Idlebackup (freeware)

IdleBackup\V1.17 FAQ

Q.
Is it possible to run more then 1 profile at a time.
A.
No after finishing of a backup job, you have to manually select another profile and start it manually.
(This is feature is probably a future extension. Making a donation will speedup things maybe)

Q.
Is Idlebackup also suited for Vista64
A
No not yet, some people have tested this, and it is not reliable here.

Q.
This program copies new or changed files to the backup path. Will it also remove files that does not exist anymore on the original disk.
A.
The answer is yes and no. Mainly for safety reasons, i have chosen to only add programs and not remove them.
But if you select option synchronize, only in mirror mode, it will remove files from the backup that are not present on the source.
I recommend to do this only now and then. And only if you are certain, that there is no old data on the backup that you want to keep.

Q.
Why is the backup placed in a directory HD_X ?
A
For safety reasons and for easy restore, the backup is default selected to copy to a directory \HD_X where X is the drive letter of the source files hard-disk. In this way if you copy things in the wrong direction, so instead of from  C: to D: accidental from  D: to C:: nothing is overwritten.
Even if you copy to the same hard-disk, where the source files came from, there is no problem of overwriting things and the wrong directory can be easily removed..
Also the restore function of Idlebackup needs to know where copied files came from.

Q.
Is it unicode compatible ?
A.
No, maybe in the future I will work on that.

Q
Are files compressed.
A.
Not with the standard mode Mirror backup, but they will be compressed to a ZIP format with mode Full or Sequential.

Q
Why not backup to DVD ?
A
Honestly i didn't bother the trouble, for writing to a slow 4.7Gb medium, because an external hard-disk of 500G costing only 80 euro is more suited. Also because if the principle of Idlebackup to check in idle time if there is something to backup.

Q
Why freeware.
A
Nobody wants to pay for software if you can find another similair program for free.
Alltough you don't want to know how much time was involved in making this program. I hope to receive some money from donations and advertisements.

Q
What happens if the program is busy with an automatic backup, and I interrupt it by clicking the mouse or press a key.
A
Indeed the program will stop copying as soon as possible and awaits a new moment to start checking from the beginning (goes quite fast) what should be copied.
For ZIP backup modes this is also the case.

Q
Sometimes when I shutdown the computer, there was no (idle) time to make an automatic backup.
A
Since version 1.6 it is possible to switch off detection of 'idle' with option 'Input activity check'. So the backup will always be made.

Q.
On some computers, at startup the error "no disk" comes (floppy drive)
A.
This is only on some computers, the problem lies in the (bought) professional explorer component.
I hope to find (receive) a solution later.

Q. Your question. Send yours to the administrator of Idlebackup. !