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

Other options

Click the Task settings tab to configure the advanced options for your backup task:

• Synchronize destination and source folders
• Send mail after backup
• Settings for security copies
• Execute external programs before and/or after backup
• Miscellaneous options

Synchronize destination with source folders

If one of the Synchronize options is selected (only available in Copy mode), source and destination (including all subdirectories) are compared before backing up and all files that do not exist (or no longer exist) at the source will be deleted from the backup directory. This ensures that you will have an identical copy of the source at the backup destination.
Synchronizing will not work with zip files at the destination, nor with the option One directory without full path if more than one source directory is selected for backing up.

Off

No files will be deleted from the destination directory or directories.

All files

All files that no longer exist at the source will be deleted from the destination. Any folders and files excluded from the backup will be also deleted.

Only selected files

All files that no longer exist at source and that had been selected for backup (see selection of subdirectories, files and types) will be deleted from the destination. Folders and files excluded from the backup will remain untouched.

Bear in mind that if synchronizing is selected, all files deleted from the source in error will also be removed from the destination on next backing up. To avoid this, you can select one of the following options:

• Use Recycle Bin: During synchronization files will not be irrecoverably deleted but moved to the Windows Recycle Bin so that you can recover them if needed. This option is only available if the destination is on a local fixed drive.
• Security backup on synchronization: All files missing from the source will not be deleted from the destination but renamed instead to <name>.sync.<ext>. So they can be restored if desired. This option is available also with backups on removable drives (USB) and network drives.

Mail delivery after backup For monitoring the backup process on a remote computer, the administrator can arrange for a report to be sent by mail. The backup log can be attached (optionally as a zip file). Required settings: SMTP server: URL of the SMTP server Port: Port number of the SMTP server (default: 25) Username: Name of the user account on the SMTP server (if required) Password: Password for this account Use secure connection: You can select whether the mail is to be delivered using a secure connection (TLS/SSL): No: Logon and mail data will be transfered in plain text TLS, if available: Before logon, a STARTTLS will be sent. If the server supports secure connections, this will then be used. If not, data will be transferred in the normal way (mode: ExplicitTLS). TLS: Before logon, a STARTTLS will be sent. If the server supports secure connections, this will then be used. If not, the connection will fail (mode: RequireTLS). SSL: A secure connection will be used on Port 465. If the server does not support this mode, then connection will fail (mode: ImplicitTLS). Sender: Mail address of the sender or any other text (in this case, a reply address is required). Reply address: Address for replying to the mail (optional) Recipients: Addresses of all persons who are to receive the report. Use the buttons at the right to add, remove or edit the entries. Subject: You can insert a brief text that is to be displayed in the recipient's subject field. Click the button to insert placeholders into the text (see screenshot): %taskname% - Name of the backup task %computer% - Name of the computer on which Personal Backup is installed %start% - Date and time when the backup started %end% - Date and time when the backup ended %duration% - Duration of backup in hours:minutes:seconds %status% - Status of backup (number of files copied, number of errors, etc.) If nothing is specified in this field, the subject will be set to default: Personal Backup: Backup on <Date> + <Time>. Log file: The log file of the backup just performed will be added as an attachment to the mail. You may prefer to send the log as a zip file. Send mail after action: Select whether a mail is to be sent after each backup, or only if errors have occurred. Test: To test the settings, a mail will be sent instantly.

Security copies

During Backup

If this box is checked, previous file versions at the destination will be retained, but with a modified name. This name will be the original name with a suffix added in front of the final extension. The following examples illustrate this:

• Fixed: <filename>.bak.<ext>[.gz|.enc]
  Only one security copy will be retained, this being the most-recent previous version.
• With timestamp of file: <filename>.2011-06-12-12-17.<ext>[.gz|.enc]
  A security copy of a previous version will be made during each backup, indicating the date and time of its last modification
• With date of backup: <filename>.2011-06-12.<ext>[.gz|.enc]
  A security copy of a previous version will be made during each backup, indicating the date it was backed up.
• With time of backup: <filename>.13-45-17.<ext>[.gz|.enc]
  A security copy of a previous version will be made during each backup, indicating the time it was backed up. If a security copy made on another day at the same time already exists, this will be overwritten.
• A certain number of previous versions:
<filename>.bak-1.<ext>[.gz|.enc], <filename>.bak-2.<ext>[.gz|.enc], ...
Any number of the most recently-made security copies will be retained up to a selected maximum. This option cannot be combined with the above placeholders for timestamp, etc.

If this option is not selected, the most-recent version will in any case be retained until backing up the file to a new version occurs. If an error occurs while copying the file, the most-recent previous version will be restored.

Note: When synchronizing is enabled, previous versions will be retained only for files still present at the source.

During synchronization

During synchronization, all files that do not exist in the source directories will be renamed instead of being deleted from the destination. As described above, a suffix will be inserted into the filename in front of the final extension. This may be fixed (default: <filename>.sync.<ext>[.gz|.enc]) or amended by a placeholder indicating the date and/or time of the backup. This makes it possible to restore files that were deleted from the source in error after a backup with synchronization.

