Total Commander

For automatic backups, I have been using software called BASK, which is very good but it tends to be a little slow and CPU-intensive. I think it would be nice to have an integrated backup feature in TC.

I think I know the possibilities of Synchronize but it seems that one cannot prepare/use predefined backup routines with it. What I had in mind is more like a special menu "Backup" into which the user can add as many specific backup routines as he likes, and the backupping would be fully automatic.

For example:

(a) the user wishes to backup two important folders X and Y so that the backup always mirrors the original. He creates and names a new routine and predefines that X and Y should be copied to folders BX and BY by source-to-destination synchronization;

(b) the user wishes to backup folders X and Y cumulatively so that only new/changed contents are added. He creates a new routine (for example by) "backup new/changed".

These new routines would be added to the backup menu and launched by user action, operating automatically without any need for user intervention. Of course, it would be reasonable to provide many other options for e.g. comparison, Y/N answers etc.

Hello andres992,
TC is mostly an interactive tool, so there's a low chance of implementing backup features of a scope comparable to full fletched backup solution. However, you can edit the main menu to your liking, integrating for instance xxcopy backup scripts, or any other you prefer.

Roman

Wouldn't the standalone SyncTool be able to accomplish most of this?

Help File | Command line parameters (excerpt, emphasis mine)

/S=S

• Start "Synchronize dirs" directly, accepts two paths as parameters,
• or alternatively a settings name in the form /S=S:SettingsName
• If the parameter begins with an equal sign "=", e.g. /S=S:=SettingsName, the comparison will start immediately.
• If the equal sign is the only parameter, e.g. /S=S:= , the comparison will start with the passed directories and last used options.

You could create user-defined commands that specify different settings files and/or different Left/Right paths.

Basically it was just an idea how to possibly make TC even more attractive. I did not mean very heavy or very advanced backupping, just simple and reliable tasks. As for myself, I can cope some way or other; I was just thinking of my own comfort (and maybe others' too).

There are many quite good backup applications that can be used with command line parameters (also BASK itself, I think) and it is not difficult to add TC menu items for that purpose. But this would still mean another application (possibly another purchase, another download, another learning curve).

As for the TC Sync Tool, I could not find any command line parameters to choose the backup method (e.g. either source-to-destination or backup-new/changed etc. and other advanced settings). It also seems to me that in order to run multiple backup tasks e.g. overnight, getting the Sync Tool to do that would involve quite some scripting and it would be easier to achieve the intended result with an external tool. Please correct me if I am wrong.

TC is also used by many people who are not IT professionals, and they are mostly unfamiliar with backup concepts. After I had made a set of BASK backup routines for my friend (he is not an IT person at all, but he is also a user of TC) and added these sets to his TC menus, he was very surprised (he had no idea that such things were possible so simply) and very happy. As it seems, ordinary people need backups too

Stand-alone SyncTool:

Command: %Commander_Path%\totalcmd.exe /S=S
Parameters: C:\Temp C:\Temp2

That could be put on the ButtonBar, or a user-defined Command.
A user-defined command can be assigned to a TC keyboard hotkey.
(Use Quotes around paths that have spaces)

You could also create something like:
Backup1.cmd

@ECHO OFF
START "" "%ProgramFiles%\TotalCMD\totalcmd.exe" /S=S:="C:\Backup\Backup.ini" "C:\Temp" "C:\Temp2"

And put the Backup1.cmd into Windows Scheduled Task.
Though you would need something like AutoHotKey or the like, if you wanted to automatically click "Synchronize" when the Folder comparisons are done.

Others might know better than I, but I believe the syntax that allows you to indicate a specific .ini file means you can open the normal SyncTool, make changes to it (checkboxes etc), then save TC's settings. Copy that particular wincmd.ini to a backupProfile.ini filename?

andres992 wrote:As for the TC Sync Tool, I could not find any command line parameters to choose the backup method (e.g. either source-to-destination or backup-new/changed etc. and other advanced settings). It also seems to me that in order to run multiple backup tasks e.g. overnight, getting the Sync Tool to do that would involve quite some scripting and it would be easier to achieve the intended result with an external tool. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I think you're wrong:) after searching in Sync tool you will see what files need to be backuped. If you enable asymmetric mode, TC will suggest you to remove files in right panel that are absent in left panel. So you copy only files that need to be copied.
If you need to backup some folders, I suggest to create folder with junctions to that folders, and backup this folder. So, your backup copy will contain all folders you need and result will be achieved in one single Sync operation.

MVV wrote:I think you're wrong:) after searching in Sync tool you will see what files need to be backuped. If you enable asymmetric mode, TC will suggest you to remove files in right panel that are absent in left panel. So you copy only files that need to be copied.
If you need to backup some folders, I suggest to create folder with junctions to that folders, and backup this folder. So, your backup copy will contain all folders you need and result will be achieved in one single Sync operation.

Please could you tell me Sync Tool's command-line parameters for letting it automatically do a backup routine (a) by doing a cumulative backup (all files in the old backup remain, new/changed are updated) and (b) a source-to-destination backup (the backup directory mirrors the source directory exactly) -- both such options may be needed from time to time. As for creating junctions: this is not something an ordinary user would do. And actually, we all like to have things more comfortable rather than more complicated.

I have no doubt that with heavy scripting and a smart brain one could achieve practically everything. Still, with e.g. BASK I can just press a button and let it do all dozen backup routines on its own with no scripting needed as I can predefine the routines from the GUI in just a minute. My point was that probably TC could do the same even more efficiently (and since Sync Tool already exists, I guessed that maybe it would be relatively easy to improve). Or moreover, if Sync Tool already (essentially) enables all this as MVV suggests: the main work (functionality) has already been done, why not add a comfy GUI section entitled "Backup" and attract even more buyers?

I can understand Hacker's argument, though, that TC is mainly interactive software, and fulfilment of long tasks on its own would probably "not be its style". Although I did not mean a full-fledged backup solution but, rather, just an idea of an option to have some simple automatic backup opportunities comfortably enough. After all, TC can be used already very efficiently as an archiving/unpacking solution, as an FTP solution, as a file/folder comparison solution, a multi-rename solution etc.

TC is a file manager, not a backup tool. Sync tool allows to save presets, to load them, to sync folders. But for good backup features you should use special backup tool, not TC. File manager is not a backup tool, IMHO.

It's my backup tool

Everything of any worth is on Drive L:\
C (D and E) are system partitions. Periodically, I plug in a WD500 GB and mirror the 500 GB Seagate (L:\).

TC is also my backup tool also!...

I use sync as then i can with easy see if some changes where made on what disk. The backup disk or the live disk..

But i do understand "andres992" if TC has the possibly to have a automated Backup tool inside it, its a good selling point to clients..
"Use total commander and u never have to worry about your important files as they are always backuped automatically!!... "

I don´t know how to achieve this with out making TC heavy,

But I did setup a clients computer with "Windows SyncToy" and its for free and its ok.. Maybe something to look in to?

++my support...