Create an exact copy of a flash drive using the USB Image Tool.

When there is a need to create exact copy flash drives on another similar drive, simply copying the contents will not work. Files and folders will be copied, but checksums will differ, and this will affect the performance of programs installed on the flash drive. For example, if you have a program for storing passwords on a flash card, you will not be able to copy the contents of the drive one to one without separate programs.

Copying a flash drive one to one

The first program that allows you to solve this problem is the USB Image Tool. Download it from the official website and unpack the archive (the program does not require installation). Insert the first flash drive and run the program. In the main window, select the desired drive and click the “Backup” button at the bottom right.

How to connect a flash drive, mouse or keyboard to your phone (instructions)

The flash drive in the radio plays all the songs in one song, what's the problem?

In the window that opens, select a location to save the files and wait for the copying process to complete. Insert a second flash drive, which will become an exact copy of the first, select it in USB program Image Tool and click the “Restore” button instead of the “Backup” button. An explorer window will open in which you need to find the previously saved file and open it. Confirm your actions in the dialog box that appears and wait for the process of writing data to the new flash drive to complete.

There is another program for creating an exact copy of a Flash drive. The software is paid, but there is a free trial version with limited functionality, which is enough to copy a flash drive one to one. You can download the program. Install it, run it and select “Disk Copy Wizard” from the “Wizard” menu at the top.

Select “Quick copy disk” in the window that opens and click “Next.” Select the flash drive you want to copy and “Next” again. Select the second flash drive to which the information will be copied and click “Next.” Place the marker next to the item “Fit partitions of the entire disk” and “Next” again, and in the next window click the “End” button.

You will be returned to the main window, where you must select “Apply” at the top left, after which a new “Pending Operations” window will open. Click “Go” and confirm the operation. Creating a copy will take some time, which depends on the type of files on the flash drive and their size. Wait for the operation to complete and click “OK.” Now you have two identical flash drives that can be used for their intended purpose.

Many of us in everyday life use USB flash drives to transfer and store files. Flash is convenient for editing documents directly from it, both at work and at home, and generally wherever you are, since all the necessary work files are always with you.

A flash drive is usually used in various weather conditions: rain, dampness, frost, is subject to mechanical damage, electromagnetic waves, can be lost or stolen, etc. The only one reliable way save your data - perform daily backups of the flash drive to hard drive PC or laptop.

Flash drive backup options. Which one to choose?

Fulfill backup flash drive files possible on various media:

hard or solid state drive computer (HDD, SSD)
external drive USB (replaceable HDD)
network drive, NAS server in local network
to the Yandex.Disk cloud or Google Drive
remote server via FTP, SFTP (SSH)

Let's look at an example of how to organize automatic backup of USB disk (flash drive) to the PC hard drive every 3 hours.

To create backup flash drives, you can develop bat files or copy files manually, but this is the worst option, since you can forget to create a backup on time, and you often have to be distracted by creating backup copies.

Let’s not “reinvent the wheel,” since people have already invented and developed automatic backup programs, but let’s consider one of them, namely, the easy-to-use, reliable Exiland Backup utility, which specified frequency creates backups specified files and folders from one media to another and does it almost unnoticeably, without interfering with the work of other programs.

Moreover, Exiland Backup has the ability to run a job to create backup copy flash drive immediately after connecting it to the USB port of your PC. This is very convenient - I plugged the flash drive into the PC, and within a few seconds a backup copy was created.

Let's see how Exiland Backup can easily and just set up a backup flash drive to the PC hard drive.

How to backup a flash drive. Setting up Exiland Backup

The Exiland Backup program has special “tricks” for working with flash drives.

In the "Settings for the selected folder" window, you can specify additional parameters for the folder: file masks, attributes, as well as excluding subfolders, for example, everything except the "Temp" and "_old" folders.

