Z-DBackup supports a variety of methods for tape backups. If you are not sure which settings lead to optimal results for you and you just want to create a backup of your data for the first time, you can simply skip these backup settings, because for a simple copy backup, none of the five backup methods must be activated in the setup! It is the default settings for a newly created backup set.

With a copy backup  all selected directories are saved without marking the files as copied (the archive attribute  remains unchanged). A possibly existing backup file is deleted prior to backup. With this backup method, you only need the most recent complete backup to be able to restore all files.

For a simple copy backup, none of the five different methods must be selected! This is the default setting after a new backup set has been created.

The normal backup is a copy backup with the additional feature that the archive attribute  is reset/deactivated. A possibly existing backup file is deleted prior to backup. With this backup method, you only need the most recent complete backup to be able to restore all files.

A series of incremental backups starts with one full backup. During each following backup, only the files that were changed or have been created since the last (full or incremental) backup will be backed up.

All backed up files are marked, i.e. the archive attribute  is deactivated. Whether a file has to be backed up during a certain incremental backup is determined by the archive attribute of that file.
With this backup method, you need the most recent full backup and all following incremental backups to restore all your files.

 If you want to use an incremental backup set for full backups, you can simply create an additional desktop shortcut  or Z-Cron job  with the action "Full incremental backup"!

  Uncheck this option to get back to the list of all backup options.
 

A series of differential backups starts with one full backup. During each following backup, only the files that were changed or have been created since the last full backup will be backed up.

The archive attribute  of backed up files is deactivated during full backups, but not during any following differential backups. Whether a file has to be backed up during a certain differential backup is determined by the archive attribute of that file.
With this backup method, you need the most recent full backup and only the latest differential backup to restore all your files.

 If you want to use a differential backup set for full backups, you can simply create an additional desktop shortcut  or Z-Cron job  with the action "Full differential backup"!

  Uncheck this option to get back to the list of all backup options.
 

With this backup method, only files that were changed or created on the day that the backup is run are copied. The files are not marked as copied, i.e. the archive attribute  remains unchanged. This option also allows to perform an incremental or differential backup using the 'last modified' date of the files. This is useful when archive attributes are not supported (e.g. some NAS or Linux systems).

 Uncheck this option to get back to the list of all backup options.


 

A series of incremental backups starts with one full backup. During each following backup, only the files that were changed or have been created since the last (full or incremental) backup will be backed up.

The files are NOT marked as backed up, i.e. the archive attribute  remains unchanged. Whether a file has to be backed up during a certain incremental backup is determined by the modification date of that file.
This option allows you to perform an incremental backup using the 'last modified' date of the files. This is useful when archive attributes are not supported (e.g. some NAS or Linux systems).

A series of differential backups starts with one full backup. During each following backup, only the files that were changed or have been created since the last full backup will be backed up.

The files are NOT marked as copied, i.e. the archive attribute  remains unchanged. Whether a file has to be backed up during a certain differential backup is determined by the modification date of that file.
This option allows you to perform a differential backup using the 'last modified' date of the files. This is useful when archive attributes are not supported (e.g. some NAS or Linux systems).

Special Options for Existing Backup Archives (Data Archiving)

Synchronize Mode
If this option is activated, only those files are copied which are new or newer than those present in the backup archive. The reference point is an existing backup file. If no backup file is found, all files are copied and a new backup file is created. In contrast to the refresh mode, new files are added to an existing backup archive.
 

Refresh Mode
This special option can be used to refresh existing backup archives. If this option is activated, only files that are newer than those in an existing backup archive are copied. The reference point is an existing backup file. Only files that are already present in the backup file are copied. This option should only be selected if the same backup set was used to create a full copy backup before and the backup archive still exists in the target directory.

 These two option cannot be used with multi-spanning. If you want to synchronize two computers via a removable medium, you must disable multi-spanning for this backup.

Backup files newer than...
Select this option if you only want to back up data from after a specific date. The date must be entered in the format "DD.MM.YYYY" and must be between 1987 and 2076.

Windows Task Scheduler
For each backup set, you can choose to create a task for Z-Cron  or the Windows Task Scheduler. Select this option if you want to use Windows Task Scheduler for scheduling your backups.

Compression Settings
Z-DBackup uses Zip Express Technology^TM for compressing its backup files. This technology is compatible with the PKZIP 4.5 format . You can specify if and how to compress the backup. Compression makes it possible, for example, that 400 MB of text files can be copied to a 100 MB ZIP medium. The Deflate64 compression can optionally be enabled in the professional version.

