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General discussion

What software can I use to keep my backed-up photos in sync?

Jul 15, 2016 2:48PM PDT

For many years now, I've been using an external hard drive as a backup for my photos and videos. I also back files up on DVD-R. In both cases, I'm finding it difficult to keep track of what's been backed up. Is there software that can scan my external drive, plus my main computer's Pictures folder, and show me where there are differences? This would help me see where photos are missing from the backup. Because the backup process is manual (I just drag folders and files from one drive to the other) there's a lot of room for human error. Plus it's time-consuming. I'm sure there are some good tools out there. I'm currently running Windows 10. Thanks!

--Submitted by Mike M. from Seattle

Post was last edited on July 15, 2016 2:49 PM PDT

Discussion is locked

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Try Allway Sync
Jul 15, 2016 5:30PM PDT

I use it for the exact purpose you indicate, keeping the backup folders on my NAS in sync with my computer's documents, music, photos, etc. You create a 'job' for each folder or group of folders you want to sync. It is very fast and accurate. The free version has some limitations. It is so handy, it is well worth the cost of the Pro version.

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depends on how involved you want to be.
Jul 15, 2016 6:04PM PDT

There are several option depending on do you want to:

1. Sync between 2 computers in different locations computer and Nas of computer to computer.
You could use IDrive ($70/yr with specials available for the 1st year) which beside being a stable backup program and imaging tool allows folder syncing between devices.

Choice 2. I personally use BitTorrent Sync which does have a free versions allowing synching across the web. It goes directly between computers and does not have a copy of any file on the web. there is no folder size issue except what the individual computers can hold. I sync a 200 GB music folder between my home and office computer. I also sync my Downloads folder so I can download a file or program and have it available to run at the other location. When run I can delete it and it goes from both. Another 80 GB of pictures and I am styling.

A 3rd choice is www.GoodSync.com which a minimal 1 time purchase for a very configurable set of syching features . You can set a job between any folders on a local network or diverse location and like Bit Torrent it does not use an intermediate site, just direct synch on a schedule or run the job when you want. Running the job when you want avoids often used files starting and stopping the sync process.

The usually online options like Dropbox, Google docs, ICloud, Sugarsync and One Drive all have advantages and disadvantages.

By this point I guess you realize there is no one perfect answer. Your choice will be more one of elimination. The better you can describe exactly how you want it to work the easier it will be to pick the right one(s)

Post was last edited on August 5, 2016 2:44 PM PDT

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Try Syncback
Jul 15, 2016 6:41PM PDT
http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/compare.html
Syncback is what I have used for many years. There is a free version which I would recommend you try before buying anything. It can be set up to run on a schedule or manually start the scheduled job whenever you want it to run at any other times and will keep your backup drive in sync with whatever you have on your HD. It will backup, sync or restore if that would required.
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SyncBack Free also has a no install version
Jul 16, 2016 3:07AM PDT

I have been using this for years now. It gives you multiple backup modes including the mirror option. Offers both simulation and real mode. Presents full comparison of folders to tell you the differences and moves only new files. Also has a no install version (Google for no install version), which can be unzipped into a folder and run from there. Clutter free fast and effective

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FolderMatch
Jul 15, 2016 6:46PM PDT

I don't like automatic synchronization programs since there's too much to go wrong. I've used FolderMatch since 2010, and I'm in love with it. I synchronize whatever folders I want to synch whenever I want to do so. The comparison window shows you exactly what the differences are, and you can choose to make the right folder the same as the left, or vice versa, or even to do bi-lateral synchronization, i.e., save only the most recent copies of files on whichever drive has those versions. That can be useful if the drive you're synchronizing to is accessed by other devices and you add files from those. (There are a number of other synchronization options, including a custom option.)

If you want to get fancy, you can vary the comparison options also, There are six options, including CRC and SHA-1, the latter which you would only use if you don't mind waiting forever. The default (compare by size and date/time) is satisfactory for most practical purposes. Foldermatch is useful if you have allowed a certain large computer company's software to access your music files, which it might have modified by changing tags or some such. (I won't mention any names, but I've seen that occur without user intervention, like a virus.)

