Jeff Gaines <[email protected]> wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's
Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

I use it, but the important thing to understand is that sync is not backup. Backup is a one-way process, but sync is two-way. If I delete or corrupt a file on the backup server, sync will automatically delete that file on the other machines too, which is not what you want.

There are ways to make Syncthing do 'one way only', but they're not recommended:
https://michaeltoohig.com/blurbs/one-way-backups-with-syncthing/

Theo

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's
Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
If you ever find something you like buy a lifetime supply because they
will stop making it

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 23/06/2025 in message <Nsg*[email protected]> Theo wrote:

Jeff Gaines <[email protected]> wrote:

On 23/06/2025 in message <Ksg*[email protected]> Theo >>wrote:

Jeff Gaines <[email protected]> wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's >>>>Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

I use it, but the important thing to understand is that sync is not >>>backup.
Backup is a one-way process, but sync is two-way. If I delete or corrupt >>>a
file on the backup server, sync will automatically delete that file on >>>the
other machines too, which is not what you want.

There are ways to make Syncthing do 'one way only', but they're not >>>recommended: >>>https://michaeltoohig.com/blurbs/one-way-backups-with-syncthing/

Theo

Thanks Theo :-)

I fell at the first hurdle having down-loaded the simple installer for >>simple Windows users, there is nothing in the file that looks anything
like a Windows exe or msi!

Are you looking at the releases which has a setup.exe: >https://github.com/Bill-Stewart/SyncthingWindowsSetup/releases/tag/v1.29.1

I down-loaded the easy setup zip, I will look at that. I am a bit
concerned if it's a two way sync, I want one way with the ability to
restore individual files but haven't found anything yet...

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
If it's not broken, mess around with it until it is

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Jeff Gaines <[email protected]> wrote:

On 23/06/2025 in message <Ksg*[email protected]> Theo wrote:

Jeff Gaines <[email protected]> wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's >>Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

I use it, but the important thing to understand is that sync is not backup. >Backup is a one-way process, but sync is two-way. If I delete or corrupt a >file on the backup server, sync will automatically delete that file on the >other machines too, which is not what you want.

There are ways to make Syncthing do 'one way only', but they're not >recommended: >https://michaeltoohig.com/blurbs/one-way-backups-with-syncthing/

Theo

Thanks Theo :-)

I fell at the first hurdle having down-loaded the simple installer for
simple Windows users, there is nothing in the file that looks anything
like a Windows exe or msi!

Are you looking at the releases which has a setup.exe: https://github.com/Bill-Stewart/SyncthingWindowsSetup/releases/tag/v1.29.1

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 23/06/2025 in message <Ksg*[email protected]> Theo wrote:

Jeff Gaines <[email protected]> wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's
Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

I use it, but the important thing to understand is that sync is not backup. >Backup is a one-way process, but sync is two-way. If I delete or corrupt a >file on the backup server, sync will automatically delete that file on the >other machines too, which is not what you want.

There are ways to make Syncthing do 'one way only', but they're not >recommended:
https://michaeltoohig.com/blurbs/one-way-backups-with-syncthing/

Theo

Thanks Theo :-)

I fell at the first hurdle having down-loaded the simple installer for
simple Windows users, there is nothing in the file that looks anything
like a Windows exe or msi!

I will keep looking....

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
The fact that there's a highway to hell and only a stairway to heaven says
a lot about anticipated traffic numbers.

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On 23/06/2025 14:26, NY wrote:

On 23/06/2025 10:27, Jeff Gaines wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's
Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

I have used Microsoft SyncToy for many years. It doesn't continuously
sync, but it gives me control over when I sync two storage areas (eg PC internal drive and USB HDD or SAMBA-shared network storage), and allows
me to see and control which files need to be updated/deleted/added/deleted.

It has several levels of syncing - eg new files on the source are
replicated to the destination but changes to the destination are not replicated to the source; changes to either source or destination are replicated to the other; and another mode which I have forgotten.

The advantage of SyncToy over some types of backup is that it performs
file and folder copying, so the backup is an exact replica of the
source. Some backups save the backup to a humungous merged zip file in a proprietary format, so you need run run the backup software if you need
to retrieve a specific file that has got corrupted in the live system,
rather than just doing a manual file copy. It also allows the "backup"
to be a live filesystem - eg syncing a folder structure on a desktop PC
with a folder structure on a laptop, such that files both can be
accessed with normals apps such as Word, Excel etc and I just want to
keep them in sync.

I'm sure there are newer equivalents of SyncToy which has not been
updated for many years - but it works, so why change?

I have been using Karen's Replicator which is similar, see karenware.com
The author, Karen Kenworthy, died in 2011 but the website and
software still seem to be working, for me at least.

--
Clive Page

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On 23/06/2025 in message <[email protected]> Jeff
Gaines wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's
Time Machine for Windows 10.

Have tried:

Syncthing - can't find out how to add a destination.
EasUSBackup - backed up fine but it seems I can only restore the complete directory
Windows File History - uses the most peculiar terminology, once I got
though that it was happy to back up everything except my official My
Documents directory (actually D:\Data).

There's a fortune awaiting the person who writes Time Machine for Windows...

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
How does a gender neutral bog differ from a unisex bog ?
It has a non-binary number on the door.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 23/06/2025 10:27, Jeff Gaines wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's
Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

I have used Microsoft SyncToy for many years. It doesn't continuously
sync, but it gives me control over when I sync two storage areas (eg PC internal drive and USB HDD or SAMBA-shared network storage), and allows
me to see and control which files need to be updated/deleted/added/deleted.

It has several levels of syncing - eg new files on the source are
replicated to the destination but changes to the destination are not
replicated to the source; changes to either source or destination are replicated to the other; and another mode which I have forgotten.

The advantage of SyncToy over some types of backup is that it performs
file and folder copying, so the backup is an exact replica of the
source. Some backups save the backup to a humungous merged zip file in a proprietary format, so you need run run the backup software if you need
to retrieve a specific file that has got corrupted in the live system,
rather than just doing a manual file copy. It also allows the "backup"
to be a live filesystem - eg syncing a folder structure on a desktop PC
with a folder structure on a laptop, such that files both can be
accessed with normals apps such as Word, Excel etc and I just want to
keep them in sync.

I'm sure there are newer equivalents of SyncToy which has not been
updated for many years - but it works, so why change?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 23/06/2025 in message <[email protected]> Clive Page
wrote:

I'm sure there are newer equivalents of SyncToy which has not been
updated for many years - but it works, so why change?

I have been using Karen's Replicator which is similar, see karenware.com
The author, Karen Kenworthy, died in 2011 but the website and software still seem to be working, for me at least.

Wow, there's a name to bring back memories, used to follow her in my VB
days. RIP Karen.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
The first five days after the weekend are the hardest.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Mon, 6/23/2025 5:27 AM, Jeff Gaines wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Machine_%28macOS%29

"Time Machine creates incremental backups of files that can
be restored at a later date.[3] It allows the user to
restore the whole system or specific files."

"Time Machine saves hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups
for the past month, and weekly backups for everything older than a month
until the volume runs out of space. At that point, Time Machine deletes
the oldest weekly backup."

Macrium Reflect has Incremental Forever, and MRIMG files can be mounted
for specific file access (you don't have to restore a 4TB disk to get
one stinking file back, it's easier than that).

Windows File History keeps track of more granular file history,
using an external drive. It dumps to the external drive at intervals.
It may ask to have the external connected, for a dump, while
it runs. To restore a deleted file, you can restore the folder above it. Something like that.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/backup-and-restore-with-file-history-7bf065bf-f1ea-0a78-c1cf-7dcf51cc8bfc

The File History might become a bit of a chore, if you were editing
video. It would work better for smaller files, as you could likely
run for days, before the software asks to dump a set to the identified
backup disk. If the backup disk is online at all times, then it
wouldn't need to prompt you for the disk drive.