 If you select the options "extreme" and Deflate64, Z-DBackup will try to recompress files even if they are already compressed. In that case, the setting in the program setup  will be ignored!

ZIP file format
 

Backup creation for up to 350,000 files (ZIP and ZDB). If this option is activated, Z-DBackup will also try to copy open or locked files (open shared files) and reports these files in the log file. If Z-VSScopy  is not installed, any files that are locked or opened by another application (FileLock) are recognized during backup and are skipped and also reported with an entry in the log file.

 The option ZIP file format is also perfectly suited for backups to external (e.g. USB) hard drives and NAS.

ZIP container format (ZDB+)

The ZDB+ format supports archives with up to 1,000,000 files. The new version of the ZDB file format called ZDB+ still uses the ZIP container format to store data but extends the standard ZIP format with own features and is thus not compatible to most ZIP programs. Z-DBackup will also try to copy open or locked files (open shared files) and reports these files in the log file. If Z-VSScopy  is not installed, any files that are locked or opened by another application (FileLock) are recognized during backup and are skipped and also reported with an entry in the log file.

 If backup archive encryption is enabled and you're using the ZDP+ format, file names will also be encrypted and cannot be seen when opening the file with another program.

ZIP file format (old ANSI)

Creates archivs in the ZIP file format using ANSI encoded string. Supports backups of up to 500,000 files, optionally with multi-spanning. The files that should be copied may not be locked or opened by another application during the backup.

  New backup jobs should not use this option. This deprecated file format version is only supported for backward compatibility reasons and will be removed in future versions of Z-DBackup.

 ZIP archive (old ANSI)

Creates archivs in the ZIP file format using ANSI encoded string. Supports backups of up to 500,000 files, optionally with multi-spanning for single directories. The files that should be copied may not be locked or opened by another application during the backup. This setting is intended for archiving of data and is not suitable for daily backups. Filter options are not supported with this backup method.

  New backup jobs should not use this option. This deprecated file format version is only supported for backward compatibility reasons and will be removed in future versions of Z-DBackup.

Maximum Performance
Deactivate this option to prevent Z-DBackup from sending data faster than the target drive can process them. This is useful for slow components, such as USB or network drives, and can prevent Z-DBackup from freezing periodically or aborting backup processes to slow drives. You can specify a delay time from 0 to 10 ms in the program setup .

Direct Creation
The files are written to the backup archive directly. This setting does nothing if multi-spanning is enabled. For network backups, this settings can often help to improve the performance of Z-DBackup.

Caching
The backup is first created in the working directory  and then copied to the backup medium. This option is only advisable for special cases. Make sure that enough free disk space is at hand and you have the necessary user rights. Z-DBackup needs read and write permissions for the working directory.

VShadow Copy
 If this option is activated, a Volume Shadow Copy is created for the source drive. This allows copying locked files.

  Z-VSScopy is contained in the Freeware Version of Z-DBackup and is itself freeware for private use. If you want to use Z-VSScopy with the Professional Version of Z-DBackup, you need to purchase a license.

Empty directories
Include empty directories in the backup. This can be useful if you want to be able to restore the complete directory structure including empty directories.

Clear Archive Attribute
The archive attribute  of the source files is cleared/deactivated after backup.

Delete files after backup
If you want to archive old or unused data, you can use this option. The source files are deleted during backup! Only use this option if you want to archive old data and at the same time remove it from your hard drive.

Select this option if you want to create multi-volume archives on your hard drive, for example to copy them manually or automatically (with Z-DataBurn of Z-DataBurn) to multiple CDs/DVDs/Blu-Rays. This option must also be enabled if you want to create a backup larger than 2 GB/4 GB to hard drives with FAT or FAT32 .

Clear medium prior to backup
 If you want to create the backup on a removable medium (e.g. a ZIP drive), the option "Multi-Volume to HD" is disabled. The backup will automatically be written to multiple mediums, depending on the size. Removable mediums can be cleared/erased automatically by Z-DBackup before data is copied to them.

If this option is selected, the backup file is created as a self-extracting EXE archive instead of a ZIP file. Due to limitations in the SFX technology (PKZIP 2.04g), the maximum archive size is limited to 2048 MB (2 GB). AES encryption  and Deflated64 compression are not supported.

  Without the module Z-VSScopy , Z-DBackup cannot copy files that are locked by other applications!

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