One hassle is that the program does not manually delete empty folders. In other words, let's say you have two primary folder on your computer, Email scam screenshots and Adware screenshots, and you re-organize things, putting them both into a folder named Scam screenshot. On the drive you synchronize to, FolderMatch will make a new folder named Scam screenshots and will put all the proper files into that folder, and it will delete all the files in those two original folders, but it won't automatically delete the now-empty folders.

You do have to keep your mind in the "on" position when you are using it. For instance, I store odd and end Macrium Reflect images on every external drive I use, so I can't "Make right folder same as left folder," or it will copy one Macrium image in the "left" folder and delete the one in the "right" folder: I have to remember to "synchronize selected objects only" in a case like that.

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Folder Match - A resounding "Yes"
Aug 5, 2016 11:01PM PDT

I love Folder Match from Salty Brine Software and recommend it regularly. I've used many other synchronizing software utilities and prefer it by far. It is easily in the top 5 of all of my utilities. A day rarely goes by when I do not use it. It is fast, efficient, attractive, flexible, intuitive and, perhaps most importantly, unbelievably easy to learn and use. I also own Ultra Compare from IDM which is extremely sophisticated with scads of options. However, I rarely use Ultra Compare because Folder Match is so easy and covers 99 44/100% of my needs that the few times I need Ultra Compare it takes too long to get up to speed.
The comment about the bug of not removing empty directories correctly is valid and has not been fixed for along time but it has never been a serious problem. I do wish Folder Matcht handled too long file/path names more easily but, again, this has not been a major issue and the benefits easily outweigh these two small flaws. A free program called "RED" (Remove Empty Directories) for Jonas John / Software Developer that does it's namesake admirably.
A fully automated "Folder Match" is their Folder Clone product but as previously stated automatic cloning can have serious risks unless the logistics rules are firmly entrenched in the user's head.

I like Robocopy too but it is not available for my main OS.

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ROBOCOPY
Jul 15, 2016 8:39PM PDT

As I write this, there already 4 other replies. None mentioned ROBOCOPY.

You are making your back-up task far more involved than it needs to be. You can automate it for free, unless you need to buy an external drive that's big enough to take it all. I bought a 1-TB USB hard drive for $80. It has a folder on it called "Backups" that currently holds backups from 14 different computers. The folder also contains robocopy.exe and BackUp.Bat.

Robocopy.exe
is a 78-KB part of the free Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools download from Microsoft.com and can also be downloaded alone from many other reputable websites.
Note: Other Microsoft COPY programs cannot handle long path names as ROBOCOPY can, so don't bother.

BackUp.Bat
is a custom batch file that backs-up any computer into the folder where it is. I just double-click it and watch.
I cannot attach it into this reply, so I will describe it. There are 12 command lines and 4 comment lines in my version, but you can get away with just 3 command lines that don't accept my extra, optional parameters. They are:

md "%COMPUTERNAME% %USERNAME%"
robocopy %HOMEDRIVE%\. "%COMPUTERNAME% %USERNAME%" /MIR /RShocked /XD Adobe Chrome "Program Files" "Program Files (x86)" Windows
attrib -S -H "%COMPUTERNAME% %USERNAME%"

Line wrapping will display more than 3 lines above, but there are only 3. They started with md, robocopy and attrib.

md
makes a directory under the Backups folder named as your computer's name and your user name separated by a space.

robocopy
does the back-up because of the /MIR option to MIRror a directory tree. It takes the data from the HOMEDRIVE, probably your C: drive. The back-up is stored under the directory that md made. The /RShocked option prevents Retries on failed files. It eXcludes Directories listed after the /XD option. These are "Adobe", "Chrome", "Program Files", "Program Files (x86)" and "Windows".
attrib
resets the Hidden and System attributes of the files are folders.

Running BackUp.Bat again will fail to make the (existing) folder, but otherwise will back-up all changes made since the last time you ran BackUp.Bat. That is modifications, additions, deletions and renames of files and folders.
You can customize your own BackUp.Bat.

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robocopy is now included with Windows Vista onwards
Aug 7, 2016 8:35AM PDT

FYI robocopy has been included with Windows OS base install package since Windows Vista onwards and they had updated the functionality.

