Backing up Cabilbre books folder

[montalex]

I searched for a thread on this, but couldn't find one. When I back up my Calibre books folder, I always get the message "files on the source drive are the same as files on destination drive -- replace or skip these files? Or something like that. I assume these files are cover and metadata files which I'd like to copy without replacing others.
I know that I can delete the folder on the backup and recopy the whole folder (5G), or that I can clone the whole drive (600G), but is there an easy way to do an incremental backup?

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by montalex

I know that I can delete the folder on the backup and recopy the whole folder (5G), or that I can clone the whole drive (600G), but is there an easy way to do an incremental backup?

A directory sync program like FreeFileSync, Synctoy, Robocopy, Rsync...

There are lots of them, and you can use all of them to make two directories the same by copying only the new & changed files from source to destination and remove files that only exist in the destination (most call this 'mirror' mode).

I use FreeFileSync myself.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

A directory sync program like FreeFileSync, Synctoy, Robocopy, Rsync...

There are lots of them, and you can use all of them to make two directories the same by copying only the new & changed files from source to destination and remove files that only exist in the destination (most call this 'mirror' mode).

I use FreeFileSync myself.

+1 on FreeFileSync. Although, I actually use a combination of FreeFileSync and Robocopy.

[montalex]

I tried FreeFileSync, which took a long time! I'll wait until I add some books and try to copy just the new files. Thanks1

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by montalex

I tried FreeFileSync, which took a long time! I'll wait until I add some books and try to copy just the new files. Thanks1

It's normal for initial sync to take a long time. Subsequent syncs only copies new/changed files so those should go much faster.

Some FreeFileSync tips:

1. Use File time and size for the Comparison check. If you use File content, it'll take forever every time you run it because that mode reads the contents of all files every time you sync.
2. Use Mirror mode (from Calibre to backup) for Synchronization. Do NOT use Two way mode as that's a sure fire way to mess up your Calibre library.