[Turnaround]

I back up my computer files. As you can imagine with any music collector, I have a helluva lot of mp3s.

Over time I will discover that I mislabeled some of my mp3s and fix them. Or maybe I add a picture of the album cover to the mp3 file while I am running it on itunes. Lots of little stuff.

Is there any way that I can have my computer periodically copy over the files that I changed onto my back-up harddrive? sort of like how itunes "syncs" your ipod with itunes to update only what's new since the last time you synced?

Right now, whenever I change a file, I have to note that I changed it and specifically copy-and-paste over the duplicate of that file on my backup harddrive.

Or I have to just copy-and-past my entire main harddrive over the entire backup harddrive, which takes too long. There's got to be an easier way.

 

[muk_mb]

Yeah, in linux you get services like rsync, in OSX you get rsync and nifty stuff like Time Machine. In Windows you want something sorta like this:
cwrsync - Rsync for Windows | ITeF!x

Basically, rsync does what you describe. It looks at your backup folder and your folder you're backing up and just copies the bits that are different.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I like using Apple's Time Machine. No failures yet (thankfully) but it takes care of everything simply and easily. I run RAID 5 with four drives on my Linux box. I probably should back up anyway, but am not too worried about it.

 

[BradJudy]

I use SyncBack (2BrightSparks | Products) to do this with my photos, mp3s and documents under Windows. They have a free version that should do fine and a pay-for version with more features. You can schedule it to do it automatically, or trigger it manually.

 

[craiglester]

if you're using windows, sync toy (preferably version 2) from microsoft is free and works wonderfully. I use it for my backups, and it'll just copy the files you've changed if you want.

 

[Arkku]

rsync is excellent, though it may require some effort to get it going in the first place. However, there are frontends to simplify the process… I don't know of any for Windows, however, being a Mac and Linux user myself.

 

[krmathis]

x4 on rsync
I have used it for a couple of years to do incremental backups to external hard disks. Smooth backup in deed.

 

[FrederikS|TPU]

Sync toy or foldershare.com...

 

[MoodySteve]

Cobian Backup

 

[japc]

Yes.

Xn thumbs up for rsync. It has saved the day plenty of times here at home and at work.