Time Machine vs Source Control?

Finally got convinced to start using some kind of version control for my code instead of zipping down a copy of the project at the end of each day.

Downloaded Tortoise SVN and used it to create a repository localy on my hdd. I've been using it for 2 days now but I have to say that using it is actually more hassle than just copying the project manually in explorer. Sure, you only store incremental changes but with the cheap disks of today I can't really say that's an argument when you only have small projects. I haven't realy found a quick way to browse the older versions of my files eighter.

What I want is an infinite undo that is completely transparent while I code, if I save the file I want a backup. I don't want to check out, check in and don't even get me started on moving files. I haven't tried Time Machine for OS X but it looks like it's exactly what I'm looking for.

Does such a program exist for windows? Preferably free and with some kind of tagging-system so I can tag a timestamp when the project is working etc.

Maybe should add that I mostly work alone on a single computer.

Update: Some of you asked why I want backup. Since I work alone it's mostly to allow me to quickly hack up a solution without worrying that something will screw up.


I think that you are really underestimating the benefits of source control. As Dustin pointed out, there's branching, merging, and sharing. Also, using a source control system can let you easily figure out when each line in your code was last changed. SVN can also track the history of files even if they are renamed or moved to a different directory. Merging can even solve problems even if you are only 1 developer, as you can work on your desktop, laptop, and other computers without having to worry about overwriting changes.


That would be Auto-Versioning (to stay with Subversion):

Autoversioning is a feature whereby generic WebDAV clients can write to a DeltaV server (like mod_dav_svn), and the server performs commits silently in the background. This means that if you use Apache httpd as your Subversion server, then most modern operating systems can mount the repository as a network share, and non-technical users get "transparent" versioning for free. (Of course, technical users can still use Subversion clients to examine repository history.)