| Author |
Message |
|
bbarry
|
 Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 10:45 pm |
|
 |
| welcoming committee |
 |
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am
Posts: 2406
Location: North Central Arkansas
|
|
I currently run SyncToy (in Contribute mode) to backup 6 folder pair to one of my external drives. I have this process automated to run weekly.
Now I want to run SyncToy for these same 6 folder pair, but I want the backups to go to a different external drive and I don't want this particular process automated.
Is there anyway to run two instances of SyncToy - one automated and one manual?
Thanks in advance......
|
|
  |
|
 |
|
jaylach
|
Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 10:49 pm |
|
|
| Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
 |
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am
Posts: 9455
Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
|
|
Patty would probably be better able to give specifics but I believe that the answer is yes. You should be able to run SyncToy manually regardless of schedules.
The only conflict that I could see is if you did SyncToy manually while an automated sync was in progress.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
bbarry
|
Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 11:03 pm |
|
|
| welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am
Posts: 2406
Location: North Central Arkansas
|
jaylach wrote: Patty would probably be better able to give specifics but I believe that the answer is yes. You should be able to run SyncToy manually regardless of schedules.
The only conflict that I could see is if you did SyncToy manually while an automated sync was in progress. Yes, I'm hoping Patty will post a reply.....she is the one who actually got me started using SyncToy. But it's not a matter of running the same folder pair manually vs automated, as the manual run would backup to a different external drive than the automated run. So the right folders would be different for the automated run vs the manual one. I'm just not sure how to make that happen. 
|
|
| |
|
|
|
MacDuffie
|
Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 11:51 pm |
|
|
| Fearless Leader |
 |
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:42 am
Posts: 2819
|
|
I've never run SyncToy automated. How are you doing that? Scheduled Task, or batch file? It should be simple enough to run your automated pairs in a batch file, and the other pairs manually.
_________________
Patty MacDuffie
Computer Haven Administrator
Live Long and Prosper
Mr. Spock
|
|
| |
|
|
|
bbarry
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 8:56 am |
|
|
| welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am
Posts: 2406
Location: North Central Arkansas
|
MacDuffie wrote: I've never run SyncToy automated. How are you doing that? Scheduled Task, or batch file? It should be simple enough to run your automated pairs in a batch file, and the other pairs manually. I run automated using Schedule Task. It's been a long time since I wrote a batch file......would probably have to get out my manual, lol. But here's my problem, using a simplified example. In the automated mode: my left folder is C:\Users\BB\Pictures my right folder is I:\SyncToyBackups\My Pictures where I is my external drive containing the folder SyncToyBackups. In the manual mode, here's what I want to do: my left folder remains C:\Users\BB\Pictures my right folder is now J:\SyncToyBackups\My Pictures where J is a different external drive containing the folder SyncToyBackups. What I am trying to avoid is having to change the right folder from drive I to drive J when I want to switch from automated to manual. It becomes a minor inconvenience because I actually have 6 folder pairs to be changed. So I was hoping to set up two instances of SyncToy....one where my 6 folder pairs go to drive I and one where my 6 folder pairs go to drive J.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
sboots
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 9:48 am |
|
|
| Site Admin |
 |
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:48 pm
Posts: 2954
Location: New Jersey
|
|
Yes, you can create another Sync "pair" with a different name. Each folder pair is defined separately.
-steve
_________________ stephen boots Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020 "Life's always an adventure with computers!"
|
|
| |
|
|
|
bbarry
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 10:25 am |
|
|
| welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am
Posts: 2406
Location: North Central Arkansas
|
sboots wrote: Yes, you can create another Sync "pair" with a different name. Each folder pair is defined separately.
-steve Steve, I'm probably not making myself very clear. I know how to create folder pairs; in fact, I have currently created 6 folder pair, all backed up to Drive I when I run SyncToy in automated mode. Now I want to have the same 6 pair backed up manually to Drive J. Is there a way to do this without going to each pair and changing the drive designation in the right folder (from I to J)?
|
|
| |
|
|
|
MacDuffie
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 1:03 pm |
|
|
| Fearless Leader |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:42 am
Posts: 2819
|
|
I don't think you got what Steve said. You create new folders pairs, so instead of having 6 folder pairs, you will now have 12. You won't be changing the folder pairs when you run Sync Toy.