A great feature of this program is support for paths by volume name, for example, the source folder can be specified as :\Source\Folder, where FLESHKA is the name of the flash drive volume. This solves the problem when a USB flash drive in Windows is connected under different drive letters. Thus, if the replacement disk is connected under a different drive letter, you will not have to reconfigure anything in the program. It's very convenient.

At the 4th step (ZIP compression options) you can leave the default settings and click "Next"

Exiland Backup allows you to compress source files and folders into one ZIP archive with the specified compression level and selected encryption (setting a password for the ZIP archive).

In step 5, tell the program where to save backups

Click "Add - Local/Network Folder". A window will appear in which you should specify the path to the folder on the hard drive of your PC or laptop, for example “D:\Backups”.

This can be done through the folder selection dialog (from the same dialog you can create the “Backups” or “Backups” folder).

As in the case of selecting source data, here the program also supports ability to specify path by volume name. This is especially useful when saving backups to replaceable disks, because Windows OS can assign different letters to the disk each time you connect a removable HDD or flash drive.

In step 6, specify the schedule for running the backup

The recommended backup frequency depends on how often you work with flash media. Typically, a normal backup frequency is once every 4 hours. Creating several backups during the working day is usually sufficient.

Moreover, if the data on the flash has not changed at all, Exiland Backup will not create a backup copy, but will simply write about it in the log (magazine). If, when starting the backup, the flash drive was not connected to USB port your PC - nothing bad will happen, Exiland Backup will simply skip the task. You can also tell the Exiland Backup program to “start backup of the flash drive when it is connected to the USB port of your PC,” which is undoubtedly another advantage of the program.

So, toggle the checkbox (*) Run according to schedule, select the "daily" schedule type, click the "Edit" button. To add a start time, click the "Add" button and select "Periodically", select "Every 4 hours" and click OK. The selected value appears in the list.

Click the "Add" button again and select "When connecting a removable device (flash drive, removable HDD, etc.)", indicate to the program every time USB connection-devices to backup files or only when connected for the first time during the current day, then click “OK” and “OK” again to return to the “Schedule” step and click “Next”.

Step 7: Notification

Here click "Done". Although, the program allows you to send notifications about the backup results to various cases(in case of errors, in case of warnings, in any case), but in this case ( backup flash drive), this is not necessary.

The flash drive backup task has been created! When the launch schedule occurs or when a flash drive is connected, the backup will begin. Also, nothing prevents you from starting the task manually by clicking on the “Run” button on the top panel.

Other features of the Exiland Backup utility

Exiland Backup differs from analogues in its clear Russian-language interface and combines good opportunities and flexibility of settings.

Typically, the volume of these flash drives is small: 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 GB. Exiland Backup also does a great job with backup of large amounts of data 1-2 terabytes, different high speed copying, thanks to copying in multiple threads, it can make not only a full backup, but also create incremental backups, differential backups, and also synchronize folders over a local network, FTP, SFTP (SSH). Therefore, the utility can make a site backup via FTP, made on any CMS, for example, WordPress.

WITH automatic program With Exiland Backup you will once and for all protect your files from damage by a virus, failure of your flash device, etc.

The backup utility Exiland Backup is quite universal and is perfect for backing up home files - photos, videos, documents, and for use in organizations (copying documents, accounting databases, etc.). The program can be used by both novice PC users and more experienced professionals ( system administrators and programmers).

A test drive of a flash drive backup showed good results.

Mikhail, Exiland Backup developer

There are people who store all their most important data (documents, photographs, necessary utilities etc.) on flash drives. This is especially important when constantly moving from computer to computer. It is important for them that all the contents of their media are protected from accidental data loss. There are also people who take a lot of photographs and it is very important for them that their pictures, when connected to a PC, immediately go to the computer. To solve all of the above problems, you can use the USBFlashCopy program, which will make the process of copying data from a portable drive to your computer simple and reliable.

