VBackup - Command Line Backup with File Versioning

[TP109]

VBackup is a command line program for Windows that is used to make backup copies of directories.

It is similar in functionality to XCOPY and ROBOCOPY, however, VBackup implements file versioning. This means that you can not only restore files from the latest backup, but you can also restore them from any previous backup.

Released as freeware (free for both private and commercial use). 32 and 64-bit versions available.

VBackup Homepage and Download

[webfork]

I've been having some unclear issues with 7zip CLI backup process -- it keeps creating a tmp file but never actually finishes the archive. Might have to give this a try instead.

I'm a little unclear on the page -- does it generate one file with all the versions packaged into it? In other words, can you restore a version without Vbackup?

[TP109]

I'm a little unclear on the page -- does it generate one file with all the versions packaged into it? In other words, can you restore a version without Vbackup?

Probably unlikely, but I've only briefly tested it so far. I don't have access to my regular machine at the moment that contains some Vbackup test files, but I will look into that. Kind of curious about that myself.

[TP109]

I looked into this and what this program does is to create a full copy of the previous file version in each directory. In each target directory where a file was changed, it creates a ".VBackups" directory. Within the multiple ".VBackups" directories are separate sub-directories for each file that was changed. Each sub-directory is named using the filename with its extension. Within each sub-directory is a non-compressed copy of the previous file version named using a date_hash naming scheme. There is another ".VBackups" directory in the target directory containing all the change information for each scan and probably for any files changed in the top-level target directory as well (I didn't test that).

Anyway, yes it appears possible to restore a previous version without VBackup but there is no easy way to do it other than to create a customized script. The individual files are all over the place and will need to be identified, copied, renamed, and moved.

Another limitation of this program is that it doesn't include compression, so the target directory can get very large after a lot of file revisions.

[webfork]

... it appears possible to restore a previous version without VBackup but there is no easy way to do it other than to create a customized script. The individual files are all over the place and will need to be identified, copied, renamed, and moved.

Thanks for the breakdown