This program provides a complete, save and up to the minute solution for your backup problems IF EXTERNAL Hard Discs, Zip Drives and/or USB Flash Drives are used. (NO support for optical discs like CD/DVD Burners is provided as more often than not burning discs is associated with problems and is quite time consuming. In the long term, obviously Backups on magnetic or solid state discs are more reliable than backups on any kind of optical discs. Support for Networks may be provided later on.) The main feature is that you can never lose (personal) data older than 1 minute (if the program is set up properly). Although it supports many features it is relatively simple to use by means of Setup Wizards, which help make this task easy or at least easier.
Backing up is not really popular among computer users. But almost without fail sooner or later there will be an incident where you are going to loose part or all of your precious personal files on your hard disc, be it for a hardware failure, erroneous deletion or a malicious program. It is definitely worth to take some effort to install a backup program and get familiar with it by creating all the different Backups as described below with Dummy Folders and Files, deleting the Original Dummy Folders and Files AND restoring them BEFORE disaster strikes!
As one of my friends aptly put it: "Everybody likes to restore, but no one likes to back up..." Unfortunately, the order of backing up and restore operations cannot be reversed, so backups must be created first... Backup to the minute makes this task as easy as it possibly can. Once set up, (MINOR) backups are being created fully automatically!
In order to understand how this program works you need some basic knowledge about the internal filesystem. If you don't know where your files you work with are stored or you don't know anything about files, folders, partitions and drives do NOT read on, have a knowledgeable person setting this backup program up for you. Once the program is set up it is very easy to use for (nearly) everybody, including restoring backed up files after disaster striked. You can restore all the backed up files at once by using the SUPER Restore feature. You can also restore a Daily Backup of a date chosen by you and individual backed up files (versions) very easily.
What you really need to know about Backup to the minute
The prinziple of MAIN and MINOR Backups must be understood before you can start working with this sophistcated Backup Program.
a) A MAIN Backup saves ALL the files of the specified folder(s) to the specified MAIN Backup storage location (preferably on an external Hard Disc or a USB Flash Drive (also called 'Memory Stick') with a big capacity. That operation may take several minutes and can be performed say, every month or so.
b) The general term MINOR Backup refers to and can consist of either REGULAR Backups, SECOND COPY Backup(s), DAILY Backup(s) or all of them combined. As opposed MAIN Backups where ALL the files in a specified folder are backed up a MINOR Backup only saves modified or newly added files. They are saved to the user defineable MINOR Backup storage location (preferably on a USB Memory Stick).
MINOR Backups are created
- automatically, of any currently open document, every minute, (if that interval was chosen in the MINOR Wizard, to the normal storage location. If the file is found in one of the specified MAIN folders it is also saved to the MINOR Backup Location.
This operation usually only takes around 0.5 .. 2 seconds (BackUp to the minute calls this a 'Regular Backup').
- anytime when the Ctrl-S buttons are pressed simultaneously the currently open document will be saved to the normal storage location as usual and additionally a new numbered version of it is created in the MINOR storage location in case the document (file) is found in one of the specified MAIN folders or subfolders (that option can be disabled) (This operation is referred to as 'Second Copy Backups').
- automatically, when the computer is shut down or put in standby or hibernation mode, or manually in the (left-) click menu of the icon of all the newly added or modified files found in the specified MAIN Folders (This operation is referred to as 'Daily Backup').
(It is possible that the same original file can be found several times as backed up file in different states in one or more of the 3 MINOR Backup categories.)
These are the essentials which you MUST know if you want to successfully use Backup to the minute
1.) Two Wizards must be run before any backups can be created. When Backup to the minute is run for the first time a menu with 3 backup options is shown. The BackUp to the minute basically wants to know WHAT to backup, WHERE to backup, HOW OFTEN these backups have to be performed and also HOW MANY backup versions you want. You also have the option to compress the folders and/or partitions defined in the MAIN Backup Wizard.
