Automatic backups using Windows Task Scheduler

In addition to the possibilities built into the program for starting automatic backups, you can also achieve this by using Windows Task Scheduler. This method can have certain advantages:

• There are more options for configuring daily, weekly or monthly schedules.
• The backup will be started as a service using the credentials of any user account.
• The backup will be started even if no user is logged on. This is very useful for backups on Windows servers.

Overview

Scheduled backups: The list shows all Windows scheduled tasks using Personal Backup together with their last and next run times. A colored ball indicates if the last backup was performed duly (green) or not (red). Moving the mouse over red ball will display the reason for the error as balloon hint. To get more information in case of failure, open Windows Task Scheduler from the system start menu and look into the History (this must be enabled before by an administrator under Actions at the right).
A right click on the list will open a context menu to edit, delete or start a scheduled task.

Time schedules: Beneath the listing, the time schedules (also called triggers in Windows) are displayed. If there are more than one schedule, a click on the arrow buttons at the right lets you select one of them.

Add schedule: Click the button to add a new schedule (e.g. on other days of the week) to the selected backup (see).

Delete schedule: Click the button to delete the selected schedule.

Important note:

Personal Backup 6 supports the extended features of Windows Task Scheduler available since Windows Vista. Therefore, if using the program under Windows XP, the Windows Task Scheduler wizard will not work.

Creating a new backup schedule

Click this button to select the backup tasks. Then, the wizard will be opened to create a new scheduled task.

Optionally you can add further backup tasks by clicking the folder button to the right of the Tasks (Backup) field. In addition to the program defined command line parameters, the user can add his own selection of options. A special start directory (normally not required) and a separate ini file for this backup can be specified if so desired.
The backup log will be written to the file specified in the task options (default: Persbackup.log). If no path is specified here, the ini file path will be used.
The following additional options can be selected to determine the behavior of the program. For your information, they will automatically be displayed in the field Command line parameters as entered in the Windows Task Scheduler.

Status window

You can select how the status window will be displayed during backup.

Close after

If either Close automatically or Wait only on errors is selected for the status window, you can set the time period after which the window will automatically close.

No splash screen

The splash screen will be suppressed at program start.

Subsequent action

Selecting one of these options will cause the associated action to occur on completion of the scheduled backup, for example to shut down the system.

Error handling

If an action has been selected to be executed after a backup, this can be modified by clicking the Error handling button, such that this action will not be carried out if a backup error occurred. The dialog makes it possible to choose on which errors this shall happen.

Log mode

Logging can either be carried out as defined in the backup task to be performed or independently of this as selected here.

Parallel processing of tasks

If several tasks have been selected, you can use this option to set whether they are executed one after the other or in parallel.

Process priority

Here, you can specify the priority of the file copying processes relative to other running applications.

Click the Next button to configure the schedule.
 

Daily schedule

The main options are similar to those in the Windows scheduled task wizard. To initiate a daily backup, first select the time of day this is to start and on which date (default being the current date). By default, the backup starts every day but optionally a preset number of days can be skipped (Advanced settings).
To enter the user account data click on Next.
 

Weekly schedule

The start time and start date can be selected as described above for a daily schedule. The backup can be started every week (default) or can skip a preset number of weeks. In addition you can determine on which days of the week the backup is to be performed. Clicking the upper right button will open the Extended settings (see above).
To enter the user account data click on Next.
 

Monthly schedule

The start time and start date can be selected as described above for a daily schedule. The backup can be started on particular days of the selected months or on particular days of selected a week of the selected months. Clicking the upper right button will open the Extended settings (see above).
To enter the user account data click on Next.
 

Other points in time

One time only:

The backup is to be started once at a selectable time on a selectable date (Advanced settings).

When the user logs on:

The backup is to be started whenever the user registered for this task logs on (Advanced settings).

On waking up the computer:

The backup is to be started when the computer wakes up from hibernation or standby mode. The two buttons to the right of Advanced settings are intended for experienced users. The one on the left opens a text editor in which the Windows event to be monitored can be adjusted, e.g. if the backup is to be started when a different system event occurs. The right button resets the settings to the default (when waking up).

