Options

General tab

Autostart - When the program is running as an application, you can change the way it will start when Windows starts. This is disabled if the program executes as a service.

Autostart interface for the service: If the program is working as a service, you can autostart the interface or disabled it.

Service - Install, Uninstall, Start, Stop, Login: Here you can control your service without the need of going to the Control Panel or without reinstalling the program. If the service is installed as an application, and you want to change it to run as a service, just select Install. Sometimes you may need to re-enter the password of the account under which the service is running. You can do it by clicking Logon.

Automatically check for new versions - (Default checked) If checked, the program will contact the server once a week to see if new versions are available.

Language - Choose the language to use. You can make and use your own translation using the Translation tool.

Temporary directory - Directory to be used for zip operations. Warning, if you don't have enough free space in this directory, the compressing or encrypting operations may fail.

Hotkey - Here you can configure a hot key which will open the user interface for you.

Backup everything on start: Start a backup of all tasks when the program starts

Log tab

Log events - (Default checked) A log file will be created if checked. Uncheck this if you don't need a log file.

Log errors only -(Default unchecked) Check it if you only want to add an entry into the log file when some operation fails. Operations that are successfully done are not logged.

Verbose: If checked, every single operation, even trivial ones, are logged into the log file. This may result in a vary large log file. Use only if you are debugging or trying to find some problem with your backup.

Show the log in real time: If checked, all the events that are being added to the log file, will be shown in the interface in real time.

Mail log - (Default unchecked) If you are running Cobian Backup 9 on some remote computer, you may want to get the log file daily in your mail box. Check this option if you want the program to mail the log to you.

Delete on mail - (Default checked) If the mail log is successfully mailed, then delete the log file from the disk.

Mail as attachment -  (Default unchecked) If checked, you will get the log file as a zipped attachment, else the log file will be delivered in the message body.

Mail if errors only - (Default unchecked) If checked, the program will check if the log file has errors operations on it. If errors are found in the log file, the log will be mailed, otherwise it will not be send.

Time to mail - Time when you want the log file to be sent.

Mail after backup: If checked, the log file will be mailed directly when a backup ends.

SMTP

Sender's name - This is the name that will appear on the From field of the mail message.

Subject: Enter the subject to use for your mails.

Sender's address: The e-mail address of the server. Some SMTP servers verify the sender's e-mail.

SMTP server - Cobian Backup 9 needs an SMTP server in order to mail you the log file. Enter the server name or IP address here.

Port - The port your SMTP server is using. (Default=25)

Recipients - The e-mail addresses where the log file will be sent to. You can enter multiple addresses here.

Unicode headers: Encode the headers of the letter using UTF-8

Unicode body: Encode the body of the letter using UTF-8

Logon -Some SMTP servers need authentication. Chose None if you don't need to authentify with the server.

User name -If you are using a secure SMTP server, here is where you enter your ID.

Password -If you are using a secure SMTP sever, here is where you enter your SMTP password.

Pipeline: Indicates if command pipelining should be used for the SMTP client connection.

Use Ehlo: Indicates the SMTP client desires authentication type information from the SMTP server.

Helo name: Represents the identity name of the client establishing a connection to the SMTP server using either the SMTP EHLO or HELO command verbs.

Mail proxy: Configure the proxy server to use

SSL settings: If the SMTP server needs SSL encryption, then configure the settings here.

FTP tab

Limit FTP speed: If checked, the speed of the data transfer will be limited, thus making more bandwidth available for other applications.

Speed: The speed in bits per second to use if you want to limit your bandwidth.

ASCII extensions: Some systems stores binary files and text files in different ways. An application should use the Binary transfer type for transferring executables, compressed files, graphics, and multimedia files. Use the ASCII transfer type for 7bit ASCII files, such as text or Hyper Text Markup Language. Here you can enter some extensions to be transferred as ASCII files. You separate the extensions with a comma (,) . Include the dot of the extension. Example: .txt,.htm,.ini

Security tab

Protect the user interface - If the password is not empty, the user interface will prompt for a password when the user clicks on any button or when the user tries to exit the program.

Protect the main window: The main window will not be shown without the password.

Password - Password to be used to protect the user interface, the main window and to remote logon into the engine.

Clear the password cache - When you minimize the user interface, you will need to re-enter the password to open it again.

