Personal Backup Version 5.2
	© 2012, J. Rathlev, IEAP, Kiel University

Automatic backup

Click the Auto Backup tab to display the selections for automatic backup. You can start 8 different backup tasks automatically at various times each with individual settings. Prior to that, each task must have been configured and saved.
A click on a region of the screenshot on the right will lead to help specific for that region:

Show icon in notification area

If any one of the 8 tasks is active (see Perform automatic tasks below), this box will be checked and the program will not be terminated when closing the main window, but will continue running in the background. The icon will then be displayed in the Windows notification area (usually at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen). Under Windows 7 this icon may initially be hidden, in which case click the arrow adjacent to the notification area to view all hidden icons. To show the icon permanently, right-click an empty area on the taskbar, click Properties and under Notification area, click Customize and select the option Show icon and notifications.
Left-clicking the icon will open a status window, right-clicking it will call a context menu from which one of several actions can be initiated (e.g. backup, logoff).

Click this checkbox as follows:

• Checked: The program remains running in the background even if no time schedule is configured. A backup can be started manually using the right-click context menu of the icon.
• Unchecked: All automatic tasks will be temporarily disabled. If the program is closed, it must be restarted manually to reactivate the configured automatic tasks.

Selecting a backup task

On clicking one of the buttons 1 through 8, the name and all options for that particular automatic backup will be displayed.

Beneath the row of task-number buttons are three additional buttons with the following functions:

		Add current task for automatic execution: the task shown in the large center window will replace the selected automatic task. A new task must be created beforehand and saved to disk.
		Load task for automatic execution: select and open the desired task using Windows Explorer.
		Remove automatic task: the selected task will merely be removed from the list of automatic tasks, not deleted, so that its configuration can be used again later.

On clicking the button, all details of the task will be displayed in the center window. If you have selected Preferences ⇒ View ⇒ Show automatic task in the main menu, the task details will have been displayed immediately after selecting one of the task-number buttons.

Start internal automatic backup

There are six different options for starting an automatic backup, together with the option to disable this:

Never

Disable this backup task for automatic execution

Always on logon

Each time the user logs onto Windows (or, on single-user systems, starts Windows), this backup task will be executed. To do this, a shortcut is added to the startup menu of Windows. A few seconds after logon (or startup) the program begins this backup task. The progress bar is displayed on the screen just as happens after starting manually. The delay time between logon (or startup) and backup can be preset by the user.

Daily on logon

The program performs the backup as above, but just once per day after the first logon (or startup). The next backup will then take place after the first logon (or startup) on the following day.

Daily at hh:mm

After the user logs on (or starts Windows), the program is launched automatically but remains hidden except for the icon displayed in the Windows notification area. The backup task will be started once per day at the selected time hh:mm.

On logoff after ..

After the user logs on (or starts Windows), the program is launched automatically but remains hidden except for the icon displayed in the Windows notification area. The backup task will be started when the user logs off (or shuts the computer down). If the user has previously logged on on the same day, the backup will only be started after the specified time of day. This prevents starting backups on multiple logoffs or system-initiated restarts.
Note: Because there is no way for the program to detect whether a Windows option such as "Restart" was selected by the user on initiating shutdown, the program will always perform the action selected in the main menu Preferences ⇒ Shutdown (that is to say either and power off or and restart).

On first logon on ..

After the user first logs on (or starts Windows) on the selected day of the week, the backup will be started.

On first logoff ..

After the user first logs off (or shuts the computer down) on the selected day of the week, the backup will be started.

If at least one automatic task is activated, the program adds itself to the Windows startup menu using the command line option /auto.

Status window

During an automatic backup, by default a window opens displaying the progress of the backup process. When the backup has been completed, the window displays the status of the backup (number of files copied, number of errors).

The drop-down list beneath the Status window contains options permitting you to control the behaviour of this window, including whether a user prompt is to be opened on serious errors (e.g. destination drive not ready) inviting the user to resolve the problem.

Wait for prompt

By default for backups on logon, the status window must be closed by the user. If the destination is not ready, the user will be prompted to switch on the drive or insert a volume.

Close automatically

By default for backups at a set time or on logoff, the status window will remain visible for a preset period and will then close automatically. The delay can be selected at Options ⇒ View ⇒ Wait time after auto backup in the main menu. The program will not wait if the destination drive is not ready.

