Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows

#61

Post by pbhjpbhj » Sun, Jul 13, 2014, 10:43 PM UTC

Ecio78 wrote: post #33

czam wrote: post #9

How does it compare to http://freefilesync.sourceforge.net/ ? Apart from the delta copying the feature list sounds similar. I find the FreeFileSync UI quite usable.

What about Cobian Backup, Duplicity, Duplicati, rsync.net ?

I compiled a few notes on some cloud backup solutions a while ago (2012), http://alicious.com/cloud-backup-solutions/. In the end I use duplicati (with cloud storage, was live drive but that doesn't work and it's actually a current todo to move-over to Google storage [backups are encrypted]) and crashplan with buddy storage.

Re: Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows

#62

Post by tobias3 » Sun, Jul 13, 2014, 10:50 PM UTC

I'm most interested in the delta copying. After a little bit of research in the forums I'm guessing you save block hashes of full copies and then compare the source blocks to the block hashes and copy only if they differ. Or does the app install a driver to get the changed blocks in files without rereading the whole file?

Re: Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows

#63

Post by windowsworkstoo » Sun, Jul 13, 2014, 10:55 PM UTC

tobias3 wrote: post #62

I'm most interested in the delta copying. After a little bit of research in the forums I'm guessing you save block hashes of full copies and then compare the source blocks to the block hashes and copy only if they differ. Or does the app install a driver to get the changed blocks in files without rereading the whole file?

VSS in Windows handles this natively, you just have to access the appropriate providers

Re: Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows

#64

Post by Freaky » Sun, Jul 13, 2014, 10:58 PM UTC

latitude wrote: post #34

Freaky wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NTFS supports snapshots, which it calls Volume Shadow Copies.

From what I've read persistent volume snapshots has been removed from W8 and replaced with File History. You can still use VSS to make temporary snapshots though (and that's what allows backup apps to process locked files).

The filesystem and API support is still there, and System Restore still uses them. vssadmin doesn't offer to let you create shadows, but you can still make them via PowerShell:

    (Get-WmiObject -list win32_shadowcopy).Create("C:\","ClientAccessible")

Re: Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows

#65

Post by latitude » Sun, Jul 13, 2014, 11:02 PM UTC

tobias3 wrote: post #62

I'm most interested in the delta copying. After a little bit of research in the forums I'm guessing you save block hashes of full copies and then compare the source blocks to the block hashes and copy only if they differ. Or does the app install a driver to get the changed blocks in files without rereading the whole file?

It's former. It splits files into blocks (defaulting to 32KB, but that's configurable), computes hashes (two separate hashes per block) and stores them in a file in the backup config directory. These are used to detect modified blocks. It also computes a hash of an entire file and stores it in the same hash file. This is used to hedge against false negatives with modified block detection. The original version (from '09) didn't use the full-file hash, so it resorted to re-copying files in full after several incremental updates.

Re: Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows

#66

Post by latitude » Sun, Jul 13, 2014, 11:04 PM UTC

windowsworkstoo wrote: post #63

tobias3 wrote: post #62

I'm most interested in the delta copying. After a little bit of research in the forums I'm guessing you save block hashes of full copies and then compare the source blocks to the block hashes and copy only if they differ. Or does the app install a driver to get the changed blocks in files without rereading the whole file?

VSS in Windows handles this natively, you just have to access the appropriate providers

Can you elaborate?

Re: Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows

#67

Post by tobias3 » Sun, Jul 13, 2014, 11:05 PM UTC

windowsworkstoo wrote: post #63

tobias3 wrote: post #62

I'm most interested in the delta copying. After a little bit of research in the forums I'm guessing you save block hashes of full copies and then compare the source blocks to the block hashes and copy only if they differ. Or does the app install a driver to get the changed blocks in files without rereading the whole file?

VSS in Windows handles this natively, you just have to access the appropriate providers

VSS Writers may include this information for their files. So it is probably available for e.g. a Exchange database. The examples on the page are VMWare and TrueCrypt and I don't think they register VSS Writers.