Microsoft also released a GUI for robocopy on their Technet web site.

Sometimes the best things in life are free!

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I use GoodSync
Jul 15, 2016 10:26PM PDT

I have been using GoodSync for several years and it keeps more than 500 GB of photos in sync. Once you have selected a source and target folder locally or on your network to back up (1 way) or synchronize (2 way), you "Analyze". On a large collection the analysis might take 10 or 15 minutes. You will then see listed all the proposed changes. You can apply various filters to the result; for example only deletions to help you confirm what is going to be changed. Once satisfied the changes are what you want, you run the sync. By default, the program makes copies of changed and deleted files so you have a fallback if you made a mistake in your selections. You can open a picture from within the interface if you need to confirm it's what you intend. A fully functional copy of the program is free to try for a month or so. I have only used the Windows version but GoodSync is available for the Mac as well. The program is continually updated. About $30 after the trial to keep it fully functional.

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Try Google Photos
Jul 16, 2016 12:38AM PDT

I use Google Photo's/Google Sync to backup all of my photos - https://photos.google.com/

It's quite handy because it just runs on the computer and automatically backs up all photos to the cloud the minute anything with photos is plugged in to the computer.

When backing up there is an option - if you back the photos up using standard resolution Google offer you unlimited storage, if you backup in full resolution then there is a limit.

Also if you've got an android phone signed into a google account then that will also backup automatically to google photos, I've got a Moto X Play and that seems to backup in full resolution, but doesn't appear to have any limit, so I don't think the limit actually applies to photos backed up through phones. Phones back up automatically the minute the phone can get some kind of valid internet connection - I took photos yesterday and they're already up there.

Google also uses various information from the photos to enable you to search for a specific photo. You can search photos for things like resolution, what camera it was taken on, date, in some cases if it was taken with a device with a GPS you can even search by location, you can group photos into albums, add descriptions and rename the photos, tag people in the photos and search by people tagged.

On computers you can change settings to only backup certain folders, if you don't give it specific folders though it will back up every single video and photo on the entire computer, which sometimes might not be what you want.

When photos are uploaded they are set to private viewing so the only people who can view the photo is the owner of the account, but you also can share the photos with other people too.

A lot of Google Photos was based on Picasa, Picasa has since been discontinued but now continues on as Google Photos (although if you can find an old download of Picasa, Picasa is still very good for organising your photos if you want them backed up on the PC rather than the cloud).

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Be aware of your settings
Jul 16, 2016 5:20AM PDT

Before I switched to Linux, I used Windows as well and used a program called robocopy. Actually, this robocopy program works natively on your computer, so what you need is the robocopy GUI to make it easier to use. However, you have to be careful with the settings you use whether or not you use the command line or the GUI. If you use the mirror option, you have to know that whatever you delete on your computer will also be deleted in the back up, so if you make a mistake and you delete everything on your computer, it will also be wiped out in your backup. If you get a virus, that will also be copied to your backup. There is an option to copy everything from your machine to the backup but then avoid deletion on the backup whenever you delete anything on your machine. That is probably the safest way to go. However, that won't help you if you get a virus. One last piece of advice from someone who has made this mistake, be careful when you one day restore your information. If you get a new machine or you reformat and then run the program without thinking using mirror option, it will wipe out everything in your backup because you don't have anything on your pristine computer. That was a nightmare to get everything back and I don't think I did. So when you restore your backup, think clearly and calmly before you press any button about what it is you are doing. You can also search Google for a duplicate finder. I don't remember what I used for that.

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Microsoft SyncToy
Jul 16, 2016 12:13PM PDT

Microsoft SyncToy is free and allows you to select what, how, where... You can Contribute, Echo or Synchronize.... The only tool I use.

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SyncToy
Aug 8, 2016 6:07PM PDT

Been using it for years as well. Too bad it is not, never been, officially supported by MSFT.
I can have some flaws and miss files, or wanting to over-write files that are already in existance i nthe target, and those files are identical (file attributes) as the source files. Never manged to get MSFT to dig deeper into this.
But again, it is free, slim, and work 99.99% of the time as intended.

