file backup utility

[Tom Raymond]

* Last month, I found a thumb drive in the bottom of the washing machine tub.

The one I currently use made through the drier before I found it. It took some guts to plug it in, but it works fine.

Tom

[traderpats]

I've been using Allways Sync for the last few years to backup to multiple drives with, after set-up, one click. It's pretty straight forward. I keep all my documents in "My Docs" which includes inspection reports, pics, emails, etc. It backs up to an internal drive and an external firewire drive.

I currently have it set up to back up report files, then emails, then a few other things to "My Docs" then to back up that folder to the other drives. Oh yeah, it's free too unless you have massive amounts of data to backup. Link: http://allwaysync.com/

[Erby]

I went to Carbonite when I drowned my main tablet PC last year.

Once it was set up, it took about three days to (in the background when I was connected) back up all of the locations I specified on my computer.

Since then it quietly (again, in the background) backs up changed files everytime I connect to the internet.

I can tell what's backed up with the little green dots. Orange dots tell me they aren't backed up yet. But they will be the next time I connect.

I've played with it a bit retrieving backed up files to this computer, retrieving files backed up from this computer onto another computer, playing lost password, etc. It works great for me.

I've sent some of you who indicated interest in it an e-mail invitation because I can get a free month and so can you if you sign up for it.

It's about 50 or 60 bucks a year for whatever you want to back up. I think my current backup is about 35 GB. After testing it, I just went ahead and signed up for two years.

If you want the e-mail invitation but didn't get it, give me your e-mail address at erby@b4uclose.com. If you didn't want one but got it anyway, my apologies.

It comes with a free trial to make sure you like it before you buy it.

www.carbonite.com

$60.00 a year for peace of mind. I was never good at remember to do the backup on my own. Now I don't have to be good at remembering this mundane but oh so important task.

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[dcmeagle]

I've been using Cobian Backup for about 6 years for our company to schools, law firms and other companies I've done consulting for. I use it to not only backup from my computer to an external drive, but to a website, AND to backup my website back down to the local computer. It can do it all and it's free.

http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm

[John Dirks Jr]

Is this one that either of you had in mind?

sync toy

No. I believe that Synctoy is for syncing up to a backup device. It might not sync in both directions -- though I really don't know. I've never used it.

I was talking about the Briefcase feature on XP. It syncs files between computers. Check it out here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307885

- Jim Katen, Oregon

I finally tried out the Microsoft Sync Toy. It's just what I was looking for. It will sync both ways, one way, with or with out duplicating deletes and renames and such. You assign folders and name them in different groups so you can have as many different swap tasks logged and ready to select. It's basic operations are synchronize, echo and contribute. Give it a try. It's free. I like it.

I have a router that has a usb port and an external storage drive plugged into it. That way, even if the main desktop is turned off I can still sync with the external drive via router from any laptop in the house.

Sync Toy

[Scottpat]

Is this one that either of you had in mind?

sync toy

No. I believe that Synctoy is for syncing up to a backup device. It might not sync in both directions -- though I really don't know. I've never used it.

I was talking about the Briefcase feature on XP. It syncs files between computers. Check it out here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307885

- Jim Katen, Oregon

I finally tried out the Microsoft Sync Toy. It's just what I was looking for. It will sync both ways, one way, with or with out duplicating deletes and renames and such. You assign folders and name them in different groups so you can have as many different swap tasks logged and ready to select. It's basic operations are synchronize, echo and contribute. Give it a try. It's free. I like it.

I have a router that has a usb port and an external storage drive plugged into it. That way, even if the main desktop is turned off I can still sync with the external drive via router from any laptop in the house.

Sync Toy

So does it allow you to sync lets say a laptop to a desktop computer? I'm trying to find a simple way to sync a laptop to a desktop when I do my inspections. I want to input the information on the laptop at the home and then have it sync back to my reporting software (3D)my office computer or my main computer so that I can finish the report and email it off from my main computer.

I have the PDA software that does this with 3D, but I want to use a laptop to accomplish more in the field.

[John Dirks Jr]

Is this one that either of you had in mind?

sync toy

No. I believe that Synctoy is for syncing up to a backup device. It might not sync in both directions -- though I really don't know. I've never used it.

I was talking about the Briefcase feature on XP. It syncs files between computers. Check it out here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307885

- Jim Katen, Oregon

I finally tried out the Microsoft Sync Toy. It's just what I was looking for. It will sync both ways, one way, with or with out duplicating deletes and renames and such. You assign folders and name them in different groups so you can have as many different swap tasks logged and ready to select. It's basic operations are synchronize, echo and contribute. Give it a try. It's free. I like it.

I have a router that has a usb port and an external storage drive plugged into it. That way, even if the main desktop is turned off I can still sync with the external drive via router from any laptop in the house.

Sync Toy

So does it allow you to sync lets say a laptop to a desktop computer? I'm trying to find a simple way to sync a laptop to a desktop when I do my inspections. I want to input the information on the laptop at the home and then have it sync back to my reporting software (3D)my office computer or my main computer so that I can finish the report and email it off from my main computer.

I have the PDA software that does this with 3D, but I want to use a laptop to accomplish more in the field.

It will allow you to pair folders from laptop to a desktop. You'll need to connect the laptop to the desktop with a usb cable when you want to transfer. How this function enables your specific HI software, I don't know.

I use the "contribute" function since it will not duplicate deletes. I believe that using the "echo" or "sync" function has a potential to loose files if a file is accidentally deleted from either of the devices. If that happens, those functions would delete the file on the other drive too. To prevent this, I use the "contribute" function. It sends information one way and does not duplicate any deleted functiions that may have happened on either drive.