There could be cases when the user deletes by mistake some files in backup destination, or if the files are corrupt.
As Backup4all uses the backup catalog file to store information about the backed up files (it does not scan the files in destination every time) it cannot know that someone deleted files from the backup.
Simply running the backup will not copy again those files. If you have a large backup, you probably do not want to run a new complete backup from scratch, so a repair is the best solution in this case.
In order to identify the missing/corrupted files in destination and back up them again, you need to run a Repair in Backup4all.
The Repair process will first run a test for that backup, to identify the missing/corrupted files in destination. Then it will run a backup, to copy those missing/corrupted files from source to destination.
This way, the backup will be safe again.
The Repair button can be found in Backup4all on the main toolbar menu.
There are multiple types of repair. Bellow is a short description of each one:
- Repair - this is the default repair action. It will first test all versions of the selected backup job. The missing/corrupted files from destination will be deleted from the backup catalog and they will be backed up again.
- Repair Catalog Only - if you choose to repair only the catalog, the backup will be tested against the destination files and the missing/corrupted files will have their versions deleted from the backup catalog, without running the backup. Those files will be included in the next backup, if they are still in backup sources.
- Quick Repair - this action will run a quick test, which means that Backup4all will only test if the files in destination exists or not. Only the missing files will be backed up again.
- Quick Repair Catalog Only - this action will run a quick test, which means that Backup4all will only test if the files in destination exists or not. Only the missing files will be deleted from catalog, without running the backup.