General file copy program to replace Karens Replicator

[LordX]

Hey all - I have some small businesses that I help with their backup. While I do Carbonite + Acronis, some of them like having their essential files backed up to an external each night for super easy access in case of a hdd failure.

I have been using Karens Replicator for years, with generally good results.

However, on one machine, it just doesn't want to work - and freezes up. Is there another free program for super general folder/file backups - e.g. C:\files to E:\files which only copies files that have changed?

 

[glennd]

Hey all - I have some small businesses that I help with their backup. While I do Carbonite + Acronis, some of them like having their essential files backed up to an external each night for super easy access in case of a hdd failure.

I have been using Karens Replicator for years, with generally good results.

However, on one machine, it just doesn't want to work - and freezes up. Is there another free program for super general folder/file backups - e.g. C:\files to E:\files which only copies files that have changed?

xcopy, robocopy (which i had no idea is shipped with windows since vista), SyncBack is not bad...

 

[HCHTech]

+1 for Robocopy. Learn it - it is invaluable.

 

[trevm999]

Veeam endpoint free is a good gui one

 

[Your PCMD]

Open folder with files you want backed up. CTRL + A then CTRL + C. Open external HDD/Flash-drive in separate window. CTRL+ V. Reap the benefits of free.

I know, sarcastic. But, seriously, Robocopy and +1 for Veeam.

 

[sapphirescales]

I always use Unstoppable Copier because it can copy bad/corrupt files without freezing up. I've also used Teracopy in the past (though it's not good at handling bad/corrupt files, which is why I hardly ever use it nowadays). Never tried the other ones mentioned here.

 

[Your PCMD]

I always use Unstoppable Copier

Whats the point or benefit of copying bad or corrupted files? I understand because of "without freezing up" is saving a bit of time, but if your backing up on a regular basis and correctly, you shouldn't have bad files.

 

[Krynn72]

Whats the point or benefit of copying bad or corrupted files? I understand because of "without freezing up" is saving a bit of time, but if your backing up on a regular basis and correctly, you shouldn't have bad files.

I use it as well, and the benefit is that you can walk away from the PC and know it will be done by the time you get back. No "The file xyz.abc no longer exists or has moved" errors or "The file name is too long" errors waiting for you to respond with "skip all". Unstoppable File Copier won't be stopped.

 

[glennd]

"The file name is too long"

I would never have thought Win7 would have trouble copy files from an XP system....

 

[LordX]

Are any of these programs easy to setup with a schedule? So it can run every day.

 

[sapphirescales]

Whats the point or benefit of copying bad or corrupted files? I understand because of "without freezing up" is saving a bit of time, but if your backing up on a regular basis and correctly, you shouldn't have bad files.

I regularly back up 5TB+ of data so it's not uncommon to have a few damaged files. But I mostly use it to back up client computers. If a picture is corrupted, it's possible to transfer the pieces of it that are still working, thereby getting you a picture with say, a small piece missing rather than losing it completely. And this copier will just copy the files and won't make a fuss. And it will hammer away at a file if necessary in order to recover it.

 

[glennd]

Are any of these programs easy to setup with a schedule? So it can run every day.

Create a little batch file that runs the command you want, put it in a safe place that won't get "accidentally" deleted. Open Task Scheduler and create a "Basic Task" and point it to your batch file. easy....

 

[Mainstay]

Cobian... old school. but the price is right.

 

[GTP]

+ 1 for what @glennd suggests. Simple solution.

 

[Diggs]

Create a little batch file that runs the command you want, put it in a safe place that won't get "accidentally" deleted. Open Task Scheduler and create a "Basic Task" and point it to your batch file. easy....

Unfortunately a copy command in a batch file will fail all the rest of the copy if it finds a bad file. I like the idea of "Unstoppable Copier" that @sapphirescales is using.

 

[Moltuae]

Are any of these programs easy to setup with a schedule? So it can run every day.

I'd recommend using Macrium Reflect's file/folder backup feature. It's really simple to schedule a bunch of files and folders to backup with Reflect, plus it's super-configurable. You can exclude certain types of files, have the backups automatically verified, send email success/failure notifications, encrypt the backups, etc. You can also enter network credentials so that you can limit access to the backups to help protect them from Ransomware attacks, etc. To backup changes only, you can schedule an incremental or differential backup, although I would recommend scheduling a full backup to run periodically too.

 

[mikeroq]

Cobian... old school. but the price is right.

I've got Cobian running at a few places. Works great.

 

[Mick]

FreeFileSync is worth a look. A whole bunch of features, and it does work!

 

[DataMedics]

Another one I've been using for years is FastCopy. It's simple but effective.

 

[HCHTech]

Unfortunately a copy command in a batch file will fail all the rest of the copy if it finds a bad file. I like the idea of "Unstoppable Copier" that @sapphirescales is using.

...but robocopy won't. /rX /wX switches. /r=retry X times, /w=wait X seconds between tries. Both can be set to zero.