Features Summary

The Getting Started window allows you to easily define/run backup jobs or restore backed up data. By switching to the Explore View, you can see all the files/folders that are in the backup job and the new files that will be stored at the next backup execution. You can sort and search the file tree in Explore view. You can start this backup application at windows startup or minimize it to the system tray.

Backup locked or open files (XP/2003/Vista/Windows 7/Windows 2008/Windows 8/Windows 8.1/Windows 10)

Backup4all uses the Volume Shadow Copy service that allows you to back up local open files from NTFS partitions in Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008 Server/Windows 8/8.1/Windows 10. Now you can backup your emails and settings without closing Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or other email clients.

Powerful file and folder filtering engine with lots of options to filter by attribute, size, date, name and type). You can create filters using a combination of restrictions and you can define separate filters for inclusion and exclusion.

This backup software allows defining multiple backup jobs and saving them for future use. On the main application view, you have an overview of all defined backup jobs.

You can configure Backup4all to send custom emails after a backup finished, with success, error and warning notifications. Environmental variables can be used in the email title and body. Additional options allow you to attach the backup log file and send the email to several addresses.

Pause/Resume or Stop operation

The backup operation supports pausing and resuming, so running a backup job can be interrupted and continued at a later time. There is also a Stop operation now, that when pressed will not Cancel the backup, but instead will save everything until that point when it was pressed.

Backup4all can now check for updates either manually or automatically at a scheduled date. This allows you to better stay in touch with the latest development of Backup4all.

Backup4all stores a summary snapshot of the file and folder information into a backup catalog file (".bkc ") each time a backup is executed. This catalog is stored in a different file than the backup itself and it allows Backup4all to keep track of the backed up files. The advantage of using a catalog is faster backup execution. Another advantage is that you can run Backup4all together with other backup applications because they will not interfere with each other.

Backup directly to CD/DVD/Blu-ray

This backup software comes with its own built-in CD/DVD/Blu-ray burning support. Just set the destination on CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc and execute the backup job. However, you can use UDF format (using SPTD driver installed with Backup4all, or other products such as DirectCD or InCD) or the Joliet format. Backup4all also has the possibility to erase CD-RW/DVD-RW/Blu-ray media.

You can backup your files to remote locations using the FTP service (with SSL support, active/passive transfer modes, firewall support, XCRC tests). You just have to select FTP as destination, enter the connection details and you are ready to backup to FTP.

You can backup your files to remote locations using the SFTP service. Select SFTP as destination, enter the configurations and you are ready to backup to SFTP.

You can backup your files to Azure destination. Select Azure as backup destination and type the Account name, the Key and the Container to configure the Azure destination.

You can also use Amazon as backup destination. Select Amazon S3 as backup destination and type the Access key ID, the Secret Access Key and the Bucket in order to configure the Amazon S3 destination.

You can backup your files to Google Cloud Storage destination. Select Google Cloud Storage as backup destination, choose the account and destination folder.

You can backup your files to Google Drive destination. Select Google Drive as backup destination, choose the account and destination folder.

You can backup your files to OneDrive destination. Select OneDrive as backup destination, choose the account and destination folder.

You can backup your files to Box destination. Select Box as backup destination, choose the account and destination folder.

You can backup your files to Dropbox destination. Select Dropbox as backup destination, choose the account and destination folder.

You can backup your files to HiDrive destination. Select HiDrive as backup destination, choose the account and destination folder.

You can backup your files to Hubic destination. Select Hubic as backup destination, choose the account and destination folder.

You can backup your files to S3 Compatible destination. Select S3 Compatible as backup destination, choose the S3 server, enter the credentials, bucket and destination folder.

You can store the backup in a local folder, on another computer in the same LAN, on media such as: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, Blu-ray, Blu-ray RW, on USB drives or other removable media, on FTP, SFTP, Amazon, Azure, Google Cloud Storage, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, Dropbox, HiDrive, Hubic or S3 Compatible.

Perform extra actions before and/or after backup execution.

Create shortcut for backup job/tag

You can create a "shortcut" of a backup job or backup tag to a desired location. Whenever you will double-click that shortcut, the backup job defined will start running. You can make it a "one click backup" if you place that shortcut in the Quick Launch menu.

