Backup copy of changes to music files

I have a master copy of my FLAC files and I have been using Karenware to do incremental updates to my backup copies of the master FLAC file.
The only issue I find is that if I make a change to the composer information it does not seem to be incrementally changed in my backup copies using Karenware but if I change the title or album info Karenware seems to pick this up and pass the changes onto the target backup files..
The question I have is to ask what others uses to increntally update their. master copies of their file to their backup copies?
Saw MS Sync Toy mentioned in an article in the community here. Anyone use this?
Trying to find out what is best and most accurate / reliable if I can?.
Thanks

I use the built-in (windows) robocopy.exe to backup my music files.

Thanks to the "last modified" date for every metadata change (Mp3tag -> File -> Options -> Tags -> "Preserve file modification time when saving tags" UNCHECKED) robocopy.exe detects every change I have made and copy such files to my external hard drives and NAS.
Every unchanged file will not be transferred.

With this basic form of "incremental backup", you are sure that you have a 1:1 master copy without the need to restore several different smaller incremental backup parts.

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Thanks LL, appreciate you responding.
It is a worry trying to preserve all the ripping that I've done over the years.
What parameters / options do you use in robocopy?
Thankyou.

The most easy command line syntax is:

ROBOCOPY C:\Path\To\My\ChangedFiles X:\Path\To\My\ExternalBackupDrive /E

/E -> Copies subdirectories. This option automatically includes empty directories.

There are many more options, for example if you want to log all screen output to a textfile or if you want to specifically exclude some files or directories. Please have a look at the robocopy-documentation.
At the first run the above command line will copy ALL files from the source directory to your destination directory. Starting with the second run, robocopy will only copy the changed files since the last run.

Just ask again, if you need some specific option.

Important: This command COPY changed files from your source to your destination. If you delete a file at the source, it will NOT be deleted in your backup/destination. If you want to MIRROR your source, you could use the corresponding option /MIR (Mirrors a directory tree (equivalent to /E plus /purge)).

Thanks again..will give it a try. :slightly_smiling_face:

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So... when either the original file or its backup copy gets corrupted it ill this be detected with such modus operandi?

Robocopy does not detect any kind of "damage". It only serves to have identical copies of the files in the target directory as in the source directory. If you have a "corrupted" file at the source, it will become the same "corrupted" file at the target.

What do you want to avoid?

I want to avoid data lost of course

And so, this modus operandi would not do it for me. I just have to stick to my method of having multiple copies of everything, created more or less periodically - and to store them in different physical locations

This is the only absolute method in my opinion. ALWAYS keep a backup away from the main system.

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To avoid data lost you should just follow the 3-2-1 backup rule:

It states that there should be at least 3 copies of the data, stored on 2 different types of storage media, and 1 copy should be kept offsite, in a remote location (this can include cloud storage).

Two or more different media should be used to eliminate data loss due to similar reasons ...
An offsite copy protects against fire, theft of physical media (such as tapes or discs) and natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.

.

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