Any good free backup program to backup changed files to USB drive?

[Bob F]

I'd like to find a program that would automatically backup changed files to a
USB drive. Can anyone make any recommendations?

 

[Barry Schwarz]

I'd like to find a program that would automatically backup changed files to a
USB drive. Can anyone make any recommendations?

XP comes with a Backup utility that is described in the Help and
Support Center

WinZip has an option to collect only files which are marked ready to
archive. I expect other zip programs do also.

Google returns almost 11 million hits on the subject.

 

[VanguardLH]

I'd like to find a program that would automatically backup changed files to a
USB drive. Can anyone make any recommendations?

Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 (free)
Macrium Reflect Free
DriveImage XML

You never mentioned whether you want only freeware or are willing to pay
for backup software. For payware:

Acronis TrueImage Home

If you have a Western Digital or Seagate hard disk, you can download the
free (but crippled) version of Acronis from the web sites of those hard
disk makers.

 

[mm]

I'd like to find a program that would automatically backup changed files to a
USB drive. Can anyone make any recommendations?

XXCopy will do a good job. You can start with the /Clone switch and
add any of the many other switches to get just what you want.

It normally doesn't rely on the attribute bit, but on the date-time
stamp to decide which files have changed.

Backing up to a USB drive is just like backing up to anything else,
from the software's pov. You just specify the drive by its letter,
and if you unplug it and replug it, verify each time a few times that
it gets the same letter each time, even if you plug other tthings in
too, like cameras and flashdrives, usb harddrives, etc.

You can't make a bootable copy of the whole partition this way, for
that you need XXCLone, also free.

 

[Bob F]

Define "automatic." Do you want every file that is
changed to immediately thereafter, with no action
on your part, be backed up? Do you want
backups at regular intervals, like hourly, daily, ...,
of changed files (only) to happen without action
on your part? Or something else? Such as, do you
want backups initiated by you to backup only files
that have been changed?

Any of those would work. You put them in the best order of priority.

 

[Bob F]

Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 (free)
Macrium Reflect Free
DriveImage XML

You never mentioned whether you want only freeware or are willing to
pay for backup software. For payware:

Acronis TrueImage Home

If you have a Western Digital or Seagate hard disk, you can download
the free (but crippled) version of Acronis from the web sites of
those hard disk makers.

The seagate version doesn't do incremental backups - just an image, AFAICT.

 

[Bob F]

Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 (free)
Macrium Reflect Free
DriveImage XML

I will research these - thanks.

 

[Bob F]

XP comes with a Backup utility that is described in the Help and
Support Center

I'll have to look at this again. I know the version on Vista wanted to do a full
backup first, which the USB flash drive can't handle.

WinZip has an option to collect only files which are marked ready to
archive. I expect other zip programs do also.

That's good info. Thanks.

Google returns almost 11 million hits on the subject.

That's part of my problem.

 

[mm]

The seagate version doesn't do incremental backups - just an image, AFAICT.

Acronis itself has a free version of Acronis True Image Home, not tied
to WD or Seagate, that does incremental, full, and that other one,
iirc

 

[mm]

Any of those would work. You put them in the best order of priority.

The first one has risks, unless you have another backkup. If you
screw up a file, than back it up immediately, you'll have two
screwed-up files.

 

[Bob F]

The first one has risks, unless you have another backkup. If you
screw up a file, than back it up immediately, you'll have two
screwed-up files.

That's good info. Thanks for your help.

 

[Bob F]

Acronis itself has a free version of Acronis True Image Home, not tied
to WD or Seagate, that does incremental, full, and that other one,
iirc

I find a free trial version, but not a free version. There is no indication of
the length of the trial.

 

[mm]

I find a free trial version, but not a free version. There is no indication of
the length of the trial.

Sorry, somehow I got the wrong impression, or I forgot. I just tried
mine, installed in October, and it said my 30 days had expired.

Acronis TIH has the advantage of a 30 or so dollar add-on that will
let you change computers for the restore.

No interest in XXCOPY? I see that you're using a flashdrive and not
trying to make a a bootable image anyhow. It allows you to exclude
any kind of files you want to exclude, as many as you want, like
anything ending in .tmp or in a TEMP folder, at any level, or the MS
weekly update files, or the swap or hibernate file, or the well,
here's my exclude list, at the bortom***


You take an XXCopy line and put it in a bat filel so that once you
have the parameters right, you don't have to do them again. You can
put the bat file in the Scheduler if you want. There's a whole Yahoo
list supporting XXCOPY, with quite a bit of participation by the
author.

XXCLONE is needed to make a bootable copy, nad its free version also
only does full backups. It will verify you have the right drive by
looking not just at the drive letter but they name you've given the
partition, like XP-backup2. The pro version is 40 dollars for one
license, good forever for that version of windows, but have to spend
another 40 if you move to an SP that wasn't released when you bought
your first license, or if you move to a new OS. He's working on Win7
now.


***
This my exclusion file for the one that backs up XP files. XP is on
my D: drive. I probably didn't need any of the D: prefexes, and some
lines I wrote twice because I wasn't sure of the format at the start.
Files with spaces in the names require quotes. (None of those are
names I chose.)

Lines that start // are comments.

d:hiberfil.sys
dagefile.sys
d:\found.*\
d:\found.*
d:\*\temp\
d:\*\*.tmp\
d:\*\*.tmp
d:\$AVG\
d:\windows\temp\
// d:\windows\softwaredistribution\download\
// d:\windows\$ntuninst*\
"d:\System Volume Information\"
"d:*\temporary internet files\"
"d:\documents and settings\bigcheeze\local settings\application
data\mozilla\firefox\profiles\9g7csz6r.default\cache\"
"d:\program files\common files\symantec shared\*.*"
d:*\content.ie5\
d:\recycled\
\*.tmp
\*.exh
\*.dmp
d:\$NtUnin*.*\
d:\$Nt*.*\
d:\windows\$hf_mig$\
\*\*.tmp

 

[Bob F]

XXCopy will do a good job. You can start with the /Clone switch and
add any of the many other switches to get just what you want.

It normally doesn't rely on the attribute bit, but on the date-time
stamp to decide which files have changed.

Backing up to a USB drive is just like backing up to anything else,
from the software's pov. You just specify the drive by its letter,
and if you unplug it and replug it, verify each time a few times that
it gets the same letter each time, even if you plug other tthings in
too, like cameras and flashdrives, usb harddrives, etc.

You can't make a bootable copy of the whole partition this way, for
that you need XXCLone, also free.

That does look like a good possibility. Thanks again.

 

[vanessa880809]

Bob F wrote:

> I'd like to find a program that would automatically backup changed files to a
> USB drive. Can anyone make any recommendations?

Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 (free)
Macrium Reflect Free
DriveImage XML

You never mentioned whether you want only freeware or are willing to pay
for backup software. For payware:

Acronis TrueImage Home

If you have a Western Digital or Seagate hard disk, you can download the
free (but crippled) version of Acronis from the web sites of those hard
disk makers.

I am personally a big fan of Paragon and Acronis. But if you just want some basic-functional backup software, say, you just want something automatically backup changed files. I recommend you have a try on freeware EASEUS Todo Backup Free Version.