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PersBackup

Personal Backup

© 2001 − 2021, Dr. J. Rathlev

  Time-controlled automatic backups

Click the Time schedules button on the control panel to display the settings for time-controlled automatic backups. The left window shows a summary of all upcoming backups. You can start up to 16 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 below will lead to help specific for that region:

Backups using Windows Task Scheduler My backup tasks Additional tools Close programm Keep running in background Run utilitiy programs Open menu Select backup task Remove task Name of selected task Select backup schedule Schedule settings Configuration of alternating schedule Adjust backup priority Status information Behavior of status window Edit selected task Configure time schedule Run backup immediately Copy time schedule to clipboard

Selecting a backup task

On clicking one of the buttons 1 through 16, the name of the backup task and the associated settings for automatic start will be displayed.

Beneath are two buttons with the following functions:

Add task   Select a saved task: a dialog will open to select the desired backup task for automatic execution. Then, you can configure the time schedule saved under the selected number (1..16) as described below.
Remove   Remove the time schedule for a task: the time schedule will be disabled, but the task file will be retained so that its configuration can be used again later.

Backup time schedule

There are six different options for starting an automatic backup together with the options to disable this or to start the backup by request:

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 folder of the Windows start menu. 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 selected time
The backup will be performed at the specified time on the selected days of the week. A shortcut is added to the startup folder of the Windows start menu so that after the user logs on (or starts the computer), the program is launched automatically. It will remain hidden in the background to perform the backup at the specified time which will be indicated by a small Icon icon displayed in the Windows notification area. If the computer is switched off or is hibernating at this time, the backup will be caught up on as soon as possible.
Always on logoff
The backup task will be started automatically each time 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.
If this option is selected, every time after the user logs on (or switches the computer on), the program is launched automatically but remains hidden except for the Icon icon displayed in the Windows notification area.
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 for shutdown in the preferences.
On first logon
After the user first logs on (or starts Windows) on the selected days 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 days of the week, the backup will be started.
By request
The backup can only be started using the command line and parameter #0 (e.g. from a batch script), via a Desktop shortcut using the selection All "By request" or the context menu in the taskbar using the same selection All "By request". In each case you specify any combination of days of the week. You will find more information about this mode in the tips and tricks section.

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

Note: All these settings will be saved automatically by the program.

Run unscheduled backup

Clicking this button will start the selected automatic backup immediately.

Copy time schedule to clipboard

Clicking this button will copy a list of all configured backup schedules to the Windows clipboard. You can insert this into any document using the associated text editor.

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 behavior 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
During the backup a progress window is displayed. The status window must be closed by the user. This is the default setting for backups on logon. If the destination is not ready, the user will be prompted to switch on the drive or insert a volume.
Close automatically
During the backup a progress window is displayed. The status window will remain visible for a preset period and will then close automatically. This is the default setting for backups at a set time or on logoff. The delay can be selected in the preferences dialog under the View options. If the destination drive is not ready the user will not be prompted.
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. If the destination drive is not ready the user will not be prompted
Wait only on errors
During the backup a progress window is displayed. The status window will remain visible if an error occurred. Otherwise it will be closed automatically after the preset period. 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 windows will not be displayed (see above). The status window at the end of a backup will be opened only if errors have occurred. If the destination drive is not ready the user will not be prompted.

Schedules

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 left 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 steps per cycle, 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 steps per cycle 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.

Steps

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

Depending on your selection, the given number of days or weeks will elapse before the first backup is overwritten.
Daily backups with 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.
In this case the day of the week for the first backup can be selected.

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

Full backup on

This option is only available if the daily backup cycles are bound to the days of the week (see above). You can select the day of the week on which the full backup shall be performed.

Start backup cycle

This option is only available if the daily backup cycles are bound to the days of the week (see above). You can select whether the backup cycle shall be started on the day of the week next scheduled for the full backup or immediately on the same or following day. This means that the full backup will be caught up automatically at the next scheduled backup. For example, if the full backup is planned for Monday and the alternating schedule is newly configured on Thursday to be executed daily at 18:00, the full backup for Monday will be caught up on the same day at 18:00.

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 As in task + Differential
The first backup of the schedule is a complete backup using the settings from the task: 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 As in task + Incremental
The first (complete) backup of the schedule will be performed as described above for Differential mode.
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 As in task + Differential
In this mode, the selected cycle will be run twice. Two complete backups will be made (e.g. with 5 steps per cycle, performed as the 1st and 6th step). All other actions will be as for 1 x As in task + Differential.
2 x As in task + 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 and I = incremental backup.


Backup priority

You can adjust the priority of the file copying processes with respect to other applications: if you select "Very low", other running processes will decelerated less than with the "Normal" setting. If you select "High", the file copying processes will be given a higher priority, possibly causing other applications to run more slowly.

Information on automatic backups

At the bottom right you will find information concerning the currently-selected automatic backup task:

Clicking the View button will display the log of the selected automatic task.


J. Rathlev, 24222 Schwentinental, Germany, July 2020