Most users will want to choose the first listed option so the MAIN Wizard will be called. In this Wizard you will have to specify the folder(s) in which your personal files like letters, invoices, emails, websites (html), Powerpoint (ppt) files, can also be modified photos, etc, are stored and which you would like to have backed up.
a) Select the storage location of the MAIN Backup (ALL files in the selected folder(s)) on an external Hard (or on a USB Flash Drive (sometimes also called USB Memory Stick) with a large capacity). MAIN Backups should be created once a month or so. You are asked to create the first MAIN Backup in the MAIN Wizard. When the number of new or modified files exceeds 250 then you are asked to do another MAIN Backup again but of course you can create a new MAIN Backup anytime: RIGHT-Click the icon, select menu 'Create Backups, Tailored Restore and Information', then click 'Create MAIN Backup' button.
b) When the MAIN Wizard has been completed (and the MAIN Backups have been created, if that option (recommended) was chosen.), the second Wizard, the MINOR Wizard - where you basically can choose the location on which the modified or newly created Second Copy files can be stored and the whether or not to enable Second Backups and the time interval in which Regular Backups happen - will be called automatically. New or modified files (which are located in a folder specified in the MAIN Wizard) are backed up as a Second Copy on a (preferably) USB Memory Stick at regular intervals, eg every minutes, as selected in the MINOR Wizard. This always happens fully automatically. In case a file backed up by Regular Intervals already exists it will be deleted and replaced by the new one. These files can easily be accessed and restored later on.
2.) The user interface is via an icon in the system tray (near the clock). It has two different menues, a normal or left click menu and a RIGHT-click menu. When the mouse cursor is paused over this icon the status of Backup to the minute is shown. The normal status should be Fully operational.
3.) As soon as Saves at Regular Intervals are enabled (MINOR Wizard) ALL* your currently open documents (whether specified in a folder in the MAIN Wizard or NOT) are saved at regular intervals in their original locations.
*Only standard word processor programs in a wide sense like Microsoft Editor (Notepad), Wordpad, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, FrontPage and Access and the editor ConTEXT are supported, all other programs may work or may NOT work just by accident. (Backups with email programs like Outlook Express, Outlook and Yahoo! do work, Hotmail does NOT work, Eudora, etc, have NOT been tested yet.))
You can (temporarily) disable Regular Backups by clicking 'Suspend saving at regular intervals' on the RIGHT-click menu. The icon will change. Change back to normal operation: Click 'Resume ..' on the same RIGHT-click menu.
4.) If you want to back up a version of a document (or source code for a program) which is located in a folder specified in the MAIN Wizard you can save it to the specified backup location by pressing Ctrl-S (if the feature 'Second Copy Backups' has been enabled in the Wizard). Watch for the icon which will temporarily change when the Ctrl-S sequence has been recognized and a special backup command has been completed (green icon: a backup has been successfully completed; red icon: a backup was not created (eg when NO open documents were found). The Second Copy Backup file, which has been created in the process can easily be accessed and/or restored later on by RIGHT-clicking on the icon and selecting menu Create Backups, Tailored Restore and Information. On the form that appears click on button 'Restore 2nd Copy Backup' The latest backed up files are to be found in the respective Filefolders (eg a FILE named 'Invoice Nr 2550.doc' will be saved in a FOLDER named 'Invoice Nr 2550' as a file named with a running number eg 'Invoice Nr 2550_Ctrl-S_1.doc' in the specified MINOR Backup Location).
5.) Daily Backups are automatically created when the computer is shutdown, put in standby or hibernation mode (see details in chapter 'Details about the backup program exactly works' in the Instruction Manual) or manually by (left-) clicking on the icon and choosing 'Create DAILY Backup only, NO shutdown'.
6.) A Restore Operation is the reverse of a Backup Operation. SUPER Restore performs all the necessary steps fully automatically (RIGHT-click the menu and Select SUPER Restore). It looks for the latest MAIN and MINOR Backups of any kind and copies them to the original location. You can also manually restore selected single files in the backup folders (RIGHT-click the icon and select 'Create Backups, Tailored Restore and Information' menu, then click on 'Restore 2nd Copy Backups' button).
7.) Forgot what MAIN Folders were selected, where Backups are stored? RIGHT-click the icon and select menu 'Create Backups, Tailored Restore and Information'. Click on any Buttons which begin with the word 'Show'.
This introduction is just put quite a complex manual in a nutshell. This Instruction Manual is available when you download the 'MBUPacket.zip' file. Please read the 'Learn by Example' tutorial which contains a real life sample of a backup. It features lots of screenshots for an even better understanding.
In case you want to know more details or in case of problems read on for a more complete picture of how this sophisticated backup program works in the Instruction Manual.
(End of Introduction)
Last updated: March 15, 2008
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