Notes for rotating Backups

A so-called “rotating backup” creates copies in changing target directories. This way you always have several versions and thus more security.

You can use Easy2Sync to create rotating backups. But you should note a few things.

•	Only the task types “Copy” and “Overwrite” are supported, but not the task type “Synchronize”. (You can find an explanation about task types here.)

•

The warning level may change. For example, a normal file deletion can result in a warning for a changed file delete. Since these warnings were designed for the task type “Synchronizing”, it is not really a problem and the correct actions will be performed anyway.

The reason for this behavior is the way that rotating backups were implemented. Easy2Sync stores the last known state for the every file, but does not keep an extra version for each rotating directory. If a file was deleted (in both directories) and then the rotation kicks in, it looks (from Easy2Sync’s perspective) as if the file suddenly reappeared. As stated above: This changes the warning level, but the correct action will be taken anyway.

Rotating directories are used when you use one of the following placeholders in a path (preferably the target directory for the Copy/Overwrite operations):

•	%HOUR% / %HOUR2%

=> Current hour: normal (0-23) / with leading zero (00-23)

•	%DAY% / %DAY2%

=> Current day: normal (1-31) / with leading zero (01-31)

•	%WDAY_GER% / %WDAY_ENG%

=> Current weekday (complete word): German / English

•	%WDAY_GER2% / %WDAY_ENG2%

=> Current weekday (2 letters): German / English

•	%MONTH% / %MONTH2%

=> Current month: normal (1-12) / with leading 0 (01-12)

•	%MONTH_GER% / %MONTH_ENG%

=> Current month (complete word): German / English

•	%MONTH_GER3% / %MONTH_ENG3%

=> Current month (3 letters): German / English

•	%YEAR2% / %YEAR4%

=> Current year in 2- / 4-digit format

Furthermore you can use a placeholder for time-independent rotation by using 2 characters, separated by a dash and enclosed by percent signs. Examples:

%1-3%

%A-F%

For each synchronization Easy2Sync ‘jumps’ to the next value.

Example 1: When synchronizing the first time, X:\MyBackup1 will be used. When synchronizing the second time X:\MyBackup2 and so on. When the sixth synchronization is performed, Easy2Sync uses the first directory again.
Task type: Copy 1 to 2

Base directory1: C:\MyData\

Base directory2: X:\MyBackup%1-5%\

Example 2: Easy2Sync uses a new folder on each day.

Task type: Copy 1 to 2

Base directory1: C:\MyData\

Base directory2: X:\Backup_%YEAR4%-%MONTH2%-%DAY2%

Note: In the options on the page "Automation" you can configure Easy2Sync to automatically create the base directory.

Synchronize files