You can actually see the number of files that will be processed at next backup (very useful when you have a large number of files). Other information refers to the size and date of the executed backups and the available free space on storage destination.

Backup4all can play custom success/warning/error sounds at the end of the backup.

File warnings are displayed to the user during backup execution if the user chooses so. These warnings are also written to the log file. Scheduled backups do not show these warnings even when this option is set.

This backup software provides step-by-step instructions to create a new backup job by selecting Where, What, How and When to backup.

You can browse a folder tree to select several files and folders as source of the backup or you can include or exclude them individually. Multiple files/folders can be added as Sources at once (drag-and-drop supported).

Different backup types to choose from: smart backup, full backup, differential backup, incremental backup and mirror backup.

This backup type was designed to automatically decide the backup type to use and the number of versions to store, giving a backup destination, without asking you every time what to do.

This option is useful when you have large files changed frequently (as.PST or databases). Using the block backup option, allows you to back up only the changes inside the file, not the whole large file.

If the zip file size is less than 2 Gbytes, Backup4all creates standard zip files. This format is compatible with any zip utility available on the market. Unlike other backup softwares, for zip files greater than 2 Gbytes, Backup4all uses zip64 technology (which allows unlimited zip file size).

In Backup4all you can load plugins to backup/restore the settings of specific programs. A plugin is actually an XML file that once imported in Backup4all adds a predefined backup. For instance, a backup plugin for Mozilla FireFox, when loaded, will automatically add in the Predefined Backup list an entry for Firefox, so when defining a new backup job if that’s selected, the FireFox profiles will be added as source for the new backup.

You can customize name prefixes for the zip archives, which store your backup versions. Backup4all also supports file/folder paths longer than 260 characters (turn off file parsing).

You can protect your ZIP files by setting a password for each backup job. Besides normal password protection, Backup4all also supports 128-bit, 192-bit and 256-bit AES encryption. These numbers reflect the encryption key size used to encrypt the data - a higher key strenght provides stronger encryption.

Mirror backup type makes an exact copy of selected files and folders (copying NTFS permissions and alternate streams), including empty folders too (for an exact copy of the source). Optionally, for mirror backups you can choose to zip the backed up files individually.

Automated support for splitting your backup between many removable disks or even on the same media. You can specify the maximum size of the zip archives. When performing a mirror backup and using disk spanning you can choose not to split the files. This is an useful option because you can copy your music/movies to CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc and not have them split up when the CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc is full.

The operations performed by Backup4all are logged. This allows you to see the status of performed operations (backup/test/cleanup/restore). A backup job/tag History view is available too (which also lets you export the information as.csv).

A command line version of this backup application is available too (that lets you run different operations using parameters).

Restore backed up data step-by-step. Allows you to choose the version of files which will be restored and filter them to restore only the needed versions (file versioning applies to full, differential and incremental backups only). You can quickly restore the latest version of a file/folder as well as restoring versions of files backed up at a specific date.

You can restore data using any standard zip software. Backup4all gives you this way more flexibility if you need to restore data on a different computer (if the backup was created using independent splits, see this section on how to restore correctly using 3rd party zip software).

Some USB enclosures have a button to start the execution of an associated program. If you have such a device, you can configure Backup4all to execute a backup job or a backup tag when this button is pressed (works only with certain USB enclosures).

Text description of the full setup for each backup job that allows you to easily review the information regarding the backup.

Backup4all offers an option to lock its interface so that when it starts you will need to provide a password in order to unlock it and be able to make changes to its settings.

The application tests the backups (using CRC32). This ensures that the files have been backed up properly and the backup is safe. You can also test the backup integrity at a later time from Backup4all's main menu. When backing up to removable media, after each media item written the backup test is performed (for spanned backups). When backing up to FTP, the XCRC command can be used (if supported by server). This speeds up the testing as Backup4all will verify the backup based on the CRC information received from server. If a cloud destination is used as the backup destination, the test will be made based on the CRC information and the files won't be downloaded again after backup.