Installing the program

There is no installation as such in USBFlashCopy, since the program is portable. Simply download the executable file and place it, as the developers recommend, in the “C:\USBFlashCopy” or “C:\Program Files\USBFlashCopy” folder. When you first launch the application, you need to configure it a little and in the future you will not have to remember about the program while working on the computer. The application will launch automatically immediately after connecting the removable device.

First, let's determine which drives USBFlashCopy needs to monitor. For each logical device, we can leave the need to start copying at the discretion of the program (Auto), force it to start copying (Force), or ignore the device (Skip).

Also useful feature The utility is the ability to configure user profiles. It’s one thing when documents are supposed to be stored on a flash drive, and another thing when a flash drive from a camera appears in a logical device. Each device can be customized with a variety of backup settings.

In the profile you can set the copy speed and the backup folder. You can even specify two folders for copying data. Controlling the copy speed allows you to work comfortably while backing up a flash drive, so as not to sit and wait for the program to release computer resources.

Using the filter, you can specify which types of files should be copied. Moreover, you can indicate the file type with a checkmark or specify a list of file extensions for some of your unique types of information.

In the profile, you can also tell USBFlashCopy what to do when the directory to which the backup is being made already contains files with the same name as on the flash drive. You can overwrite files if they are older (Overwrite an old file) or keep a copy of an existing copy of a file (Keep a copy of an old file).

Example of using the program

Let's give a simple example to understand the value of USBFlashCopy. Let's say we have a camera (and more than one). We walk, take photos, which are saved on the camera’s memory card. After which we come home and connect the camera to the computer (or directly connect the flash drive from it to the computer via a card reader). At this moment, all our photos fly to a specially designated place on the computer disk.

You can use profiles so that photos from your daughter’s camera do not intersect with your father’s and vice versa. To do this, we will assign them different folders, where the files will be stored. It is extremely convenient for our example that in the folder where we will copy photos, you can also create subfolders by date. This will also be useful for storing backups. Each even has its own copy.

All this is possible thanks to the flexible configuration of destination folder templates, which implement variables for literally all occasions.

Now all the problems of copying files, determining novelty and relevance are a headache for the USBFlashCopy program. It's quite convenient and makes life a lot easier.

Conclusion

USBFlashCopy is a good and convenient utility for automatically backing up data from flash drives and memory cards. It seems to me that the authors of the program made the most of this task: they implemented fine settings copying with precision serial number flash drives (profiles), file type filters and much more. Completeness and striving for ideal are visible in the entire character of the program.

USBFlashCopy is free for non-commercial (home) use. Paid version allows you to use the utility also in the office, and also makes it possible to use the program in Silent mode. In this mode, you will not see the program at all, since it will perform all actions in the background without displaying any windows or messages.

USBFlashCopy also has competitors - cloud storage systems (for example, Dropbox and Yandex.Disk), which have similar functionality, but cannot give the user the opportunity to configure the backup system so flexibly (although there are something like profiles there too). Yes, and data is backed up on remote server, which for some cases is simply unacceptable (for example, when backing up important documents), and sometimes it is simply inconvenient.

You, like any user, would like to know that your information is safe and will not be harmed in any way. And considering that we are used to storing personal data on removable media, it is difficult to talk about security, since this is a whole thing! It follows from this that any decision you make for protection will be completely unnecessary...

As a complex, I propose to consider the possibility of automatic data backup from removable media, such as USB flash drives. The ease of use is obvious: you insert the flash drive into the computer and first of all, it starts copying all the contents into a designated directory on the hard drive.

So, having come to understand the usefulness automatic copying, you should select a software tool to perform a backup (from the English language “backup” - backup). I didn’t go too deep into searching for apps once I realized that most of them were paid and would be expensive for regular users to purchase. Therefore, catch the review of the utility " USBFlashCopy»…

Utility USBFlashCopy

The USBFlashCopy software product has several disadvantages, including an English-language control interface, as well as some limitations in free use. But you shouldn’t give up prematurely; you are probably familiar with the English terms and do not require frequent reference, and the restrictions are not so significant and do not relate to the main program activities. After launching it in two clicks, I was able to set the flash drive for copying.

