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    How to backup on two external drives using the daily rotation scheme

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    Jul 19, 2019


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    This article explains how to backup on two external drives using the daily rotation scheme. You can use the mirror backup type to create an image of the source files or you can create zipped backups using incremental, differential and full backup types.

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    A backup rotation scheme is a method for effectively backing up data where multiple media are used in the backup process. The scheme determines how and when each piece of removable storage is used for a backup job and how long it is retained once it has backup data stored on it. Different techniques have evolved over time to balance data retention and restoration needs with the cost of extra data storage media. Such a scheme can be quite complicated if it takes incremental backups, multiple retention periods, and off-site storage into consideration.
    Each day you back up to another drive using only the catalog from destination. This way you will have all backups on two drives.
    Example: If the Monday backup goes to Drive1, the Tuesday backup goes to Drive2, the Wednesday backup goes again to Drive1, backing up all new and modified files since Monday. The files modified on Tuesday
    will be on both drives.
    This way, if something goes wrong with an external drive, you have the backup on the other drive.

    How to mirror backup on two external drives

    Use the Mirror backup type if you want to have in destination an exact copy of the source files, without zipping them.
    Steps to follow:
    1. Open Backup4all and select File -> New (Ctrl+N).
    2. Press Advanced mode.
    3. On the General page, enter a name for the backup in the Name field.
    4. On Destination page, select the external drive destination.
    5. On Sources page, add the files and folders to be backed up.
    6. On Type page, select Mirror from the drop down list.
    7. Go to Advanced page and uncheck Use local catalogs option.
    8. Press Save and run.
    9. You just need to run the backup and change the external drive next day.

    How to create incremental backups on two external drives

    Use the incremental backup type to back up only new and modified files.
    Steps to follow:
    1. Open Backup4all and select File -> New (Ctrl+N).
    2. Press Advanced mode.
    3. On the General page, enter a name for the backup in the Name field.
    4. On Destination page, select the external drive destination.
    5. On Sources page, add the files and folders to be backed up.
    6. On Type page, select Incremental from the drop down list.
    7. Go to Advanced page and uncheck Use local catalogs option.
    8. Press Save and run.
    9. You just need to run the backup and change the external drive next day.

    Backup scenario: daily incremental, weekly differential and monthly full backup on two external drives

    Steps to follow:
    1. Open Backup4all and select File -> New (Ctrl+N).
    2. Press Advanced mode.
    3. On the General page, enter a name for the backup in the Name field.
    4. On Destination page, select the external drive destination.
    5. On Sources page, add the files and folders to be backed up.
    6. On the Filters page, you can set include/exclude filters for backup sources.
    7. On Type page, select Incremental from the drop down list.
    8. Go to Advanced page and uncheck Use local catalogs option.
    9. On the Scheduler page, press Add.
    10. Select Run whether the user is logged on or not option.
    11. Press Set password and type your Windows login password. Press OK then press Next.
    12. Press Add, select Weekly and choose a start time.
    13. Go to left side Weekly page and select on which days to run. Press OK. Press Next and Finish to save the task.
    14. On Scheduler page, press again Add, select Run whether the user is logged on or not, press Set password and type your Windows login password again.
    15. In the What left page, from the type list, select Differential. Press OK.
    16. On the When page, select Weekly and choose a start time.
    17. Check Friday and press OK.
    18. Press again Add, press Set password and type your Windows login password.
    19. In the What left page, from the type list,select Full. Press OK.
    20. On the When page, select Monthly and choose a start time.
    21. Choose the last Friday of the month and press OK.
    22. You just need to run the backup and change the external drive next day.
    The backup will run daily at the scheduled time.
    Applies to:
    All Backup4all versions.