Computers break down and die all the time. It’s a fact of life. In fact, the Windows computer I’m currently writing this on is groaning and floundering and will most likely stop fighting for life pretty soon. After 7 years, the time has come.
This is why you should always back up everything on your hard drive to an optional portable hard drive. You can buy a 1TB + drive on Amazon these days for change and it’s a great insurance policy if you wake up one morning and find your computer wheezing overnight.
But which program should you use for the actual backup? Google searches open up countless possibilities, but I’ve always believed in going straight to the source. In other words, for Windows PCs, use the Microsoft program. They know best what works best for their own operating system.
With that in mind, let me show you the free SyncToy 2.1 It has been around for quite some time in various versions of Windows. But this is still (in my opinion) the easiest way to back up your Windows PC. You can also back up other portable drives, USB drives and SD cards.
SyncToy setup for the first time
The only downside to SyncToy is that you cannot automate backups to run on a schedule. Instead, you need to manually click the button and run it. But honestly, I like it. Call me a control freak if you like, but automation isn’t all it takes.
Installation is very easy. There are two versions – one for 32-bit Windows and one for 64-bit Windows. Choose the correct option on the download page and install it like any other Windows program.
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Create Associate Folder
When you run SyncToy for the first time, you need to create a so-called “pair of folders”. This is where you specify the folder you want to back up and where you want to save it. Since I already use SyncToy, I already have a couple of folders set up.
But let’s say you don’t have one and want to sync your iTunes library from your computer to your backup drive. Let’s see how to do this.
First, click Create New Folder Pair at the bottom of the window. Then you will see it.
The left folder is the one you want to sync and the right folder is the backup folder on another drive.
So let’s start with the left folder. Click the View button and navigate to the folder you want to sync. Select it by clicking it and click OK .
Now do the same with the desired folder where you want to place the data. Note that you can create a new folder here if you like. Made a folder “Music” to cram everything.
Click OK to save the folder location to the SyncToy. After that, you will see folders in a pair of SyncToy folders.
If something is wrong, click Browse again and repeat until you get the correct solution.
Now click Next to move on to the most important part of the whole process.
There are three options for synchronization, depending on how you want this to work. I personally use Echo, but let’s take a quick look at all three so you can form your own opinion.
- Synchronize – New and updated files are copied in both directions. Renaming and deletion on both sides is repeated on the other.
- Echo – New and updated files are copied from left to right. Renaming and deletion on the left is repeated on the right .
- Contribute – New and updated files are copied from left to right. Renaming on the left is repeated on the right. No deletions.
Since all I need is a hard drive backup, I don’t need to sync back and forth. I also don’t need any deletions on the backup drive, as this will soon lead to a mess! Echo, on the other hand, simply updates the spare disk with any changes I make to the primary disk.
But as I said, make your choice depending on your needs. But choose wisely, because if you need to change it, you could lose valuable data if it is accidentally overwritten.
When you have decided, click “ Next “. This will take you to a screen where you name your pair of folders. Obviously, name it something that describes the backup. In this case, “ music “.
Now click “ Finish ” to complete the process.
And this is what the completed pair of folders looks like.
You will see “ Options ” at the bottom, but I’ve never touched those options before. You can exclude certain files and subfolders, put copied files in the trash, and check the contents of the file.
Run SyncToy
Launching SyncToy is a simple case of highlighting the desired pair of folders in the left column and then clicking the Run button in the lower right corner.
If you want to preview what SyncToy will do, you can first click the Preview button and SyncToy will do a test run, showing you what it will remove or change.
I like programs that are simple and easy to use. SyncToy has never let me down in all the years that I’ve used it, and I hope it doesn’t let you down either.
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