Robobackup

Robobackup is a backup tool designed for Windows (R) operating system. It makes use of robocopy, a tool which is included with the operating system. Robobackup is not affiliated with the company behind the Windows (R) operating system. Robobackup is free software and may be changed and used according to the information given in the LICENSE file.

Installation

1. Install Python.
2. Install defusedxml for parsing the configuration file.
3. Install PyQt for the graphical user interface (optional, only if you use it).
4. Install Truecrypt for encryption (optional, only if you use it).
5. Edit your configuration file (see next section). For that I recommend XML Notepad 2007

To install defusedxml, execute one of these commands:

pip install defusedxml (from internet)
pip install defusedxml-0.4.1.zip (this file in the current working directory)

Robobackup was developed with the following software in mind:

Software	Version	Download link	SHA1 (64bit version)
Python	3.4.3	https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-343/	SHA1(python-3.4.3.amd64.msi)= 8f2e4453dcdf424f15b14b2eda127e76fad4207f
defusedxml	0.4.1	https://pypi.python.org/pypi/defusedxml	SHA1(defusedxml-0.4.1.zip)= d24866fadad6e5bd771757437af2c392f627c3ca
PyQt	5.4.2	http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/download5	SHA1(PyQt5-5.4.2-gpl-Py3.4-Qt5.4.2-x64.exe)= 8ab016bc8b2f9d0c24370e52939bc51165c56927
Truecrypt	7.1a	http://www.heise.de/download/truecrypt.html	SHA1(truecrypt_setup_7.1a.exe)= 7689d038c76bd1df695d295c026961e50e4a62ea
XML Notepad 2007	2.5	http://www.heise.de/download/xml-notepad.html	SHA1(XmlNotepad.msi)= 31b728ddafaffaece76ceefe7d2be9e1a37c8a4b

Sample configuration

For editing the configuration, I like XML Notepad 2007 (see section "Installation")

A template can be found in robobackup-configuration.xml.

Assume, you want to backup the two folders "MyPictures" (on drive C) and "MyMovies" (on drive D) and the folder "MyFamilyMovies" from a network drive (your FamilyComputer). This is how you do it:

<items>
  <item>
    <path>C:\MyPictures</path>
  </item>
  <item>
    <path>D:\MyMovies</path>
  </item>
  <item>
    <path>\\FamilyComputer\MyFamilyMovies</path>
  </item>
</items>

You also have to specify the place, where the files should be stored. Here we assume, you want them to be stored on a USB stick with the name 'MyBackupDrive' under the folder 'backup'. Further, you want to store the backup on a network drive, which was mapped under Z. You may notice, that additional options for robocopy may be added. If you want, you can specify a log folder for every medium.

<backupmedia>
  <backupmedium>
    <mediumtype>
      <external>
        <drivename>MyBackupDrive</drivename>
        <pathondrive>backup</pathondrive>
      </external>
    </mediumtype>
    <logfolder>logs</logfolder>
  </backupmedium>
  <backupmedium>
    <logfolder>logs</logfolder>
    <mediumtype>
      <internal>Z:\</internal>
    </mediumtype>
    <robocopyoptions>/IPG:7</robocopyoptions>
  </backupmedium>
</backupmedia>

Robocopy options can be obtained by executing

(>:) robocopy /?

in the shell (>:).

If you are prone to losing harddrives you may find the Truecrypt option helpful. The path to the Truecrypt binary must be given (depending upon your installation). You can specify the image you want to mount either as external or internal medium. This holds also true for the keyfile. Note, that you can leave out either <key//file> or <key//word>, depending upon your Truecrypt image. The letter tells Truecrypt where to mount the image to. Please take a letter that you know is free to use.

<truecrypt>
  <truecryptbin>C:\Program Files\Truecrypt\Truecrypt.exe</truecryptbin>
  <mount>
    <imagetomount>
      <external>
        <drivename>USBBackup</drivename>
        <pathondrive>image.tc</pathondrive>
      </external>
    </imagetomount>
    <key>
      <word>secret</word>
      <file>
        <external>
          <drivename>USBKey</drivename>
          <pathondrive>key.txt</pathondrive>
        </external>
      </file>
    </key>
    <letter>f</letter>
  </mount>
</truecrypt>

In case of questions, please look at the python code. It is the best documentation.

Useful tools in combination with Robobackup

In an email exchange, Axel Vahldiek showed to me a great tool (USBDLM) for the automatic assignment of drive letters. It is especially useful, if your USB device has a serial number. Thus, you can expect to address the device with the same drive letter again and again. You can find USBDLM here: http://www.heise.de/download/usb-drive-letter-manager-usbdlm.html

Future developments

Robobackup might

• support multiple configuration files
• give names to commands
• comment options in the XML
• optional backupmedia (no error, when missing)

Checklist for developers

Please look at the following sources of errors:

• paths to external resources (You must know your working directory!)

Use the following tools:

• pyflakes: seems to be quick at spotting errors
• pylint: many false positives, but useful

It will be great, if you:

• translate as much as you can
• add docstrings to describe all relevant classes, methods and functions
• take care of appropriate error handling (if you spot something new, try to patch it)