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

Overview

Personal Backup is a program for saving personal data to any destination folder. This folder may be located on a local fixed or removable drive, on a Windows network server or on an FTP server. It runs under Windows 7 (32- & 64-bit), Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003/2008.
You can configure and store as many backup tasks as you wish. The selection of the files to be backed up is made on a by-folder basis. All subfolders are included automatically, but the user can exclude or include any subdirectories from or in the backup by selection or by filter. Additional criteria are selection by file type, file age and/or file name filter.
At the destination folder the original drives (C:, D:, etc.) appear as subdirectories named LwC, LwD, etc. The original directory structure remains unchanged beneath these folders. All files may be compressed in gzip, either in toto or separated by subfolder as zip files. Optionally all data can be AES algorythm-encrypted.
Performing the backup can be done manually or automatically. By default during the backup the program checks whether the file to be saved is newer than one already backed up. Only files with newer timestamps and, of course, files not yet have been backed up are saved. An alternate criteria is the archive bit of the files.
Automatic backup can be started on login, at a selectable time of day, on logout or on shutdown. You can make scheduled backups with destination paths changing daily or weekly.
For individual schedules it is easy to start a backup using Windows Task Scheduler. The configuration can be made using a program internal wizard.
In addition there are functions to verify and restore backed-up data and to delete selected files and directories.
The program has full Unicode support which overcomes the ANSI (ISO-8859) filenames limitations on copying files. Also pathlengths may be longer than 260 characters.

Note: Personal Backup cannot be used to save and restore system files.

The functions in detail:

• Wizard for the creation of new backup tasks
• Unlimited number of configurable backup tasks
• Backup of complete directory structures
• Start backup on demand or run automatically
• Backup via FTP (optionally with proxy and FTPS (FTP over SSL))
• Backup options:
• As separate files:
• Copy files with or without data compression (gzip) using the original directory structure and drive identifier
• do. without drive identifier
• do. separated by root directory
• do. into one folder without root directory
• Into zip files:
• One zip file (supports files > 4GB)
• do. per root directory
• do. per subdirectory without drive identifier
• do. per subdirectory with drive identifier
• Include or exclude selected subdirectories
• Filter settings for filenames (optionally regular expressions), file attributes, file age and file size
• Selection of file types
• Optional encryption using AES (zip-compatible)
• Adjustable time gap for timestamp comparison
• Running of external programs or scripts before and after backup
• File preview to check filter settings
• Placeholders for date in target directory and zip filename
• Optional log file with printout
• Optional mail delivery after backup with status report and log (also TLS)
• Internal backup schedules:
• 8 individually-configurable automatic tasks are supported at different times, on logon or logoff or once per week on logon
• Several types of alternating backups
• Wizard for using Windows Task Scheduler for backups
• Extra tool PbPlaner to create and configure alternating backups using Windows Task Scheduler
• Comprehensive command line options to automate actions e.g. using the Windows Task Scheduler
• Automatic check for updates on starting the program
• Internal restore function of backed-up files:
• From backup into single files
• From backup into zip files (single or folder-separated)
• Dialog for selecting files for restore
• Restore using FTP connection
• Automatic decryption
• Extra tool PbRestore to restore single files (even when compressed and/or encrypted)
• Function for deletion of files and/or directories:
• Selection by filters and/or age
• Synchronize backup directories
• Function for verification of backed up files

Languages

The current version supports German and English. When starting the program for the first time the language setting is retrieved from the Windows system. The menu item Preferences ⇒ Languages lets you change this setting. The program saves this for further use. From Version 5.1 onwards changing the language no longer requires a program restart.