The
May 2007 issue of Popular
Mechanics features an article on how to backup your
PC, however their solutions require
either money, or posting files on-line. Backups shouldn't
be expensive or risky. Whatever happened to the old DOS
days (for those of you who remember those good-old days),
when Microsoft gave you a program that would backup your
system to disks and even do incremental backups, saving
both time and those wonderful 3½ floppy disks? Where
is that today?
Well,
here it is. This is a method that with a bit of setup,
will allow you to backup your precious data to whatever
media you have in minutes.
How to do
it
The Setup
- Download
& install WinZip from www.winzip.com
- Download
& install WinZip Command Line Support Add-on (click
here)
- Create
a folder for your backups (E:\Backups)
- Copy
& paste WZZIP.EXE from C:\Program Files\WinZip
to your backup folder (E:\Backups)
Creating
the Baseline and Incremental batch files
- Launch
Notepad (from the Start
button, click Run,
and type notepad in the dialogue box).
- Copy
& paste the following line, and make the changes
to fit your needs:
call wzzip
-r -p -ex Cent_C_Doc_Appl.zip c:\docume~1\nichol~1\applic~1\
CALL - batch file command to run a program, then
continue the batch file. Otherwise the batch file will
terminate after running the first line.
WZZIP - The program to run
-R - Include subfolders
-P - Store subfolder information
-EX - Maximum compression
Cent_C_Doc_Appl.zip - name for
the WinZip file you want to create
c:\docume~1\nichol~1\applic~1\ - the folder you want to backup in
short folder name from (8 character form). You can determine
a folder's short name by:
- Start>Run:
CMD
- At
DOS prompt enter the drive letter - ex. C:
- Go
to the root directory by typing cd\
- Type
dir /x to see the short name of every file, note
the short name
- Change
directory by typing "cd"
(space) and the folder name
- Repeat
the last two steps till you get to the subfolder you
want
Here
is a copy of my Baseline file
call wzzip
-r -p -ex Cent_C_Doc_Appl.zip c:\docume~1\nichol~1\applic~1\
call wzzip -r -p
-ex Cent_C_Doc_Desk.zip c:\docume~1\nichol~1\desktop\
call wzzip -r -p
-ex Cent_C_Doc_Fav.zip c:\docume~1\nichol~1\favori~1\
call wzzip -r -p
-ex Cent_C_Doc_Sendto.zip c:\docume~1\nichol~1\sendto\
call wzzip -r -p
-ex Cent_C_Doc_StartMenu.zip c:\docume~1\nichol~1\startm~1\
call wzzip -r -p
-ex Cent_D_Files.zip D:\Files\
call wzzip -r -p
-ex Cent_D_Photos.zip D:\multim~1\digita~1
- Save
the file in your backup folder (E:\Backups) and change
the extension to .bat , instead of the default .txt
(Example filename: Baseline.bat,
not Baseline.txt).
- To
create the incremental backup batch file, use the following
line and repeat the process above:
call wzzip
-r -p -ex -tf07-04-06
07-04-17_Cent_C_Doc_Appl.zip
c:\docume~1\nichol~1\applic~1\
The
addition is -tf07-04-06, which means backup files created
and modified since this date (YY-MM-DD format)
I've
also added the date the backup was run to the file name
07-04-17_Cent_C_Doc_Appl.zip (YY-MM-DD_filename.zip)
- Save
the file and change the extension to .bat (Example:
Incr_Backup.bat).
Creating the
Baseline Backup
- Go
to your Backup folder (E:\Backups).
- Double
click your baseline batch file (Baseline.bat).
- In
the DOS window, when prompted, press any key to backup
each folder. (The prompts are a bit annoying, but they
go away if you purchase the software, but, hey,
you were looking for a cheap solution)
- Copy
the WinZip files to CD.
- Tips
for burning CDs
- If
the WinZip file is larger than the CD, you can split
the file. See the help feature in WinZip.
Creating the
Incremental Backup
(The
real benefit
to this method)
- Open
the incremental batch file in Notepad, different methods:
- Don't double-click, you'll run the batch
file
- From
inside Notepad, File>Open
- From
Explorer, right-click,
Edit (might not work on all systems)
- From
Start button, Run>notepad
e:\backups\incr_backup.bat
- Enter
new date, on the menu bar, Edit>Replace
(or Ctrl+H)
- Find
What: enter the date on the far right (remember this
date for the next step, or copy
it)
- Replace:
type in today's date (YY-MM-DD format)
- Enter
the date the last backup was run, on the menu bar, Edit>Replace (or Ctrl+H)
- Find
What: enter the date from the middle of the line
- Replace:
type the date the last backup was run (or paste it, if you remembered to copy it in the previous step)
- File>Save
- Go
to your Backup folder (E:\Backups).
- Double
click your baseline batch file (Baseline.bat).
- In
the DOS window, when prompted, press any key to backup
each folder.
- Copy
the WinZip files to CD.
- Tips
for burning CDs
- If
the WinZip file is larger than the CD, you can split
the file. See the help feature in WinZip.
Once
you get comfortable with this step, you can create an
incremental backup in minutes!! And protect your data.
