I’ve noticed the methods for backing up are fairly involved, and a pain to remember. I’ve just successfully set up a safe backup system on Windows 7 and I thought I’d write a guide (this is also possible on XP through Windows 8, but you’ll have to find the right utilities; all other OS, you are on your own). This guide is text only for the moment, I might return with pictures later this week.
Step 1:
- Get a free 2GB Dropbox account and install their cloud storage software: http://www.dropbox.com/
- I won’t get into detail on this, dropbox is a wonderful utility and comes with an easy guide. The end result will be a folder that sends any files or folders inside it to your dropbox cloud storage account.
Step 2:
- Download and install Microsoft SyncToy (free official microsoft utility) here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155
Step 3:
- In Drop box, create a folder. For simplicity sake, I named mine “aitgsaves” and left my local dropbox folder in the default location.
- Run a search for your save files (antiidle_file*) and get the full file path.
- Copy your save files into your new Dropbox folder
Step 4:
- Run sync toy. If you do not get a first time walk through, click “Create New Folder Pair”.
- In this menu, copy/paste the folder where your save files reside in the LEFT folder
- Copy/paste the new aitgsaves folder into the RIGHT location and click next
- In this menu, select ‘Contribute’ and click next
- Give this pair a wicked awesome name, like AITGSaver and finish
Step 5:
You need to adjust a few things before you run it!
- Click ‘Change options…’ near the middle of the screen
- Under Files to include, type in “antiIdle_file*.sol” without the quotes
- Make sure to un-check Save overwritten files in the Recycle Bin, and make sure ‘Active for run all’ is checked
- Click ‘Select sub-folder’ and click ‘Unselect all’, then ‘OK’
- Click ‘OK’ again
- Click Preview, the list of files/actions that come up should only be your save files with an update action
Step 6/seal the deal and automate:
Most of these steps are there part of the synctoy help, I’ve modified this set to fill in a few blanks:
- From the Start menu, select All Programs – Accessories – System Tools – Task Scheduler.
- Select Create Basic Task in the Actions pane on the right.
- Add a Name and Description and select Next.
- Choose when you want the task to start and select Next.
- Choose date/times (if applicable) to run task and select Next. I prefer just after the day roll over.
- Choose Start a Program option and select Next.
- Select Browse and locate the SyncToyCmd.exe. (My Default Location C:\Program Files\SyncToy 2.1\)
- Type “-R” in the Add Arguments textbox, and finish
That’s it; if you are set up properly, you will never lose more than 24 hours to an accidental save file deletion. Now take 5 extra minutes to get this together and never worry about it again.
If you need to restore the save file, open your Dropbox folder and there it is! Refer to the stickied save/load thread for completing that.
