Documentation about Backing-Up under Windows

I describe here my approach to back-up my Windows-PCs. This solution also allows to back-up Linux partitions.

I am using Windows 10 Pro 64−Bit and 32−Bit. I used to use System Image Backup, which was included since Windows Vista. I changed because of various reasons. I chose the DriveSnapShot software, from German institution Tom Ehlert Software (www.drivesnapshot.de). In my view this software has the following key characteristics:

Available for a long time, hence likely very reliable
Has both a graphical user interface and can be used from the command line
Very lean software and can be used without installation (easy restore!)
Supports automation, but the automation itself must be provided by the user.

Because of the last point, I created a Windows batch-file that fulfils my requirements

Simple rotation of two back-up sets per back-up medium
Every month a complete back-up plus differential back-ups each day
Multiple back-up media, to have also back-ups that reach longer back in time than a month

I was inspired by the scripts from Andreas Weber www.andysblog.de

Download

I provide the batch script here, such that other people can use it and adapt it to their needs. However, I do not take any responsibility for this software, nor do I provide any warranty, nor do I assure any fitness of any kind.

I do appreciate any feedback you give via e-mail. (see address below)

Pre-Requisites

The batch script has been working with DriveSnapShot versions 1.46 through 1.48. There are some pre-requisites to using the script:

On the back-up drive(s), there has to be a directory DS in the root directory. Under DS there has to be a directory with the same name as the computer to be backed up.
The script will create directories A and B thereunder to contain the back-ups. This structure allows to store back-ups of multiple PCs on the same medium.
The script has to be started using an administrator account (e.g. by right clicking on the script)
The date format for this administrator account must be set to ISO format: YYYY-MM-DD. Alternatively you could change the script to accommodate your local date format.
You do not need to assign special drive letters to the back-up drive(s), as the script finds the drive letter automatically. It does this by searching all suitable drives for a drive with a label that starts with a specific string. The string MYBCKP is hardwired at the beginning of the script. If you change that string, you also have to adapt the string length, which is set at 6 further below in the script ~0,6
This allows to use multiple external back-up drives, which all have drive labels starting with the same string e.g. MYBCKP01, MYBCKP02, …

The script assumes you want to back-up drives C: and D:. It does this as two separate transactions. This is fine if Windows is confined to drive C:. Drivesnapshot can back-up multiple drives in one transaction. Please see the Drivesnapshot manual for details.

Installation

Just copy the script to any convenient location and rename from ...cmd.txt to ....cmd.