Deleted files, are not actually deleted. Just a flag byte is flipped, indicating the $MFT entry is available for reuse. If you use a copy of
Recuva and the file has a "green dot" rating indicating nothing has overwritten the storage area, the flag byte can be flipped back. Recuva was free from Piriform,
and Piriform was bought out at some point,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuva

https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva # Owned by some AV conglomerate ?

If you drop a file into an unknown folder, volumes can be listed with NFI.exe . It can list things in C:\System Volume Information for example.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150329185738/http://download.microsoft.com/download/win2000srv/utility/3.0/nt45/en-us/oem3sr2.zip

(administrator command prompt)

cd /d %userprofile%\Downloads # On a BAD drive, don't be writing to the BAD drive !!! Pick another storage.
nfi.exe c: > nfi-c-out.txt
notepad nfi-c-out.txt

with the Volume Shadow Service, copies of "hot" file systems can be made. Macrium can be working on your C: drive, while you work. It cannot
back up pagefile.sys (which does not need a backup). It cannot back
up Windows.edb (W10) or Windows.db (W11), but these files can be
regenerated by the Search Indexer. Thunderbird is generally fine, except
in cases where the parser is "stuck" on a corrupted .sdb . That's the only situation that is suspect. Check the Macrium .log file for a session,
to ascertain whether there are any VSS issues of note. If a file is listed
as cannot backup, find out why.

The Free version of Macrium could do:

Full
Differential

The paid version of Macrium can do:

Full
Differential
Incremental
Incremental Forever
File-by-file (details not researched, user manual available for product as PDF)

*******

The "Windows 7 Backup" in the Control Panels of W7, W8, W10, W11, is not recommended, as the control over what is being backed up is a bit on the
poor side. The .vhd containers per partition, can be easily mounted for recovery. Later versions of W7B, stored files in .vhdx and that's
more than a nuisance for one-off file spelunking. I prefer monolithic
files (like the .mrimg type), as it can be a bit easier to examine
and make sense of what you've got.

With Macrium, you can back up an entire machine in one shot. You can
back up every drive, to a single MRIMG. I recommend a finer granularity
in your backup configuration than that. But if you're in a hurry, you
can boot the Macrium CD and just tell it to take 11 TB of files and
stick them on that new 24TB external drive you bought. As a single MRIMG,
a file that can be mounted. Then the only issue, is the job finishing
before morning. 11TB at 150MB/sec would take a while (20 hours?). Since Macrium protects content with a checksum, the fastest backup speed possible
is around 300+ MB/sec. Fine for disks, not fine for that PCIe Rev5 NVMe
that runs many times faster than that. You would have to be content with
the 300MB/sec.

You can request a "Verify" of an MRIMG at rest on your disk drive.
That can check that the file has not become corrupted since first stored.
I managed to determine I had bad RAM on the WinXP machine, using Macrium Verify (the bad RAM was in driver buffer country). Not all "bad RAM" cases can
be detected that easily. Many other backup softwares in Windows, do similar things to this. Macrium has a pretty good history, implying they test their software.
(One Macrium issue, was caused by changes Microsoft made, and then everyone else has to clean up the mess.)

For speed, the Windows 7 Backup cannot be beat. That's because it has
no integrity checks at all (ow!), and it runs as fast as the software stack will go :-) Too bad it sucks a bit. I don't see a reason that could
not do 2GB/sec with the right equipment.

On Macrium, the default is to use Medium compression. I have some use-cases where I turn that off. It has no option for "good" compression such as .xz
or .7z or .rar . For archives I don't expect to be needing, I use .7z on
those. (Or, I delete the archive.) Any .mrimg here tagged with "ERASEME",
that means at the slightest provocation, those can be deleted.

Paul

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On Mon, 6/23/2025 9:26 AM, Jeff Gaines wrote:

On 23/06/2025 in message <[email protected]> Jeff Gaines wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's Time Machine for Windows 10.

