SimpleBackup FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
- What is Simplebackup?
- What is a backup? / Why do I need backups?
- How do I backup some files?
- How do I restore some backed up files?
- What format is the backup file?
- Where are the backup configurations stored? / What format are they in?
- What is stored in a backup? / What is this SBACKUP_INFORMATION... file?
- Why have some of my files have been renamed in the backup?
- What are those numbers on the end of the backup file name?
- What happens if a backup fails?
- Why do I get 'Read Only' warnings?
- What format is the date/time stamp?
- I started up SimpleBackup and my backups aren't there?
- What does button X do? / What does list X show?
1 - What is Simplebackup?
SimpleBackup is, as its name suggests, a backup tool. It is designed to be as simple and easy to use as possible. With SimpleBackup you can select folders and files you want to backup, then with a single click back them up to one or more locations.
2 - What is a backup? / Why do I need backups?
If you have important files or work on your computer then you probably want to make sure they're safe. If your computer fails and you haven't made a copy of the files then they could be lost forever! However, if you make regular copies (backups) of the files, then you only lose as much as your most recent backup.
3 - How do I backup some files?
(This information is contained in more detail in the Tutorial )
First, click on the "Add Backup" button. You should see a new item in the large white list on the left. It should say something like "MyBackup (no description)".
Click on this item and you should see the name and description appear in the "Edit Backup" panel - just to the right of the big white backups list. This is where you can configure your backup and specify its name, description, and what files you want to back up.
Change the name and description to something you'll recognise - you should see the name and description change in the list of backups on the left.
Now you have to choose an output folder for your backup - where do you want your backup to be saved? This can be anywhere on your computer, or a zip drive, or even a folder on another computer. Click "Add Output Folder" and browse to the place you want your backup to be saved, or just drag the folder onto the list. You should see your output folder listed.
Now that you have an output folder, you can choose which files you want to back up. To do this you can click on the "Add File/Folder" button in the "Include These Files And Folders" panel or you can just drag files and folders onto it. You should see your selected files and folders listed in the panel.
Now that you've configured your backup, you should save the configuration so that when you open SimpleBackup again, you won't have to enter all this again. Click on the "Save Configuration" button, you should see a message in the message panel at the top of the window which tells you it has been saved OK.
Now that you have your backup configured, you can click on the "Backup All" button whenever you like to generate a backup. The backup file will contain all the files and folders under the include list and will be stored in all the output folders you specified (it can be stored to more than one place if you want to keep backups in multiple places.). The backup file will have the date and time in its name.
4 - How do I restore some backed up files?
The backup file is a standard ZIP file so you can use any ZIP utility to unpack the file. You can get a ZIP utility from Download.com . Some popular choices are WinZip, WinRAR, WinACE and PowerArchiver. Most computing magazines also have WinZip or some other zip utility on their free CDs/DVDs. Once you've installed the ZIP utility, you should just be able to open a backup file by double-clicking it.
5 - What format is the backup file?
The backup file is a standard ZIP file. This is a very popular file format and there are many applications which can read it.
6 - Where are the backup configurations stored? / What format are they in?
The backup configuration file is stored in your home directory. On later versions of windows this will be in "C:\Documents and Settings\[your username]". The file will be called "simplebackup.xml" and it is in XML format. You can modify this file by hand or copy it over to another installation of SimpleBackup.
7 - What is stored in a backup? / What is this SBACKUP_INFORMATION... file?
Any files and folders that you specify are stored in the backup along with an extra file "SBACKUP_INFORMATION(...).txt". This extra file contains information about the backup such as when it was made, how many files are contained within, what the original path of the files was.
8 - Why have some of my files have been renamed in the backup?
SimpleBackup starts the path of a file at the point where you selected the file. E.g. if you selected a file to include "C:\My Documents\myfile.txt", SimpleBackup won't store the "C:My Documents" part of that. So if you choose two files with the same name, say "C:My Documentsmyfile.txt" and "C:\other\myfile.txt", SimpleBackup will be trying to store two files called exactly the same thing ("myfile.txt"). In order to resolve this it has to rename one of the files. It doesn't modify the content of the file in any other way, only the name, and only when a conflict occurs.
