Backup question

[5aq1b]

I have a quick question regarding backup. Say, for example, i want to back up My Documents, and I have the necessary s/ware which allows me to run a nightly, weekly and monthly backup, how would I configure this in terms of the type of backup I should be performing.

eg. I backup My Documents to a seperate hard drive. I add ten files over the course of the day to My Documents, and obviously when it comes to the time for backup, it will transfer over those 10 files to the backup destination. Over the next day, i then delete those ten files, so when it comes to backup, should I have it set that those 10 files remain on the backup drive? I'm guessing that I should leave them there, but then that leaves me thinking that over the course of a few weeks / months, my backup folder will grow and grow and grow as there will be no files being deleted. How should I configure this for nightly, weekly and monthly?

[Sylvander]

You could...

1. Run [from within Windows] the FREE version of SyncBack (http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/) to....
Either Backup, or Restore, or Synchronise...
Any chosen "Source" [a partition or folder contents or set of files], to/from any specified "Destination" [in any location that Windows can access].
You configure how the program is to respond to the detected "Differences" between the "Source" and "Destination".
e.g.
(a) Files/folders [objects] in the source but not in the destination.
I'd normally configure to copy those over [from source to destination].
(b) Objects in the destination but not in the source.
Normally deleted [from the destination].
(c) Objects in both the source and destination, but differ in some way.
[Date of update has changed]
Copy the most up-to-date [or biggest] version over to replace the other.

The first time you do a backup, for example, everything you have specified [I copy whole partitions] is copied [a 2nd copy is made].
The next time you do that same backup only the differences need be processed, so it takes only a few minutes to complete.
Net result is that the source and destination are made to match.

2. I use the above to complement image backups made using Image for DOS (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image.html) run [outwith Windows] from a bootable floppy [or optical disk].
Each image can be saved to pretty much anywhere you like [internal HDD partition other than that being imaged; folder on an external USB HDD; optical disks].