I have FreeFileSync and ReaTimeSync setup to create a real-time sync to an external USB drive. It works great! Now I would like to setup versioning with the following goals in mind:
1) Continue to sync the current version of each file as changes are made on a real-time basis.
2) Create a versioned copy of each changed file on a WEEKLY basis (real-time is too frequent for versioned backups, because it creates a new version every time the user hits "Save" while working on a document throughout the day).
3) Avoid having to duplicate the current backup of all files if a 2nd sync job is the suggested solution, because the current backup from the RealTimeSync job already consumes over half the space on the backup drive.
I am a new FreeFileSync user, so forgive me if I am asking for something that is not possible. FreeFileSync is a great program, even if I have to run versioning real-time!
Weekly Versioning
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Doesn't seem possible with your provided limitations. FFS has versioning, but it creates a version every time a file is replaced, as you noticed. A weekly version isn't something FFS does. File History in Windows sounds lore like what you are wanting
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I think naming convention "Replace" and "%Week%" macro should do the job.
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@Zenju - Thank you very much for your guidance. I will try it out.
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@Zenju - I tested your suggestion and it works perfectly! Exactly the outcome I was hoping for. Thank you so much for responding to my post, and for your expertise.
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Could you explain that a bit more?
F8 (Synchronization) ->
Move files to a user defined-folder folder: c:/versions %WEEK%/
Versioning: Replace
Is that the idea?
And if so, what does the directory c:/versions %WEEK%/ get named as, & what actually ends up in there?
So it is c:/versions 01/ ... c:/versions 52/? And the 01..52 depends on the weekly period that on is in ( based on the calendar, OS date/time)?
F8 (Synchronization) ->
Move files to a user defined-folder folder: c:/versions %WEEK%/
Versioning: Replace
Is that the idea?
And if so, what does the directory c:/versions %WEEK%/ get named as, & what actually ends up in there?
So it is c:/versions 01/ ... c:/versions 52/? And the 01..52 depends on the weekly period that on is in ( based on the calendar, OS date/time)?
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Sure, I would be happy to explain how this works for me.
First of all, please note that your designation of the versioning directory is not quite right. The slash should be a backslash, not a forward slash. Here is how I setup my system:
I set the variant to Mirror, which works for my purposes.
For versioning, my file is set to: [Volume Name]\Old Versions\%Year%\%Week%
Note that using [Volume Name] is a more robust method of designating my external USB drive than D: because the drive letter may change if the USB drive is plugged into a different USB port in the future, whereas the Volume Name will remain the same regardless of which USB port is used. You'll need to replace "Volume Name" with whatever your actual volume name is.
Naming Convention is set to "Replace"
The current backup on the external USB drive is controlled by whatever you setup on the left & right side. I use [Volume Name] on the right side for the same reason I use it in versioning.
I have now been using the above setup for 2 weeks. Here is what my external USB drive looks like: The system created a folder under "Old Versions" called 2025. Under 2025 there is a folder called 42 (representing the week#), and another folder called 43. Inside each of these folders are the folders changed files came from, and inside those folders is the previous version of the changed files. Next week, I believe another folder will show up called 44. Next year, I believe 2026 will show up under "Old Versions" (along with 2025 which will still be there).
If I work on a document and click “Save” 10 times throughout the day, each “save” will Replace the old version of the file with the more recent old version, all within the 2025\week# folder. If I make further edits to that same document in the following week, the single old version from the previous week will be retained under its \ year \ week subfolder, and an additional week sub-folder will be created. So that document will then appear with the same name (not time stamped) under 2 different week sub-folders.
In my case, file edits made through Sunday went into week 42. When I started editing documents on Monday, that's when week 43 got created. If the same document is edited multiple times in the same week, the week# folder only retains the most recent old version of the file (all the interim versions within the same week are not retained, which is what I wanted).
Hope this helps. It works great for me, but there is no way I could have figured out what to do without being pointed in the right direction by @Zenju.
First of all, please note that your designation of the versioning directory is not quite right. The slash should be a backslash, not a forward slash. Here is how I setup my system:
I set the variant to Mirror, which works for my purposes.
For versioning, my file is set to: [Volume Name]\Old Versions\%Year%\%Week%
Note that using [Volume Name] is a more robust method of designating my external USB drive than D: because the drive letter may change if the USB drive is plugged into a different USB port in the future, whereas the Volume Name will remain the same regardless of which USB port is used. You'll need to replace "Volume Name" with whatever your actual volume name is.
Naming Convention is set to "Replace"
The current backup on the external USB drive is controlled by whatever you setup on the left & right side. I use [Volume Name] on the right side for the same reason I use it in versioning.
I have now been using the above setup for 2 weeks. Here is what my external USB drive looks like: The system created a folder under "Old Versions" called 2025. Under 2025 there is a folder called 42 (representing the week#), and another folder called 43. Inside each of these folders are the folders changed files came from, and inside those folders is the previous version of the changed files. Next week, I believe another folder will show up called 44. Next year, I believe 2026 will show up under "Old Versions" (along with 2025 which will still be there).
If I work on a document and click “Save” 10 times throughout the day, each “save” will Replace the old version of the file with the more recent old version, all within the 2025\week# folder. If I make further edits to that same document in the following week, the single old version from the previous week will be retained under its \ year \ week subfolder, and an additional week sub-folder will be created. So that document will then appear with the same name (not time stamped) under 2 different week sub-folders.
In my case, file edits made through Sunday went into week 42. When I started editing documents on Monday, that's when week 43 got created. If the same document is edited multiple times in the same week, the week# folder only retains the most recent old version of the file (all the interim versions within the same week are not retained, which is what I wanted).
Hope this helps. It works great for me, but there is no way I could have figured out what to do without being pointed in the right direction by @Zenju.