For example, in your first 6 pairs you might have Documents -> I drive.
Then in your second 6 pairs, you might have Documents -> X drive.
That's the easy part. Running some of the pairs automatically via Task Manager, while leaving the rest to run manually is the problem. I don't see any way to do that using Task Manager. As far as I can tell (although I haven't used Task Manager to automate), you can only tell Task Manager to run Sync Toy, and then it runs all pairs, is that correct?
Just exactly how is your task defined? That might help me.
_________________
Patty MacDuffie
Computer Haven Administrator
Live Long and Prosper
Mr. Spock
|
|
| |
|
|
|
sboots
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 1:53 pm |
|
|
| Site Admin |
|
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:48 pm
Posts: 2954
Location: New Jersey
|
Ah, I see. It's been a while since I used SyncToy and I didn't recall that automating SyncToy with a scheduled task meant that all pairs were run. You are going to need to modify your existing task and create new ones for each pair you want to run via a schedule. There's an option to specify which "job" you want to run - without that option, you'll be running all of your folder pair jobs when the task runs. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/25046/sc ... windows-7/-steve _________________ stephen boots Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020 "Life's always an adventure with computers!"
|
|
| |
|
|
|
bbarry
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 2:51 pm |
|
|
| welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am
Posts: 2406
Location: North Central Arkansas
|
MacDuffie wrote: I don't think you got what Steve said. You create new folders pairs, so instead of having 6 folder pairs, you will now have 12. You won't be changing the folder pairs when you run Sync Toy.
Patty, I probably didn't understand what Steve was saying the first time, but I do now. See my reply below to Steve's post.
For example, in your first 6 pairs you might have Documents -> I drive.
Then in your second 6 pairs, you might have Documents -> X drive.
That's the easy part. Running some of the pairs automatically via Task Manager, while leaving the rest to run manually is the problem.
That's also the problem as I saw it. But I think Steve's reference below tells me how to do this.
I don't see any way to do that using Task Manager. As far as I can tell (although I haven't used Task Manager to automate), you can only tell Task Manager to run Sync Toy, and then it runs all pairs, is that correct?
No, as shown in Steve's reference below, there is a way to run selected pair, and that's the part I missed.
Just exactly how is your task defined? That might help me.
Patty, I'm not sure what you mean here. In Scheduler I just called the task SyncToy and I used the -R option to run all of my 6 folder pairs. But as shown in Steve's reference, it looks like I shouldn't be using the -R option if I don't want to run all my pairs. And my plans is to have 6 folder pairs that I want to run in scheduled mode and then 6 pair to be run manually.
Specifically, here's what the reference says: "Alternately, if you’d only like to run one of your syncs, enter –R “your sync name”. Make sure to enter the sync name inside quotes if it contains any spaces." So it looks like I will have to come up with 12 unique sync names (although I haven't thought this all the way through yet, lol).
|
|
| |
|
|
|
bbarry
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 3:12 pm |
|
|
| welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am
Posts: 2406
Location: North Central Arkansas
|
sboots wrote: Ah, I see. It's been a while since I used SyncToy and I didn't recall that automating SyncToy with a scheduled task meant that all pairs were run. You are going to need to modify your existing task and create new ones for each pair you want to run via a schedule. There's an option to specify which "job" you want to run - without that option, you'll be running all of your folder pair jobs when the task runs. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/25046/sc ... windows-7/-steve Steve, you hit the nail on the head with your reference.....thanks. As I stated in my reply to Patty, I missed the fact that there is a way to run selected pairs. I had been using the -R option to run all of my 6 folder pairs. But as shown in your reference, it looks like I shouldn't be using the -R option if I don't want to run all my pairs. The reference says if you’d only like to run one of your syncs, enter –R “your sync name”. And my plan is to have 6 folder pairs that I want to run in scheduled mode and then 6 pair to be run manually. Although I haven't thought this all the way through, it looks like I will have to come up with 12 unique sync names, 6 of which I would select to run on a schedule. Then I would make these 6 inactive and leave the other 6 active for manual mode. It would be nice if I could somehow group these 12 folder pairs into two groups......6 auto and 6 manual, but I don't see a way to do that. I'll keep you and Patty posted on how all this works (or not, lol), but this may be a project for tomorrow. Thanks again..........