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Microsoft's Sync Toy 2.1 for folder syncing
Jul 16, 2016 12:54PM PDT

This is an easy fix. Do a search for Microsoft Sync Toy 2.1. You will find it at Microsoft's Download site. There is a version for 32 and 64 bit systems. It was developed as a side project by some microsoft engineers years ago and it is simple, slick and easy to use. Best of all it is free. You can run it manually or set it up to run as a scheduled task. You will have to do that through Windows Task Scheduler as Sync Toy does not have that capability within itself. To run it you just select the left folder (folder you want to sync) and the right folder (folder you want to sync to) and choose whether you want to mirror the two folders (additions or deletions in either folder will be applied to the other folder), sync the left folder to the right(additions and deletes on the left will be carried out on the right folder) or select contributions in which case new files on the left will be added to the right folder and there will be no deletions on the right folder. You can make any number of folder pairs to sync and run them individually or run them all at the same time. I have been running this for years and can't imagine anything that will run as simply as Sync Toy does, and you can't beat the price. Also it is free of all second party advertising ad-ons.

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Free sync
Jul 17, 2016 2:04AM PDT
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Beyond Compare assures me the photos are copied reliably
Aug 5, 2016 7:08PM PDT

I've used a number of backup / copy programs overtime, but I finally settled on using Beyond Compare. Some of the recommendation has problems: usability for commands, I've written the wrong way, it can delete nonexistent files, they have time problems when source is a Linux NAS drive, and I am not 100% sure the files are copied reliably or correctly.

Beyond Compare is useful for all types of documents. I use it to compare the master directory against the backup directories. You can use different methods of comparisons - date/time, size, crc or binary comparison. It supports file filters, such as all .jpg or exclude some hidden system files. It can show a file listing and code it to show which side is the newer file, or if desired the same. You can hide the directory contents or same files. I review the differences of all the files first and if everything looks good, I might command it to update (by time) all files from the left side to the right. Using CRC or binary comparisons, sometimes I've seen files with the same names and times being different. When it is, you can double click on the file and it will bring up a new table showing the two files contents and whats different. The you can decide which is the correct photo or even if they are actually different photos with the same name. It supports text, binary, image files and others. After I do a quick file comparisons and update, I then command it to do a full binary comparison which takes a long time. I do this so I can be 100% sure the file is copied to the destination accurately. In the past, I've seen files get corrupt in time when I copy photos from computer to computer. With 40,000 photos, it may take months or years before I realize a file got corrupt. I've seen single bit error destroy the color in a band of the photo. If you look at the bit error rate for RAM or hard drive, it might be 1 in 10 to the 9th bit. Well count up all the bits for the hundreds of GB of photos I have, its amazing I don't see much more errors. I had a lot more errors when I used to have a Pentium III. Now I use an MacPro with ECC memory, and rarely seen errors, but I still do occasionally.

Occasionally, I might have files that needs to go the opposite direction because of an error I made in the past, accidentally deleted or the directory names might have changed. You can command it to make a pure mirror from source to destination, but I never want to do that if it is my archive destination drive.

I use it for backups or any copying, photos, videos or documents. I have to start using it for music because I found bad music files recently. Last I look, they have a 30 day of actual use demo, not elapse calendar, so it can last months before it expires. There is a version for Mac, Windows and I believe Linux.

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Allway Sync works for me
Aug 5, 2016 7:16PM PDT

I use a simple automated file-copy program called "Allway Sync" it runs as a Windows Service in the background and does a file-by-file incremental copy of approximately 15 years and more than 2 TB of digital photo files that I add to almost daily onto an external USB hard drive. It's smart enough to only copy new or modified files so it's pretty fast. It's also smart enough to actually start backing up as soon as you plug the external USB drive into your computer. I think it will replicate the first 1 TB of data for free but then nags you for $25 for a permanent license key.

