is it possible to "back up" like this

[tryintoo]

I have looked, but I haven't found an answer to this question.

In addition to discs I have been saving photos and music files to an external harddrive. For the discs I use Nero and burn a data disc. When I insert the discs after the first time and choose data discs, Nero searches the folder on the hard drive and then only burns the files that have been changed or added since the last burning.

Is there any program that does that same method for an external harddrive?

I would like to be able to move the external drive to other computers and be able to access all the jpg and mp3 files without them being in some kind of back-up format that requires a restore. The folders are getting large and I have more or less just been copying them from one drive to another while getting the message about replacing files with the same name. This just doesn't seem like an efficient way to do things.

Thanks

[greengate69]

Hello - I use and can recommend Acronis True Image for this purpose. This is commercial software, but is reasonably priced - in England you can pick it up for £15 ($30-ish).

The program has several functions, including making an exact clone of your hard drive. However, for your purposes it also allows for the creation of incremental back ups (i.e. only what has changed since the last back up) in the location of your choice (in this case your external hard drive). You can recover the whole back-up or just browse the back-up and recover individual files.

It is an all round excellent piece of software in my opinion. I tend to stick to free software, but this is one I am more than hapy to pay for.

Current version is v10, but you may well find an older version free on a magazine cover disk.

A free trial is available here:

http://eu.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/

This is a European site so you may have to find the USA equivalent.

Good Luck!

[tryintoo]

Thanks greengate69, I will definitely look into that program. I appreciate you taking time to share the info with me.

[Bjs]

For external memory devices , there certainly is ... but what was the one I used ... don't recall .

Here's others :

http://www.dirfile.com/magic_transfer.htm
http://www.dirfile.com/xxclone.htm
http://www.dirfile.com/arctor_disk_to_disk_backup_free.htm
http://www.dirfile.com/back4win.htm
http://www.dirfile.com/syncback.htm
http://www.eisoo.com/html/anybackup_free.htm ... good

http://www.nonags.com/nonags/diskbk.html

ICE Mirror ... good for comparison prior to backup .
PP Kopimaster

And more , just find one you like and stick with it .

[BogieV]

I'm also happy Acronis user (ver.9) and it is perfect for drive backup. Especially for upgrading drives or just keeping the most recent full image f the drive it is really the best.

But as tryintoo I too was wonderring how to deal with my media files. A full disc backup (250GB or so) is a bit too much I think and Acronis also uses it's own compressed format. That means you have to install copies of Acronis to your other PC to be able to mount the image (disc or files) and recover.

I'm using 2 ways right now.
1. Nero's (ver.6) Back It Up - you are able to save not compressed back ups and the files are in there original format. You can do that not only to recordable media but to a hard drive too (anything that PC sees as drive). It has also options for incremental backup, etc.
2. Windows Power toy - SyncToy - free unsupported Microsoft tool. You make pairs of folders and synchronise or Echo or watever you want between them. Very handy!

So both ways are uncompressed but that is the only way if you want to use it with just about any PC.
One more option is zip files but JPEGs and MP3s will shrink just 1-2% I guess and not sure if you can compare and do incremental backups.

Just my 2c

[tryintoo]

Thanks Bjs - I believe I should be able to find one program that meets my needs from all of your choices and greengate69's suggestion.

I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

[tryintoo]

Thanks also BogieV. I downloaded a couple of the ones greengate69 suggested and I didn't see with the Kopimaster anyway to save the media files, maybe I wasn't looking in the right place. I saw txt and dll and exe and another one or two, but nothing I thought would work for me.

Then I also downloaded anybackup free as the description seemed to be exactly what I wanted as it will backup 5 different ways with a copy backup being one of them. Found out this is apparently only available in the $40 standard version - although all of this is very vague or I'm not reading it correctly. The only options I got was Incremental and Full Backup in the .ABF format which would mean the same as the Acronis - you'd need this program on all the computers to read the backups.

I'm going to try the free windows tool. I have Nero OEM 6.6.03 and I used the backup feature and got an .nbi file. I'll admit some of my issues could be operator error, but I'm going keep trying.

Thanks again everyone for your input.

[Bjs]

Anybackup work's fine , just hit NEW ... browse for the folders you wish to include in the backup ... select destination ... and off it gose ... all file type's are supported .

The return ... open ... locate the backup ... check the folders from the backup you want ... select original location or other ... done .

Or http://www.rdcomp.net/ezbackitup/index.php

----

Ok , even simpler , you want one that is portable then .

http://www.allwaysync.com/download.html ... flash drives take a while for it to install .

----

I'll find that old one I had ... myback or mob ... had a funny little snake icon .

Ahh , I'm an idiot ... lol , no sooner I had googled for "MOB , backup utility" ... it turned up .

http://freeware.quantumillusions.com/filemanage.htm (I changed the link , this works)

Back in business once more .

[tryintoo]

Thanks everyone for your input. I downloaded SyncToy and it did exactly what I wanted. There are, I believe, 5 different options and I use the Contribute one. I also downloaded MyOwnBackup as it looked simple and easy as well.

I appreciate all the suggestions and help. I haven't asked a question here yet that couldn't be answered by the many wonderful people who take time out of their busy schedules to help. Thanks again.

[BogieV]

I'm using the latest update of Nero Express 6 (6.6.1.4).
If you change the settings to "no compression" in the BackItUp wizard then you get the original files without any change and in the folder order exactly how they were in your original location.