looking for backup advice?

[Beau]

Hi all,
I like some advice here is my setup
C: SSD OS Boot
D: HD most programs an storage
E: usb drive backup storage

I have two task set up that run at the end of each month it does a full backup on drive c and d one at 9 am and 10 am

D:\Program Files (x86)\TeraByte Drive Image Backup and Restore Suite\imagew64.exe

/wait /b /uy /um /d:w0 /f:"E:\backup\SSD\ssdBackup-w0-$~YYYY$-$~MM$-$~DD$-$~HHMM$" /v

i have two questions
1. how often do you back up is there a better way?
2. is there a command line command to delete old backup before running if space low?
thanks beau

[TeraByte Support]

There is the /purge option (see manual for details), there are scripts
already setup for you at
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-image-for-windows.htm, as well as
what I personally use or setup for friends and family using simple
operations which handles deleting files for you automatically.

"Beau" wrote in message news:14680@public.image...

Hi all,
I like some advice here is my setup
C: SSD OS Boot
D: HD most programs an storage
E: usb drive backup storage

I have two task set up that run at the end of each month it does a full
backup on drive c and d one at 9 am and 10 am

D:\Program Files (x86)\TeraByte Drive Image Backup and Restore
Suite\imagew64.exe

/wait /b /uy /um /d:w0
/f:"E:\backup\SSD\ssdBackup-w0-$~YYYY$-$~MM$-$~DD$-$~HHMM$" /v

i have two questions
1. how often do you back up is there a better way?
2. is there a command line command to delete old backup before running if
space low?
thanks beau

[Bob Coleman]

There is probably no absolute right answer here. I do full backups weekly to an external USB disk, then copy the result to a USB flash drive which I keep not plugged in to the computer. I also do incremental backups to the external drive daily.

I have five USB flash drives which I rotate. So every five weeks, I re-use the oldest and delete the corresponding backup and all associated incremental backups from the external drive.

The whole process is about 95% automated.

[Beau]

Hi Bob,
how you have this all setup ?
thanks beau

[Bob Coleman]

This is probably particularly pertinent to my particular environment, but I suppose the general concepts could be adopted.

I have two scripts written in REXX which manually invoke, one on Sunday, the other on other days.

My rotating backup files have names full1.tbi, full2.tbi, full3.tbi, full4.tbi, and full5.tbi. The full backup script has these names built in, finds the oldest one, and creates an IFW command to backup the partitions I choose to backup to the oldest name thereby overwriting the oldest one.

The names of my incremental backups are derived from the current date and time. My "daily script" determines what my latest backup is whether it's one of the full ones or another incremental and then builds and executes an IFW command to create another incremental backup based the latest existing backup.

All this would be of minimal value to anyone not familiar with the REXX language.

[Beau]

Hi Bob how do do you get it a size to keep on usb stick?

[Bob Coleman]

Beau wrote:
> Hi Bob how do do you get it a size to keep on usb stick?

Buy one with 128 GB capacity.

[Beau]

hi bob do you compress backup?

[Bob Coleman]

Beau wrote:
> hi bob do you compress backup?

No special way. I run an IFW command with nothing about compression specified. My recollection is that the default corresponds to the default "Enhanced Speed - A" in the GUI.

[TAC109]

<Beau> wrote:
> Hi all,

Just to chime in late on this discussion, I use a DOS backup script to image my computers. This takes a full backup every so often followed by incrementals. It manages the storage space automatically, deleting old backups when available space is running low. I run this weekly.

I have packaged these DOS scripts and made them available on the Terabyte site in the Script forum at the following address:- viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2347

You are welcome to use them if you wish.