Manual backup using Beyond Compare

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Previously mentioned “Be sure to back up your BitLocker recovery key”
https://scz.617.cn/windows/202404211055.txt

The more novice you are, the more urgent it is to back up your BitLocker recovery key. In fact, for novices, I still recommend disabling BitLocker globally. On the other hand, regardless of whether BitLocker is enabled or not, important data should be backed up to a mobile hard drive. Backup is king.

There is a subtlety to backing up outside the current computer. For the mobile hard disk used for backup, do you enable BitLocker or not? If you do not enable BitLocker on the mobile hard drive, you will have to disable BitLocker globally on the current computer. Either use BitLocker everywhere, or don't make it difficult for yourself.

There are many methods and tools for backing up. Just assume a scenario like this: Which data will be lost due to system failure today and cannot bear the consequences? Then, back up this data frequently, at least once a month. For less important ones, the interval can be longer. With such a simple principle, can we bear the loss? Everyone evaluates themselves without referring to other people.

It is meaningless to discuss backup tools without backup principles, and there are also realities of different habits and preferences. I don't like automatic backups, I've never done that, I backup everything manually. Today I will only talk about one of the manual backup solutions. Use Beyond Compare to perform directory comparison on src and dst, and then “Copy to Right”.

Beyond Compare 4.4.7.28397
https://www.scootersoftware.com/download.php
https://www.scootersoftware.com/files/BCompareSetup-4.4.7.28397.zip

You can specify green installation during installation. At this time, the registry is not written, and all files are “All In One” in one directory. This is an official function and does not require hacking. Beyond Compare is a good software, and it would be great if you are willing to buy a license.

BC is not used for the first backup. Important data should be fully backed up by Copy/Paste to ensure that src and dst have the same directory tree under their respective nodes at a certain level. Starting from the second backup, use BC. BC has “Folder Compare”. After opening it, assuming that the left side is src and the right side is dst, so that both sides are at the corresponding nodes, BC starts to automatically compare the left and right sides. For ordinary people, a practical suggestion is to adjust the Rules, which is the comparison rules, and make the following settings in the Comparison panel:

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Compare file size Y
Compare timestamps Y
Compare filename case N
Compare contents N
Compare version N
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Briefly, only file sizes and timestamps are compared, not file contents. This rule is sufficient for ordinary backups, and small probability events should not be considered. During the BC comparison, the Stop kept flashing and flashing. When it stopped flashing, the comparison was over. I will also adjust Diffs and select “Show Differences”, that is, only different items will be displayed, and identical items will not be displayed. The src on the left is displayed in different colors, corresponding to some situations. Take BC4 as an example:

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a. Purple means there is one on one side and none on the other side.
b. Red means there are two sides, different sizes and times.
c. Half purple and half red must be a directory, which means that the files or directories are purple and red.
d. Don’t worry about the gray color. Just look at the other side of the same row. It should be purple, which means there is something on the other side and there is nothing on the other side.
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For more details, you have to read the help documentation, but this article is a quick popular science, and the above content is enough. Usually I will select all the purple ones on the left, right-click and “Copy to Right”, and then the purples will disappear because only different items are displayed. If it's red, I'll confirm it manually and then “Copy to Right”. But in fact, for incremental backup, if dst is definitely older than src, just select all on the left and “Copy to Right”.

Consider a common situation where src has done some file and directory renaming operations. The aforementioned operations may cause the left side to be completely empty and the right side to have some purple color. It is recommended to manually confirm whether the extra items in dst are really redundant. If they are really redundant, it is recommended to manually delete them in the resource manager. It is not recommended to delete them directly on the right side of BC.

Do not use Ctrl-A to select all in the BC interface. You may mistakenly select both the left and right sides at the same time, which may lead to subsequent misoperations.

Windows users and non-IT people back up according to the above method. The whole process is very fast, and you will become proficient after a few actual operations. IT professionals are not within the audience of this article.

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