Have a look at the "User's Manual" section for more precise informations.
About Areca
End user documentation
Technical informations
Areca on SourceForge
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Copyright (c) 2005-2009 Olivier PETRUCCI
Before starting
Configuration directory
Areca will need a directory where it will store the configuration of your backups (what files to backup, where to store them, which files types must be filtered, whether the backups are compressed or encrypted, and so on). This "configuration directory" is called a "workspace".In this tutorial, I assume that your workspace is "/home/olivier/areca_workspace".
Backup directory
Areca will also need a directory (on your local hard drive or a USB drive, for instance) where to store your archives. This directory will be refered as "Backup directory". I assume in this tutorial that your backup directory is "/backups".Launching Areca
Simply run the "areca.sh" script (on Linux) or "areca.exe" (on Windows) ... A new window like this one should appear :
This is the main interface of Areca Backup.
Choosing your workspace
As said before, we want to store our configuration in "/home/olivier/areca_workspace", so go to the "Workspace" menu, choose "Open Workspace" and select "/home/olivier/areca_workspace".
Creating your first group
You can create multiple backup configurations in Areca. For instance you can create a first configuration that backups your MP3 without compression, and another one that backups your documents with compression and encryption.Areca allows you to group your configurations so they will be easier to manage.
To create your first group, go to the "Edit" menu and select "New Group".
A new window will appear, asking for a group name and description. Enter "My First Backup Group" as group name.
... and click the "Save" button.
Your new group magically appears in the main window :
Creating your first target
A backup configuration is called "target" in Areca. To create your first target, select "My First Backup Group", go to the "Edit" menu, and select the "New Target" item :
A new screen appears ...
Target configuration
"Main" Tab
Enter "My First Target" as target name, and select your backup directory (which will be - as discussed at the beginning of this tutorial - "/backups").
Keep all other fields unchanged and go to the "Sources" tab ...
"Sources" Tab
This tab allows you to select the directories you want to backup.
Click the "Add" Button, and select a directory (for instance : "/home/olivier/Photos")
Click on the "Save" Button. "/home/olivier/Photos" appears in the "sources" list :
Add as many source directories as you want, and go to the "Compression" tab.
"Compression" Tab
This window allows you to select whether your archive will be compressed or not (and how it will be compressed).
In our case, we just want to create standard zip files, so keep the default settings, and simply check the "add .zip extension to filenames" checkbox.
Once you're done, go to the "Advanced" tab ...
"Advanced" Tab
This window allows you to choose advanced parameters such as permission management (on Linux) or encryption.
In our case, we don't want encryption, so keep the default configuration and go to the "filters" tab.
"Filters" Tab
Filters allow you to exclude unwanted files or directories from your backup.
By default, Areca excludes "*.tmp" and "*.temp" files as well as locked files.
If you want to add a new filter (for instance to exclude the "/home/olivier/Photos/old" subdirectory), select the "..." filter item and click the "Add" button :
Select "Directory filter" as filter type, choose "/home/olivier/Photos/old" as directory and click the "Save" button.
Go to the "pre-processing" tab.
"Pre-processing" Tab
This tab allows you to define tasks that will be performed by Areca before each Backup.
We don't want any pre-processing, so go directly to the "post-processing" tab.
"Post-processing" Tab
We want Areca to send an email to "admin@mycorp.com", using the SMTP server "smtp.mycorp.com" after each backup.
To do that, click the "Add" button, and select "Send the report by email".
Fill the "Title", "Recipients", "From" and "SMTP server" fields as shown bellow :
... and click the "Save" button.
Go to the "Description" tab.
"Description" Tab
Enter whatever you want : it's just for information purpose.
Once you're done, hit the "Save" button. That's it ! You've created your first target with Areca Backup !
Launching your first backup
Once your target has been created, you can run it as frequently as you want : select your target in the left side of the main window :
... right click and and hit the "Backup" item in the menu that appears.
A new window appears and asks some (optional) informations about the backup that will be performed :
We want to provide a short description for this first backup, so select the "Add manifest" checkbox and enter "This is my first archive !" as title.
Once you're done, hit the "Start Backup" button : the window closes and a progress bar appears in the main window :
Viewing your archive
Once the backup is completed, your new archive appears in the "Physical view" tab ... that's it : you've created your first archive with Areca Backup !
You can see the content of your archive by double-clicking on it :
Performing another backup
Let's suppose that you add a new picture (named "MyNewPicture.jpg") in your directory. If you want to backup this new file, all you have to do is to select your target again, right click and select "Backup" again (as shown previously)
Enter "Another archive !" as archive title and hit "Start Backup"
Once the backup is finished, you can notice that another row appears in your "Physical view" tab. This is your new archive.
Double-click on it to see its content :
You can notice that it only contains the new file (all other files are greyed). This is called "Incremental backup" : Areca only stores new or modified files.
Viewing a file's history
Let's assume that the new picture ("MyNewPicture.jpg") has been modified and that a third backup has been performed :
Go the "Logical view" tab :
If you select the "MyNewPicture.jpg" item, you can see its history on the right side of the tab.
In this example, you see that the file was created at 9:50 PM and modified at 9:54 PM.
Recovering a specific version of a specific file
Let's assume that you want to recover the very first version of "MyNewPicture.jpg". Select it in the history (on the right side of the "Logical view" tab), right click and select "Recover ...".
A new window appears and asks you where to recover the file.
Enter the destination (for instance "/home/olivier") and hit "OK".
That's it : your file has been recovered in "/home/olivier".
Recovering a whole archive
If you want to recover the whole archive, go back to the "Physical view" and select the last archive :
Right-click and select "Recover..."
As previously, a new window appears and asks where to recover the selected archive. Enter the destination (for instance "/home/olivier") and hit "OK".
Note that in this case, Areca will recover your archive in a "rcv" subdirectory (in this example : "/home/olivier/rcv").
You can also notice that Areca recovers the "MyNewPicture.jpg" file that is contained in your third archive, but also the files stored in your previous archives : you don't have to recover your data archive-by-archive.
Merging archives
If you want to keep only a limited number of archives to avoid using too much space on your backup location, the "merge" feature will be useful to you.Go to the "Physical view" and select your three archives :
Right-click and select the "Merge" menu item :
A new window appears :
Just hit the "Start merge" button.
Once the merge is performed, you can notice that only one archive appears in the "Physical view" :
Double-click on it to see its content : you can notice that all files (including "MyNewPicture.jpg") are contained in this unique archive :
If you go back to the "Logical view" and select "MyNewPicture.jpg", you see that the file's history has disappeared. A unique version is now displayed (created at 9:54 PM) : Areca has destroyed the file's history and kept the last version only.
