SOWPub Small Business Forums - Backup Software . . . A Quick Question

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Backup Software . . . A Quick Question

When I'm working on an important Word file, I save it to the C: drive when I reach a pause in the writing. Then I use the "save as" command to save it to a USB thumb drive. Then, to resume writing, I'll pull up the original C: drive file and continue working. A bit of a rigamarole, yes, but at least I know my valuable file is safely backed up on a separate drive.

It seems like there ought be a backup program out there that will do what I described above automatically --- simultaneously saving the file you are working on both to the C: drive (as the main file) and to a separate drive (as the backup file) --- each time you save the main file.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't seem to find a utility that does this automatically for a single file. The windows back up utility will make a backup copy of the file you're working on, but won't send it to a different drive --- at least as far as I can tell.

I want a backup copy of a Word file I am working on automatically sent to a different drive each and every time I save my file to the main hard drive.

My Question: Anyone know of a backup utility that will do this?

Thanks Mucho!

---- Hugh

Re: Backup Software . . . A Quick Question

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh Gaugler (Post 16824)

It seems like there ought be a backup program out there that will do what I described above automatically --- simultaneously saving the file you are working on both to the C: drive (as the main file) and to a separate drive (as the backup file) --- each time you save the main file.

Hi Hugh,

This isn't exactly what you described, but it might be similar... It says it will make automatic backups of your files. The key is (in the FAQ) it says it can also backup "open files" - that is, files while you're working on them.

So maybe you could set it up so that it will backup the file you're working on. The way I'd envision it working is you could save your file from time to time just to your hard drive, then have this program periodically save a copy of that file to your USB drive.

I haven't tried it yet though (it has a 30-day free trial). Let me know what you think if you try it...

http://www.handybackup.net

Best wishes,

Dien

Re: Backup Software . . . A Quick Question

Thanks Dien,

99.9999% of the battle in doing a search is having the right terms. I didn't think of searching for "backup open files" . . . which gets lots of hits. Thanks to your post, I now have the correct terminolology and I'm confident I'll find the right software!

---- Hugh

Re: Backup Software . . . A Quick Question

If your needs are simple, you may want to try online word processors.

docs.google.com

Saves your document after every couple of seconds automatically.

Re: Backup Software . . . A Quick Question

Microsoft Word has a backup option which you can activate to create backups automatically.
You can go to the Tools/ Options/ Save. Look for always create backup copies and put a tick on it
to activate the autobackups.

Note: You'll now have 2 files (original + backup) instead of one, every time you save a file.

hope that helps.