Note! You can freely refuse to edit the parameters of the new profile and click the “OK” button (the utility will work in the “default” mode).

In addition, the program can work with files in three modes:

copying with further addition of new files.
Copying and replacing existing files.
Moving files from a flash drive to a computer.

Instead of an afterword

That's all, you can make more subtle settings yourself, even with minor knowledge in English will simplify the perception of the interface.

You can manually launch USBFlashCopy or go to the utility settings and set the appropriate value for automatic start along with Windows.

Backup to USB device is the use USB storage either as a data source for backup, or as a copy store. Handy Backup allows you to easily and conveniently backup flash drives (USB devices) via Computer plugin.

Basic functions of automatic backup to USB device

Backing up data to USB

The main function of a flash drive is data storage, so it is convenient to use a flash drive as a USB backup drive. Handy Backup allows you to use any USB storage device for backup as an external drive.

Backing up a USB device

On the contrary, sometimes you need to transfer a backup copy of data on a USB device to another location (for example, back up a flash drive to a computer). In this case, Handy Backup allows you to make a backup USB devices as a regular local data source.

A USB backup copy of your data only makes sense if it can be restored at any time. Handy Backup offers tools to automatically restore and even clone USB from backup, as well as manually copy unencrypted USB backups.

Backing up Windows 10 data to a USB flash drive

A problem different from all previous ones is solved by all professional versions of Handy Backup or the included HBDR utility, which allows you to create a backup of Windows 10 (Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Linux...) onto a flash drive as an image boot disk VHD.

To solve the above problems, Handy Backup provides the user with a number of effective tools, allowing you to conveniently and quickly organize automatic backups to USB flash drive and data recovery. Such tools include:

Schedule tasks, with a backup task to USB over time in the range from minutes to months.

How to backup a flash drive to a computer using Handy Backup?

The instructions below describe how to back up your data to USB. If you would like to learn more about how to backup Windows to a USB flash drive, please refer to the relevant sections of the User Guide or the article on Windows backup.

Open Handy Backup. Create a new task using the button on the main panel.
In Step 1, select to create backup task data.
Go to Step 2 and select the necessary data for backup to a USB flash drive.

Make sure that your flash drive is inserted into a slot on your computer and is visible in the system.
In Step 3, select a plugin Computer by clicking on its name.
Find your USB backup device in the list of drives.

Check the box and click OK. Proceed to Step 4 and beyond.

Note: Depending on the selected mode (simple or advanced), you can configure automatic start backup upon connection USB disk , incremental or differential copying, data encryption, launch external programs etc.

Finish creating the task. Everything is ready: Handy Backup will automatically start your task of backing up files to a USB device.

How to backup a flash drive to another location?

You can store USB disk backups in another place, for example, on the hard drive of your PC or laptop, on FTP server, V cloud storage(for example, saving a backup copy of a flash drive to Yandex.Disk, Dropbox or Google Drive), as well as in a special HBDrive storage.

To create a task to obtain a USB backup, open Handy Backup and run the New Task Wizard as described above.
In Step 2, open the list of data sources Local or Network Drive in the left panel and click on the plugin name Computer. Find your flash drive for backup in the plugin window.

Then in Step 3, select the USB backup storage and continue creating the task as described in the previous instructions.

Video tutorial: How to create an automatic backup when connecting a USB device

This video tutorial shows step by step instructions to create an automatic backup to a flash drive when you connect this USB device to a computer.

Attention: This video assumes that your machine already has Handy Backup installed. Otherwise, please download Handy Backup and install it on your computer.

Automatic backup to a USB flash drive with Handy Backup is a convenient, simple and reliable data storage tool. Try its power for yourself by downloading and installing a 30-day free version programs with a full set of functions and plugins!