In addition, with this option selected entire directories no longer present at the source will be renamed instead of being deleted from the destination. Directories missing from the source will be renamed by using a fixed prefix to the directory name (default: ~<directory name>) or a prefix containing the date and/or time of the backup.

On Restore and Cleanup, there are special functions to handle files and directories marked in this way.

Executing an external program before and/or after backup

An external program, a batch file or a script can be executed before and/or after each backup. This facility makes it possible during a backup to stop a currently-running service or program that locks its files against access by other applications and then to restart this afterwards (see this sample script for backing up Outlook files, but many other operations may also be realized in a similar way).

Clicking the Settings button will open a dialog box (see screenshot on right) where you can edit the required command lines. You can use the following placeholders:

• %dest%: Destination directory from the task. If the path contains a volume name this will be translated into the current drive letter.
• %zipname%: Name of the zip file (only available if selected as the destination).
• %sysdir%: Path of the system directory (usually: C:\Windows\System32)
• %<xxx>%: All placeholders that are allowed for destination directories (e.g. %date%).

When starting the external program, the placeholders are replaced by the current values. Bear in mind that with automatic backups, the command prompt will be displayed after starting a batch file only when the option for the status window is set to Wait for prompt or Wait only on error.

Clicking one of the folder buttons on the right of the dialog box will enable you to browse for the required application. If there are spaces within its path, the path must without fail be enclosed between quotation marks by hand.
 

Other settings:

• Wait until program terminates: Personal Backup will wait until the external application has terminated before it continues.
• Do not wait more than n s: Personal Backup will wait until the external application has terminated, but not longer than the specified time in seconds.
• Cancel backup if errorlevel equal to or greater than: An application that has been executed before the backup may return an ExitCode (which can, for example, be evaluated in batch files using the command ErrorLevel). The backup will only start if this value is less than the preset value (default = 1). Inside a batch script this value can be set to n using the commandEXIT /B n.
• Activate: The assigned application will be started only when this box is checked.
• Encrypt command lines in saved task: If confidential information (for example a password) is required to call the external application, you should check this option. The information will then not be saved in plain text in the backup task file.

Note: If you want to insert a pause after starting an external application, for example to wait for an external drive to start up, you will need to use a small batch script to call the program Wait from the program utility package.

Examples: (<path> refers to the path of the specific program or script)

1. To check whether an external drive (e.g. a USB drive) is available and, if applicable, powered up:

Insert <path>\CheckDrive.exe %dest% /p into then field "Execute before backup". (download the program CheckDrive).

2. To eject the disk after writing to a CD/DVD in drive D::

Insert <path>\eject.exe D: into the field Execute after backup (download the program the program EJECT by WebGeek, Inc. - dave@basicguru.com).

3. To delete a temporary folder before or after backup:

Insert cmd.exe /c <path>\deldir.cmd <folder> into the field. The batch file deldir.cmd should contain a line such as del C:\temp.

4. To delete certain files before or after backup:

Insert cmd.exe /c <path>\delfile.cmd <folder>\<mask> into the field. The batch file delfile.cmd should contain a line such as del C:\Temp\*.tmp.

5. To start a VB script after backup:

Insert %sysdir%\cscript.exe <script.vbs> into the field.

Miscellaneous options

Select the option from the list in the left window. The right-hand window displays the corresponding input screen. Changes must be confirmed by clicking the button.

Description for task

On clicking this button, you can insert a multiline description for the backup task. In the main window, this description is displayed as a tooltip when the mouse cursor is placed over the task name. The description is also shown in the start dialog.
 

Log settings

You can adjust the global log file settings individually for this backup task (e.g. with printout).

Processing of filenames

File and directory names can be changed during copying:

• Never: Leave all names unchanged
• To lower case: Convert names to lower case

• To UPPER CASE: Convert names to upper case
• Replace illegal characters: Filenames on network resources created by systems other than Windows may contain illegal characters. Select this option to replace such characters with an alternative (default: "-")

Junction points

In the NTFS file system you can insert hard links (junctions) to other directories. To create such a junction, use the console command MKLINK.
If you want to backup also the linked directories, select the option Allow junctions.
If you want to use a junction path for a backup destination, in addition select the option Use junction paths.
Note: With junctions, there is the inherent danger of endless recursions, for example when linking to a higher-level directory. The program will recognize and ignore such recursions.

Copy buffer

The program uses an internal buffer for copying and/or compressing files. The size of this buffer can be set in multiples of 1 kB. When using external drives (e.g. USB) you can speed up the copy process by changing the buffer size. The default value is 512 kB, but experimentation can be worthwhile.

Timeout on copying files

To prevent the program from hanging during file copying, for example when the destination is no longer available (as can happen on network connections), timeout monitoring is implemented. The default setting is 30 s, meaning that the backup process will be terminated if copying a block (see Copy buffer) takes longer than this. You can increase this time as required. To turn timeout monitoring off, set the time to zero.

Transfer speed

Sometimes, for example when backing up data via a network connection on a server, it is expedient to limit the data transmission rate. Other accesses to network resources are thereby affected less severely. The value can be specified as maximum transfer speed in kByte/s.