Backing up VaM: your strategy and tactics

[atani]

Hi, forum user

As VaM lives inside its folder you would only need to copy it to have a backup that would run just the same. This may be the simplest way, but copying all files takes a lot of time. This will likely make it a rare event, not great for a useful backup strategy.

What's your backup strategy and tactics for VaM stuff?

I'll start with mine.
Strategy:
As a backup strategy, I want to do a backup every couple of weeks, depending on usage. If I'm making a lot of changes, then I do a backup a lot more often, if not much as happened or is just a few packages from the Hub, then it can be even once a month.
I also want it to be quick to do, both the procedure and the copying of files, with as little manual intervention as possible.
The backup is made to a external HDD.

Tactics:
I'm more used to work in Linux than Windows, which I only use for VaM stuff and games, and for backing up my stuff in linux I rely on rsync. This option is one I've used for several years and I'm quite happy with it, so naturally I wanted to do something similar in a Windows environment.

Spoiler: what is rsync

Rsync is a utility that checks the differences between a source and destination, and then copies only what was changed.

As I'm not used to the Windows ways, for the moment I am using DeltaCopy, "a 'Windows Friendly' wrapper around the Rsync program", which allows me to do the synchronisation I need, only the changes, in a GUI where I just need to click "run". Works well enough, but I'm always looking to other options.


What about you, how do you do it?

 

[VAMIC]

I mostly say "dang, I REALLY need to back this up," then forget and pray.

 

[mspeck01]

I have a separate drive for VAM and just use a cloning app to clone the whole drive.
That way you can set it and forget it.

 

[Matt_]

Tried doing the NAS option and SATA drive but the transfer took hours, just upgraded PC and can have 5 M.2 drives so I have a VAM backup drive and 400 Gb takes about 10 minutes.

 

[PeakVAM]

I haven't backed up in ages. Don't even know where to find the creator license key without paying again.

 

[atani]

I haven't backed up in ages. Don't even know where to find the creator license key without paying again.

There's no better day than today, tomorrow you may have a accident and lose everything.
Your key is in the Keys folder.

 

[HolySchmidt]

I have no backup strategy. All the stuff I downloaded is in seperate folders as a "copy". All the scenes I created is in the original folder, no regular backup. I copied everything once, that's it. But I will do copy everything now, thanks for the reminder!

 

[mspeck01]

There's no better day than today, tomorrow you may have a accident and lose everything.
Your key is in the Keys folder.

Yes, the copy will move your key with the backup

 

[atani]

Today I got fed up with the Delta Copy program I was using and moved now to just install a linux environment inside Windows to use rsync directly.
Now I just need to write a quick python script to make the backup process easier.

 

[TommyTomahawk]

My SSD is fast enough for a normal full backup to not be too much of a hassle. Takes maybe 5 minutes.

 

[mspeck01]

There is a program called Teracopy Pro
It takes control from File Manager and works just like filemanager.
What's nice is after you copy the files, you can do a CRC Verify check to make sure everything was copied complete.

 

[RiftWind]

Just for reference, if i wanted to create a clean install, with only the vars my scenes used, how would i do that? Or is it a case of trying to load them up and seeing which packages they need to run?
I have too many vars in the folder and ive no idea if i can delete ones i dont need, or even whats in them without opening them all seperately to see...

 

[atani]

You'd download a clean VAM to a new folder, do a copy of the scenes you want, and then take a look at what dependencies are missing with the Hub Browser.
There's however some problems here. One is that you may have non-Hub content, you'd need to copy it from your current VAM folder, but at least you have a list of what those are.

The most damaging problem is poorly packaged content that calls for all kinds of dependencies, and perhaps those dependencies have their own dependencies. This is the cancer that plagues most people, and likely what will make your new VAM folder eventually turn into your current one, and be plagued by a oversized error log. The only easy solution to keep this minimal is to ditch those badly packaged resources, all other solutions involve some level of acceptance or lenghty manual work.
Even when you keep only well packaged resources, they may call for specific versions of something, mostly plugins, or things you don't want to have. While plugins don't take much space it's still annoying to have multiple versions cluttering, but a minor annoyance compared to others. If there's a few dependencies for things you don't want to keep, you could edit the meta.json and remove the item in those select packages. The volume is dependent on what you have around.

 

[RiftWind]

Hmm, thanks for the tips - might try this later.

 

[DJ]

I haven't backed up in ages. Don't even know where to find the creator license key without paying again.

It's in the "keys" folder in the Vam root directory. Go get it right now and email it to yourself so you'll always have a copy.

 

[Farger]

I have about 3 or 4 versions of VAM over the years, separated into different folders and I have made backups on an external drive. I am close to filling up a 1TB hard drive, some of it is flight simulators, but most of it is VAM.