|
|
| |
|
|
|
bbarry
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 4:02 pm |
|
|
| welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am
Posts: 2406
Location: North Central Arkansas
|
|
Steve and Patty - After further investigation, I think I can use the Active box checkmark to simplify which folder pairs I want to run, rather than selecting by sync name. I would still need to list all 12 folder pairs with unique names, i.e., 6 going to Drive I per automated schedule and the same 6 going to Drive J in manual mode.
Then I would leave only the 6 going to Drive I checked all the time for my weekly automated backups. Then once a month or so when I was ready to do a manual backup to drive J, I would uncheck the first 6 and check the last 6. After the manual backup was finished, I would go back and leave only the first 6 checked.
Again, I will keep you posted and I will attach a screen shot after I get my 12 folder pair listed, as that would probably clarify what I am trying to say.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
sboots
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 4:40 pm |
|
|
| Site Admin |
|
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:48 pm
Posts: 2954
Location: New Jersey
|
Glad to help.  _________________ stephen boots Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020 "Life's always an adventure with computers!"
|
|
| |
|
|
|
MacDuffie
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 6:03 pm |
|
|
| Fearless Leader |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:42 am
Posts: 2819
|
|
Since SyncToy lists your backup names alphabetically, leave your first 6 with their original names, then just add a 2 in front of all of your manual ones, with the same names. So for example, Documents Backup and 2 Documents Backup. That would separate your 2 groups for easy running.
_________________
Patty MacDuffie
Computer Haven Administrator
Live Long and Prosper
Mr. Spock
|
|
| |
|
|
|
bbarry
|
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 8:18 pm |
|
|
| welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am
Posts: 2406
Location: North Central Arkansas
|
MacDuffie wrote: Since SyncToy lists your backup names alphabetically, leave your first 6 with their original names, then just add a 2 in front of all of your manual ones, with the same names. So for example, Documents Backup and 2 Documents Backup. That would separate your 2 groups for easy running. Patty, I did something similar. I left the first 6 with their original names, and then I added the word 'Manual' to all the original names to form the 2nd group. Then to test my Active checkmark theory, I just checked and ran all 6 Manual folder pairs......worked like a charm. It did take awhile because I have almost 300GB in trail camera photos & videos (my hobby). So IMHO, this method is much easier than doing as suggested in Steve's reference, where the proposed method was to affix the unique sync name following the -R in the executable command. Attached is a copy of my SyncToy Folders Paid screen, where you can see that I checked the 6 pairs to be run manually and downloaded to Drive K (I think in previous postings I referred to it as Drive J.....just too many drives to keep track of, lol). I will now uncheck these 6 Manual names and check the other 6 in preparation for my scheduled backup to Drive I on Wed night. Thanks for everyone's input.........
Last edited by bbarry on Tue May 17, 2016 8:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
MacDuffie
|
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 12:32 am |
|
|
| Fearless Leader |
|
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:42 am
Posts: 2819
|
BB, I don't think it's a good idea to post that screen shot of your full folder paths. I'd delete it, if I were you. 
_________________
Patty MacDuffie
Computer Haven Administrator
Live Long and Prosper
Mr. Spock
|
|
| |
|
|
|
bbarry
|
Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 8:59 am |
|
|
| welcoming committee |
|
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:47 am
Posts: 2406
Location: North Central Arkansas
|
MacDuffie wrote: BB, I don't think it's a good idea to post that screen shot of your full folder paths. I'd delete it, if I were you. Thanks, Patty..........done.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
