Round robin syle backups possible?

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Posts: 3
Joined: 7 Oct 2023

sam.marrocco

I would like to have several backups that are overwritten in a round-robin style. then reused. For example:

Backup 1
Backup 2
Backup 3
....etc.

Ideally, when the backup job is performed the first time, Backup 1 would be overwritten. The second time it is run, Backup 2 would be overwritten. Then 3, etc. After the last numbered backup is done, the job would go back to Backup 1 and overwrite it and the cycle would continue.

This way, I would have at least (in this example, three) the last three backups that were run.

Possible? I've played with dates in macros, but I don't see a method of making numbered/conditional backups...?
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Posts: 2946
Joined: 22 Aug 2012

Plerry

Not a feature available in FreeFileSync (FFS).
However, instead of having different backups, you can have a single backup and retain as many previous versions of a file as you select for as long as you select using the FFS Versioning feature.
Posts: 3
Joined: 7 Oct 2023

sam.marrocco

Versioning looks interesting, but since an archive might need to be restored as a whole, version might be a bit messy. Good for finding individual files, perhaps. A numbered variable/macro, with a maximum value is more of what I would need.

Alternately, since I'm looking to create weekly backups that would overwrite the backup from a month ago, I tried the %Week% macro and it could work, but this is the week # of the year (1-52). Perhaps a %MonthWeek% variable could be added (1-5)? Then the next "first week of the month" update would overwrite the last "first week of the month". Some other more 'refined' variable would be useful for this as well. I'm on v10.24 of FreeFileSync, so it may be moot as any new variables probably wouldn't make it into this version of the codebase.
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Posts: 4867
Joined: 11 Jun 2019

xCSxXenon

You could write a script that is called after the FFS sync runs. The script would rename the backup folders in rotation. You would sync to "Backup 3", then the sync could rename as follows:
- Backup 3 -> Temp
- Backup 2 -> Backup 3
- Backup 1 -> Backup 2
- Temp -> Backup 1

Then Backup 1 is always the most recent backup, 2 is the second most recent, and 3 is the oldest.
Posts: 3
Joined: 7 Oct 2023

sam.marrocco

Yes, that's a good thought, thanks!