Backup Software for Roms

[Terry]

Looking for a particular backup software that I can use to manage my roms between my PC which hosts my complete roms set and my Cab which hosts only those roms I like.

Here is the situation.  I like to keep up with all the new releases of mame both on my PC and my Cab.  As everyone knows, existing roms change frequently and this creates a small problem for me.  Since all the roms on my main PC are up to date, it is very difficult to go through every rom on my cab and figure out if it has changed or not.  And even if I go through this task, then I still have to manually copy over all the changed roms.

Here is what I am looking for.  A backup utility that will scan a destination folder (my Cab which has a couple hundred roms),  generate a list of these roms, and then compare this list with a source folder (my main PC which has the complete set of roms).  Then take any changed roms from the source folder (that are on this list) and overwrite them into my destination folder.

Sounds pretty simple, but the backup program I currently use does not do this.

Any ideas?

[Nailz]

Wouldn't it be easier to just use ClrMamePro?  It will change the roms for you depending on what mame executable you are using.  Would be a ton easier...

http://www.clrmame.com/

[Terry]

I will give it a try.  Thanks.

[Terry]

I'm not having much luck with ClrMamePro.  I have used it to create DAT files, and to scan my complete rom set.  But I am not sure if it is capable of simply rebuiding a small group of roms from the complete set.

Is there a setting that will allow this?  Everytime I try rebuilding the roms from a source folder (my complete set), it wants to add in all the 'missing' roms.  I just want it to fix/rebuild the roms in the directory I specify.

This sounds like the right approach, but I just don't know how to use it properly.

Thanks for any help.

[SirPeale]

Using the scan window, there is a 'fix' sub block on the lower left.  Make sure all checkboxes are checked.

[paigeoliver]

A couple of suggestions.

If you are happy with your cabinet (and its games) the way it is, then stop updating it. Eventually you will find that the computer in your cabinet can no longer even handle the games you used to play as new Mame versions get slower and slower. You may find that games you like to play get broken in newer versions, you may lose your high scores or settings. I NEVER update any of my cabinets for all of these reasons.

If you must update (like you know, if you actually have a fast enough computer to handle the new releases and all the specialized analog controls needed to control them), then simply do this.

Split your rom files on your computer into two folders, one of which has the roms you keep on your cabinet, and the other one with the rest of them. Then you can keep it properly updated from there, and simply copy over that folder once you are done updating for each release.

Of course you COULD just read the release notes for changed roms, I mean you must be reading it anyway if you are downloading new versions with every release. And then download them all to a temp folder, copy that folder onto your cabinet, and then dump them into your main roms folder on your normal PC.

[Terry]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I was hoping to be able to just press a button and have it all done automatically.  I still don't know if there is a backup program that can do what I initially wanted.  I haven't had a chance to play with ClrMamePro yet either.

I use a backup program to back up many different folders on my PC, and once it is set up, I just press a button and it does it's thing.  So I was hoping I could do the same as I described in my first post.

I just need to spend some time looking around.  I started this post hoping someone had come across my situation and had the solution I was looking for.

Thanks.

[Terry]

Using the scan window, there is a 'fix' sub block on the lower left.  Make sure all checkboxes are checked.

I did this, and all checkboxes are checked.  I set up a simple test by putting my 1941.zip rom into a destination folder, and my 1941.zip rom plus 2 other roms into a source folder.  Then I deleted some of the files within the 1941.zip in my destination folder.  So I would expect that when I scan my destination folder, it would see that the 1941.zip rom is missing some files and fix it.  But this does not happen.  When it is done scanning, it says I have 1 rom in my scanned folder and 0 have been fixed.

When I have it scan my destination folder how does ClrMamePro know where to pull the complete rom information from and therefore fix the incomplete rom.

When I use the rebuilder, it does indeed fix the broken 1941.zip rom in my destination folder, but it also adds the other 2 roms from my source folder into my destination folder.  And this is what I am trying to avoid.

I'm sure I am doing something wrong since I don't know the program well enough.  Thanks for the help.

[Terry]

Here is a great freeware backup utility that does exactly what I was after.  It is called Directory Compare (DrCmp)  http://www.fw4u.de/system/backup.html

This will scan a source and destination folder and display all files that are newer in destination folder, newer in source folder,  equal in both folders, or don't exist in the destination folder.  You can also select to display any or all of these items.  Then you can sort in any of these fields, do a group select of the files and update them.

So I set up my source and destination folders, and choose what fields I want displayed, and how I want them sorted (it automatically saves these settings so I only have to select them once).  Now all I have to do is start the program, press the scan button, and select the first item on the list, scroll down do a shift select on the last item and press update.  All the changed roms from my complete set (source folder) that actually exist on my cab (destination folder) are updated!

Just thought I would pass on this info in case anyone was interested.

Terry

[Nailz]

Glad you found something that works for you, thanks for the link.