Railworks America

I was wondering how usefull is the back up tool that is built into the steam program. HAs anyone used it and did they have good luck with it.
I did a back up last night of almost 6 gig worth of files. The program had actually split the files up in 5 packages to be used on CD's. However I had chosen to put the files into a folder under a partition of my harddrive for safe keeping.

Really you don't need to back up the core Railworks files unless you want to. As long as you have your Steam account you can always redownload them and any DLC you've purchased. But I always back any third party content I download off the internet (ESPECIALLY third party payware) and I suggest you do the same. Keep at least two copies of all your stuff on different hard drives or CDs.

You only find out how worthwhile a back up is when desperately need it and dont have on e:)

The Steam system is fine for that material purchased through them, but that wont help with other website freeware / payware purchases. I keep a master back up on a external drive of all of the software and a password list etc and I also keep an up to date copy of the steamapps folder. This contains everything from all sources and can just be copy / pasted into place should the need arise. (I have needed it once)

The Steam system works fine. I've used it several times over the years reinstalling games on new computers or on an existing computer where I've removed it and wanted to reinstall it.

I was curious if it would work on a single component of a game as opposed to a full install, and as I expected, that's fine too. A handy example: just last night while trying to resolve a problem with one of G-Trax' locomotives I purchased through Steam, I uninstalled it, then deleted the folders associated with it in my RW2 files.

I then ran the 'verify integrity of game cache' utility, and it duly noted the missing files, redownloaded and installed them, recreating new folders as needed. If you own any Steam content, it can be reinstalled or restored at any time so long as Steam is in business.

As has been noted, third party pay- and freeware isn't stored on their servers, so I keep a full copy of my RW2 on two external drives for redundancy, as well as a folder with all of the .rpk payware downloads I've purchased. Chasing down every fiddly bit of freeware I've hunted out and downloaded is a dismal thing to think about, hence the copy of my RW2 install. Since I've paid for all those .rpk files, keeping backup copies for myself is just protecting my investment, and on a future install of RW2 on a new computer, I can selectively use any of them again.

There are payware backup systems that keep everything backed up such as "Carbonite" which does it automatically.

kin3 wrote:There are payware backup systems that keep everything backed up such as "Carbonite" which does it automatically.

I'm using the freeware AllwaySync for various backup operations, currently not for RW but it will work with that fine too. No need to spend money on such easy tasks. You might as well write a small batch file for the job

glenn68 wrote:However I had chosen to put the files into a folder under a partition of my harddrive for safe keeping

Hi

If the hard drive fails you lose the non steam add ons anyway, I would strenuously suggest an external hard drive.

Steam content is safe except if you do not have enough download content to play with.

cheers

Daniel

If you have more than one disc drive, I recommend Microsoft Synctoy for simple backups without compression - you can download from here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/d ... d0592d8c52 . I keep a backup of the whole Steam folder, as railworks is my only Steam game, on a NAS drive (2TB Buffalo Linkstation which only cost £130). I keep all the download files on the same drive, and back them up to another NAS drive.

And then there are the backups of my music, photos, system files and disk images, of course.