The following optional settings can be made for all schedules:

• Expire: If activated, the backup is only carried out up to the specified time.
• Repeat task: The backup is started at the specified time and then executed again after the interval has expired until the specified total runtime is reached.
  Example: With the settings in the screenshot, the backup is started every day at the specified time (e.g. at 8:00) and then repeated every hour for a total of 8 hours.
  Stop all running tasks at end of repetition duration: Running backups are terminated after the specified total time has elapsed.
• Stop task if it runs longer than: This option allows you to set a maximum runtime for the backup. If the specified time is exceeded, the backup is automatically terminated.
• Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed: If the computer was switched off at the scheduled start time or the task could not be started for other reasons, the backup is started immediately after the computer is switched on or as soon as the conditions are met.
• Start the task only if the computer is on AC power: This option prevents the battery life of laptops from being affected by running backups.
  • Stop if the computer switches to battery power: If the above option to start backups only on AC power is selected, you can set here whether the backup should be stopped when switching to battery operation.
• Wake the computer to run this task: If this option is selected, the computer will be reactivated to perform the backup if it is in sleep mode.
• Start the task only if a network connection is available: This option can be used to prevent backups with a destination at the network from being started if no network is available.

Complete and save

At this point you can edit the description of the task (Default: This task was created by Personal Backup).
Finally, you must define how the task is to be started:

• As logged-on user: The backup will only be started if the current user is logged on. No user name and password are required.
• As any user with password: The backup will be started whether the user is logged on or not. This may be the user who just logged on (usually with limited credentials), an administrator or any other user (e.g. a user belonging to the group Backup operators). In each case you must enter the password of this user (see screenshot top right).
  Important note: The specified user must be member of the Windows group Backup Operators because he needs the right to Log on as a batch job (more information from Microsoft).

Clicking the Done button inserts this new or changed task into the list of Windows scheduled tasks and closes the wizard. You can inspect the task settings directly from Personal Backup (see below) or by using the Windows functions All Programs ⇒ Accessories ⇒ System Tools ⇒ Task Scheduler or via Control Panel ⇒ Administrative Tools ⇒ Task Scheduler.

Automatic Verify using Windows Task Scheduler

You can configure a Windows scheduled task to carry out an automatic Verify. The settings for verification must be saved as a file beforehand. Configuring the time schedule is the same as described above for backups.

Automatic Restore using Windows Task Scheduler

You can configure a Windows scheduled task to carry out an automatic Restore. The settings for restore must be saved as a file beforehand. Configuring the time schedule is the same as described above for backups.

Automatic Cleanup using Windows Task Scheduler

You can configure a Windows scheduled task to carry out an automatic Cleanup. The settings for cleanup must be saved as a file beforehand. Configuring the time schedule is the same as described above for backups.

Editing a scheduled task

Click this button to open the scheduled task selected in the list and to reconfigure its settings. If no task is selected, the dialog shown below will open to show a summary of all scheduled tasks.

Deleting a scheduled task

Click this button to delete the scheduled task selected in the list. If no task is selected, the dialog shown below will open to show a summary of all scheduled tasks.

Import a scheduled task

After clicking on this button, the settings of a scheduled task saved in an XML file (see below under Export) can be loaded and activated.

Export a scheduled task

After clicking on this button, the settings of the selected task are saved in an XML file. They can be imported later at any time to create a new task (see above under Import). The format of this file is documented by Microsoft.

Edit the backup task

The backup from the selected scheduled task swill be opened for editing.

Run the selected scheduled task immediately/a>

Summary of all scheduled tasks

Only tasks registered in Windows Task Scheduler involving Personal Backup are displayed in the Select Scheduled Task dialog box (see screenshot above). A colored ball indicates if the last backup was performed duly (green) or not (red). The properties of the selected task are displayed in the lower part of the window. Clicking the toggle switch on the right will enable or disable the selected task. Click one of the buttons on the lower right to initiate one of the following functions:

Edit the settings for the selected scheduled task, e.g. the time schedule (see above).

The selected scheduled task will be deleted.

Run the selected scheduled task immediately or stop it: If the selected scheduled task is ready to run (left icon), clicking this button will start the task immediately. If it is already running (right icon), the task will be stopped.