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I am looking for some software which can version control all my files on my OS (For Windows Server). So I can go back to a file 5 versions old.

I know Genie can do this but I have BackupAssist for backups which Genie also does. I need an app that just offers the above.

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Which version of Windows Server? – Shevek May 17 '10 at 12:39
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4 Answers

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You need to enable the Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service. Enable it, and you'll have access to previous file versions on the server and on supported connected clients. Here's a tutorial on how to enable it on Windows Server 2003:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Windows-Server-2003-Volume-Shadow-Copy-Service.html

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While Volume Shadow Copy does indeed make backups (I use it all the time) it doesn't actually do "versioning". It'll create snapshots of your data at that point in time, but if you edit a file 8 times between snapshots you'll have a choice between the latest edition and the way it looked during the last snapshot. – Joshua May 17 '10 at 13:43
Good point. You can, though, adjust the timing of the snapshot creation to match your expected workflow. – Sean O May 17 '10 at 14:46
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up vote 1 down vote

Volume Shadow Copy may be of use to you.

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up vote 1 down vote

I would try Git. And for help getting started, GitCasts were great for me. Specifically, you probably want to checkout Git on Windows.

But for versioning all the files on your system, I'm not sure how well it would work. Git was designed with mainly versioning source code (text) files in mind, not a whole system. It works fine for me with other types of files, but I haven't used it at that magnitude. I would wait to see if someone else is able to give you some ideas designed for what you have in mind before messing with this. I believe this would apply to Subversion as well.

Also, as Shevek pointed about Subversion, this would take some work getting it to automatically version your files. But, all it would take is running git add -A and then git commit -m "Some message" whenever you want to save a version. Of course, you could probably write a script to do this for you.

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Git for the win. :) – Shiki May 17 '10 at 12:46
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up vote 0 down vote

I would suggest Subversion

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SVN requires that changed files are manually checked in after changes. As I understand the question, OP wants the OS files to be versioned automatically so I don't think this a solution. – Shevek May 17 '10 at 12:38
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