Backup4all Version 4.x

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Note: We have released a new version of Backup4all, version 9.9. You can check details about the new version here: Backup4all 9.9 released, with new plugins and updates.

If you own a previous version and want to test Backup4all 9.9, you can install a 30 day free trial here: Download Backup4all 9.9. You also get a discount of up to 45% if you upgrade to the latest version here: Upgrade Backup4all

Backup4all 4.9 released (July 4th, 2013)

Email notifications

Today we’ve released a new major version of Backup4all, 4.9.291. Depending on your edition you can go ahead and download it here: Download Backup4all 4.9
This release contains an important feature that improves email notifications as we’ve added a new encryption type, TLS. Since the email notification feature is included in Backup4all Professional and Backup4all Portable, updating is not necessary for Lite and Standard editions (you can see a comparison of features here).

Below you can read details regarding the new features and fixes introduced in the previous 2 builds as well:

  • TLS encryption. The email notification feature had before the option to choose only ‘SSL’ as a type of encryption for the SMTP server. With this new release we’ve added also ‘TLS’ so now for the SMTP server settings you’ll have the option to choose between SSL, TLS or None. You can access this new option by going to ‘Tools->Options->Email’ and checking the ‘Enable email notifications’ box.The newly introduced encryption protocol, TLS, allows Backup4all to communicate with your SMTP server in a way that prevents eavesdropping and tampering. Since this communication can operate either with or without TLS (or SSL), it was necessary to introduce also the ‘None’ option. Before choosing the TLS option for your communication make sure that your server supports it.
  • Environment variables in email notifications (title and message). When email notifications are enabled after every backup job that completes an email will be sent in case of a certain action (job finished with warnings, errors or success). Depending on each action an email can be configured. We’ve introduced now the possibility to use environment variables in the title and/or body of the email. Environment variables are part of the operating system and you can think of them as shortcuts to predefined locations. For example the %TEMP% environment will refer to the location of temporary files. Below you can find a list of environment variables and their actual paths:
    VariableWindows Vista/7/8 %ALLUSERSPROFILE%C:\ProgramData %APPDATA%C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming %COMPUTERNAME%{computername} %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%C:\Program Files\Common Files %COMMONPROGRAMFILES(x86)%C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files %HOMEDRIVE%C: %HOMEPATH%\Users\{username} %LOCALAPPDATA%C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local %LOGONSERVER%\\{domain_logon_server} %PATH%C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem; %PATHEXT%.com;.exe;.bat;.cmd;.vbs;.vbe;.js;.jse;.wsf;.wsh;.msc %PROGRAMDATA% %SystemDrive%\ProgramData %PROGRAMFILES% %SystemDrive%\Program Files %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% %SystemDrive%\Program Files (x86) %PSModulePath% %SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\ %PUBLIC% %SystemDrive%\Users\Public{Drive}:\$Recycle.BinC:\$Recycle.Bin %SystemDrive%C: %SystemRoot% %SystemDrive%\Windows %TEMP% and %TMP% %SystemDrive%\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Temp %USERDOMAIN%{userdomain} %USERNAME%{username} %USERPROFILE% %SystemDrive%\Users\{username} %WINDIR% %SystemDrive%\Windows
  • Default email notification title was updated. Emails sent by default now will have a more detailed title. The subject of the email from now on will be shorter and will include the name of the computer as well: [computername] [jobname] [status]. As an example for a backup job called ‘My Documents’ the subject could be: WORKSTATION12 My Documents success. These emails can be configured to have any details you want by going to ‘Backup Properties->Email->Email messages‘.
  • Fix: Missing .png file warning. In some situations when backing up the program configurations there was a warning written in the log file: ‘Warning: Folder “C:\Users\Admin\AppData\Roaming\Softland\Backup4all Professional 4\Backup4all.png” not found in zip’. We’ve corrected that thus if you encountered this error when backing up the program configurations an upgrade will resolve it.
  • Fix: Missing empty file name when restoring. This error occurred when trying to restore the Backup4all configurations on 32bit operating systems. Usually the error was similar to this one: ‘Error: File “\” does not exist in zip “1_Backup4all Configuration.zip”‘. This was fixed as well

If you own a version 4.x license you can download Backup4all 4.9 here: Download Backup4all 4.9.

