Batch backup file help

Thenotsowyzewun

Hi saw a program called Intellisync and thought I could write a batchfile to do its job instead - all I want to do is keep a folder on one computer synced with one on another, all changes going in one direction (not both) e.g. if all the data gets wiped on pc b pc a will send it all again when it runs.

However my solution isn't very good so far, I've written this:

xcopy z:\* i:\* /E /Y > C:\Documents and Settings\Tony\Desktop\confirmation.txt

Which copies everything in network drive j to network drive i, cant remember why its xcopy of /E or /Y exactly but anyway the problem Ive got is if i delete something on the z drive it doesnt get deleted in the i drive the next time i backup

also, everytime i backup everything gets sent, even though its already there.

I want to run this script every 10 mins (so ive created a suitable task in task scheduler).

Any help'd be great (on howto copy delete commands if u see how i mean, without deleting the backup folder at the beginning of each backup and starting over (this'd take too much network resources by far!!)

Thanks muchos

Duncan

scotty

Xcopy is a powerful version of the copy command with additional features has the capability of moving files, directories, and even whole drives from one destination to another.

E - Copies directories and sub directories, including empty ones. Same as /S /E. May be used to modify /T.

Y - Overwrites existing files without prompting

To avoid copying all files again:

/D:date - Copies files changed on or after the specified date. If no date is given, copies only those files whose source time is newer than the destination time

XCOPY will not copy delete commands. If you must have this facility, I would suggest a batch file which you run at the end of the day to synchronise the two directories. This would delete all files (DEL) then copy (XCOPY) all files again.

Have you considered other solutions for back-up e.g. RAID configured drives to maintain two identical copies of data?

drlight_2

Could someone check this I'm a bit rusty, I think this would work but it could delete the wrong files.

l:\
cd\
for %%a in (*.*) do if not exist z:\%%a del l:\%%a /y

....I remembered Xcopy is the only command in dos that processes current & sub folders in one command, you could look on old dos boards for "del" with extended features.

ManAtHome

Plenty of commercial and free software about - some useful links:
http://www.canadiancontent.net/tech/freeware/Backup+Utilities/
http://www.nonags.com/nonags/filesync.html
http://www.fileware.com/products.htm

XCOPY alternative to /D: is /M which will only copy files which have changed since the last XCOPY (ie Modified). Note that most other backup programs will affect this (works using the 'archive bit' which is set when a file is created or modified, reset when backed-up). Still won't handle deletes though - this used to be a good thing before the recycle bin was 'invented'.!!

charlieheard

Don't know what version of Windows you're running, but have you thought of using the Briefcase functionality? I haven't used it for a few years, but it's still on WindowsXP.

Another way is to use a "Norton Commander" clone (now I'm showing my age!). The one I've used is the free version of xplorer² from http://zabkat.com/. This allows you to compare two folders side-by-side and to update them with a keypress

Thenotsowyzewun

Cool thanks for all your replies, only just remembered I'd posted this and had to search the forums for it!! (oops hehe) reading and investigating your answers now

Thenotsowyzewun

drlight wrote:

Could someone check this I'm a bit rusty, I think this would work but it could delete the wrong files.

l:\
cd\
for %%a in (*.*) do if not exist z:\%%a del l:\%%a /y

....I remembered Xcopy is the only command in dos that processes current & sub folders in one command, you could look on old dos boards for "del" with extended features.

This looks very promising, could anyone tell me what each part does (it seems to say look for file in originating folder, if it doesn't exist delete it in backup directory) which'd be great! but I don't know the syntax at all

drlight_2

These are basic dos commands that come with windows,

I'm using three commands
del (del oldfile.doc)

introduced
if/if not exist - condition you can ad to any command eg
if exist newfile.doc del oldfile.doc
if exist newfile.doc xcopy oldfile.doc /y (the /y will overwrite without asking)
if "newfile.doc" dosn't exist it will finish running this line, and goto the next


for do
for will run the command for every file that is in brackets (you can use wildcards eg *.*)
%%a - will be replaced by what is written in the brackets (oldfile.doc, oldfile2.doc) or every file in the current directory (*.*)

the for do wil keep running the command (after "do") until it has processed every file contained in the brackets (*.*)

eg
for %%a in (oldfile1.doc oldfile2.doc) do del %%a
This will replace "%%a" with "oldfile1.doc" and will do:

del oldfile1.doc
del oldfile2.doc

But this only works in the directory you are in. to run in other directories it would have to run in each directory you wanted.

Thenotsowyzewun

Ah if only my Dad ran Linux... then I could just tap in Man, Apropos, Info or whatever, and string together a few pipes in no time! Oh well I'll have to blunder on with my complete unknowledge of DOS.
Looks like it'd be easier to spend £15 on a tool to do this for me like UtiliSync, else I'll have to write a huge batch file with these if commands for each and every folder (theres hundreds upon hundreds, with folders in folders and everything!), and amend another x number of lines to it every time a new folder was created (albeit perhaps I could automate that process using batch haha).

Thanks for all the help guys, looks like batch is gonna be rubbish for this apparently not so simple task though.

Godders

Just use Robocopy (Robust File Copier)

I think it does exactly what you want:

robocopy j:\*.* i:\ /E /PURGE /XO /R:3

copy all from j:\ to I:, include subfolders even if empty, Purge file from destination if not in source(ie. deleted), Exclude Older Files, maximum retries 3

You may have to play with the syntax to get the exact result you want but it works - we use it for shunting large amounts of data around on the Windows platform, the beauty being it retries as many times as you ask it too rather than just falling down, will handle deletions and doesn't copy files that already exisit (this is to do with the Exclude parameters and I cant remember them all offhand)

Get the Resource kit for Windows 2000 here, it's part of it and includes documentation:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&displaylang=en