TSGL: How to rename-renumber backups
H Davis
hdavis1 at gmail.com
Sat Mar 29 14:29:38 EDT 2008
Tilman,
I'm wondering how important adding the date to the file name really is.
If you're viewing the several backup files using Windows Explorer the
creation date is shown in the Date Modified column. You can even sort by
the date by clicking the header of this column.
Hopefully, you won't be looking at the back up files trying to figure
out which is the most recent very often so if it takes a few extra
seconds, no big deal.
I presume your back up script will have some kind of counter that cycles
from 1 to 5 and back to 1 again. To make a new back up you only have to
delete any existing copy of the currently numbered back up file (which
would be the oldest) and replace it with the current output from Acronis
which would be the newest. You would have to be able to pass Acronis the
current back up file name within the script so it can create the
correctly numbered back up file directly without renaming. If I
understood your previous posts, passing the current file name to Acronis
might be a problem.
H Davis
Tilman Brandl wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
>> One software manufacturer Datestamps his archive reports by appending
>> YYYY.MM.DD on the
>> front of the file name which is the only way they will sort correctly in a
>> folder.
>>
>
> my adapted vbs script does exactly this - but I'm planning to actually
> append the date in the furure. I'm sorting files after the date, not the
> name - so having the date-string in front of the name isn't important.
>
> I've found another problem meanwhile: It appears that vbs doesn't have a
> file renaming function. Meaning that one has to copy the file instead. Quite
> a long process with backups that sometimes have several GB - like my
> pictures folder - it results in a compressed file of 9 GB.
>
> Tilman
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "HBCANON" <hbcanon at homemail.com>
> To: "'Tech Support Guy Mailing List'" <list at tsgserver.com>
> Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 3:17 PM
> Subject: Re: TSGL: How to rename-renumber backups
>
>
>
>> One software manufacturer Datestamps his archive reports by appending
>> YYYY.MM.DD on the
>> front of the file name which is the only way they will sort correctly in a
>> folder.
>> HBCanon
>> Geneva, FL
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: list-bounces at tsgserver.com [mailto:list-bounces at tsgserver.com] On
>> Behalf Of Tilman
>> Brandl
>> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 21:41
>> To: Tech Support Guy Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: TSGL: How to rename-renumber backups
>>
>> ED,
>>
>> thanks for that idea - might be helpful to ask the Acronis people. Sofar I
>> haven't found
>> an option to append/prepend a date.
>>
>> I've found a solution meanwhile that might work: In my (old) SyncBack
>> folder I found a
>> free vbs script for adding a timestamp. I've adapted it a little, and it
>> will run after
>> each backup, adding a timestamp in before the filename. Funny enough, I
>> feel more
>> comfortable with vbs than with complicated dos-batch files. Seems I forgot
>> too many
>> details of that stuff during past years. ;-(
>>
>> Thanks
>> Tilman
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "edLynn" <edlynn at gmail.com>
>> To: "Tech Support Guy Mailing List" <list at tsgserver.com>
>> Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 1:30 AM
>> Subject: Re: TSGL: How to rename-renumber backups
>>
>>
>>
>>> Tilman -
>>>
>>> I use Acronis, but manually rename each incremental backup 1,2,...and the
>>> program adds a date stamp.
>>>
>>> I am writing to suggest that you pose your problem to Acronis support.
>>> "Right from the horse's mouth" may be the best way. It's worked for me in
>>> other areas.
>>>
>>> ED
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Bo Maurin" <bo.maurin at ericsson.com>
>>> To: "Tech Support Guy Mailing List" <list at tsgserver.com>
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 12:39 PM
>>> Subject: Re: TSGL: How to rename-renumber backups
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi Tilman,
>>>> As an alternative solution I would suggest you write a simple batch file
>>>> to rename the files. So after each back up you just double click on the
>>>> batch file to do the job for you. Assumption then is that your back up
>>>> is
>>>> - always named system-full.tib
>>>> - it is always stored in the same directory
>>>>
>>>> Proposal here will not rename them to
>>>> system-full-1.tib
>>>> system-full-2.tib
>>>> etc
>>>>
>>>> but rather to system-full <current date>.tib
>>>>
>>>> This is what I saw on the web. I have not tested it though
>>>>
>>>> @ECHO off
>>>> SETLOCAL
>>>> IF [%1] NEQ [] goto s_start
>>>>
>>>> :: Author - Simon Sheppard, July 2003
>>>> :: Tested for Windows NT, 2K, XP
>>>>
>>>> ECHO STAMPME.cmd
>>>> ECHO REName a file with the DATE/Time
>>>> ECHO.
