File History is not backing up my work

perkinw said:

If File History is so untrustworthy, does tenforums recommend an alternative? I already use Macrium Reflect for making regularly-scheduled system images. I know Macrium images are browsable, but I like the concept of almost continuous backup, like File History is supposed to do.

File History works for me, it even continued unaffected by the update to 2004.



If you have the Free version of Macrium Reflect, consider purchasing it. In the paid for version you get the Premium features 'File & Folder backup' and 'Incremental images'. The two could be used together and scheduled to run daily. An Incremental image will only contain changes since the last Incremental, so they will not need a lot of space to store them. This would be a close approximation to File History. You could pick a backup for any date by browsing that particular day's Incremental.

In theory you could set up as many daily schedules as you like, each to run at a different time, say an hour or so apart.

The Free version will offer to become a 30-day trial if you try to use a Premium feature so you could 'test before you buy'. At the end of the trial it will prompt you to buy, if you decline it will revert to Free. NB: Free will only offer one trial, after you have used the trial it will not be offered again.

The ones mentioned in post #3 can also be scheduled to run at intervals.

Matthew Wai said:

The ones mentioned in post #3 can also be scheduled to run at intervals.

True, but the /Mir option has to be used with caution. It will also mirror a deletion of the source file, while a Macrium Incremental from before the time of the deletion will still contain a copy of the file.

@perkinw, do you have to retain the backup copies if the source files have been deleted?

Matthew Wai said:

In case the above links do not include SyncBackFree

I noticed that too. Yes, I use SyncBackFree to mirror my files on an external drive. It's a great program, but not a replacement for File History (or any other "continuous" backup software) because it does not preserve the change history. I have File History set up to run every 30 minutes, so in theory I can't lose more than 30 minutes worth of work. SyncBackFree takes 30 minutes to do a mirror, even when only a few files have changed.

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Matthew Wai said:

@perkinw, do you have to retain the backup copies if the source files have been deleted?

Yes, that is insurance against accidental deletion of a file. File History gives you that insurance.

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Bree said:

If you have the Free version of Macrium Reflect, consider purchasing it. In the paid for version you get the Premium features 'File & Folder backup' and 'Incremental images'. The two could be used together and scheduled to run daily. An Incremental image will only contain changes since the last Incremental, so they will not need a lot of space to store them. This would be a close approximation to File History. You could pick a backup for any date by browsing that particular day's Incremental.

In theory you could set up as many daily schedules as you like, each to run at a different time, say an hour or so apart.

The Free version will offer to become a 30-day trial if you try to use a Premium feature so you could 'test before you buy'. At the end of the trial it will prompt you to buy, if you decline it will revert to Free. NB: Free will only offer one trial, after you have used the trial it will not be offered again.

I use the paid version of Macrium Reflect. I run differential backups on a regular basis. They have been taking around 20 minutes to run. I have not tried incremental backups, although I know they run more quickly and only store differences since the last incremental backup. Here is my problem: I am working on a book. The text is in a folder with all the book assets (tables, diagrams, etc.). I have File History set to run every 30 minutes so I will never lose more than 30 minutes' worth of work. I don't think writing a new incremental image every 30 minutes is a viable alternative, especially since it may not backup files that I have open. Also, what happens when I hit the limit of incremental images (10)? I would easily hit that limit during a typical eight-hour workday. Isn't it then necessary to run another full backup? A full Macrium backup takes 2.5 hours.

perkinw said:

I use the paid version of Macrium Reflect. I run differential backups on a regular basis. They have been taking around 20 minutes to run. I have not tried incremental backups, although I know they run more quickly and only store differences since the last incremental backup. Here is my problem: I am working on a book. The text is in a folder with all the book assets (tables, diagrams, etc.). I have File History set to run every 30 minutes so I will never lose more than 30 minutes' worth of work. I don't think writing a new incremental image every 30 minutes is a viable alternative, especially since it may not backup files that I have open. Also, what happens when I hit the limit of incremental images (10)? I would easily hit that limit during a typical eight-hour workday. Isn't it then necessary to run another full backup? A full Macrium backup takes 2.5 hours.

First, you are talking about times for a Full system image backup. You can separately set up a Files and Folders image backup, just for your work folder. That will be a lot smaller and faster.

Second, the 'limit' of 10 incrementals is just a default, you are free to change the retention rules and specify your own limits. In addition, you can set up the rules to perform an 'Incrementals forever' regime...

Macrium said:

Synthetic Full / Incrementals forever
Incrementals forever optimises backup space and time by only ever creating a single full backup. After this, incremental backups are created forever and, once the specified number of incremental backups is reached, Macrium Reflect consolidates the incremental backup into a new 'synthetic' full backup.

Retention and consolidation - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase


And if you'd prefer more control by manually running the Files and Folders backup definition as an incremental whenever you think its appropriate (or take a coffee break) then you can also run a manual consolidation.

Macrium said:

Independent consolidations can be run without creating a backup or launching Macrium Reflect by running a small utility Macrium Image Consolidation located in the Macrium Reflect v7.2 install folder.

Standalone backup set consolidation - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Bree said:

You can separately set up a Files and Folders image backup, just for your work folder. That will be a lot smaller and faster.

Thank you! I will look into both features you mentioned. Files and Folders image backup sounds promising.

I should have mentioned that I am new to the paid version of Macrium Reflect and have not familiarized myself with all of its features. Before that, I was doing full backups. I just began doing differential backups.

perkinw said:

Thank you! I will look into both features you mentioned. Files and Folders image backup sounds promising. I should have mentioned that I am new to the paid version of Macrium Reflect and have not familiarized myself with all of its features. Before that, I was doing full backups. I just began doing differential backups.

I've got both Free and Paid on various of my machines. I mainly do manual Full images monthly, and differentials or incrementals should there be any significant software updates in between.

I've tried out the File and Folders backup though, just to see how it works. It creates a single .mrimg file too, but only containing the folders you have chosen to backup. I've not felt a need for it though, my work files don't change as often as yours and my File History seems to work reliably.