automatic backups when hard drive plugged in

[tdh10]

I'm wondering if there's a way in Windows 10 to setup an external backup drive to detect any changes to files on my machine to be backed up as soon as it's plugged in. To explain this in point form, I'd like to:

1) plug in my back up drive.
2) The drive (or some utility) automatically scans key files and folders to check for changes (added, modified, or deleted files).
3) Any changes it detects get backed up.

In step 2), when I say "key" files, I mean only files I want backed up, not everything on my machine.

Do I need a special kind of hard drive for this?

Is there an online guide on how to set this up?

Thanks.

[skylimey]

I'm not sure it's allowed to point out commercial solutions, but they do exist to handle this kind of sync-on-plugin. IM me and I'll point you to the one I use.

[FullOppositeRudder]

I still Use Karen's Replicator for a somewhat similar set of tasks. It's free, but it needs to be configured; I don't believe that it will commence a task simply by plugging in the receptor drive. It's both powerful and quick once you work through and set/store the configuration you need. Despite what has been writ elsewhere, I have it working on Windows 10 and 7 and across my home network - most often synchronising the "My Documents" and "My Pictures" files across a couple of desktops.

Check carefully before you settle on any given solution.

Best wishes,
FOR

[Mac the Knife]

Karen's Replicator

Goodness me, I'd forgotten about that. I did use it some years ago
and found it worked nicely - can't remember when I discarded it.

Another (paid-for) solution is MirrorFolder from https://www.techsoftpl.com/
which, although plain, has a lot of very useful tweaks/settings.
Very solid/dependable and fast.

Mac

[Mac the Knife]

Afterthought

You don't need a special hard drive or anything fancy to do this. Or any outside programs.
It is easy to do through a batch(script)-file using only Windows own utilities - xcopy or robocopy (you only need one little trick to detect when the drive is plugged in)

If you can give me some idea of what you need copied then I can put together a batch-file that will do this nicely for you.

Mac

:-)

[FullOppositeRudder]

Yoiks! Is XCOPY still in W10? (checks), Yes, it looks as though it is! Not that I can still remember too many of the amazing things which can be done from C:/

Well that is interesting . I wonder if I still have an old DOS manual here somewhere...

Regards,

FOR

[friartuck]

I induced total heart attacks last month when I went to the C: prompt on someone's machine to fix a minor issue....

they all refused to believe a) that this sat behind all the pretty pictures and b) it had been there from the beginning in the 1980's...........

[Procrastinus]

I use AllwaySync, but one has to start it manually - click here

[Jhieminga]

Having tinkered with a relative's Windows 10 setup a few days ago, there appears to be something called File History backup. It can be set up so that any changes to a file are backed up to an external file, keeping a history of all changes. Not completely the same but it may suit your needs without any additional software. The regular backup option is also still present, but this just does a complete copy whenever scheduled to do so.

[jimjim1]

Originally Posted by FullOppositeRudder

Yoiks! Is XCOPY still in W10? (checks), Yes,
FOR

I understand that pretty much everything is "still there", one exception that I happened to notice recently is that there is no debug.

C: \Users\Jim>debug
'debug' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

By the way, if you are planning to use xcopy for large copies for say backup purposes you may well find that there is a huge performance improvement by using robocopy, especially over a network and very especially over a network with a large latency such as most home broadband or say transatlantic links. I can't recall the exact details now but I think it amounts to robocopy being multi-threaded and that xcopy may use a very small fixed block size.

see - robocopy /MT

For debug details -
https://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/debug/debug.htm

[Saab Dastard]

I understand that pretty much everything is "still there", one exception that I happened to notice recently is that there is no debug.

C:\Users\Jim>debug
'debug' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Certainly true of 64-bit Windows, may still exist in 32-bit versions, but I haven't got any to test! ISTR that it was still in 32-bit Win 7 via command.com, rather than cmd.exe.

Sorry, nerding again!