Backup4all 4.8, 40% faster than previous versions (July 3rd, 2012)

Backup4all 4.8 is now available, this is a major update and we highly recommend downloading and installing the new version. It contains important improvements, as this new version is at least 40% faster than previous ones, so if you haven’t already installed it you can get it here: https://www.backup4all.com/download.html

What was improved in Backup4all 4.8:

  1. Important backup speed enhancements. In our tests the new version turns out to be 40% faster than the previous version, especially when the backup jobs contain numerous files.
  2. Improved source filter matching. All the backup jobs are filtered by default (there are several filters set up that affect all backup jobs). These filters have environment variables in the path of their sources. This means that everytime the filters were applied, the environment variables had to be expanded. We’ve optimized that process now, as the environment variables are expanded just once when the backup starts, not individually for each file (as it was before).
  3. Faster file access functions while archiving. For the archiving process we used several functions that were quite old (Delphi functions), we’ve seen a definite speed improvement when we started using certain Windows functions.
  4. Improved logging times. The speed improvement for logging is noticed especially when using the detailed log. Before this improvement, for each file/folder in the source the time format was established. Now we’ve improved that by calculating the time format at the beginning of the logging process and using that for all the files in that backup job.

For this test we ran the same backup job with Backup4all 4.7 and after that with Backup4all 4.8:

  • Backup4all 4.7 finished the backup in 1:41 minutes, while Backup4all 4.8 finished the backup in almost 1 minute. Backup4all 4.8 was 40% faster in this particular case (in our tests we found out that this percentage grows exponentially with the amount of files).
  • We used a backup job that had 15000 files (text files), in order to better differentiate the speed improvements in the two tested versions..
  • In this video we used a stopwatch gadget to record the time, because it was better as a visual measure than checking the time in the log file. When the backup itself ran, we speeded-up the video 4 times to avoid watching a progress bar, but this doesn’t affect in any way the test.

What was fixed in Backup4all 4.8:

  • When restoring a file from a mirror backup (with zip) to a different location, the file creation time was wrong.
  • When creating a shortcut for a newly defined backup job (without running it), there were some errors if trying to change the backup type.
  • For a large backup to Blu-ray, if the sources are on different partitions the discs are not fully filled (in certain cases only 80% of the disc would get filled). We’ve fixed that now, so all discs are close to 100% filled.

If you own a version 4.x license you can download Backup4all 4.9 here: Download Backup4all 4.9.

Backup4all 4.7, with new FTP transfer types (March 23rd, 2012)

Backup4all 4.7 is now available, this is a major update and we highly recommend downloading and installing the new version. It contains new transfer types for FTP uploads, a new option that allows customizing the list of file types to transfer in ASCII mode and other updates. You can download it here: https://www.backup4all.com/download.html

What’s new in Backup4all 4.7:

  • New: Added new transfer types for FTP uploads: Binary, Ascii and Auto
  • New: New option that allows customizing the list of file types to transfer in ASCII mode
  • New: Time for scheduled jobs is now in the same format as the one on the Windows machine where it’s defined
  • Fix: Problems when backing up files/folders with Korean characters
  • Fix: Problems when backing up files/folders with Chinese characters
  • Fix: Some fixes for SFTP destination.
  • Fix: For some FTP/SFTP servers, there was a warning about files uploaded with a different size.
  • Fix: Catalog file was not renamed on some FTP/SFTP servers.
  • Fix: Backup russian characters from Russian OS and restore to English OS problem fixed.
  • Fix: Scheduled tasks created via the new backup wizard did not start in certain situations.

If you own a version 4.x license you can download Backup4all 4.9 here: Download Backup4all 4.9.

Backup4all 4.6 released, introducing a Vista/7 sidebar backup gadget (April 18th, 2011)

Backup4all 4.6 is available and it contains several new features, updates and fixes. The most notable new feature is the addition of a sidebar gadget for the operating systems that support this: Windows Vista and Windows 7. This gadget allows you quick access to your backup jobs and the ability to run (pause, resume, stop, cancel supported too) or edit their properties directly from the gadget. You can download it here: https://www.backup4all.com/download.html

What’s new in Backup4all 4.6:

  • New: Added a Backup4all gadget for Windows Vista and Windows 7
  • New: The CD/DVD/Blu-ray burning engine was updated
  • New: An exclamation sound is played when the CD/DVD/Blu-ray needs to be changed
  • New: New backup tags were added for hour, minute and second
  • New: When forcing a shutdown during the backup, you will be notified that “Shutting down will corrupt current backup”
  • Fix: Excluding a file from sources lead to removing the entire folder
  • Fix: If the upload of a file failed, the retry caused the progress to exceed 100%
  • Fix: Clean backup was executed on external drives even if those were disconnected
  • Fix: Filters could not be changed from Include to Exclude
  • Fix: The application did not start when computer was idle
  • Fix: When backing up to a CD/DVD/Blu-ray, the fist execution date was not correctly imported after the second session
  • Fix: If “Test after backup” option was not used, the application was still asking for the disk
  • Fix: Importing backup jobs in Professional or Standard from Lite was not working
  • Fix: “After backup” action was not executed if running from command line
  • Fix: The zip name in log error messages was empty in certain situations
  • Fix: The log was not open with the selected Log Viewer in all cases
  • Fix: In the backup list, the last selected group was not saved after a restart
  • Fix: The dot character was not allowed in a tag name
  • Fix: The default backup type couldn’t be changed in scheduler

If you own a version 4.x license you can download Backup4all 4.9 here: Download Backup4all 4.9.

Backup4all 4.5 released, adding a new “Progress view” (October 14th, 2010)

Backup4all 4.5 was released, introduces several new options but the most important change is the addition of a new view, “Progress View”. This new view shows detailed information about the actions you are performing on your Backup4all application (backup, restore, cleaning etc).

You can download it here: https://www.backup4all.com/download.html

What’s new in Backup4all 4.5:

  • New: Added “Progress view”
  • New: The progress bar contains now more details
  • New: New GUI translation added (Finnish)
  • New: Scheduled jobs now show an extra icon in the backup list
  • New: Added command line parameters for “Difference Viewer”
  • New: Added “Active” checkbox for filters
  • New: Scheduled tasks can be created via Remote Desktop
  • New: Shutdown pop-up notification is shown even if backup is running in background
  • New: Repair function from “Control Panel” works even if installed from exe
  • Fix: Changing the destination folder name was not updated on FTP
  • Fix: Pause during merge was not working properly
  • Fix: Brief view not showing the correct details for new opened jobs
  • Fix: Backup jobs from CD/DVD couldn’t be opened because of the read-only attribute
  • Fix: Sheduled backups at 00:00 or 12:00 AM were not correctly listed in Backup View
  • Fix: Restore Preview page showed the UTC time, not the local time
  • Fix: Shutdown after backup did not work if no user was logged in
  • Fix: Standalone scheduler does not run at startup or at logon
  • Fix: Command line Access Violation when local catalog was not used
  • Fix: CD/DVD was not refreshed after backup
  • Fix: User intervention was expected for scheduled groups
  • Fix: In some cases the application did not start at Windows startup
  • Fix: Message was not clear when the CD/DVD was missing for a scheduled job

If you own a version 4.x license you can download Backup4all 4.9 here: Download Backup4all 4.9.

Backup4all 4.4 released, with new open backup option (January 20th, 2010)

The new Backup4all 4.4 version was just officially released. This new version introduces a new option to open backups from specific locations and other updates/fixes for the users of previous versions.

You can download it here: https://www.backup4all.com/download.html

What’s new in Backup4all 4.4:

  • New: Option added to open backups from specific locations (Local, Network, FTP/SFTP)
  • New: Backup jobs can now be moved in the backup list(drag-and-drop)
  • New: Test runs after the merge operation too
  • New: Auto-complete path for network locations
  • Fix: The number of warnings in email notification was not correct
  • Fix: Backup4all froze while paused for a longer period of time
  • Fix: Mirror backup to CD/DVD/Blu-ray spaning on multiple disks
  • Fix: Warning message when cannot open read-only catalog file
  • Fix: “Backup all groups” scheduler did not work correctly
  • Fix: Restore with problems from “Getting Started” page
  • Fix: “Filter by action” under Scheduler page did not work correctly
  • Fix: Some fixes when backing up open files
  • Fix: AV when backing up to CD/DVD/Blu-ray using command line
  • Fix: “Open” and “View with Notepad” options fixed

If you own a version 4.x license you can download Backup4all 4.9 here: Download Backup4all 4.9.

Backup4all 4.3 released, with SFTP backup (November 5th, 2009)

The Backup4all 4.3 version was finally released to the users. This new major version release introduces a new secure destination (SFTP) and other updates/fixes.

