A mirror backup is identical to a full backup, with the exception that the files and folders are not compressed in zip files and they cannot be protected with a password. A mirror backup is most frequently used to create an exact copy of the backup source data. The sources folder tree will be recreated in the destination.
This backup type is the fastest, provided that Fast mirror option is checked.
Mirror
Create subfolder(s) in destination
Use this option to create a subfolder in the destination. The name of the folder can be customized by pressing the Insert tags button. Following tags are predefined:
- Backup Name (<BACKUP NAME>)
- Backup Number (<BACKUP NUMBER>)
- Backup Type (<BACKUP TYPE>)
- Backup Date (<DATE>)
- Backup Time (<TIME>)
- Backup Hour
- Backup Minute
- Backup Second
- Backup Year (<YEAR>)
- Backup Month (<MONTH_MMM>)
- Backup Month - numeric (<MONTH_MM>)
- Backup Day (<DAY>)
- Backup Week (<WEEK>)
- Backup Day of Week (<DAY OF WEEK>)
- Backup Day of Week (locale)
- Backup Day of Week (numeric)
You can also add your text in tag field. Use the Preview button to see how the name of the subfolder will look like.
Note that the Fast mirror option will be ignored if you choose to create subfolders in the destination with a different name each time.
The option is useful to store "snapshots" of the backup sources at different points in time. For example, if you insert a <DATE> tag in the Create subfolder(s) in destination with following name and schedule Backup4all to do a mirror backup daily, Backup4all will create every day a copy of your backup sources in a subfolder named as the date when the backup was executed. On the other hand, if you insert a <MONTH_MMM> tag and execute the backup daily, the first time your sources will be copied entirely in a subfolder named as the month when it was performed, but in the other remaining days of the month only the new or changed files will be copied in the same subfolder - when the month name will change another subfolder will be created and the procedure repeated.
Options
Fast mirror (copy only new or modified files)
Use this option to make mirror backups even faster. When this option is set, Backup4all uses the information stored in ".bkc" files to copy only new or modified files to the destination. If this option is not set, the system will copy all files each time the backup is executed. By default this option is checked.
Create full paths (including drive letter)
Sometimes there can be sources with the same names. The system will detect this conflict situation and will show a warning message.
To avoid files to be overwritten check the Save full folder info option. This will create the full path of the source in the destination.
For example, suppose we have the backup source "C:\My Documents\My Pictures". Without this option, only the My Pictures folder will be created and its subfolders. With this option set, the destination will contain the C folder, My Documents inside C folder, My Pictures inside My Documents folder and so on. By default this option is unchecked.
Copy files in a subfolder
If checked, the files will be copied in a subfolder of the destination folder (typically you will see a ".bkc" file and a folder with the same name). If the option is not set, the files (and folder structure) will be copied directly into the destination folder.
Remove excluded or deleted files from backup
Use this option to remove from the backup the files that were deleted (or excluded) from the backup sources. This option is not selected by default.
Only if the source drive is available
Use this option to avoid removing your files from backup if the sources are not available all the time.
If you don't use this option, when the source files are not reachable, Backup4all will consider them as being deleted or excluded.
The deleted or excluded files will be removed from the backup.
Others
Zip the files
Use this option to zip each file individually. The folder structure will be preserved, only the files will be zipped.
Copy NTFS security permissions
Use this option to copy the files NTFS security permissions. Please note the NTFS permissions can be copied only if the backup destination drive is also formatted as NTFS. If the destination is FTP/SFTP/cloud, it does not work.
Copy NTFS alternate file streams
Use this option to copy the NTFS alternate file streams
Allow file splitting when spanning
The option is effective only when there is not enough space in the destination to copy all files (removable media is full, USB drive is full, etc.). If checked, the application will copy files to the destination until a file will not fit. Then it will split that file and continue with the rest of it on the next disk. If the option is not set, files are not split. If you are backing up media files (music, videos) you should uncheck this option so that you will not have any melody/movie split. By default this option is checked.
Sort mirror files for optimized spanning
This option is useful when spanning the backup over multiple removable drives. If this is checked, Backup4all will sort the files by size (descending) before copying them on the removable drive. This way it will start with the larger files and put the smaller ones towards the end of the backup (optimizing the space used on the removable drive). By default this option is not checked.
Be aware that you can restore only from the latest version of a mirror backup from the Backup4all interface. You can restore however manually previous versions as they are accessible from any file manager, like File Explorer.