Microsoft SyncToy 2.0 Beta Seems to do the Job

Microsoft SyncToy 2.0 Beta is one of those unsupported PowerToys Microsoft releases every now and then. I think I mentioned it when it was released last year (no updates since then, btw) but did not really exercise it after I found it does not sync with my Windows Mobile smartphone folder. However, the PC that runs Vista died two days ago. Looks like a motherboard component problem since it powers up but does not get even to BIOS POST level (no BIOS info on the display, no POST beeps, etc.). Most of the data there is actually copied from my main Windows XP PC. So, nothing was lost. And, if there is anything unique there, I can retrieve it later when I buy an external USB hard drive enclosure and slap the hard drives from the old PC into it (one at a time, of course). But, it did get me thinking that I should automate my backup procedure to speed things up and make them a more regular activity. My Macs are taken care of using Apple Time Machine. However, since XP's Backup is essentially useless, I had to look elsewhere. Fortunately, Microsoft's own SyncToy PowerToy seems to meet my needs.

I use two external hard drives to backup my XP box. One is always connected and turned on. The other is plugged in on a weekly basis. They are attached consistently to the same drive letters each time (different from each other, of course). I set up Folder Pairs for each of the drives and tested backing up in Contribute mode (deleting from my main drive does NOT delete on the backup drive). Everything seems to be working well so far. And, it reduces a lot of thinking about what I changed and manually copying/pasting.