1. First, Note these 3 Warnings:

1.1. WARNING: CYGWIN Conflict

This is rare and only applies if you have previously installed cygwin, the free software that emulates a Linux system under Windows. Because the rsync package provides and uses the cygwin1.dll, it may conflict with the dll of the same name that came with your cygwin package.

ONLY if you install the package under WinXP AND rsync does not show up as running under the Task Manager, check to see if there is a conflict. This problem will show up if you try to execute the following cygrunsrv commands in a CMD window: (it should work as a cut and paste if you include the final ^ on the 1st line).

cygrunsrv.exe -I rsyncd -e CYGWIN=nontsec -p c:/rsyncd/rsync.exe ^
 -a "--config=c:/rsyncd/rsyncd.conf --daemon --no-detach"

If you get an error about conflicting dll's then you'll have to:

If you still get a conflict, try the reverse (copy the rsyncd-supplied cygwin1.dll to the cygwin dir (usually C:\Program Files\cygwin\bin).

1.2. WARNING: Direct Restore is DISabled.

BackupPC has a very useful but potentially dangerous feature called Direct Restore, which is listed as the 1st option in the Restore Options. This enables you to replace an arbitrarily large number of files on your PC with those from a previous backup. It's very convenient, but you could easily replace newer files with older files, irreversibly losing the newer ones. Therefore this feature has been disabled by default on your PC and if you try it, it will fail. If you really REALLY REALLY must know how to enable it, please give me a call.

1.3. WARNING: Check your Backup directories first

Please use the free (and quite beautiful) WinDirStat utility to see how much disk space is being used in the directory you want to back up. If it contains too much data, especially of forbidden data types (see below), it may not be backed up completely and you certainly don't want to back up files such as personal financial data, medical or human subjects records, etc. Please make sure these files are NOT in the directory you intend to back up.

2. Install the RSYNCD zip archive attached to this email

Detach and save the zipfile to your C:\ drive. Unzip it so that the folder it contains is rooted at C:\. You should now have a folder called C:\rsyncd . It's fine to unzip it elsewhere, but you'll have to move the enclosed rsyncd folder to C:\ .

There are a number of files in this folder but the ones that are customized for you are:

Also, if you indicated that you use a DHCP address:

3. Run the installation batch file

Now, browse into the folder C:\rsyncd and locate the file named winXX_install_rsync.bat in the rsyncd dir, where the XX is one of 2k XP, or Vista, depending on what version of Windows you're running.

3.1. On Windows Vista

Right click on the winVista_install_rsync.bat file and select Run as administrator. This is necessary on Vista to enable the proper permissions for installation as a system service, to be automatically started at every bootup. It will also open port 873 in the Windows Firewall to allow the PC and the Backup Server to communicate, and also allow the PC to be pingable to the Backup server will know that it's alive.

3.2. On Windows XP

Double-click the winXP_install_rsync.bat file. This will install rsync as a Windows service, to be automatically started at every bootup. It will also open port 873 in the Windows Firewall to allow the PC and the Backup Server to communicate.

If you use a DHCP server, it will also install a scheduled job to update your IP address with the server every hour, in case your DHCP lease expires or you've attached at a different network address. When this batchfile runs, it will require you to enter your Windows login password to enter it into the system scheduler.

3.3. On Windows 2000

This will copy an additional Win2K startup file named win2k_start_rsync_service.bat into the Win2K startup file (usually at: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup)

Depending on your version of Windows, if you look at the Task Manager window, (you can bring it up with Control+Alt+Del) you should be able to see a process called RSYNC.EXE (Win2k, XP) or rsyncd (on Vista) running as a service. If so, things are peachy.

4. Using the BackupPC Web Interface

You can directly manage your backups by logging into the BackupPC server web interface with the login and password that you used to register the PC. If you've registered multiple PCs, you should be able to select among them with the [Select a host…] dropdown at the upper left.

Once you've selected a PC to administer, you can view the contents of your backups by clicking on the Browse Backups link also at the upper left of the PC's window. Select the ones you want to recover by clicking on the appropriate checkboxes and then click the [Restore Selected Files] button near the top right.

As mentioned above, you cannot use Option 1 (Direct Restore). Use Option 2 (Download Zip Archive) to combine all the files selected and then download them in one shot.

If you have problems, please give me a shout. Harry Mangalam, 949 824 0084.

5. Forbidden Files

BackupPC will not back up the following file types:

If you want to prevent other file types from being backed up, you can add them to the file C:\rsyncd\rsyncd.exclude in the format shown above.