Real-time backup with Personal Backup Watchdog (PbWatchdog)

The Personal Backup Watchdog (PbWatchdog) program monitors selected directories (max. 25) and their subdirectories for changes to the files they contain, e.g. if they are rewritten or the timestamp changes. This information is collected over an adjustable period of time (e.g. 30 minutes). After this time has elapsed, the affected files are copied to the backup directory. The settings for this (filtering of directories and files and optional compression) are taken from an associated task created with Personal Backup.

The program is part of the installation package for Personal Backup 6 and is intended as a supplement to normal backups. It offers the following advantages:

• Greater security: The changed files are backed up at shorter intervals. The smallest time interval that can be set between two backups is 30 seconds.
• Greater speed: As the changed files are recognized during operation, it is no longer necessary to search through the file inventory for the backup. This is particularly advantageous if the daily backup has become very extensive and it takes a long time to search through the file inventory when updating due to a poor network connection.

Recommended procedure

1. Creating a backup task

   First, a backup task must be created with Personal Backup for the directory to be monitored. The target can be on a local, internal or external hard disk or on a network server. An FTP connection is not supported. The backup method must be a backup as individual files and either in separate directories for drives or as original complete directory structure. The files can be backed up as a 1:1 copy or compressed (gz or zip). It is not possible to encrypt the files. Update must be selected as the backup mode.

   The selection of subdirectories and files can be user-defined. It is recommended to exclude all subdirectories that do not contain important data, e.g. those with temporary files. The same applies to files and file types that do not need to be backed up. The task is then saved in the usual way.

   Note: The task can also contain several directories to be backed up. One of these can then be selected when configuring the monitoring.

2. Running a basic backup

   The backup task is then started once manually. It is recommended to check the backup thereafter whether all the desired files have been backed up correctly. If this is not the case, the backup task should be corrected accordingly and the backup restarted. It is not necessary to set a schedule.

3. Real-time updating of the backup:

   Further updates are then carried out with PbWatchdog. The procedure is described below.

Important note: The procedure described only works reliably if PbWatchdog is always active in the background. To ensure this, you should activate the Start on logon option in the menu. This means that the program is automatically ready for use. You can recognize this by the small icon in the Windows notification area.

Configuring the real-time backup

All directories entered for monitoring are displayed at the top left in the form of a list. A blue arrow indicates that monitoring is active for the respective directory. It changes color to red when changed files are saved from the directory.
After clicking on an entry, the associated backup task is displayed on the right (e.g. the one configured as described above), the target directory and the most important backup settings are displayed. The filters set in the backup task for subdirectories and files are displayed after clicking on the second button button from the top right (see figure below right). Editing the settings can be made by clicking on the button at the top right with Personal Backup. Ongoing monitoring (see below) must be interrupted to do this.

Adding a directory to be monitored

The prerequisite is that a backup task for the backup of this directory has previously been created (see above). After clicking on the Add directory button, this backup task is first selected and one of the directories registered there to be backed up is selected. If only one directory is specified in the task, this will be used automatically. The selected directory is added to the list displayed at the top left. The backup settings are displayed on the right.

Retain previous file versions

Here you can set how many older file versions are to be retained in the destination. The maximum number is 9. The oldest version is deleted when a new backup is made.
Example: You are backing up a file called Test.txt using the gz compression. If 3 previous versions are to be retained, the following files can be found in the target, with ...bak-3.... being the oldest:
Test.txt.gz, Test.bak-1.txt.gz, Test.bak-2.txt.gz, Test.bak-3.txt.gz
If a zero is set as number, older file versions in the destination are overwritten immediately with every backup.

• Backup check every: The time interval for the backup of changed files can be set between 30 seconds and 12 hours. Once monitoring has started, the remaining time until the next backup is displayed graphically and as a numerical value under Next backup. You can also see the number of changed files detected since the last backup.
• Keep running in background: If this option is activated, the program window closes as soon as monitoring is started. The program continues to run in the background. A small icon is displayed in the Windows notification area.

In the list below, all backed up files are logged line by line with the time of their backup. At the end of the line you will find the number of retained previous versions of this file in brackets. Any errors that have occurred are also displayed.
Optionally, this log can be written to a file. It is located in the PersBackup6 subdirectory in the application data of the logged-in user (see here). A new log file is created for each day. The following functions are linked to the buttons on the right-hand side:

• Display of an older log
• Copying the current log display to the clipboard
• Deleting the current log display

When the program is running in the background, a small icon is displayed in the Windows notification area (usually at the bottom right):

• Monitoring is switched off.
• Monitoring is active, no changed files have been detected yet.
• Monitoring is active, changed files have been detected.

If the icon is not visible, it has been hidden by the Windows system. You must then click on the small arrow (Show hidden icons) to display it. To keep it permanently visible, call up the Windows taskbar settings and click on Select icons for display on the taskbar under Info area. In the list, search for Personal Backup Watchdog and set the switch to the right of it to On.

After clicking on the small icon, a window opens in which all active backups, the time remaining until the next backup and the number of files detected are displayed (see also figure below right). Clicking on the middle button opens the program window, clicking on the left button displays a list of the files changed since the last backup.

Right-click on the icon in the Windows notification area to open a context menu that can be used to stop and restart monitoring.

Once the settings described above have been made, monitoring can be started by clicking on the button with the blue arrow. All directories marked with a tick in the list, including all subdirectories, are now monitored for changes. This is indicated in the list by a blue arrow in front of the respective directory. In the Next backup field, the remaining time until the next backup is displayed symbolically and as a number, as well as the number of files that have changed since the last backup. By clicking on the small symbol to the right, you can display a list of these files for checking purposes.
If you click on the button with the blue arrow again, the backup of the changed files is started immediately, i.e. unscheduled. Further monitoring is not affected by this.
Monitoring can be stopped at any time by clicking on the stop button. Accumulated changed files are finally saved.

Note:

• No changes should be made to the backup task while monitoring is running. To do this, the monitoring must be stopped and then restarted.
• When the user logs off or the computer is switched off, the program remembers the list of changed files registered up to that point and starts the corresponding backup the next time the user logs on.

Menu

Click on the second button at the bottom right (Hamburger button) to open the program menu

• Start on logon - The program is started automatically when the user logs in.
• Reset window to default size - The size of the dialog window is reset to the default size.
• Help - Show program help (F1)
• Version info - Show the current version of the program