Creating a File and Folder Backup

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- Overview

- Launching the File and Folder Backup Wizard

- Add Source Folders

- Selecting Files to Backup

- Destination

- Alternative Locations

- Edit the Plan for this Backup

- Define Retention Rules

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Overview

A file and folder backup will create a backup of specific files and folders. This can be especially useful for only backing up specific files and folders from a larger volume, whereas a disk image would back up the entire volume. Unlike other backup solutions, Macrium Reflect can back up open and locked files by using Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).

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Launching the File and Folder Backup Wizard

The File and Folder Backup can be launched using the 'Create a File and Folder backup' button found under the 'Create Backup Tasks' dropdown menu on the 'Create Backups' tab:

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Add Source Folders

When the File and Folder Backup wizard first launches, the 'Add Source Folders' window is displayed. This left-hand side page is used to select the folders that will be included in the file and folder backup. The right-hand side of this page will display a list of the folders that will be included in the backup. The 'Specify Folder to Backup' box on the right-hand side of this window can also be used to manually enter paths to folders:

After selecting 'OK' the specified folders will be shown in the 'Backup Sources' section of the File and Folder Backup wizard:

Additional folders can be specified with the 'Add Source Folders' button or specified folders can be removed using the 'Remove Source Folder' button. 

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Selecting Files to Backup

By default, all of the files in the specified folders will be backed up. To change which files are backed up from the selected folders, select the folder in question then select 'Edit Source Folder Filters':

In the window that opens, masks and wild cards can be specified to refine exactly which files are backed up from the selected folder:

The following options can be specified on this page:

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Destination

Once the source files and folders have been specified, a destination for the file and folder backup should be specified:

The destination can be a local drive or network share specified in UNC format (\\Server\Share). A name can also be specified for the resultant backup file, to help make it more distinguishable at a glance. Read more about backup file naming here.

Alternative Locations

The 'Alternative Locations' option can be used to specify alternative locations for the backup destination. If the primary backup location is not available when the file and folder backup starts, each location specified will be tried in sequence until an available destination is found. This can be used to easily configure drive rotation, enabling backups to be taken offsite for redundancy and provide extra resiliency if the primary destination is not available.

Alternative locations can be specified and added to the list of locations using the 'Add to list' button. The destinations will be attempted in the order they appear in this list. The order the destinations are attempted can be changed using the 'Up' and 'Down' buttons or removed from the list with the 'Remove' button.

Once all the alternative destinations have been specified, select 'OK' to complete the window.

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Edit the Plan for this Backup

On the next page of the File and Folder Backup wizard, a schedule can be created to ensure that changes to the specified files are also backed up regularly. 

To assist in creating a schedule, there is a set of "industry standard" schedules included with Reflect. These schedules can be selected and then edited to make them a better fit for the data that is being backed up using the 'Add Schedule', 'Edit Schedule', and 'Delete Schedule' options:

Alternatively, a schedule can be created from scratch, without a template being selected. Click the 'Add Schedule' button, then select the type of backup that will scheduled:

Three types of backup can be specified when creating a schedule. The different type of backup defines what is backed up from the source disks and partitions.

Full - A full backup file contains all of the specified files and folders. This backup type has no dependencies and must always be created before subsequent differential and incremental backups can be performed. These are the largest type of backup since they contain all the specified source files and folders.

These backups have the advantage that they are fully independent, meaning they can be deleted and moved without affecting later backups.

Differential - A differential backup file contains only the files that have experienced changes since the full backup was created. Initially, this will create a smaller file than a full backup and will also be faster to create. However, as more time elapses since the full backup was created, these will increase in size and the amount of time they take to create. 

These have the advantage of only ever needing the differential backup file that will be restored and the full backup file that it is appended to, to be able to restore with intermediate files not being needed.

Incremental - An incremental backup contains only the files that have experienced changes since the last backup of any type was created. These are the smallest size backup files and the fastest to create.

To restore an incremental backup, all previous backups in the set must be available. If 'Inc 3' in the example above is deleted, inc 4, 5, and 6 also would not be able to be restored.

Combinations of these backup types can be defined in the schedule to create more flexible backup schedules; this also enables the benefits of each backup type while minimizing the negatives. The example below shows a Grandfather, Father, Son schedule which makes use of full, differential, and incremental backups:

Select 'Add Schedule'. In the window that opens the 'Frequency' and 'Options' for the schedule can be changed. The list of options on this page will change depending on the 'Frequency' that has been selected:

Selecting 'Conditions' will display additional options that can be used to determine whether the task should run:

Option	Description
Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed	If a scheduled start is missed, e.g. due to the system being powered off, the scheduled task will start when it's next possible.
Start the task only if the computer is on AC power	The task will not start if the computer is on battery power.
Stop if the computer switches to battery power	If the computer switches to battery power during the clone, the clone will stop. This option is only available if Windows Task Scheduler is selected in the 'Schedule Settings'.
Wake the computer to run this task	When selected, the system will attempt to wake from sleep to run the scheduled backup.

Any triggers that have been created are displayed on the 'Edit the Plan for this Backup' page. Triggers can be edited and deleted by selecting a trigger and then selecting one of the options below the triggers table:

 

Define Retention Rules

Macrium Reflect retention rules provide a powerful and flexible way to manage the lifetime and storage space used by your backups. Choose how backups are matched, and how retention rules are applied to the target folder:

Retention rules are applied to the target folder of the backup by selecting one of two options:

Matching backup sets in the target folder.	File and folder backups are purged in accordance with the 'Backup Set Matching' setting specified in the Macrium Reflect Defaults and Settings, described here. By default, the retention rules will be applied to all file and folder backups in the destination that contain at least one folder that is specified in this backup definition.
All backup sets in the target folder.	All backup sets in the target folder of the same type (disk image or file and folder) are purged according to the retention rules.

Next, select the age or number of backup types that will be kept: