Personal Backup
	© 2001 − 2021, Dr. J. Rathlev

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. The 32-bit version runs under Windows 7, 8 and 10 (32- & 64-bit), Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, the 64-bit only under Windows 7, 8 and 10 (64-bit) and Windows Server 2008R2/2012/2016/2019.
The selection of the files to be backed up is made on a by-folder basis. All sub-folders 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.
Within the destination folder, the original drives (C:, D:, etc.) appear as subdirectories named DrvC, DrvD, etc. The original directory structure remains unchanged beneath these folders. Optionally all data can be compressed and/or AES algorithm-encrypted.
You can create and save as a file as many backup tasks as you wish. Performing the backup can be done manually or automatically using a time schedule. The program offers several options for this: on logon, on logoff or at a fixed time of day on selected days of the week. Alternatively, it is easy to start a backup using Windows Task Scheduler for individual schedules. The configuration can be made using the program internal wizard.
In addition it is possible to call a one-click backup of a directory with all its files and subdirectories using the Windows Explorer context menu. The destination directory and the other settings (backup mode, compression, encryption, etc.) will be taken from a selectable task (the default task).
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.
In addition there are functions to verify and restore backed-up data and to delete selected files and directories.
The program offers full Unicode support for desktop and file copying. This overcomes the ANSI (ISO-8859) filename limitations on copying files. Additionally, path-lengths may be longer than 260 characters.

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

The functions in detail:

• Control panel with summary of the user's backup tasks and associated time schedules
• Wizard for the creation of new backup tasks
• Unlimited number of configurable backup tasks
• Backup of complete directory structures
• Function to backup selected single files
• Start backup on demand or run automatically using a time schedule
• One-click backups of directories via the Windows Explorer context menu
• Backup via FTP (optionally with proxy and FTPS (FTP over SSL))
• Backup options:
  • Backup as separate files:
    All files will be copied either unchanged (1:1) or with data compression (gzip or zip).
    • Files are backed up using the original directory structure and a drive identifier (default mode)
    • do. using the original directory structure, but without drive identifier
    • do. separated by root directory
    • do. into one folder without root directory
  • Backup as zip archive:
    Optionally a maximum size can be specified for zip archives. In this case they will be split into separate files of appropriate size.
    • One zip file (files > 4 GB supported)
    • do. per root directory
    • do. per subdirectory without drive identifier
    • do. per subdirectory with drive identifier
  • User-definable list of file types not be compressed (e.g. for files that are themselves compressed, such as pdf, jpg, docx, odt)
  • Integrated function to use Volume Shadow Copies (VSS) on backup
    
  • Placeholders for date, etc. in target directory name and zip filename
  • Many choices for files and directories:
    • Include or exclude selected subdirectories
    • Filter settings for filenames (optionally regular expressions), file attributes, file age and file size
    • Selection of file types: manually or using a filter mask, display for file types with sorting by name, count or size
  • File preview to check filter settings
  • Optional encryption using AES (zip-compatible)
  • Adjustable time gap for timestamp comparison
  • Running of external programs or scripts before and after backup
  • Optional synchronization of backup directories with source directories (alternatively before or after backup) using one of three modes
  • Optional creation of security copies: retain an adjustable number of previous versions of the backed-up files with selectable maximum age
  • Optional copy and restore of alternate data streams and document summaries (both only NTFS) as well as permissions (only NTFS and network)
  • Optional backup and restore of junctions (only NTFS)
  • Optional password protection when overwriting task file
  • Optional mail delivery after an action (e.g. backup) with status report and attached log (also TLS)
  • Optional log file of all actions (e.g. backup and restore) with printout
  • Optional log of FTP and SMTP communication to debug connection issues
  • Function for deleting old log files
  • Creation of desktop shortcuts to start selected backups easily, optionally with subsequent shutdown, log off or hibernation
• Up to 16 internal time controlled automatic backups:
  • Always on logon
  • Once per day on the first logon
  • Once on selectable days of the week at a specified time
  • Always on logoff (or shutdown) after a specified time of day
  • On first logon on selectable days of the week
  • On first logoff (or shutdown) on selectable days of the week
  • Several types of alternating backups
• Wizard for using Windows Task Scheduler for backups
• Comprehensive command line options to automate actions e.g. using Windows Task Scheduler
• Automatic check for updates on starting the program
• Restore of backed-up data
  • using the internal function:
    • Restore of complete directory trees
      • backed up as single files
      • backed up as zip files (single or folder-separated)
      • backed up as single files using FTP connection
    • Option to select particular files by filter for filename and/or age
    • Option to select particular files manually in a dialog
    • Automatic decryption on restore
  • using the extra tool PbRestore:
    • Restore single selected files (even when compressed and/or encrypted)
    • Restore complete directory trees backed up as single files
    • Restore files from an alternating schedule backed up as single files
    • Restore files from zip archives (even when encrypted)
• Verification of backed-up files
• Deletion of files and/or directories:
  • Selection by filters and/or age
  • Synchronize backup directories

Additional tools in the program package

• TbBackup: Backup of Thunderbird data
• PbStarter: Run backups under a different account as protection against ransomware
• PbPlaner: Create alternating backup schedules for execution with Windows Task Scheduler
• PbRestore: Restore backed-up single files, directories and files from alternating schedules (even compressed and/or encrypted files)
• PbMon: Perform real-time backups
• PbUninstall: Uninstalls the program with optional deletion of associated user files

Languages

Many European languages are supported. Available in the current version are German, English, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Hungarian. When starting the program for the first time, the language setting is retrieved automatically from the Windows system and selected if listed above. Otherwise English is used as language. The menu item Preferences ⇒ Languages lets you change this setting without any need for the program to be restarted. This setting is applied to subsequent program starts.