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Synchronize files matching a certain name mask, but omitting one directory name, in multiple directories

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EazyCheeze1978
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Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2017 2:24 pm

Synchronize files matching a certain name mask, but omitting one directory name, in multiple directories

Post by EazyCheeze1978 »

Hello all! It's been a very long time since I posted here; I have very thoroughly enjoyed my usage of SyncBack, for the myriad ways that it enables me to, well, synchronize and backup whatever I have; it handles it all well. It's extremely powerful, and I love it a great deal.

Now, I have a use case that I hope has a solution in SyncBack, and while it is similar to other tasks I have for the program that are accomplished with flying colors, it's a little different from those.

There are certain games I have – these are older MS-DOS games, anywhere from the mid-80s up to the mid-90s (yes, I'm quite an old-school gaming fan) that I have purchased from GOG, Steam and other places, and all placed off of one directory so that I can easily access them via the excellent front-end LaunchBox – whose save data are distributed throughout the programs' directory structures, and don't follow any standard, except that they have the word 'SAVE' somewhere either in their name or extension or their containing folder. There are also outlier files that are not relevant to the saved data that happen to be called, strangely enough, 'New save data' which are kept in the directory known as 'DOSBOX'. I wish to exclude those files.

I've actually accomplished a Robocopy (command-line robust copy utility) operation doing exactly what I want and was looking to "port" the operation over to SyncBack, so as to have more flexibility in how and when this is accomplished. Having already done it once, I specified the /L and /LOG parameters so the operation is merely logged instead of done again, so I could capture the opening of the command which contains my input and the parameters used. Here it is:

Code: Select all

  Started : Saturday, February 15, 2020 6:27:31 AM
   Source : I:\Games\LaunchBox\Games\MS-DOS\ [I entered this directory into the command]
     Dest : E:\Sneaker Network - game saves\MS-DOS\ [I was in this directory, so didn't enter it into the command]

    Files : *SAVE*.* [all files that begin with, end with and that contain the word save, along with all folders that have those names as long as there's something in them; this also means that folders that have new save game data since I ran the task last would be counted in the next running of the task]
	    
 Exc Dirs : DOSBOX [to leave out the 0 length 'new save data' file]
	    
  Options : /L /S /DCOPY:DA /COPY:DAT /R:1000000 /W:30 
[I actually only used the /L and /S parameters shown above, and the rest are the defaults inserted by the program automatically]

An example which I hope will show clearly what I want: if I'm cranking up the classic text adventure game Zork and getting into a fairly lengthy Exploration of the Great Underground Empire (TM), and save my progress, that file is stored in the 'SAVE' folder off the main game folder, with the name 'ZORK1.DAT'. Then, if I want to hop over to the very old-school side scrolling action game Duke Nukem, zap some aliens, complete the first level and want to save my progress, that would be saved in the main game directory with the name 'SAVEDT.DN1'. I wish to have those synchronized, along with all the others similarly named and placed in the MS-DOS games folder, with their folder structure maintained.

I actually tried creating a new task within SyncBack for this, but it seems I just can't get the filter operations right to select exactly the files and directories I want; no matter what I enter, all directories are excluded or included; I can't "wrangle" it, is what I mean.

Anyway, it's not really a vital thing, since as I said I already did the operation once, but it would really be nice to have all my saved games for these older games in line and being backed up with all the others as I use them without having to enter a command every time.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day, and look forward to hearing an answer at your earliest convenience. If you need more details, I'll be happy to provide them. Take care!
EazyCheeze1978
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2017 2:24 pm

Re: Synchronize files matching a certain name mask, but omitting one directory name, in multiple directories

Post by EazyCheeze1978 »

(I'd edit my post but I don't know how in this interface)

After a bit of investigation, I found that my robocopy input did NOT capture directories that were named "*SAVE*.*" and had files named something else within them, so that's definitely something I'd like to do)
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