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Using SyncBack
What is SyncBack?
SyncBack is one of the backup programs available for Microsoft Windows.
You can use the SyncBack family of products to backup, synchronize, and restore data files.
The SyncBackFree version should be enough for easily mirroring directories, or groups of directory to an external disk, but you can compare the features available in SyncBackPro, SyncBackSE and SyncBackFree: summary comparison and full comparison
Installing SyncBack
-
Install SyncBackFree. At the end of the installation process, you may want to subscribe to the mailing list (you will receive from time to time codes to upgrade to another version of Syncback at a reduced price)
Basic configuration
We want to do a mirroring backup:
Copy all the files from the source folder to the destination folder. All the files are copied on the first run, and only the new/changed files are copied on subsequent runs. The subsequent mirror operations are then significantly faster, which should motivate you to make frequent backups
Warning! if a file is not on the source anymore, mirroring will automatically remove it from the destination! The idea is that the destination should be an exact copy of the source! This also means that if you delete a file by mistake, you have to retrieve it from the backup before the next mirror operation removes the file from the mirror! If that's not what you want, check the backup (rather than mirror) options.
Do not be frightened by the step by step configuration and the screenshots below! There are lots of available options in the SyncBack point-and-click interface, and it is easier to use images to explain what needs to be done
Connect a USB disk/stick with enough free space to your computer
You should create a clean directory hierarchy on the backup disk, matching the folders that you intend to backup
In this example, we are going to mirror the content of
D:\Users\jypeter
to F:\Backup_JYP\Dell_Precision_3420\D_Users_jypeter
Launch SyncBackFree. You can find it in Start
→ 2BrighSparks
→ SyncBackFree
Click on
New Profile to start creating a new mirroring operation
Choose a Profile Name that will describe correctly the Source folder (e.g. the machine and the source folder names,
Precision Tower 3420 D_Users_jypeter
) and click on
Next
Choose the
Mirror type of backup and click on
Next. You can get some information about each available backup type by clicking on
?
The Source (a folder on your computer) and Destination (on the USB disk) folders are both local disks and you don't have to change anything in the
locations window. Just click
Done
A new window
Profile Setup window opens, where you can specify the Source and the Destination folders. In this example, we use
Source =D:\Users\jypeter
and
Destination =F:\Backup_JYP\Dell_Precision_3420\D_Users_jypeter
. Once you have filled both fields, a summary of what will be done is displayed in the
Description of this profile section. Click on
Change Filter for a more precise control of what will be saved,
or on
OK when you are done
If you choose to review and update the filters, with the
Change filter button, , you will get two new windows: the
File & Folder selection window that you can ignore, and the
Filters window
You can use the
Add button below the
Files/folders NOT to copy window to add new rules to the list of files/folders that should be ignored by SyncBack. Check the
Filters section for
more details about the filters
Using Filters
It can be useful to use some filters to disable some of what SyncBack would try to backup otherwise:
Not backing up useless files/directories (e.g temporary files in cache directories) will make SyncBack run faster (and save space on the backup device)
Some files/directories can't be backed up because their access is protected by the system (possibly because they are still open) and will generate errors in the log file. Skipping them will make it easier to spot real errors
Notes:
A filter must start with \string
(string
will be searched in the root of the source directory) or *\string
(there can be subdirectories between the source directory and string
)
A folder name must have a trailing slash
To modify an existing filter double-click it
Suggested filters when backing up your Home folder
This is NOT_C:\Users\your_login
, assuming that you have followed the instructions in Configuring folders to create a Home folder distinct from your default Windows home folder on C:\
Suggested filters when backing up your Windows folder
Default Windows folder: C:\Users\your_login
Remove WSL+Linux from backup: *\AppData\Local\Packages\Canonical*Ubuntu*\
Remove the backup of all the settings saved in AppData\Local\Packages: *\AppData\Local\Packages\
Remove Chrome Cache: *\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\*Cache\
Remove some Microsoft apps related directories: *\AppData\Local\Microsoft*\
Remove some apps directories that use too much space: *\AppData\Local\WebEx\
, *\AppData\Local\GoToMeeting\
Remove misc. files: *\ntuser*
, *\NTUSER*
, *\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Current*
Remove misc. directories: *\AppData\Local\Comms\
, *\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\
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