Directories
and select drive and directory (double click). The names of all subdirectories of the selected
directory are displayed in the upper list (including hidden and system directories). There are
two possibilities to add directories to the backup task:
- If no subdirectory is selected in the upper list a click on then button Add to task will
move the directory from the lower list (including all subdirectories as default, see
filter options) to the task directory list.
- If one or more directories are selected in the upper list only these (including subdirectories
as above) are moved after a click on the button to the task directory list.
Long names in the task directory list appear abbreviated so that begin and end of path are visible.
Moving the mouse over a such a name will display the full path as hint.
At the same time you add directories to the task list the file type lists in the lower
region of the window are updated. First all found types are displayed in the left list
(include these types) with their extension. For each type the number and the total size
of all files of this type in the selected directory (and subdirectories) is shown.
The size is visualized as a small bar. Green means low values (< 1kb), red
large values (> 1MB):
The total amount of needed space for the types to include and those
not to include is diplayed benath the type lists.
In the upper region of the window the total amount of space for the whole backup
(without compression) and date and time of last run for this backup task are displayed.
To remove a directory from the task list click on button Remove from task.
File types
You can select which file type you want to include and which you want to exclude from backup.
Click on one of the four arrow buttons or double click on one item in the type lists to
move it from left to right or reverse. Using the double arrows will move all types to
the reverse side.
Clicking the radio button only these or all except says the program what to
do with forthcoming files:
only these: new files of other types are not saved.
all except: new files of other types are always saved.
File filter
Clicking the Filter button pops up a window where you can select which files
you want to include in your backup:
Files which fulfill a filter condition like "D*.*",
Files which have a date in a given time span.
As default all files are seleted.
Further you can specify if the program shall search through all subdirectories or not (Default:
include all subdirectories).
The time span can be set in three way: all files which are older or newer as a specific date
or all files which fit into a given time span.
This selection is unique for each directory in the backup task and is displayed
as appendix to the directory name in the task list.
Options
Click on the tab Options to select more options for your backup task and to have a look
at your filter adjustments (see filter).
Compress
Select if you want all files to be compressed using the GZip algorithm. This method is
compatible with all standard archive programs (e.g. WinZip). Further you can specify
which files types are to exclude from compressing (see packing of files).
Backup destination
By default you will find separate directories for each drive in the backup directory:
LwC, LwD, etc (drives separated).
You can suppress this behaviour, but this mode only works if your backup task uses just
one drive as source and you start your backup manually (click on Start button).
When you are using the startup feature of the program for automatic backup, drives are
always separated to prevent from lost of data if you use identical path names on different
drives.
You can select between two modes:
clone of source: The source path is identical to the destination path. If you
specify for instance E:\ as destination you will get a 1:1 copy of your selected
directory structure on the source drive on driv E:.
in one directory: The source path will be ignored. All subdirectories of the source
path are copied in the same destination path.
You should store your backup tasks for future use as a file (Extension BUJ)
on your disc. When starting the program the first time a task directory is created at
"My files\PersBackup". You change this preference using the menu item Options/Task directory.
The backup tasks are stored as ASCII files so you can read them. But it is recommended
not to change such a file with a text editor, use instead the program "Personal Backup".
Save task as new file
Your existing and ev. modified task is stored under a new filename.
A saved task (BUJ file) is loaded and can be modified (see above).
A saved task list is added to the actual task.
The selected directory in the task list is saved as own task.
List of recent used tasks
The task menu contains a list of the 15 most recent saved task. Click on the list to
load a task.
The actual backup task is executed immediately. On the screen you will see a window
with a progress bar. To cancel the backup click the button.

When the backup is done the window shows you how many files were copied actually and
if errors have accured. Close the window by clicking the Done button.
Click the register tab Startup to have a look at the options for automatic
backup.
First you have to select which backup tasks are to be exececuted on startup. Click
then [+]-Button to add the backup task shown in the main window, click the
Folder-Button, to add any saved task. If you want to remove a task from the
startup list click the [-]-Button.
There are four different ways to start the automatic backup:
- always on login
- Each time the user logs onto the Windows system (or Windows is started on single user
systems) the selected backup tasks are executed. To do this a link is added to
the startup menu of Windows. A few seconds after login the program starts
and copies all changed files to the backup directory. On the screen you will see
the progress bar as described above.
- dayly on login
- The program executes as above, but just once per day after first login. The
next backup is done on the following day at the earliest.
- dayly at hh:mm
- After starting windows the program hides itself in the task bar (lower right corner of
the screen). The backup is executed once per day when the preselected time
hh:mm is reached.
- on logoff
- After starting windows the program hides itself in the task bar.
When the user logs off or shuts down the system an automatic backup is done.
In all four cases Personal Backup adds itself to the startup menu of Windows using
the command line option /auto.
When the box end automatically is checked the backup status window is closed
after a few seconds by the program. Otherwise the user has to close this window for
confirmation by striking the -key or clicking the button.
