How to Backup ?
RestoreBack can be effectively used to backup the files and folders to a single zip archive. To make your job easy, this program supports the idea of writing scripts to do your backup jobs. A backup script is nothing more than a named collection of files and folders which you want to backup. You can write several such scripts and ask the program to save that script to the disk, so that next time when you want to backup the same set of files and folders, you just open that script and execute it. You can also edit a script saved to your disk to suit your new needs or make modifications to it. You can create, edit, modify, view, or delete the scripts on your disk. To start with, in the main screen click on the "Backup" button:
When you execute the program for the first time, there are no saved scripts which you can use for backing up, so you need to define or create a new backup script. And, precisely this is what is prompted in the first screen presented to you:
The two main choices presented to you are:
As already explained, when you run the program for the first time, there are no existing script, so you have got to create a new backup script. This option is already chosen by default. Click on "Next" button in right hand bottom corner to proceed further with creating a new script.
If you however choose the second option "Open an existing backup script" then you will see an information message like this :
"No Scripts for backup found. Create a new backup script to proceed ?"
If you are presented with a dialog stating thus, you can click on "OK" to proceed with creating a new script or you can choose to click on "Cancel" to exit the program.
Sometimes prior to seeing next screen, you may encounter a dialog complaining that there is no disk in drive A: This happens because the program searches for files and directories in all of the root directories including your floppy drive. Just click on "Cancel" to proceed. However if you have something on a floppy that you want to backup, then you may actually want to insert that floppy disk in the drive and click on "Continue".
Going back to the previous screen you can notice that on the top there is a blank field prompting you to type in the name of the script. Type any name you wish. Now you are ready to create the script. Select the files and/or folders you wish to back up from the "Select Items" pane. This pane is similar to the pane you see in Windows explorer left pane. Click on the "circle icons" (the handles) to open up a folder. You can select multiple files and folders at a time by pressing the "ctrl" button while selecting files or folders. After you have completed your selection, press the "Add to Script" button at the bottom of this pane to add the selected files and folders to the script.
When you click on the "Add to script" button, you will notice that the complete path of the files and folders selected appears in the right pane titled "Items added to the script":
You can check if you have added all the necessary files and folders to the script. If you wish you can add some more and if you have accidentally added any of the files or folders you do not need than you can select the corresponding file or folder from the right pane, and press on "Delete from script" button.
After you are satisfied with the files or folders you have selected to backup, you can click on the "Save" button to save this script. Saving scripts is necessary if you want to create a backup. AS soon as you click on the "Save" button the script is saved. You will need to save the script again if you again make the changes to the script by adding more items to the script or delete some of them again from the script, otherwise the script that was saved will be backed up. As soon as you have saved the script the "Backup" button becomes enabled. Click on the "Backup" button to proceed with backing up of this script. The "Backup" button takes you to the following screen:
Although the program provides a default name for you backup archive, you can name it anything you want. The default name contains the date and script name. You will also have to specify the location where you want this archive to be created. Note that the destination must have sufficient free space, else the program may terminate unexpectedly throwing an exception. If anything like that happen try backing up to another destination. The location points to a default location, but you are free to choose any location you want. You can browse to the location of your choice.
Click on "Start" button to start backing up the script, once you have provided an archive name and the location where you want this archive to be stored.
The pane titled "Progress" displays many parameters of the backup activity. It informs you about the size and numbers of files to backed up, the current file being processed and the destination file. A progress bar displays the progress of backup. The time elapsed and estimated time remaining are also displayed for user, as a standard part of such programs. Do not panic, if the progress bar seems to be stopped for a while, as the program might be processing something big.
To cancel backup Click on the "Cancel" button. Use this button with caution when you have chosen to overwrite an existing archive, because when you cancel the backup the archive file is always deleted. So you might end up loosing your old archive as well, if you choose to cancel creation of an archive when overwriting an existing archive.
If you cancel an ongoing task, a dialog will pop up asking if you really want to cancel the ongoing task. If you choose affirmative, then only the task is cancelled. After canceling you might wish to make some changes and run the backup again.
When the program has finished backing up, you will see a message stating the successful completion of the backup program.
Click on the "OK" button so that this dialog disappears. Next you can click on "Done" button if you want to return to the main screen. Click on the "Exit" button to exit the program altogether.