Using SyncToy as a Backup System

Microsoft’s SyncToy and a large capacity flash drive can be used as a system to back up your valuable computer files. Here’s how to use these two tools to easily and quickly back up your valuable computer files.

1. Download the Synctoy program from the Microsoft website. Install it and create a shortcut for it on your desktop.

2. Purchase a large capacity flash drive (I’d recommend an 8 GB capacity) and plug it into one of your computer’s USB ports. Wait about 1 minute for Windows to recognize the drive and install the drivers. It should do this automatically.

3. Open Windows Explorer by right clicking on the Start button and left clicking on Explore. Verify that the flash drive has set itself as a separate drive letter. (D, E or F, etc..) Remember the drive letter as we will use it later.

4. Now start SyncToy. The first time you run the SyncToy program, it will ask you if you want to participate in the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program. I click No and OK, because I think the question is silly to ask when I haven’t used the program yet. 

5. The next screen will be the Welcome page. At this point, you are going to set up the folders you want to back up. You will be "echoing" files from your C: drive to the flash drive, which might be D: drive or E: or F: drive. Click on "Create New Folder Pair".

   The left folders will be the folders that are on your C: drive. The right folders will be folders that you create on the flash drive. Each folder pair will be set up as a separate sequence.

6. Click the Browse button for the first left side folder. On the Browse for folder dialog box, find the first folder on your C: drive that you want to back up. I chose My Documents.

   Note: My "My Documents" folder is very large, and I’ll bet yours is too. Make sure your flash drive is large enough capacity to hold all your digital pictures and the other files you have stored in My Documents.

   

7. Click Next. Now click the Browse button for the Right side folder. Navigate to your Flash drive letter and click on it to highlight it. If this is a new flash drive, you’ll have to create a folder to match the one you are backing up from C: drive.

   

8. Click the Make New Folder button. (Make sure the new folder is on the flash drive.) Give the new folder the same name as the folder you chose to backup from the C drive. (In this scenario, that would be My Documents).

   

   
   
9. Click Ok, then Ok again. Click Next.

10. Now click the circle next to Echo and click Next.
    

    

    
    
11. On the next dialog box, name the folder pair (i.e, My Documents Backup) and click Finish.

12. You’ll see your folder pair listed on the left side of the dialog box.

13. Repeat these steps for all the folders you want to back up.

14. When you are done, you can run a preview, or just run the back up. The first time you run it, it will take a long time because all the files you chose to back up have to be written to the flash drive. But after that, on the subsequent runs, the SyncToy backup procedure is very fast because it only writes the files and folders that have changed, instead of writing the entire backup set over again.

Also, if you unplug the flash drive, and then plug it back in, it may set it self up on a new drive letter. (For instance, it may become F: drive instead of the previous E: drive). If it does this, Synctoy will stop working because destination drive changed to the new drive letter. You can either force the flash drive to the previous drive letter using Windows Disk Management, or reset all of your Synctoy folders to the new drive letter. (If you go the Disk Management route, be very careful, and make sure you only change the flash drive letter, not your C: drive!)

There's your basic SyncToy back up tutorial. I hope it helps you keep your data backed up consistently.

Done with SyncToy, take me back to Computer Backup