ikon

OK completely off topic, but I've been watching the devastation around Oklahoma. My heart goes out to everyone in the area. Even over TV it's awful to see.

TigerDirect Canada has a good deal on external 3TB drives:

http://www.tigerdire...7&sku=S130-8704

This is probably old news to many, but I suspect there are others who, like me, weren't aware. I went to install MS Office 2013 on my Surface Pro. I was going to mount the Office ISO using a tool like MagicDisc. I couldn't recall if I'd already installed an ISO tool, so I double-clicked the ISO to see what happened.

To my surprise, Windows 8 opened the ISO just like Windows 7 opens a ZIP file. I was able to launch the setup file and install Office without issue. So, no special ISO add-in tools required.  Very nice

A few people have asked about the RoboCopy scripts I use to back up my data, so I thought I would put them into a thread of their own.

Here's the script I use to back up to my 2 sets of OffSite drives. It runs once a day in the middle of the night.

@echo on

If exist Q:\NUL.EXT goto Offsite-A

If exist R:\NUL.EXT goto Offsite-B

Echo Could not find drive Q: or R: for offsite backup > "<drive:>\ServerFolders\Backup\logs\Offsite\BackupToOffsite_RoboCopy.log"

GoTo ExitDoor

REM=============================================================================================

:Offsite-A

Robocopy "<drive:>\ServerFolders" "Q:\ServerFolders" *.*  /e /r:2 /w:2 /tee /np /xd "<drive:>\serverfolders\Client Computer Backups" "<drive:>\serverfolders\backup\logs" "<drive:>\serverfolders\skydrive" /log+:"<drive:>\ServerFolders\Backup\logs\Offsite\BackupToOffsite_RoboCopy.log"

Net stop "Windows Server Client Computer Backup Provider Service"

Robocopy "<drive:>\ServerFolders\Client Computer Backups" "Q:\ServerFolders\Client Computer Backups" *.*  /e /r:2 /w:2 /mir /tee /np /log+:"<drive:>\ServerFolders\Backup\logs\Offsite\BackupToOffsite_RoboCopy.log"

Net start "Windows Server Client Computer Backup Provider Service"

GoTo ExitDoor

REM============================================================================================

:Offsite-B

Robocopy "<drive:>\ServerFolders" "R:\ServerFolders" *.*  /e /r:2 /w:2 /tee /np /xd "<drive:>\serverfolders\Client Computer Backups" "<drive:>\serverfolders\backup\logs" "<drive:>\serverfolders\skydrive" /log+:"<drive:>\ServerFolders\Backup\logs\Offsite\BackupToOffsite_RoboCopy.log"

Net stop "Windows Server Client Computer Backup Provider Service"

Robocopy "<drive:>\ServerFolders\Client Computer Backups" "R:\ServerFolders\Client Computer Backups" *.*  /e /r:2 /w:2 /mir /tee /np /log+:"<drive:>\ServerFolders\Backup\logs\Offsite\BackupToOffsite_RoboCopy.log"

Net start "Windows Server Client Computer Backup Provider Service"

GoTo ExitDoor

REM===========================================================================================

:ExitDoor

Ren "<drive:>\ServerFolders\Backup\logs\Offsite\BackupToOffsite_RoboCopy.log" "BackupToOffsite_RoboCopy_%date%.log"

exit

The 'paragraphs' above are each a single line. The forum editor inserted the line breaks. Also, you may notice that section OffSite-A and OffSite-B are almost identical. That's deliberate. There are ways to reduce the amount of code by using variables, etc. but I prefer a more straightforward, less complicated approach. I'm a big believer is the KISS principle.

The 2 lines:

If exist Q:\NUL.EXT goto Offsite-A

If exist R:\NUL.EXT goto Offsite-B

are used to detect which set of OffSite drives is currently installed in the external enclosure. Each set of drives was given its own drive letter through Disk Manager when they were first set up.

Finally, you will need to replace the <drive:> entries with the drive letters that apply to your situation.

I've got a WD 2TB drive that was part of a Spanned Volume of 5TB, but has been removed from the volume. However, it's still showing up as 5TB. Does anyone know of a way to completely initialize a WD drive back to factory defaults, with no config info on it?