File Backup and usage

[Photoartist]

I have a general question on what might be a basic computer procedure.

I keep my photo folder on Lacie external hard drive.

This file gets copied to a Maxtor external drive to create a backup.

Question is, this copying from external drive to external drive takes five hours.  Not a problem when I trigger this before bed but when I need to do this during the day is it safe to access the photo images for printing or editing while the backup is taking place?  It would seem to me that making a change to one of my images would be best left to after the file is done being copied.

[nik]

you never said if you're mac or pc. If mac, look at solutions based on rsync. If you're pc, look at robocopy. Both free. They have the ability to copy only files that have been updated and/or only the actual data that's been updated in the files. It speeds up replication drastically.

-Nik

I have a general question on what might be a basic computer procedure.

I keep my photo folder on Lacie external hard drive.

This file gets copied to a Maxtor external drive to create a backup.

Question is, this copying from external drive to external drive takes five hours.  Not a problem when I trigger this before bed but when I need to do this during the day is it safe to access the photo images for printing or editing while the backup is taking place?  It would seem to me that making a change to one of my images would be best left to after the file is done being copied.

[jani]

you never said if you're mac or pc. If mac, look at solutions based on rsync. If you're pc, look at robocopy. Both free. They have the ability to copy only files that have been updated and/or only the actual data that's been updated in the files. It speeds up replication drastically.

I've heard good reports on using BackupPC.

It uses the rsync protocol for backing up files, and seems to be a bit more newbie friendly than rsync.

Personally, I use rsync, which can be used with Windows as well (via Cygwin). Not recommended for those who are afraid of a command line interface.

[dalethorn]

I've heard good reports on using BackupPC.

It uses the rsync protocol for backing up files, and seems to be a bit more newbie friendly than rsync.

Personally, I use rsync, which can be used with Windows as well (via Cygwin). Not recommended for those who are afraid of a command line interface.

I use the command line, but I use Dirmatch with batch files, for the best combination of automation and intelligent control.

[jani]

I use the command line, but I use Dirmatch with batch files, for the best combination of automation and intelligent control.

Is there a MacOS package, Debian package or source code available for this? Searching on Google yields a lot of useless results.