You can download it here: https://www.backup4all.com/download.html

What’s new in Backup4all 4.3:

  • New: Backup to SFTP was added
  • New: Added a new option that lets you Backup all groups
  • New: Option to split files larger than a specific size for FTP backups
  • New: Select the scheduler priority
  • New: Split the backup according to a number of files/folders
  • New: Change the scheduler username and password for multiple jobs
  • New: New option to “Store temporary catalog data in memory”
  • New: “Minimize to tray when finished” added for backup on demand
  • Fix: Pressing Cancel during the Clean operation is not possible anymore
  • Fix: “Last Backup” and “Last backup status” from Brief view will be updated even if no files were backed up
  • Fix: Cancel backup during catalog upload will not result in a corrupt catalog
  • Fix: Test with warnings for Backup4all configurations plugin on Vista
  • Fix: Index out of bounds during independent test for mirror
  • Fix: Backup4all did not close after run for backups on demand
  • Fix: Standalone scheduler fix (was not starting if application was not started)
  • Fix: Backup open files on 64-bit OS
  • Fix: Desktop.ini file was modified after backup on Windows 2008 R2
  • Fix: The scheduled task was not created if switching to another application during setup
  • Fix: Incorrect OTB device detection fixed
  • Fix: Skipping files from disconnected source drives is faster
  • Fix: Restoring file with non-English characters
  • Fix: Cannot run Backup4all Portable U3 from a limited account
  • Fix: Backup at system shutdown was not turning the computer off

If you own a version 4.x license you can download Backup4all 4.9 here: Download Backup4all 4.9.

Backup4all version 4.2 released (July 30th, 2009)

The release of Backup4all 4.2 is now available. This is a major version release and contains a lot of new features and improvements. It is a free upgrade for existing Backup4all 4 users.

You can download it here: https://www.backup4all.com/download.html

What’s new in Backup4all 4.2:

  • New: Added Unicode filename support (files with non-standard characters can be easily backed up now)
  • New: Backup4all is now compatible with 64-bit operating systems too
  • New: Environment Variables can be used when defining new filters (e.g. %temp%, %SystemRoot%)
  • New: File versions can be compared now
  • New: Added “Select columns” option in the right-click menu of the versions section (Explore View)
  • New: Added option to select new filetype for log files (.txt is accepted now too, given that .log files cannot be opened on Blackberry devices)
  • New: Added option “Remove from sources” when right-clicking a file in Explore View
  • New: Added “Run With” and “Job Type” in schedule lists
  • New: Added a new button for “Ignore all” during restore
  • New: Added message for mirror backups to FTP when splitting large files and there is not enough space in temp (Ftp allows files of max 2GB)
  • New: Added notification if the CTM gets corrupted (ask user to reinstall application)
  • Update: If the notification email has an attachment larger than the sending limit, only the email is sent (without attachment)
  • Update: Sources can be modified now even after selecting a Predefined Backup job (this way a backup job can be used as a “template” for future backup jobs)
  • Fix: Various fixes for mirror backups (with zip) to removable drives and FTP
  • Fix: In particular cases the .bkc got corrupted

If you own a version 4.x license you can download Backup4all 4.9 here: Download Backup4all 4.9.

Backup4all 4.1 was released (March 17th, 2009)

A new version of Backup4all 4.1 was released. This version contains additional improvements and adds to the features of the Backup4all 4 final release.

You can download it here: https://www.backup4all.com/download.html

What’s new in Backup4all 4.1:

  • New: Backup to Blu-ray discs and HD-DVD (or from Blu-ray/HD DVD) is now supported
  • New: Added support for backing up to dual layer DVDs
  • New: Added plugin to backup Microsoft Outlook automatically
  • New: Added show excluded file no. and excluded folder no. (in Test/Cleanup window, Backup View, Restore/Choose backup numbers window)
  • New: Added text description field for selected filter in Options->Filters
  • New: “Check all”/”Uncheck all” buttons were added to Restore Wizard
  • New: Added the possibility to enable/disable automatic weekly updates during setup
  • New: Added new predefined splits for Blu-ray and dual layer DVDs
  • New: Predefined global filters are added automatically to new backup jobs
  • Update: Optimized “Update catalog” process for jobs with many backup numbers
  • Update: Before/After actions now allow shortcuts
  • Update: Faster “Expand all” in Backup View and Explore View
  • Update: Faster catalog update after backup
  • Update: Plugins are listed in alphabetical order
  • Update: Explorer like multiselect handling in Backup View / Explore View
  • Update: Added text box on the Compression page, informing about the encryption feature applicability
  • Update: During open file backup, if a file is not found via the shadow copy volume service, it looks for it directly in the source
  • Update: Optimized the speed for backup jobs that were created using predefined plugins.
  • Update: Modified the merging procedure when using independent zip splits
  • Update: Drastically reduced the time needed to reindex the backup catalog (after a backup terminated abnormally)
  • Update: Automatic detection and conversion of backup catalog from version 3 to 4 (when needed)
  • Update: Added command line parameters for setup
  • Update: Compatible with Windows 7 (beta)
  • Fix: When using mirror with zip, files with long path were not copied
  • Fix: “Delete sources after successful backup” did not remove folders from sources
  • Fix: ICO images with resolution over 32×32 and alpha blending were not loaded as backup job icons
  • Fix: Filters containing absolute paths were ignored
  • Fix: Testing a mirror backup (with zip and AES encryption) to FTP returned errors even when successful
  • Fix: Timeout while waiting to stop expand
  • Fix: In specific cases, “Close after run” was ignored for scheduled groups
  • Fix: Disabled schedulers were still executed on Vista
  • Fix: Files were not deleted during incremental backups set to keep only 3 versions
  • Fix: Use existing FTP configuration in New Backup Wizard
  • Fix: “Limit number of backups” and “Merge backups” are now taken into account when backing up to USB flash drives (if the backup is not spanned)
  • Fix: Scheduled jobs for other users were available for the current user too
  • Fix: Miscelaneous fixes for filters
  • Fix: When running a full backup to an external drive, no error was shown in some cases if the drive was disconnected
  • Fix: Bandwidth limitation was ignored when set through the Options-Ftp window
  • Fix: When using the Merge backups option, files that only have one version and have the status excluded will be deleted

If you own a version 4.x license you can download Backup4all 4.9 here: Download Backup4all 4.9.

Backup4all 4.0 was released (August 21st, 2008)

The final version of Backup4all 4 was released. This is a major version release and contains a lot of new features and improvements. It is a free upgrade for existing users.

What’s new in Backup4all 4.0:

  • New: Completely rewritten to allow backing up large number of files and folders with moderate resource usage
  • New: Option to archive and encrypt files individually when using mirror backup
  • New: Backup can now be paused/resumed/stopped
  • New: Backup/Restore/Test/Cleanup history
  • New: Automatic updates
  • New: Back up empty folders
  • New: The new version has a redesigned interface with a new Backup Properties section.
  • New: “Getting Started” window with shortcuts to main operations
  • New: NTFS permissions and alternate streams are now copied in mirror backups
  • New: Additional views: Backup View and Brief View
  • New: Option to password protect program interface
  • New: Set memory usage for backing up
  • New: Create and use predefined filters
  • New: Limit the number of file versions
  • New: MSI setup for automatic deployment
  • New: Added new views for the backup groups/jobs in the backup list
  • New: Search as-you-type for backup jobs/groups in backup list
  • New: Added combo-box to easily filter backup groups
  • New: Plugin manager to easily add/remove plugins
  • New: Multiple files/folders can be selected in Sources folder tree in New Backup Wizard and Backup Properties
  • New: Added icon for selected destination and selected backup type in Backup Properties
  • New: Added the possibility to see passwords while typing them
  • Update: List the file paths from destination in the test log
  • Update: Mirror backup: if a source drive is not available (network share, usb stick, …) then the files from that drive are not excluded from backup
  • Update: Scheduler: “Abort backup when network sources are not available” option applies to all types of sources
  • Update: Updated internal CD/DVD burning engine
  • Update: Added warning on scheduling with blank passwords
  • Update: New backup group is created by default on first run
  • Update: Sources tree list resizes with window
  • Update: Mouse wheel can be used to scroll Sources tree list
  • Update: Defined folder filters now apply to full folder path too
  • Update: Plugins used in backup jobs cannot be deleted
  • Update: Main windows will remember their last size and position
  • Update: Show a message when the added plugin (*.xml) is not valid

If you own a version 4.x license you can download Backup4all 4.9 here: Download Backup4all 4.9.