Have tried:

Syncthing - can't find out how to add a destination.
EasUSBackup - backed up fine but it seems I can only restore the complete directory
Windows File History - uses the most peculiar terminology, once I got though that it was happy to back up everything except my official My Documents directory (actually D:\Data).

There's a fortune awaiting the person who writes Time Machine for Windows...

https://www.ninjaone.com/blog/add-or-remove-folders-for-file-history-backup/

3. Add Folders to Backup

Scroll down to the Back up these folders section.
Click Add a folder.

Well, not quite.

*******

I tried the "obvious way" and it didn't work. The interface
didn't even complain when I added H:\TEST to the group of
folders for File History. So I asked CoPilot the question.

Question:

How does windows 10 File History feature work ?
Can it have folders like H:\TEST added in
addition to folders residing in the users profile area C:\users\username ?
Or must all the folders for File History capture be somewhere on C:\ ?

CoPilot:

### Adding Folders Outside the User Profile
Yes, you **can** include folders like `H:\TEST` in your File History backups — but there’s a trick:

You need to **add that folder to a Library**.

File History only backs up content from Libraries, so by
adding your custom folder to one, you’re effectively telling File History to include it.

Here’s how:
1. Right-click the folder (e.g., `H:\TEST`) in File Explorer.
2. Select **Include in library**.
3. Choose an existing library (like Documents) or create a new one.

Once that’s done, File History will treat it like any other folder
in your user profile and back it up accordingly.

So no, your folders **don’t have to be on C:\\** —
they just need to be part of a Library. That includes folders
on other internal drives, external drives, or even mapped
network locations (as long as they’re accessible).

*******

You can create new libraries, so you are not limited to
the existing libraries. Think of the fun (or something) :-)

Apparently, there is some difference between W10 doing
this and W11 doing this. But I'm going to save my surprised
face for another day. At this point, we don't even know what
the support is like, for Libraries.

First I check for the existence of the control file.

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Pictures.library-ms # Windows 11
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Pictures.library-ms # Windows 10

You can find articles like this.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-add-a-library-in-windows-10/1c8e4e8a-7de9-41f4-b215-183c33b4dac8

There are two path representations in .library-ms . It's an XML file.
It can include plain paths, such as I would make. However, for "well known" paths, it uses a "serialized" representation and what might be ASCII85 encoding of the path or something. You know, because life isn't complicated enough.
But presumably this won't show in the interface when you make a new library. You could call the new Library MyFileHistory and then add H:\TEST to it
as a member. Then, when defining your File History backup, you include MyFileHistory
just like you were including Pictures. And magically, H:\TEST is included.

Paul

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Mon, 23 Jun 2025 13:19:22 -0400, Paul wrote:

Windows File History keeps track of more granular file history,
using an external drive. It dumps to the external drive at intervals.
It may ask to have the external connected, for a dump, while it runs. To restore a deleted file, you can restore the folder above it.
Something like that.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/backup-and-restore-with-

file-history-7bf065bf-f1ea-0a78-c1cf-7dcf51cc8bfc

The File History might become a bit of a chore, if you were editing
video.
It would work better for smaller files, as you could likely run for
days,
before the software asks to dump a set to the identified backup disk. If
the backup disk is online at all times, then it wouldn't need to prompt
you for the disk drive.

I deliberately do *not* have my main backup drive on-line all the time.
One of the threats I am particularly worried about is a ransomware attack locking my files, and if your backup drive is always on then it can be
locked too as well as your live files.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 24/06/2025 in message <103dh72$1rutt$[email protected]> Paul wrote:

CoPilot:

### Adding Folders Outside the User Profile
Yes, you can include folders like `H:\TEST` in your File History backups
— but there’s a trick:

You need to **add that folder to a Library**.

File History only backs up content from Libraries, so by
adding your custom folder to one, you’re effectively telling File
History to include it.

It forgot to tell you it must be NTFS. "D:\Data" is in the Documents
library as it is "My Documents" relocated the official Windows way. It is though exFAT*.