In the lower part of the startup panel you can adjust if you want to have a backup
schedule. The destination of the backup can change dayly or weekly. The total number of
cycles is selectable (1..31). In the backup directory you now will find subdirectories for
each drive of the kind "LwXnn" (X = drive letter, nn = actual cycle).
dayly schedule: When you have selected 5 cycles the destination directory changes
every day from LwX01 to LwX05. Then it starts from beginning (Lw01).
A special case is cycle of 7 days. The destination directory corresponds to the day of
week (LwX01 for sunday, Lw02 for monday, etc.)
weekly schedule: The destination directory changes in the same way as described
above (LwX01,...). The counter is incremented always on monday. If you had no backup on
monday this is done on the next following day.
Clicking with the left mouse button on the symbol in the taskbar will show you the
schedule of the next automatic backup, clicking with the right button will popup
a menu:
- Personal Backup
- Open the program desktop
- Start Backup
- Execute the predefined backup task (see above).
- Quit Program
- Remove Personal-Backup from the task bar.
Click the register tab File types to have a look at the user type lists.
Each preselection of types (see above) can be stored for
future use. Each list is stored under a unique name. Clicking the buttons
will perform one of the following functions:
- New
- The actual file type selection is stored. Insert a new name and the list
is diplayed in the right window.
- Update
- An existing list is updated by the actual selection.
- Apply
- Use the file type list to select the files of your backup task.
- Delete
- Delete the displayed file type list.
In the case of data loss or if you want to move your backup data to another place open the
Restore Window. You can select which directory you want to restore and where the
files are to be moved. The destination can be any folder on your disk. Select if
existing files shall be overwritten in any case or just when they are older as those
from your backup.
From time to time you should delete older files from your backup. Personal-Backup does this
for you. You have several options to select file types and/or a file age.
Deleting files makes only sense if these files are no longer existing in the original directory.
Otherwise they would be copied at the next backup again. If you want you can also do
a cleanup using any available file manager.
when backing up text files or data bases you can spare a lot of space by using a compressing
method. Small files and types like GIF or JPG need not to compressed. By clearing the
check box in Backup task options/Compress files you inhibit compressing for all files
(Default: compress files)
You can select which file types you do not want to be compressed. Global preferences
are made in the menu Options/Compress, individual for each back up task by
clicking the button Types not to compress.
If you want, Personal-Backup can keep a protocol file of all backup actions:
- Short protocol:
- Date and time of backup
- Destination directories
- Backup status and number of copied and checked files
- Long Protocol
- Date and time of backup
- List of all copied files and errors
- Destination directories
- Backup status and number of copied and checked files
Further you can select if also to keep a protocol while restoring or cleaning up.
If errors occur on these actions you will find in a long protocol which files
were affected.
A view window is opened. Click one of the buttons to print or erase the protocol.
When you exit the program all preferences including your selections for automatic backup
are stored (see PersBackup.ini in your personal windows folder).
When starting the program via a desktop link or from another program you can define
its behaviour by one of the following command line options:
- none:
- The program starts with its normal desktop window.
- [filename]:
- Loads the backup task [filename] on startup. If no path is specified in
[filename] the program searches in the task directory.
- /auto:
- Start the automatic backup. (A link using this
option is inserted from the program into the startup section of your windows
start menu when you have selected one of the automatic backup options).
- /force:
- Start the preselected automatic backup immediately.
- [filelist] /force:
- Start a backup of all tasks you have specified in the filelist (separate
filenames by spaces).
This option is very useful in connection with the windows task scheduler. So it
is possible to execute several backup tasks at individual times. In this case
you should not use one of the internal functions of Personal-Backup to start a backup
Sample: PersBackup.exe C:\Backup\BackupA.buj C:\Backup\BackupB.buj /force
- /shutdown:
- Start the preselected automatic backup and shut down the system (also
useable as [filelist] /shutdown).
If you want to make a backup before shutting down your computer create a
shortcut on your desktop using this command line option. For shut down
double click this icon.
Hint: Windows 2000/XP shuts down the system, but does not switch off the computer
(for this see option /poweroff). Windows 98 makes a power off after this option.
- /poweroff:
- This option is similar to /shutdown, but the computer is switched off after
shutdown (only Windows 2000/XP - on Windows 98 use instead the option /shutdown.
- /logoff:
- This option is similar to /shutdown, but just makes a logoff
of the current user.
- /nodrives:
- On automatic backup no drive shortcuts are created in the destination directory
(see Option "clone of source"). You can use this option
togther with all other command line options, but you should be careful as
it is possible to have conflicts if you are using a backup task from different
drives. Scheduling the backup to different destinations
is not possible with this option.
- Author:
- Dr. Jürgen Rathlev
-
Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics
- University of Kiel
- 24098 Kiel, Olshausenstr. 40
- E-Mail: rathlev@physik.uni-kiel.de
- Acknowledgements:
- The program was created under Borland Delphi 5.
- Data compressing uses the ZLib routines from Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.