Re: Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows

#68

Post by kibibu » Sun, Jul 13, 2014, 11:30 PM UTC

hnriot wrote: post #47

latitude wrote: post #2

Author's here. A bit of a background on the project if I may. I wrote the original version several years ago. It was purely for myself, to automate the way I was doing the backups at the time. I also threw together a website and put it online, just because and with no hope that something this simple would be in demand. Then went on doing other things like having kids and what not. Fast forward to 2012 and there's a c…

not sure why you claim it has an excellent UI, it's a very simple UI with the usual toolbar (who has those anymore? I guess that's a Windows thing.) To me, it looks like one of the basic autogenerated MFC apps with a toolbar and list view that I made dozens of in the 90s. I guess I'm spoiled on a Mac and don't need additional tools (or UIs) on Linux.

This IMO has a much better UI than TimeMachine's. It lets you see all your backup tasks in one spot, rather than having to "Select Disk", and it has 100% less space gimmick.

Re: Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows

#69

Post by locusm » Sun, Jul 13, 2014, 11:34 PM UTC

latitude wrote: post #2

Author's here. A bit of a background on the project if I may. I wrote the original version several years ago. It was purely for myself, to automate the way I was doing the backups at the time. I also threw together a website and put it online, just because and with no hope that something this simple would be in demand. Then went on doing other things like having kids and what not. Fast forward to 2012 and there's a c…

Ive been using bvckup2 since its release and also its predecessor, personally I backup to a Synology NAS then that pushes everything up to S3. This app has never let me down, it is also very lightweight and wont suck system resources.

Re: Show HN: Bvckup 2 – Simple Fast Backup for Windows

#70

Post by graycat » Sun, Jul 13, 2014, 11:51 PM UTC

kilburn wrote: post #57

latitude wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Faster bulk copying, lighter build, lighter on resource usage, removable device tracking, much better UI (it's subjective, of course, but just try it out and see for yourself). Formal backup planner, dry runs, native support for running as a service with separate engine and UI processes. -- edit -- Let me give an example of what I mean by "much better UI". Bvckup 2 has a hierarchical log viewer [1] and this thing doe…

> It could very well pass for a modest PhD thesis in a smaller university :) This may be a bit far-fetched. Some might even say disrespectful to the bulk of PhDs out there, who typically worked several years (not weeks) to complete their dissertations. From properly relating to current state of the art, to actually developing multiple (not just a single one) techniques improving it, and finishing by properly presenti…

A common standard for a Ph.D. dissertation is "an original contribution to knowledge worthy of publication", and the usual standard for publication is "new, correct, and significant". The length of time devoted is not part of the criteria. Maybe can do the work in a weekend; maybe take years.

When I was a grad student, at one point I took a 'reading course'. A paper was required, maybe just expository and not necessarily original. I started with a problem seen but not solved in a course. I hit the library and saw no solution. In an evening I got some rough ideas for a solution and then proposed solving the problem as my 'course'. A prof looked at the problem for a weekend, didn't see a solution, and agreed that the problem was significant enough. We shook hands. Then immediately I outlined my first cut solution.

Then in some pleasant evenings for two weeks, sitting with my wife on our bed as she watched TV, I found a good, clean, solid solution. In addition I discovered a new theorem comparable with the famous Whitney extension theorem and applied it to solve my problem and, also, produce some curious additional, new results. I also found that I'd solved a problem stated but not solved in a famous paper in mathematical economics by Arrow, Hurwicz, and Uzawa. Poor Uzawa -- apparently so far he has yet to get his Prize! I published the paper in JOTA, right away, with no significant revisions. So, about four weeks of pleasant, not very hard, work, and I'd met the formal requirement for a Ph.D. dissertation. I used another piece of work I'd done for my Ph.D. dissertation, but that paper did 'polish my halo' in the department.

Net, length of time is not one of the criteria!