Selecting a backup folder
You need to specify a folder that will contain your copied files. You can have backuplist create a folder for you or backup directly into the destination folder (no special folder selected). There are some options listed at the top left of the settings window Backuplist remembers all these settings for future backups. You will also need to select a destination for this folder, in the main window. See "Choose a destination."
Backup to folder
This creates a default folder named "mybackup" which will be created at the selected destination. If you already have a folder by that name in that destination, your backup files will be copied into that same folder each time, replacing the originals if they have been modified since the last backup session.
Incremental backups
Clicking this check box, you will need to type a number in the text field to represent the maximum number of folders generated (the default is "unchecked" and will use the same folder over again to copy files into.) To select a number, such as three, will cause backuplist to create a new numbered folder at each session. Once the limit is reached it will begin again at 1 and copy files into the "1" folder, then "2" etc. This allows you to have several backup versions spanning a given time period to refer back to if you wish to find a file before certain previous changes were made.
If you are using the rsync or rsyncx copy method (popup choice at bottom of settings panel) the incremental backups will be complete snapshots of your latest files but will not take up any extra disk space! Only the files that have been modified since last backup will be copied over. Rsync is only available for OS10.4 and above but rsyncx will work on any system. Rsyncx is a bit tempermental and will not work well if you have any locked folders to copy. Otherwise it makes better incremental backups than plain rsync, I believe, because Rsync tends to not make hard links of image files so the incremental backups may take up more disk space than those with rsyncx. Typically an incremental backup of an 8GB Home folder will take up only a few hundred MB. Ditto, applescript, cp, or psync, copy methods will make complete copies for each incremental backup, each occupying the same disk space as the original and taking as long to process.. See Copy Methods for more details....
Dated folder
This creates a folder named "mybackup" with the current date appended to the name such as "mybackup 03-02-06". If exists a folder of the same name and date, the backup files will be copied to it replacing the originals, if modified. Otherwise it will create a new dated folder, an archive of your files from a given time period. This is a good choice in conjunction with "multiple folders" so you can tell when the folders were modified.
Compressed archive
Clicking this check box will tell backuplist to make a compressed archive of you selected files. It will compress each item in your list seperately, unless you choose the "single method." Just double-click on the archives to decompress and restore the original files.
Single Compressed Archive: Unlike other backup utilities, which make individual archives of each item, this option will create a single compressed archive of all the items in your list.
Burn folder
Clicking this check box will tell backuplist to collect the listed files and copy them into a new Burn folder. They can be compressed as well. This is only available on OS 10.4X. Just open a Burn folder and click "burn" to burn the contents to CD or DVD. Note: you can't burn a Cd with more than 700MB to 800MB of data. The Burn option places aliases of your folders and files in the burn folder (Except for the system folder files) so creating the burn folder is very fast and doesn't use up disk space.
Disk Image
Clicking this check box will tell backuplist to make a sparse type disk image with your backup files inside it. A disk image is useful for certain situations and is an exact copy that can be unmounted and stored as an archive on an external disk or your own hard drive. See more on Disk Image....
Rsync delete option
This will cause rsync to delete any files on the backup that don't exist in the source folder.
Recreate full folder paths
Usually the backup files and folders are copied directly to the backup folder. This option will place them in their full folder paths as they appear on your computer. Some people prefer this to help them remember where they came from. Others think it is troublesome going through all those folders to find your files...
Note: If you choose "Users directory," the destination pop up will be greyed out because you will have already chosen a destination path and folder.