Allow remote control: Check if you want to control the program from a remote machine.

Remote password: The password used to authentify when the remote client connects.

Allowed clients: Only the clients present in this list are allowed to connect. You can use * to indicate a subnet or interval. Example: 130.239.*

Visuals

Interface Font- Change the font to use with the user interface.

Show hints: Show the tool tips in the user interface.

Hint color: Here you can change the color of the tool tips.

Hint pause: Time in milliseconds before hiding the tool tips

Use XP style: If the program is running under XP or some other system which supports the new "XP style", use it.

Show percent in progress bar:  Show the percent as a number in the progress bar

Show all icons:  Show icons in the tabs of the user interface.

Confirm running tasks manually: If checked, the user will get a confirmation dialog when the buttons "Backup all" or "Backup selected" are clicked.

Confirm when exiting: If the program is running as a service and the user closes the user interface, the user will get a confirmation dialog.

Show welcome screen: When the user interface starts, a hint window will be shown.

Close other instances: If some other instance of the user interface is open (for example,  for other user on other desktop), it will be closed.

Warn when running multiple instances:  Cobian Backup 9 cannot run multiple instances in the same machine. If this option is checked, the user will get a dialog box telling him/her that the application is already running. If unchecked, the user will not get any information and the second instance will be silently closed.

 

Functionality

Save special and event settings: When an user creates a new task, the last introduced settings are saved. If this option is selected, the settings in the "Events" and "Special" are also remembered by the program.

Calculate sizes: calculating the files sizes can be a very time - and resource consuming operation. If you feel that your computer is slow or that the disk access is very intensive when the program starts, unselect this option.

Show backup hints: When a backup begins or ends, a hint window will be shown.

Show a dialog box when the backup is done: When a backup is done, a dialog box will be shown indicating this event.

Play a sound when the backup is done: Plays the sound you select when the backup is done

Run missed backups: If checked, every time you start the user interface, it will check if some scheduled backups could not be executed for any reason (computer off, etc) and a dialog will show up asking the user to backup those tasks now. The task in question must have as minimum one previous executed backup for this function to work. Only the tasks with a Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly schedule will be analyzed.

Run without asking: If the above option is selected, the backup of the missed tasks will be started without asking.

Automatically convert to UNC paths: If the program is installed as a service, it can have problems identifying mapped drives. So if you select a mapped drive, it will automatically be converted to a UNC path.

Kill when shutting down: If the program will restart or shut down the system and some application has unsaved data, it will often wait for confirmation about saving or discarding information. If this option is selected, the program will be closed using brute force. Data can be lost that way, so use this at your own risk.

Compression tab

Check archive - (Default checked) When the compression is done, check the validity of the archive.

Always use the task name: When compressing, use the task name as the base name for the archive. This way, you can change the name of the resulting archive.

Absolute paths - (Default unchecked) If checked, path information will be stored on the archive (for example My documents\test.doc) . If unchecked only the path relative to the current directory will be stored (test.doc).

OEM file names - (Default checked) Run the file name through an OEM conversion to make the file names ASCII compatible.

Advanced naming: If checked, the split archives will take the names Archive_001.zip, Archive_002.zip, etc. If unchecked, the program will use the classic method of naming archives: Archive.zip, Archive.z01, etc. Be warned: some zip programs seems to be very confused by this advanced naming.

Use Zip64:  Select which type of zip archives will be created. If you select to disable Zip64, the resulting Zip archives cannot be larger than 2 Gb. If you select Automatically, Cobian Backup 9 will automatically choose the best method for every archive.

Zip level - (Default 6) Level of the compression to use. If you set it to 0, the files will not be compressed, only stored in the archive. 9 gives the maximal compression.

Unicode Files Names: Store the file names on the archive as unicode. This is not a standard zip feature.

7zip compression type: (Default:LZMA) Select the type of compression to use.

Compression level: Level of compression for the 7zip archives.

Use solid compression: Solid compressed archives are more effective and have a better compression but are actually slower to create and cannot be updated.

Include drive letter: Include the drive letter in the name of the stored file.

Encrypt file name: if you are protecting your 7zip archive with a password, you can also encrypt the file names.

