How to sync files to external hard drive?

[Chintan Gohel]

I have a laptop with about 400GB of files - pictures, docs, project files, etc.

I wish to copy these files to an external hard drive which is 1TB in size. However, I want the copy to be such that if I make any changes to my files on the laptop, these changes are synced to the external HDD. If I add or remove or move files, the same needs to be reflected on the external HDD

As a first solution, I tried using file history. Unfortunately, the second time it started syncing, all the files were being duplicated meaning my storage used went up from 400GB to 800GB. That was a big waste of time and it wouldn't have worked the third time I connect my external HDD

So a I'm looking for solutions similar to the way onedrive works. Any changes are reflected. File not changed stay the same. Newer versions should replace the old version, not add a new copy.

Any help?

Thank you

 

[xandros9]

I use SyncToy. It's not automatic but it's good enough for me.

EDIT: I highly recommend it and it's a fairly easy setup unless your drive letters are changing a lot.

 

[anon(5327127)]

xcopy
robocopy

Both solutions, in a fashion, but require a bit of effort to make happen.

 

[VigneshB]

+1 for Sync Toy - https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=15155 Make sure that you've .NET 3.5 installed.
If you're comfortable with command line, you can also try robocopy.
Though, both of these will require some investment of time from your side.
Alternatively, you can continue using File History and set Keep Versions to Until space needed and also use clean up versions often.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

+1 for Sync Toy - https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=15155 Make sure that you've .NET 3.5 installed.
If you're comfortable with command line, you can also try robocopy.
Though, both of these will require some investment of time from your side.
Alternatively, you can continue using File History and set Keep Versions to Until space needed and also use clean up versions often.

I use SyncToy. It's not automatic but it's good enough for me.

EDIT: I highly recommend it and it's a fairly easy setup unless your drive letters are changing a lot.

I'll try this out tonight, thank you

 

[garryknight]

Check out FreeFileSync. It's extremely flexible and easy to use.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

+1 for Sync Toy - https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=15155 Make sure that you've .NET 3.5 installed.
If you're comfortable with command line, you can also try robocopy.
Though, both of these will require some investment of time from your side.
Alternatively, you can continue using File History and set Keep Versions to Until space needed and also use clean up versions often.

I tried synctoy yesterday, it does copy quite fast. I'll check today to see if it can reflect changes without copying over the whole folder

 

[anon(5327127)]

I gather that you're not interested in xcopy/robocopy.

Right click the desktop, New, text document. Change the name to backup. Open the text file and copy the following.


xcopy c:\Users\%yourusername%\*.* f: /d /e /g /h /k /o /y /j /c

Save and close the file. Rename the file to backup.bat
If you have file extensions turned off then turn it on to ensure your file is not backup.bat.txt

Another example might be:
xcopy e:\*.* f:\Steam\ /d /e /g /h /k /o /y /j /c


Double click the file and away we go. It will backup the file that have been changed since the last backup. You can also add this as a scheduled task. No need for yet another application on your computer.

I usually MOVE the file to the backup location and then create a shortcut on my desktop.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

I gather that you're not interested in xcopy/robocopy.

Right click the desktop, New, text document. Change the name to backup. Open the text file and copy the following.


xcopy c:\Users\%yourusername%\ f: /d /e /g /h /k /o /y /j /c

Save and close the file. Rename the file to backup.bat
If you have file extensions turned off then turn it on to ensure your file is not backup.bat.txt

Another example might be:
xcopy e:\*.* f:\Steam\ /d /e /g /h /k /o /y /j /c


Double click the file and away we go. It will backup the file that have been changed since the last backup. You can also add this as a scheduled task. No need for yet another application on your computer.

I usually MOVE the file to the backup location and then create a shortcut on my desktop.

it's not me actually but my brother who's really lazy. So he's not even tried any of these suggestions except for synctoy. I'll check with him again today

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Toy sync works quite well and is really fast -thank you all for the answers - I'm sticking with this for now

 

[h8zgray]

Toy sync works quite well and is really fast -thank you all for the answers - I'm sticking with this for now

Agree with Chintan, have been using SyncToy for years, most recently for Win 10 Insider Preview. Works reliably, cannot recommend enough.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Agree with Chintan, have been using SyncToy for years, most recently for Win 10 Insider Preview. Works reliably, cannot recommend enough.

have you noticed how that is is with the older software? Windows media player still works so well, with many features, synctoy is an old one but still works, etc

 

[MaestroGarry]

You can use KrojamSoft SyncFile for syncing files to your external hard drive, its a simple and best software for doing this.

 

[AndyCalling]

Firstly, you are using File History wrong. You can set File History, under the 'Advanced Settings' section, to keep saved versions 'until space is needed'. This means you can never run out of space, and it keeps only changes and a history of older versions for as long as it can given the space available. If you want to limit the space used even further, partition the drive into a File History partition and an Other Data partition and your File History will only be able to use the amount allocated to it. Perfect. Alternatively, if you need to consider encryption and Bitlocker is not suitable (either you don't have a pro version OS or you're using a NAS drive, for common reasons not to use Bitlocker full drive encryption), try CryptSync. It is a great little utility that encrypts your backup at a file level, which means you can back up to a NAS and download those files over the internet to decrypt on your device meaning hackers can go hang.

 

[AndyCalling]

ADDENDUM: CryptSync is the smallest, most efficient file level sync utility I know, it is open source and incremental. I'd still use File History for maintaining multiple historic versions for resilience as described above if I don't need file level encryption, but a combo of File History for my external drive and CryptSync for my NAS is ideal.

 

[Katie2016]

In a nutshell, you want to find a tool to do file sync at a regular basis, or just real-time sync, don't you? Here you can find a suitable sync tool and detailed steps on how to sync files to external drive. It is worth to have a look.

 

[queensoft]

I tried Allway Sync and it worked great.