If you want to save the $25 and don't mind command line then Windows 7,8 and 10 has a built-in command-line backup utility called "robocopy.exe". You can just use robocopy in the /MIR mode to intelligently mirror your internal hard disk to an external USB drive or a NAS drive and you can make a batch file and Task Scheduler job to run automatically on a schedule. (or you can just pay some computer nerd 25 bucks to set it up for you)

I actually make backups onto 2 separate external USB drives and rotate them since my 15 years worth of digital photo collection is worth way more than the $100 of an extra drive.

Regards from Vancouver Canada, Anthony Maw,

Post was last edited on August 5, 2016 7:40 PM PDT

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Try this one
Aug 5, 2016 7:39PM PDT
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Try MirrorFolder
Aug 5, 2016 8:17PM PDT

I use MirrorFolder version 5.1.310. It is extremely flexible and can certainly do the job you want it to do. It can back up files or folders, delete old versions or keep a number of versions, and it all runs in the background. It has never lost anything on my backups and seems to be unendingly configurable to do any kind of backup. You can schedule backups or it can sync or copy continuously on the fly. It is free to use for 30 days, then you must buy it or lose it, but you should know in a month whether you like it or not. It's well worth at least trying.

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Photos in sync
Aug 5, 2016 9:00PM PDT

A windows user. For years I was a MOZY user - it got too cumbersome for me to manage to stay under the GB limit I was paying for and too costly to increase.

I had also been a happy Dropbox user for files we share among our computers. When DB came out with the $99/year for a terrabyte - I moved there and now don't have to worry about what I keep there. I can pick which files I want on any of our PCs. As far as "syncing" I also have all the files on 2 PCs syncing with DB and just selected files & photos on laptops.

It works for us. I still keep a free MOZY account just for one file that it will backup even when open.

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Another vote for Syncback
Aug 6, 2016 6:12AM PDT

One of the most useful utility apps. Love how it can simulate an operation before actually doing it. Btw, also back up to some cloud service. Offsite backup is very important.

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SyncBack free
Aug 6, 2016 6:22AM PDT

I agree this programme is brilliant and used it for years. You save all your profiles as synchronise or if in the USA synchronize. I do mine manually everytime I do a change on anything. It takes seconds a brilliant programme. http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/sbfree-new.html

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System Back-Up Not Enough?
Aug 6, 2016 8:28AM PDT

if you backup all your computer data periodically, doesn't that also backup your photos and video files? if you don't think your computer backups (assuming you do them) are frequent enough maybe increasing system backup frequency could help. If your concern is that you may have a crash on your computer and may not have all your photos and videos on your two separate (hard disk and DVD) backups 100% equivalent to what you lost, nothing but real time syncing to both will go towards solving your problem, i.e. copying every computer photo and video update to those backups as it happens will come close to dealing with what you seem to think of as a problem. Maybe system backups should be sufficient and you're really over-solving your problem.

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Robocopy works for me too
Aug 7, 2016 2:59AM PDT

Yes, Robocopy (robust copy), been around a long time. I think it's part of Windows 10 these days, so no need to go and get it from anywhere else.

Here's an example:

robocopy C:\Users\Terry\Documents C:\Zackup\T\Documents /MIR /XA:SH /XJD /XJF /NFL /NP /TEE /LOG+:c:\temp\robo.log

and another

robocopy C:\Zackup\T E:\Zackup\T /MIR /NFL /NP /TEE /LOG+:c:\temp\robo.log

Put lines like this, into a *.bat file (eg mycopytrial.bat) and doubleclick that.

If you open a command window and type robocopy /?
that explains the parameters. (Suggest keep it simple? up to you)

Be cautious to begin with, experiment and check first. Do remember if you use the Mirror option, that that will *delete* files on the target that don't exist in the source - which may be just what you want, of course.

HTH, best of luck

Terry

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Sync Back is the best
Aug 7, 2016 7:43AM PDT

Sync-Back is the best backup/sync software that we have come across during the course of supporting customer backups for the last 20 odd years. The personal version is free. This software uses internal windows rules to ensure that the PC does not slow down while the backups are done. The first time it may take time depending on the size of the files, thereafter you can backup or sync based on the windows rules for time you give, hourly, daily, weekly or whatever you give in the trigger setup. The backup will be done at that time. The backups are replication, so there is no proprietary format that is required when restoring. You can replicate to a dropbox drive or google drive or whatever drive you have attached to your computer. Backup to dropbox is highly recommended for work in progress.