Engine - Advanced

Calculate the progress exactly: The engine will count the files before a backup begins. This is used to give you the exact total percent of the backup. If you uncheck this, the total percent of the operation will not be shown.

Low priority copying thread - (Default unchecked) If you feel that your computer becomes slow when backup is going on and you don't mind a slower backup, check this to low the priority of the thread. The backups will take much longer but the computer will become more responsive.

Use several methods for copy - (Default checked) Cobian Backup 9 uses streams to copy files. Sometimes for some reason this method fails but Windows Explorer inexplicably can copy the same file. If this is checked, and the main method fails, use 2 other alternative methods.

Use only shell methods: Use only ShFileOperationW to copy files.

Copy file attributes: When a file is copied, the file's attributes are also applied to the destination file.

Copy file timestamps: When a file is copied, the file's timestamp is also applied to the destination file.

Always create directories: If checked, a directory with the same name than the directory to copy will be created in the destination. For example, copying c:\test\mydir  to d:\ will create the directory d:\mydir. If unchecked, the contain of the directory will just be directly copied into d:\.

Apply masks to subdirectories: When using exclusion/inclusion masks you can check this options to apply the masks  to all the subdirectories as well. For example, if the mask is c:\mydir\*.txt then c:\mydir\subdir\atext.txt will match the mask if this option is selected because the masks applies to all subdirectories oc c:\mydir.

Please bear in mind that including a whole directory using the Add directory button in the mask dialog will always include the subdirectories as well. That means that this option will not apply to any *.* mask.

Do not separate the timestamp: The file name and the timestamp are separated by a "-" and not by a space: archive-2004-03-21.doc

Delete empty directories: If checked, empty directories will not be created in the destination.

Include junction points: If selected, then if the source contains a junction point, it will be copied. If unchecked, the junction point is ignored.

IPC sleep time : Time used by the IPC thread to sleep. Do not change this option.

Connection timeout: Connection timeout in milliseconds for the TCP/IP protocol.

Threads sleep time:  Time in milliseconds used by other threads to sleep. Do not change this option.

Read timeout for TCP: Timeout for read operations for the TCP/IP protocol.

Date/time format: You can change the format of the date and time to use in your file names. bear in mind that some characters like ":" or "/" are illegal in file names. The format symbols that you can use are:

d Displays the day as a number without a leading zero (1-31).

dd Displays the day as a number with a leading zero (01-31).

ddd Displays the day as an abbreviation (Sun-Sat)

dddd Displays the day as a full name (Sunday-Saturday)

m Displays the month as a number without a leading zero (1-12)

mm Displays the month as a number with a leading zero (01-12)

mmm Displays the month as an abbreviation (Jan-Dec)

mmmm Displays the month as a full name (January-December)

yy Displays the year as a two-digit number (00-99).

yyyy Displays the year as a four-digit number (0000-9999).

h Displays the hour without a leading zero (0-23).

hh Displays the hour with a leading zero (00-23).

n Displays the minute without a leading zero (0-59).

nn Displays the minute with a leading zero (00-59).

s Displays the second without a leading zero (0-59).

ss Displays the second with a leading zero (00-59).

z Displays the millisecond without a leading zero (0-999).

zzz Displays the millisecond with a leading zero (000-999).

am/pm Uses the 12-hour clock for the preceding h or hh specifier, and displays 'am' for any hour before noon, and 'pm' for any hour after noon. The am/pm specifier can use lower, upper, or mixed case, and the result is displayed accordingly.

a/p Uses the 12-hour clock for the preceding h or hh specifier, and displays 'a' for any hour before noon, and 'p' for any hour after noon. The a/p specifier can use lower, upper, or mixed case, and the result is displayed accordingly.

Buffer size: Size of the buffer to use when copying files.

Make the first backup full: If checked (default), the first backup of a task will be FULL, despite it's original type. This is recommended because this guarantees that you get at least one full set of your files, which is good to have in case of disaster.

Check CRC for copy operations: Check the CRC of all the files when the backup is not compressed. The backup will then be about 3 times slower.

Copy NTFS permissions: If possible, copy the NTFS permissions of the files. This may need administrator rights.

Timeout for the UI response: Sometimes the engine needs to wait for the interface when the UI  is closing or executing programs. This is the timeout for this operation in milliseconds.

 

Index

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