Starting IdleBackup
To start the program manually, double click the icon "IdleBackup" on the desktop.
It is also possible to start the program automatically when windows is started.
To do this enable the checkmark 'Autostart IdleBackup. The next time when windows is
started, the program will autostart minimized. To open the user interface, click the
dekstop icon or the icon of IdleBackup in the system tray (lower right part of screen).
If the program was minimized, an icon is visible in the right part of the task bar
(the system tray). If you want to open the program user interface then click
the dekstop icon or icon in the system tray bar.
Selection of what to backup
By means of the explorer tree directories or files can be selected to backup.
These settings will be memorized. On the bottom pane the selected result is displayed again.
Selection of the destination backup path
Press button 'Change settings'. There are 3 backup modes. These are
respectively the uncompressed Mirror backup (=Full backup), the Full backup
(compressed to zip) and the Sequential backup (compressed to zip).
See below.
Multiple backup settings (Profile 1..10)
Since version 1.7 Idlebackup can store up to 10 different backup settings.
All settings are stored. It is also possible to edit the profile name(1..10),
so giving it a more descriptive name like 'Backup to network', 'Backup photos to usb'.
Mirror backup
Selected directories and files are copied on a one to one base to a backup path,
which can be located on any hard-disk or network.
By clicking on the button 'Change setting' a form is opened. The check-box
'Use compression' should not be selected, see picture below.
With the radio buttons either hard-disk or network can be selected. If hard-disk is
selected; click the arrow of the combo-box where the destination hard-disk can be
selected. Only currently present hard-disks will be shown. For safety reasons and
for easy restore, the backup is default selected to copy to a directory \HD_X where
X is the drive letter of the source files hard-disk. In this way if you copy things
in the wrong direction, so instead of from C: to D: accidental from D: to C:
nothing is overwritten.
From Version V1.17 and higher a list of files to be excluded can be entered also
with the normal wildcards. e.q. *.txt, *.log
If an external hard-disk is used on more then one computer it might be usefull to know
where the copied files came from. Therefore the network computer name can be used in
the backup path, by selecting the third radio button. Also 'no prefix' can be selected
(but is not recommended for above reasons).
Using compression backups (zip)
There are 3 different modes possible. If the check-box 'Use compression' is checked
the settings screen changes to a different view, see picture below.
Full backup to a single archive
All selected selected directories and files are copied to a single ZIP archive.
The archive name has to be set once, see setting 'Archive path' and 'Archive name'.
The compression speed can be set to 'Fastest speed', 'Normal' or 'Smallest archive'.
Full backup with for each selected directory an archive
This means that when 5 directories are selected that also 5 archives (zips) are made.
The directory name is used in the archive name. For example if a directory mp3 is
selected for backup,it will be stored in archive Bck_mp3. If an automatic backup is
interrupted then the latest changes of the directory being handled are lost.
This is no problems if there is time for a next backup. A retry will follow if the
computer is idle again for 3 minutes.
For restore an external zip program will have to be used.
Sequential backup
This can also be used as a Version backup. Each time a new backup, manual or
automatically, is triggered, a new archive with a date-timestamp is made. In this way
you can for example make a backup of a project, each day, with all data belonging
to the project in it. Of course this can consume a lot of hard-disk space. The program
can automatically delete zip files that are older then a set number of days.
Attention:
If an archive becomes greater then 4.2 Gb, then it is stored in Zip64 format.
Only some zip programs can handle this size. (e.q Winzip 10).
This is only important if a large zip file has to be restored.
Automatic on
If this checkbox is selected then the program will countdown till zero.
If zero then a new backup is started. During the last 60 seconds a check
for keyboard, mouse and cpu activity is performed. If an activity is detected
the time counter will jump back to 60 seconds. So for each activity the program
will wait another 60 seconds. After the backup is made, the interval time starts again.
Input activity check
The option "Input activity check" allows now to disable the idle activity check.
If switched off, a scheduled backup will always be made and will not be interrupted by a keyboard
or mouse action.
Cpu activity check
On some (slow?) computers the activity of the cpu is sometimes so high that the
time counter is often reset. then set the new checkbox 'Cpu activity check' to off!
Autostart Idlebackup
If set to on, the program will automatically start after a windows start.
The program is placed in the windows startup folder.
Show hidden files
Up till Version V1.17 also hidden hidden directories and files where shown in the
explorer. Now it is possible to select this on or off. (default is to not see them).
Normally you don't want to see hidden firectories and files in the explorer.
So they can also not be selected for backup. In the rare case you do want them to see
them switch this to on. (Is remebered for each profile)
Synchronize backup
If set to on, then after each backup, idlebackup will remove unused directories and files from selected directories,
so only directories and files that are also present on the source hard-disk are kept.
This works only for Mirror backup and when the backup destination is configured for mode 2 (HD_X) or mode 3 (PCNAME\HD_X)
Log details
All start,stop moments of a backup and all errors are always written to a logfile and shown
on the tab "Log". If the checkmark "Log details" is checked then all possible copy details
are added to the logfile.
Manual backup
When button "Start backup" is pressed, the backup will start immediately. When pressed again
the backup is stopped. A manually started backup will always ignore the activity check.
Shutdown
This button can only be pressed when a manual backup is started and will then color red.
When selected this will auto shutdown windows when the manual backup has finished.
When pressed again shutdown is canceled. Before shutting down, a popup is shown with
a button that makes it possible to cancel the shutdown procedure
Icon colors
An icon in the system tray indicates idlebackup is running in the background and the
color of it will show the status of the program :
Blue, no backup made yet
Changing Green/Yellow, backup is active. If in auto it can be interrupted by a key or
mouse click. If color is not changing then a backup was interrupted. When in automatic
the backup will retry as soon as the computer is idle for a minute.
Red, some errors has occurred, the is can be a locked file, no external USB-disk connected
or disk full.
Green Backup finished successfully.
What happens if an external disk is temporary not connected?
If an external hard-disk/stick was previously selected it will be memorized.
When a backup is then started, it will stop with a failure status message,
only visible if the application form is visible. Also the icon in the system
tray will color red. As soon as the disk is connected, a new backup can be started.