*I have several computers and they get re-purposed and shuffled regularly, using exFAT avoids all the ownership issues that NTFS throws up.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF
if you can read this, you're a nerd 10.

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On 24/06/2025 09:15, Handsome Jack wrote:

I deliberately do*not* have my main backup drive on-line all the time.
One of the threats I am particularly worried about is a ransomware attack locking my files, and if your backup drive is always on then it can be
locked too as well as your live files.

Ah, thereby hangs a tale.

If your backup server mounts the live server only when backup is needed,
it is not accessible to any malware on the main one.

Of course if it then backs up up an encrypted file system, all bets are
off. But that happens anyway.

--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.
-- Yogi Berra

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 23/06/2025 10:27, Jeff Gaines wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's
Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

I use Free File Sync but I only back up programmes which are on a
different drive to the Operating System.
- https://freefilesync.org/


--
Regards
wasbit

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 23/06/2025 14:37, Clive Page wrote:

On 23/06/2025 14:26, NY wrote:

On 23/06/2025 10:27, Jeff Gaines wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like
Apple's Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

I have used Microsoft SyncToy for many years. It doesn't continuously
sync, but it gives me control over when I sync two storage areas (eg
PC internal drive and USB HDD or SAMBA-shared network storage), and
allows me to see and control which files need to be
updated/deleted/added/deleted.

It has several levels of syncing - eg new files on the source are
replicated to the destination but changes to the destination are not
replicated to the source; changes to either source or destination are
replicated to the other; and another mode which I have forgotten.

The advantage of SyncToy over some types of backup is that it performs
file and folder copying, so the backup is an exact replica of the
source. Some backups save the backup to a humungous merged zip file in
a proprietary format, so you need run run the backup software if you
need to retrieve a specific file that has got corrupted in the live
system, rather than just doing a manual file copy. It also allows the
"backup" to be a live filesystem - eg syncing a folder structure on a
desktop PC with a folder structure on a laptop, such that files both
can be accessed with normals apps such as Word, Excel etc and I just
want to keep them in sync.

I'm sure there are newer equivalents of SyncToy which has not been
updated for many years - but it works, so why change?

I have been using Karen's Replicator which is similar, see karenware.com
  The author, Karen Kenworthy, died in 2011 but the website and
software still seem to be working, for me at least.

I have her full suite of tools.
I believe her brother (or some other close relation) eventually took
over management of the programmes & web site.
- https://www.karenware.com/


--
Regards
wasbit

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 24/06/2025 in message <[email protected]> Jeff
Gaines wrote:

On 24/06/2025 in message <103dh72$1rutt$[email protected]> Paul wrote:

CoPilot:

### Adding Folders Outside the User Profile
Yes, you can include folders like `H:\TEST` in your File History backups >>— but there’s a trick:

You need to **add that folder to a Library**.

File History only backs up content from Libraries, so by
adding your custom folder to one, you’re effectively telling File
History to include it.

It forgot to tell you it must be NTFS. "D:\Data" is in the Documents
library as it is "My Documents" relocated the official Windows way. It is >though exFAT*.

*I have several computers and they get re-purposed and shuffled regularly, >using exFAT avoids all the ownership issues that NTFS throws up.

I am experimenting.

I have re-formatted the drive to NTFS and set up File History and Windows
is working its way through backing it up to a NAS.

It will be a while before I can see exactly what it is doing but I will
report back. It's about 60 GB of data, I don't really need versioning for
my multimedia.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
There are 3 types of people in this world. Those who can count, and those
who can't.

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On 2025-06-23, Jeff Gaines <[email protected]> wrote:

I have started a new thread as I am looking for something like Apple's
Time Machine for Windows 10.

I came across Syncthing:

https://syncthing.net/

which is open source and seems to offer continuous file based backup.

Has anybody used this or anything similar?

Bear in mind that the most probable reason for needing a backup is
fat-fingers deleting the wrong file. It's the only reason that I have ever
had to restore from backup tapes.

