Batch Backup System - to Make Life That Little Bit Easier!

This Instructable will show you the reasoning behind, and the correct codes to create a backup system, backing up an external drive (e.g. SD Card, USB Drive etc.)

This system should be used entirely for your own personal use and too make your life that little bit easier. I therefore reserve the right not to be held responsible for any activity, in which you should use this information, outside of this Instructable.

Step 1: Huh?!? Why Notepad, That's the Most Useless Program Ever!

There is one basic command really and that's ROBOCOPY.
Those with earlier versions of windows may be more familiar with it as XCOPY.

Robocopy is basically a mass copying command, used to copy many files over networks in businesses or otherwise.

Here is the script for my system, you'll have to change yours so that you can copy what to where.

So type this out on Notepad!

@echo off
ROBOCOPY I:\. F:\sd_card_backup /E /ETA /Z /MIR
EXIT

I:/. (that's my target drive, the . is to specify "copy the whole thing")

F:/sd_card_backup (that's my destination drive, the "sd_card_backup" is the name of the folder I want to save it all in. If this older doesn't exist then one will be created. Oh, and my drive value is "F:/" cause I have an external one. Yours will probably be "C:/")

/E (tells the system to copy all the folders, even if there empty. This way you can have a complete replication of the folder/drive you copied.)

/ETA (will give you an Estimated Time of Arrival, see what they did there?)

/Z (you don't need to worry about this, it's just the type of copying that works best for small copies)

/MIR (again, this assures you have a mirror of what you copied, to make sure you've got absolutely everything)

SO!

Your text may look like this if you were backing up your USB drive for example:

@echo off
ROBOCOPY G:\. C:\users\user\documents\USB_backup /E /ETA /Z /MIR
EXIT

This would copy your entire G drive (hopefully your USB) to your documents, creating and placing it in a folder called "USB_backup".

Lovely!

Step 2: So Now What, All I've Got Is This Rubbish Writting That Means Nothing!

Time to save it!

All you need to do now is save it as a batch file

Got to
File --> Save

Make sure your drop down box is selecting "All Files" and you type ".bat" at the end of the file name!

See the picture for more details!

Step 3: And Hey Presto!

So that's basically it. The rest is really easy.

You just click on the file, and depending on the amount of stuff you copy, it might just flash up for a second and go.

If your really lazy then you can download the script for mine below and change it as you wish:

And if enough people ask for it then i'll design one where you can input the details yourself and it'll do it for you. Laziness at it's fullest! P.M me if you have any real problems or any requests.

Have fun!
Hope this helped!

EDIT: I got so bored today that I decided to make that system file I talked about earlier, so here it is. I called it "IBUS" (I liked it to!) and it prompts you for input to personalise your backup. Oh and read the READ ME file that comes with it too!

Let me know what you think!