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My first time through Fbackup

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 5:13 pm
by dubina
I did a mirror backup to an external HD. Got a 3 meg fkc file of a backup from C drive. I can see the C drive folders when I click on "C", but the are all empty. I the general idea of using "Mirror" instead of "Full" was that I could look through the backup structure in the same way I can look through the structure of C drive. I may be wrong about that; I don't know. That was my impression after watching some tutorials.

On the other hand, I don't know what to make of the fkc file. I don't how to open it, and it might be that it only can be opened by "Restore".

Another question while I'm at it. How do I backup programs like Mendeley Desktop? Mendeley organizes a certain set of files, mostly PDF files, that should be backed up as "Documents" in one of my backup folders. Can I backup programs like Mendeley Desktop and LibreOffice, and if so, how?

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I am somewhat more informed today than I was when I posted the message above. I found a users manual that helped to some extent, but I still need help as follows:

When I specified my "sources", I could either specify "one" of my installed plugins, or a number of folders that I could select to add or exclude. I have email, for example, and I want to backup that, but if I select a plugin, I don't seem to be able to add folders. Is that right, or am I missing something? If a plugin selection excludes individual folder selections, do I have to make two or more Fbackup jobs to backup everything I want to backup? That seems awkward, but I guess I could do it.

Another thing: I don't know what a plugin is exactly. I can see what they seem to be in general, and I saw a bunch of "plugin" applications that I do not have or want to have on my PC, but I don't the difference between a plugin and a program. For that matter, I don't know if my Mendeley Desktop is a program that I could backup with Fbackup.

So i need help with the Sources button that the manual does not provide.

Another thing. I could backup only my music, pictures and videos, and most of that would never change. I create and edit documents continually so I would want to schedule daily or weekly Fbackup jobs to do that. So it sounds like I might end up with a library of different FBackup jobs, some, manual and some scheduled. Is that right?

Please advise. I would like to understand the strategies that pertain to FBackup before I go much farther with it.

Thanks,

Re: My first time through Fbackup

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 9:18 am
by Adrian (Softland)
Hi,

The .fkc catalog file is the backup catalog file and it includes information about the backed up files. It is used on both backup and restore processes.

If the folders in destination are empty, please make sure you selected the correct source folder and the settings for that job are correctly configured.

The backup plugins are some FBackup extensions which pick up the necessarily source files from your computer.
A backup job with a plugin cannot contain other source files manually selected as there could be confusions. You need to create individual backup jobs.
At this moment there isn't a plugin for Mendeley Desktop application.
In order to back up that application, (knowing that FBackup was designed for data files backup, not for OS or installed applications) you need to find the settings folder and files for that application. Select as backup source in FBackup all those files and folders and run the backup.

When you want to restore the backup on another computer, you first need to install Mendeley Desktop application, then restore the backup with the settings files and folders.

Each backup job can be executed manually or scheduled. You can schedule it to be executed at a specified date and time and you can also execute the backup manually if you want so.

Re: My first time through Fbackup

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:05 am
by dubina
@ Softland

I looked at a backup log and this caught my eye.

[1/25/2016 7:14:56 AM] Could not create Volume Shadow Copy. Locked files will not be copied.

I know some of my files are locked, I think to prevent me from having the same file open for editing at the same time...something like that. If that is the problem, how do I unlock all the files / folders I want to backup?

Also, Is there any way to backup all of my desired plugins with the same backup job? Otherwise, I would need to define one backup job for each plugin? Seems awkward and unlikely.

Re: My first time through Fbackup

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2016 8:27 am
by Adrian (Softland)
Hi,

Backing up open files has the following limitations: It works
- only on Windows XP or newer
- only for users with administrator access rights to copy open files
- only on local hard drives
- only on NTFS formatted partitions
- only if the VSS (Volume Shadow Service) is running and it is properly configured

You can use a single plugin per backup job. If you want to back up multiple applications using plugins, you must create a job for each plugin you want.