If you synchonise folders you will delete the backup too.


--
Bernard Peek
[email protected]
Wigan

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Tue, 6/24/2025 4:15 AM, Handsome Jack wrote:

On Mon, 23 Jun 2025 13:19:22 -0400, Paul wrote:

Windows File History keeps track of more granular file history,
using an external drive. It dumps to the external drive at intervals.
It may ask to have the external connected, for a dump, while it runs. To
restore a deleted file, you can restore the folder above it.
Something like that.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/backup-and-restore-with-

file-history-7bf065bf-f1ea-0a78-c1cf-7dcf51cc8bfc

The File History might become a bit of a chore, if you were editing
video.
It would work better for smaller files, as you could likely run for
days,
before the software asks to dump a set to the identified backup disk. If
the backup disk is online at all times, then it wouldn't need to prompt
you for the disk drive.

I deliberately do *not* have my main backup drive on-line all the time.
One of the threats I am particularly worried about is a ransomware attack locking my files, and if your backup drive is always on then it can be
locked too as well as your live files.

Macrium claims to have an anti-ransomware feature. Presumably
intended to protect a folder used to store backups.

"Macrium Reflect Home includes Macrium Image Guardian, which prevents
ransomware from targeting backup files. It grants write access only
to Macrium-specific file types, making unauthorized modifications nearly <=== YMMV
impossible."

This shows the interface for MIG.

https://www.tenforums.com/backup-restore/213997-macrium-image-guardian-robocopy.html

I wouldn't leave my disk connected either, as I'm not a great believer
in the "effectiveness of defense". Many schemes have been defeated by
Black Hats, and this one will be no different.

*******

The File History is NOT a backup. It's a way of reversing a change
you made during the work day. While it would be unfortunate
if the (poorly protected) File History drive got attacked,
it's your backup software that you trust for the long term.
and you make as many copies as you feel you must, on the
real backup product. The File History is a kind of "resiliency protection", giving you options besides the usage of Recuva.

One of the reasons it is not a backup, is because it is hard
to determine what is in there. The format is hard to verify
visually, as to what is going on, if you're a person who checks
that their scheme is still working on Tuesday.

The users of File History, find that it involves squirrels, because
the users claim that copies were not made, when they expected them
to be made. File History only makes actual copies, if a file changes,
it is doing "functional dedup", so no two sequential copies of "TEST.txt"
have the same checksum. The storage characteristic should be relatively
close to "incremental", in terms of its impact on storage. Like if
you have 200GB of mostly static content, then maybe you only make
1MB of changes per day, and that's the rate that your File History
drive is getting used up. That's why I mentioned video, where 200GB
is a Hollywood movie in a raw format, and making a trivial change to
that would cause a File History to make one awful mess. But still,
the users of File History, claim there are times they expected a copy
to go to the backup drive, which did not happen. And that's where
the squirrel reference comes from. It's still possible their determination
is not correct.

Like all schemes on computers, you have to test them... because it is
the year 2025.

This is one of the reasons I like backup utilities with monolithic
containers. Relatively simple to understand, you can run a verify
on them, you can mount them for individual file access, and so on.
It is a relatively easy model to understand.

All sorts of whizzy schemes have failure modes. You would think
various cheap RAID schemes would be "bulletproof". Someone had
a SIL3112 two port SATA running in RAID 1 mirror. One of the disks
died. The assumption is, with a mirror, the two disks are identical.
The owner in this case discovered, the array had stopped mirroring
three months earlier, so the epoch of the remaining drive was
three months out of date. It's like discovering your car
never had wheels on it :-/ There was apparently no visible symptoms,
no toast or status on the screen, warning the thing was not really
a RAID any more. It's hard to say what the software was doing
at that point. Such computers should have a UPS, with the shutdown
cable joined from the UPS box to a port on the computer, so after
two minutes the UPS can signal for a clean shutdown. Improving
the odds the two disks remain mirrors. Maybe a real RAID card,
reports what it is doing.

Paul

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