>>>> ECHO SYNTAX
>>>> ECHO STAMPME TestFile.txt
>>>> ECHO.
>>>> ECHO STAMPME "Test File.txt"
>>>> ECHO.
>>>> ECHO STAMPME "c:\docs\Test File.txt"
>>>> ECHO.
>>>> ECHO Will rename the file in the format "Test
>>>> File-02-12-27 at 16-55.txt"
>>>> ECHO.
>>>> ECHO In a batch file use CALL STAMPME ...
>>>>
>>>> :: To change the filename format just change around the last line
>>>> below
>>>>
>>>> GOTO :eof
>>>>
>>>> :s_start
>>>>
>>>> SET _file=%~n1%
>>>> SET _pathname=%~f1%
>>>> SET _ext=%~x1%
>>>>
>>>> ::Get the date
>>>> :: note ISO 8601 date format would require 4 digit YYYY Year)
>>>>
>>>> FOR /f "tokens=6-8 delims=/ " %%G IN ('NET TIME \\%computername%') DO
>>>> (
>>>> SET _mm=%%G
>>>> SET _dd=%%H
>>>> SET _yy=%%I
>>>> )
>>>>
>>>> :: Get the time
>>>> FOR /f "tokens=1,2 delims=: " %%G IN ('time/t') DO (
>>>> SET _hr=%%G
>>>> SET _min=%%H
>>>> )
>>>>
>>>> ECHO Today is Year: [%_yy%] Month: [%_mm%] Day: [%_dd%]
>>>> ECHO The time is: [%_hr%]:[%_min%]
>>>>
>>>> REN "%_pathname%" "%_file%-%_yy%-%_mm%-%_dd%@%_hr%-%_min%%_ext%"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: list-bounces at tsgserver.com [mailto:list-bounces at tsgserver.com] On
>>>> Behalf Of Tilman Brandl
>>>> Sent: den 27 mars 2008 15:49
>>>> To: Tech Support Guy Mailing List
>>>> Subject: TSGL: How to rename-renumber backups
>>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> maybe this has been discussed in the past, I just didn't find anything:
>>>> I'm trying to find a way for renaming/renumbering backups.
>>>>
>>>> My Acronis is scheduled to create a system-partition backup /image each
>>>> week or so ... Unfortunately, when creating that task, I can only give a
>>>> single filename for this, like system-full.tib There's no way to add a
>>>> date string of any kind ...
>>>>
>>>> What I would like is saving more than just a single backup, which means
>>>> I would have to rename them. I've sofar done this manually, a process
>>>> that's easy to mess up or also to forget. As a standard there's for
>>>> instance my 1st backup named "system-full.tib"
>>>>
>>>> So after the backup has finished, I rename it into "system-full-1.tib"
>>>>
>>>> Thus after the next new backup I have new files
>>>> system-full.tib
>>>> system-full-1.tib
>>>>
>>>> This time I increment the numbers, renaming them into
>>>> system-full-1.tib
>>>> system-full-2.tib
>>>>
>>>> until after a few more backup runs (planned max.at 4 files) I have e.g.
>>>> system-full.tib
>>>> system-full-1.tib
>>>> system-full-2.tib
>>>> system-full-3.tib
>>>> system-full-4.tib
>>>>
>>>> My filemanager (totalcommander) can batch rename files - manually. Using
>>>> a stored pattern it's quite easy, but I mustn't forget to do it and need
>>>> to click a few buttons. I would prefer to run a program before or after
>>>> each backup run (a step which Acronis provides) that would simplify that
>>>> whole process for me.
>>>>
>>>> Would there be an easy way to automate this?
>>>> Sofar I've looked for software but didn't find anything better than what
>>>> my filemanager can do - manually. I guess I would have to do some
>>>> scripting, something I *could* do only with considerable effort (forgot
>>>> most of what I knew of e.g. VB...). In the past I've played with AutoIt
>>>> and PowerPro - both would allow me to create macros or scripts, but I
>>>> hesitate to take the plunge.
>>>>
>>>> Any ideas appreciated
>>>> Tilman
>>>>
>
>
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--
H Davis hdavis1 at gmail.com
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