9 - What are those numbers on the end of the backup file name?
Every backup has a timestamp in its name. This is so you can tell when a backup was made and so you can sort lots of backup files in a folder.
The format of the timestamp is YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS (Year Month Day Hour Minute Second). This means you can sort the backups files by name and the they will be in chronological order.
10 - What happens if a backup fails?
There are a few ways a backup could possibly fail.
The first would be if something killed SimpleBackup and it didnt get a chance to finish (e.g. a power failure). In this case, you should check the backup folder and you should see something called "INCOMPLETE_...". This is the backup file SimpleBackup was working on when it was killed.
Any backup with the prefix "INCOMPLETE_" is incomplete and unless you lost work you think you could recover from the backup, you should delete it and start the backup again.
Another way a backup could fail is if some files were corrupted or inaccessible during the backup (e.g. you tried to backup system files that windows was using). This would cause SimpleBackup to print a message telling you it couldn't back up file "blah". You'll get a message for all files and problems SimpleBackup has while its trying to back up.
11 - Why do I get 'Read Only' warnings?
Backup files are marked as 'Read Only' to prevent accidental deletion. You can still delete or rename read only files but you have to confirm that you definitely want to do so.
12 - What format is the date/time stamp?
The format of the timestamp is YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS (Year Month Day Hour Minute Second). This means you can sort the backups files by name and the they will be in chronological order.
13 - I started up SimpleBackup and my backups aren't there?
In order for SimpleBackup to remember your backup configurations, you need to press the "Save Configuration" button. You should see a message telling you the save has been successful.
14.1 - Backup All:
This generates a backup for all the currently configured backups.
14.2 - Backup Selected:
This generates a backup for all the currently selected backups. (Selected backups are highlighted in the Backups list - the big white list on the left).
14.3 - Save Configuration:
This saves the current backup configurations to file so that when you next open SimpleBackup, you will find them intact.
14.4 - Clear Messages:
This clears the message window. Messages are automatically saved to file when you shut down SimpleBackup so that if a backup fails for some reason and you aren't there to see the message, you can see that it failed next time you run SimpleBackup
14.5 - Help:
This shows the help window.
14.6 - Backup Messages:
This is where you see information about backup progress and anything else that you might be interested in.
14.7 - New Backup:
This creates a new backup. A backup has a name and a description so you can identify it. It also has a list of included files and folders - these files and folders are what will be in the backup file when you generate a backup.
14.8 - Remove Backup:
This deletes the currently selected backup. If you accidentally hit this button don't worry - no changes are saved unless you press the "Save Configuration" button.
14.9 - Backups list (large white list on the left):
This shows a list of the backups you have configured. You can select a backup from this list and configure it in the panel to the right of the list.
14.10 - Edit Backup:
This is the panel where you can edit a backup. You must first selet a backup before you can edit it. To select a backup, click on it with the mouse.
14.11 - Set Compression Level:
Backups are stored as ZIP files. ZIP files are compressed (they take all the files in the zip file and they make them smaller). This slider sets the level of compression. A low level of comrpression will mean a larger ZIP file but a faster backup. A high level of compression will mean a smaller ZIP file but a slower backup.
14.12 - Output a backup...:
This panel allows you to specify where you would like the backup file to be saved. When a backup is generated, you can store the backup in as many places as you like. The "Add Files and Folders" button here will allow you to select a folder you want to save a backup to. You can also drag folders into the white part of this panel to add them to the backup output folders list.
14.13 - Include These Files...:
This panel allows you to specify what files you would like to include in the backup. You can use the "Add Files and Folders" button or you can just drag files and folders into the white part of this panel. You should see the files and folders listed in the white part when they have been added.
14.14 - Exclude These Files...:
This panel allows you to select files which you DON'T want int the backup. Lets say you want to back up your "My Documents" folder but you don't want to include "My Pictures" ( a folder inside "My Documents" because you want to have them in a separate backup of their own. You could do this by specifying a backup to include "My Documents" but exclude "My Pictures", and then by creating a second backup which only included "My Pictures".
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