Not visible

The progress and status windows will not be displayed. Instead, the icon in the Windows notification area will blink. Clicking this icon will show or hide the progress window. The program will not wait if the destination drive is not ready.

Wait only on error

The status window will remain visible if an error occurred. If the destination is not ready, the user will be prompted to switch on the drive or insert a volume.

Not visible except on errors

The progress and status windows will not be displayed (see above), but the status window will open if an error has occurred. The program will not wait if the destination drive is not ready.

Info

Clicking this button will display a list of all pending automatic backups.
 

Alternating backups

The schedule of the selected automatic backup is displayed in this window. To change the schedule, click the Settings button.

Recurrence:

In the upper area (see screenshot), you can select when the destination directory is to change:

Never

No alternating schedule is configured. The backup will always be written to the same destination directory using the mode determined by the backup task.

Daily:

If you select for example 5 cycles, the destination directory will change each day from BD01 to BD05. After 5 days the sequence is repeated from the beginning again (BD01).
If one of the daily modes is selected within Start internal automatic backup (see above), the backup will occur once daily. Otherwise, it will occur on every logon or on every logoff.
Selecting 7 cycles or a multiple of this, will result in a schedule based on the days of the week (see below).

Weekly:

The destination directories will be BW01, BW02, etc. and the backup will be carried out as configured (e.g. in Daily on logoff mode) into the respective destination directory for the current week. On the first possible day of the following week, usually on the Monday, the destination directory will be changed.

1 per week:

The backup will be carried out as described above, but occurring just once a week on the first possible day of the week.

Cycle

Here, you can adjust how many cycles are to be used. If an alternating schedule has been configured, you will find one subdirectory per cycle beneath the destination directory "BDnn" for a daily schedule (nn = current number of cycle) or "BWnn" for a weekly schedule (nn = current number of cycle).

The number of cycles to be used in the backup schedule can be selected by setting the Count value. Depending on your selection, the given number of days or weeks will elapse before the first backup is overwritten.
Cycles of 7, 14, 21, .. days are a special case in that the destination directory will correspond to the day of the week (ISO 8601): BD01 (08, ..) for Monday, BD02 (09 ,..) for Tuesday, etc.
The day of the week for the Full backup can be selected.

The field Current shows the number of the cycle currently valid. If necessary this value can be adjusted by the user (except cycles bound to days of the week).

Backup mode

These options are only available when an alternating schedule mode is selected. You can choose one of the following settings:

As in task

The backup mode (Copy, Full (new), Differential or Incremental) is determined by the selections under the Task settings tab.

1 x Full + Differential

The first backup of the schedule is a Full backup. This means that all files in the destination folder will first be deleted and then all selected files will be copied resetting the archive bit. Succeeding backups will be carried out using the Differential method, i.e. all files in the destination folder will first be deleted and then only those files that have the archive bit set will be copied. The archive bits remains unchanged.

1 x Full + Incremental

The first backup of the schedule is a Full backup. This means that all files in the destination folder will first be deleted and then all selected files will be copied resetting the archive bit. Succeeding backups will be carried out using the Incremental method, i.e. all files in the destination folder will first be deleted and then only those files that have the archive bit set will be copied. The archive bits will be reset.
If such an incremental backup had already been performed on the current day (e.g. on multiple logoffs), the files already copied on this day are not deleted from the destination folder. All newly-changed files are copied according to their archive bit.

2 x Full + Differential

In this mode, the preset number of cycles will be run twice. Two Full backups will be made (e.g. with 5 cycles, performed as the 1st and 6th step). All other actions will be as for 1 x Full + Differential.

2 x Full + Incremental

This mode is similar to the above except that the Incremental mode is used for the backups.

Note: If an alternating mode is selected, a letter is appended to the subdirectories to indicate the backup type: F = full backup, D = differential backup und I = incremental backup.

Backup priority

You can adjust the priority of the automatic backup process vis-à-vis other applications: if you select "Very low", other running processes will be given the highest priority, higher than with the "Normal" setting. If you select "High", the backup process will be given the highest priority, possibly causing other applications to run more slowly.

Information on automatic backups

At the bottom of the dialog box (upper screenshot), you will find information concerning the currently-selected automatic backup task:

• The date and time last run
• The log settings