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backed-up photos in sync
Aug 12, 2016 3:28AM PDT

backup has been carried out locally and ideally you should do this as well as using an online service. The main options are an external hard disk, optical discs such as DVD or Blu-ray, or a USB flash drive if you don't have many large files to back up.

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Use of MS DOS Command "XCOPY" for routine backup and updates
Aug 13, 2016 10:39AM PDT

Hi Mike,

I am not widely knowledgeable but on the other hand my proposition costs nothing and for perhaps 30 minutes’ effort, can give you an easy to use back-up solution that is totally within your own control.

I refer to the use of the MS DOS command “XCOPY”. This has been a Windows command since at least the late 1990s and is still supported today. I have successfully used the approach below for over 15 years on my Windows PCs.

First I suggest you find your Command Line in your current Windows OS and enter “Help xcopy”. If you get one screenful of syntax options, then you are ready to go. Xcopy looks at source and target destinations, compares files, and where there is any sort of variance, copies the source over the target, so the target is then regularly updated and provides your key up-to-date backup.

I use and xcopy command line in a DOS Bat file which has a shortcut on my desktop (I use XP). Then when the shortcut selects the bat file, this executes line by line and xcopy runs. I also add a second line to shutdown my PC and so this is my normal way of finishing a session – I select my bat shortcut, switch off the display and leave my PC to run xcopy and then shutdown.

My xcopy command line is “XCOPY c:\docume~1 e:\docume~1 /c /d /e /f /g /h /r /y /Exclude:c:\LezXCopyExcludesList.txt” followed by “ShutDown –s”.

You will see that I have two identically sized hard drives in my PC, these both at 320GB. I use my c:\drive as master in daily use, with my e:\drive as cloned back up. I run my clone process typically monthly and then update daily or more frequently using the xcopy shortcut and file. So I am protected should my c:\drive fail (which I have had once in the past). I use a free EaseUS product to perform the clone. I also have two off-site USB 320GB drives in my garage which I rotate more frequently than quarterly.

Thus I am close to 100% secure and should never lose my family photo album with its irreplaceable contents and thousands of photos. I think my greatest remaining risk is through potential OS corruption or failure. I have a bootable CD with Linux Mint/Cinnamon on it as protection should it ever be needed. It has been tested.

So, I hope that helps. The use of old MS Dos commands and batch files I find straightforward and I haven’t so far ever had to change them because of some global supplier’s whims. If you have interest, give this a go – you won’t take very long to make something that works, and it is totally under your own control.

Good luck, Geoff.

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XCOPY FAILED ME
Aug 15, 2016 8:15AM PDT

I am the author of the answer above entitled "ROBOCOPY". In it, I said "Note: Other Microsoft COPY programs cannot handle long path names as ROBOCOPY can, so don't bother."
I used to use XCOPY. Then one day, I went looking for an old file and could not find it in my back-up. I investigated it and found that:
1: XCOPY cannot handle long path names and long file names.
2: XCOPY gave no error message. It just skipped long ones.
3: XCOPY has not been upgraded to correct this.
4: ROBOCOPY is the fix.
The trouble with XCOPY starts when the sum of the path name plus the file name exceeds about 256 characters.
Note: The source and destination paths will differ in length.
ROBOCOPY can handle paths 32,000 characters long!
The options are different between XCOPY and ROBOCOPY.
ROBOCOPY's /MIR option was made for doing backups.

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Dude...
Aug 15, 2016 3:06AM PDT

Google Drive, Google Photos - whatever you name it... Happy

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Robocopy GUI
Aug 15, 2016 11:22AM PDT

As mentioned earlier, the free and updated Microsoft robocopy.exe utility has been included with Windows since Vista so disregard any mentions about getting it from the Resource Kit.

People who are averse to command-line can download an unofficial Microsoft Technet GUI point-and-click front-end.

Bing search "robocopy gui" and make sure you're downloading from Microsoft.com

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2006.11.utilityspotlight.aspx

Of course you can figure out the command line switches and easily create a Task Scheduler job to run automatically.