: dir c:\*.bat
- Press the Enter key.
You should see the file name c:\MyBackup.bat, probably with a "0" in front.

When you finally get around to putting all the lines into my batch file, you
need to test it. If it does not work, perhaps because of a typing error,
then you must execute it from a Command Prompt so that you can see the error
messages. Here is how it's done:
1. Open a Command Prompt as shown above.
2. Type these letters: c:\MyBackup.bat
3. Press the Enter key.

If you cannot work out what's wrong with your batch file then you must post
its contents in your reply.

The backup program ntbackup.exe creates up to ten log files. They are kept
here:
C:\Documents and Settings\Bridgeman\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Windows NT\NTBackup\data

 

[Bridgeman]

Thanks Pegasus,

I have religiously followed what you've said, all to no avail. I set up the
Command Prompt and typed in c:\MyBackup.bat. It responded that the file was
not recognised as an internal or external command or operable program or
batch file. I then tried typing c:\MyBackup.bat into the Run window the
result was as before. I wondered if the fact that I’d set up the scheduled
backup using the Advanced Mode facility was causing a problem so I deleted
the scheduled task, and tried everything you had said again without success.
It still comes up with the error that it could not find the file and to
check spelling etc.It doesn't ask if I want to set up a new file. I then
tried setting up the backup and scheduling it, then copied and pasted the
string into the batch file using Notepad with exactly the same result as
before. I went back to the Command Prompt screen and tried again with the
same result.

I also checked the dir c:\*.bat on the Command screen and it showed me the
following:

Directory of c:\
12/10/2006 08.40 a.m. 0 AUTOEXEC.BAT
23/01/2009 04.17 P.M. 322 MyBackup.bat
2 File<s> 322 bytes
0 Dir<s> 102,716,518,400 bytes free

Clearly the file exists.

The string I copied from the scheduled task is
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntbackup.exe backup "@C:\Documents and
Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows
NT\NTBackup\data\DAILY BACKUP1.bks" /a /d "Set created 23/01/2009 at 4:14
p.m." /v:no /r:no /rs:no /hcff /m normal /j "DAILY BACKUP1" /l:s /f
"J:\DAILY BACKUP1.bkf"

If there's something wrong with the string I cannot spot it. Does XP
respond differently to Vista or other Windows OS's when it cannot find what
you're looking for in the Run window?

Bridgeman

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Try this:
1. Click Start.
2. Click Run.
3. Type these letters:
notepad c:\Autoexec.bat
4. Click OK.
5. Mark the whole text.
6. Click Edit/Copy.
7. Paste the text into your reply.

 

[Bridgeman]

Absolutely nothing appears when I do as you suggest. Notepad screen is
empty. When I check thru cmd screen on c:\Autoexec.bat it shows the
following:
12/10/2006 08.40a.m. 0 AUTOEXEC.BAT
1 File 0 Bytes
0 Dir<s> 102,722,719,744 bytes free

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Sorry, I must have been half asleep. Here are the correct instructions:
Try this:
1. Click Start.
2. Click Run.
3. Type these letters:
notepad c:\MyBackup.bat
4. Click OK.
5. Mark the whole text.
6. Click Edit/Copy.
7. Paste the text into your reply.

 

[Bridgeman]

I know the feeling! Here's the result. @echo off
set FileName=J:\Backup-%date:/=-%.bkf C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntbackup.exe
backup "@C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Windows NT\NTBackup\data\MyBackup.bks" /a /d "Set created
23/01/2009 at 6:14 p.m." /v:no /r:no /rs:no /hcff /m normal /j "MyBackup"
/l:s /f "%J%" (I changed the last bit from /f as per your earlier
instructions.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Several posts back I wrote this instruction:
3. Put these lines inside:
@echo off
set FileName=X:\Backup-%date:/=-%.bkf
**** /F "%FileName%"

What you actually did was this:
3. Put these lines inside:
@echo off
set FileName=X:\Backup-%date:/=-%.bkf
**** /F "%J%"

Can you spot the difference in the last line? Unfortunately this is not the
only problem - there are some other ones too, yet unexplored. In view of
your limited experience in these things (which is nothing to be ashamed of -
you have your strengths and I have mine), I recommend that you drop the
whole idea of using ntbackup.exe for your backup operation. It was never a
user-friendly product and it keeps confounding even experienced people. Best
to move to a backup tool that was designed with the end user in mind, e.g.
one from the Acronis stable. After installing it, remember to perform a
backup followed by a test restore so that you know with confidence that you
could retrieve your files if the need arose.

 

[Bridgeman]

Thank you Pegasus,

I did actually try the F"%FileName%" as well but it didn't work,that's why I
tried the %J% string. I've downloaded Backup Express and will play around
with that.

Thanks for your help anyway.
--
Bridgeman

Several posts back I wrote this instruction:
3. Put these lines inside:
@echo off
set FileName=X:\Backup-%date:/=-%.bkf
**** /F "%FileName%"

What you actually did was this:
3. Put these lines inside:
@echo off
set FileName=X:\Backup-%date:/=-%.bkf
**** /F "%J%"

Can you spot the difference in the last line? Unfortunately this is not the
only problem - there are some other ones too, yet unexplored. In view of
your limited experience in these things (which is nothing to be ashamed of -
you have your strengths and I have mine), I recommend that you drop the
whole idea of using ntbackup.exe for your backup operation. It was never a
user-friendly product and it keeps confounding even experienced people. Best
to move to a backup tool that was designed with the end user in mind, e.g.
one from the Acronis stable. After installing it, remember to perform a
backup followed by a test restore so that you know with confidence that you
could retrieve your files if the need arose.