Everybody needs a backup, but not everybody wants all their data stored in the cloud. Until now, File History was good enough.

Starting with Win 11, it’s effectively crippled to push everyone to use OneDrive. Ug.

So, what to do?

I’ll tell you what: Back up Windows like a Pro! The robocopy command and a handy script I wrote is all you need.

And it only takes 5 minutes to set up!

Off we go:

YouTube:

BitChute:

Rumble:

Links mentioned in the vid (some affiliate):

• Download the RoboBackup batch script
• Samsung T7 1TB external SSD

More Details

The following is the content of the batch script:

@echo off
REM ------------------------------
REM Scottie's RoboBackup Script v2
REM ------------------------------
REM 
REM From: https://scottiestech.info/2021/12/07/cloudless-windows-backup-thats-reliable-and-free/
REM 
REM The robocopy switches we use are as follows:
REM   /E - Copy all subdirs, even if empty
REM   /MIR - Mirror directories (copy subdirs AND delete files that no longer exist). Use \E instead to never delete files.
REM   /IM - backup modified files
REM   /W:0 - wait time before retrying failed file copy (zero!)
REM   /R:1 - number of retries of failed file copy before skipping
REM   /XX - exclude files in destination that are no longer in source (nullifies delete of /MIR or /PURGE)
REM         Also prevents logging of these *EXTRA files if present
REM   /XJ - exclude symbolic links and junction points
REM   /XA:S - exclude system files
REM   /NFL - No File Names: don't log every file backed up (makes logs huge)
REM   /NDL - No Directory List: same as above, but for directories
REM 
REM -------------
REM USER FOLDERS
REM -------------
robocopy "C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME" "T:\Backup\C\Users\YOUR_USERNAME" /E /IM /W:0 /R:1 /XX /XJ /XA:S /NFL /NDL > C:\robo_backup.log
REM robocopy "E:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME" "T:\Backup\E\Users\YOUR_USERNAME" /E /IM /W:0 /R:1 /XX /XJ /XA:S /NFL /NDL >> C:\robo_backup.log
REM --------------
REM OTHER FOLDERS:
REM --------------
REM robocopy "C:\Attic" "C:\Backup\C\Attic" /E /IM /W:0 /R:1 /XX /XJ /NFL /NDL >> C:\robo_backup.log
REM robocopy "E:\Stuff" "T:\Backup\E\Stuff" /E /IM /W:0 /R:1 /XX /XJ /NFL /NDL >> C:\robo_backup.log

Note that if you DO want files deleted in your backup, you should remove /E and add /MIR. The drawback to using  /MIR is that if you accidentally delete a file or your drive fails, robocopy may delete files in your backup! That would make restoring your files rather difficult. This is why I no longer use /MIR in v2 of this script.

If your backup drive fills up at some point due to files that were backed up but not deleted when you removed them from your puter, you can either find the files that need to be removed by running the script WITHOUT the /XX option (look for *EXTRA in the log file in C:\robo_backup.log). Or, just wipe the backup drive and run a new backup immediately!

Despite the inclusion of /XJ, special windows folders will be backed up properly. For example, if you back up C:\Users\Scottie, that will include your Desktop, Music, Pictures, etc.

You can also back up to a network path, like: \\STORAGE\public\Backups

For network attached storage, it’s best if it’s also using the NTFS file system. If it’s a linux-formatted drive, you may need to do a test and make sure things work correctly with timestamps and such.

For NAS linux drives, I usually just format them as NTFS and use the ntfs-3g package to make the Windows puters on the network happy.

That’s all, folks. Enjoy your robust, fast, pro backup!!