Set Up Backup Solutions

For this section, you will install a third-party application on your computer; you may need to check with your IT support team if computer and business policies restrict such actions.

You’ll once again use your USB memory stick as the target for backups. You might want to erase any previous backups so that it doesn’t run out of room.

Discover Backup Software to Help You Automate Your Backups

Knowing how to create PowerShell scripts and automate them is really great for simple tasks, and we saw that Robocopy is easy to use. However, it has no built-in concept of keeping a GFS of incremental or differential backups, so we’ll have to consider using something else if we need to do this.

For more complex backups, it is simpler to use a purpose-built application with a graphical user interface (GUI); many options on the market cater tor all needs, from home users to global corporations; some of the more common applications are listed here: 

All of these applications support basic full, differential, and incremental backup operations and manage actions such as GFS scheme, audit trails, and backup validation.

Introducing EaseUs

To get the flavor of using a GUI-based backup tool, we’re going to take a look at the free version of EaseUS Todo Backup and try a few things.

To prepare for the exercises, visit EaseUS Todo Backup, download and install the Free User version of the software; you will have to supply an email address for this bit. 

Start the installer and confirm you want to use the free version. Additional code will be downloaded as the process continues. Eventually, you can click Start Now, close the purchase me nag screen, and click Create Backup. 

For our purposes, we’ll create a backup again using the Windows Fonts folder, so click Create Backup. For a real-world case, like PiraSTEM, you’d perhaps select My Documents and other folders containing important configuration and intellectual property files. 

Click Select Backup Contents. Then navigate to File.  

Here, use the EaseUs explorer to find and tick Fonts (it’s under Computer…C:...Windows), then click OK.

Next, click the right icon to select the destination for your backups. In our case, it will local drive, since we are using an USB-stick.

Select your USB memory stick as per previous exercises (here, it’s drive E :). Then click OK to save your settings, and you can now run a backup by clicking Backup Now. 

Automate Backup Frequency

Once the backup has completed, a pop-up window will allow you to set up a backup schedule. You can also do this from the main screen by selecting Options. On the options page, check out the Backup Scheme tab and see how you can create a range of backups, from one-time operations to repeated events.

Also, note that the Backup method can be incremental, differential, or full. Just below, there is a really useful tick option to “Create a full backup every ‘n’ Backups.” This could be used instead of creating two backup tasks for a full backup and daily incrementals/differentials. 

Try setting up a daily full backup that runs at 17:30, as per the image above, then click OK to save your settings.

Perform Audits

EaseUS keeps a log of its activities, and this can be seen by clicking on Tools from the main screen then selecting Logs. 

 Try selecting the log for your Fonts backup and viewing its Details:

The EaseUS log is a summary report of the backup as a whole and does not list the actual files backed up.

Alternatively, you can check the backup image directly with EaseUS through the Tools menu, as shown below:

If everything worked well, you should get an output saying “Image check completed, no errors found,” and “Image check completed, no files lost”, as shown below:

Retrieve Backups Regularly

As mentioned before, backups should be tested regularly to make sure they are working properly.

In EaseUs, you can also perform test restores of your backups through the Browse to Recover menu. Let’s take a look at how this is done. 

After clicking on Browse to Recover on the top right of your screen, you can see how to select the backup image (.pbd file) on your USB stick that you wish to restore.  

Once the file has been identified and selected, click on Recover to, then use the Browse button to select the destination of your restore.

When selecting the Recover to field, remember it’s wiser to try to restore your backup to a test location. You can create a new folder as you choose your location in EaseUS.  

Once restored, you could use the fc.exe file compare utility as you saw in the chapter “Test That Your Backup Works.”  

Let’s Recap!

• There are many GUI-based backup tools available for small businesses and corporations. 

• Most GUI-based backup tools are based on the concepts of full/differential/incremental backups, GFS, and HSM and have logging and restore functionality.

• EaseUS Todo Backup provides a free version of their backup tool.

• EaseUS allows you to set up robust backups and backup management schemes.

• EaseUS can support backup/restore testing.  

We’ve now had a look at the basic concepts of managing backups with Windows command line scripting and job scheduling. We’ve also seen how a commercial, GUI based tool applies the basic principles in a point and click way. 

Before we move on to the Linux world, let’s see whether you’ve soaked up any of this knowledge with a quiz.