JerryMungo
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- Jul 18, 2008
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So I've been using dropbox for cloud based backups for some time now... Nice tool. Google drive is very similar. Dropbox gives you 100Gb for R50 or 2Gb for free. So that's great, but you have to still manually back up to your dropbox folder periodically.
So I decided to add a synctoy routine to sync my regular work to my dropbox for backup. I then setup a scheduled task to run the sync every time I logged on. It works pretty well, however... I've just discovered (OK, not for the first time, but the penny dropped today)... SYMLINKS or Symbolic Links.
Linux users have had Symlinks for some time, but it's fairly new to Windows and since it's a command line utility, it's not well advertised. What a Symlink is effectively is a virtual link to the file or folder - any changes that happen in the original folder are seen in the Symlinked folder.
While a shortcut redirects you to the folder it's pointing to, a symlink is effectively a replica of the directory tree object. It's the same object, but exists in 'another location' on the harddrive.
There are two kinds of Symlinks - hard links and regular symlinks. With a hard link, when you delete the symlink, the original is deleted too, so beware of using the hard link swtich when creating your symlink. Since you create a symlink to a single file or folder at any time, the symlink is effectively the folder in the case of a folder symlink - not the folder contents. Opening the folder, will show the same contents on both and editing or deleting files in the symlinked folder affects both since you're working with the same contents, but deleting a symlinked folder that isn't hardlinked only removes the symlink.
So I replaced my Synctoy to Dropbox routine with a Symlink in dropbox of the folder I want to back up and I no longer have to sync my work to the dropbox - it's a copy of the live work without having to do the extra step. I could just work straight out of my dropbox, but I prefer to keep it seperate and specify which folders to backup.
So the steps are:
1) Install dropbox
2) Decide which folders you want backed up
3) Create symlinked folders in your dropbox for the folders in 2)
For 3) you have to run your command prompt as administrator.
The command is:
Substitute your dropbox folder path and folder to backup above and Bob's your uncle. AFAIK only one copy of the files actually exist on your harddrive, but there will be a copy on the web as dropbox synchs in the background.
I haven't thought much about it, I've just posed, so tech folk, please interpolate and feel free to correct any inaccuracies.
So I decided to add a synctoy routine to sync my regular work to my dropbox for backup. I then setup a scheduled task to run the sync every time I logged on. It works pretty well, however... I've just discovered (OK, not for the first time, but the penny dropped today)... SYMLINKS or Symbolic Links.
Linux users have had Symlinks for some time, but it's fairly new to Windows and since it's a command line utility, it's not well advertised. What a Symlink is effectively is a virtual link to the file or folder - any changes that happen in the original folder are seen in the Symlinked folder.
While a shortcut redirects you to the folder it's pointing to, a symlink is effectively a replica of the directory tree object. It's the same object, but exists in 'another location' on the harddrive.
There are two kinds of Symlinks - hard links and regular symlinks. With a hard link, when you delete the symlink, the original is deleted too, so beware of using the hard link swtich when creating your symlink. Since you create a symlink to a single file or folder at any time, the symlink is effectively the folder in the case of a folder symlink - not the folder contents. Opening the folder, will show the same contents on both and editing or deleting files in the symlinked folder affects both since you're working with the same contents, but deleting a symlinked folder that isn't hardlinked only removes the symlink.
So I replaced my Synctoy to Dropbox routine with a Symlink in dropbox of the folder I want to back up and I no longer have to sync my work to the dropbox - it's a copy of the live work without having to do the extra step. I could just work straight out of my dropbox, but I prefer to keep it seperate and specify which folders to backup.
So the steps are:
1) Install dropbox
2) Decide which folders you want backed up
3) Create symlinked folders in your dropbox for the folders in 2)
For 3) you have to run your command prompt as administrator.
The command is:
Code:
mklink /D C:\Users\MyName\Documents\Dropbox "C:\Users\MyName\FolderToBackUp"Substitute your dropbox folder path and folder to backup above and Bob's your uncle. AFAIK only one copy of the files actually exist on your harddrive, but there will be a copy on the web as dropbox synchs in the background.
I haven't thought much about it, I've just posed, so tech folk, please interpolate and feel free to correct any inaccuracies.
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Finding the right option might prove challenging though....