mylocalbackupvideo.mp4

MyLocalBackup

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Open-source versioned local backups for Windows. Space-efficient snapshots with one-click restore.
MIT-licensed source code with NTFS hard-link deduplication to keep backup history compact.

Download • Features • Requirements • Building • License

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Features

Backup Engine

• Versioned snapshots: Each backup run creates a timestamped folder that looks like a complete copy, but unchanged files are hard-linked to previous snapshots — no duplicate data on disk.
• Parallel file processing: Files within each directory are processed up to 4 concurrently, significantly reducing backup time on large folders.
• Rename/move detection: Files moved or renamed are matched via size + last-write-time, so they're hard-linked rather than re-copied.
• Background retention: Old snapshot cleanup runs in the background after a backup completes — the UI never hangs at 100%.
• Two-phase deletion: Snapshots are marked Deleting before removal so a crash mid-delete leaves no orphans (cleaned up on next launch).
• Retention management: Automatically prunes old snapshots when disk space is low or count limits are reached. Pinned snapshots are never deleted.
• Backup resume: If a backup is interrupted (app close, update, crash), the next run resumes from where it left off — files already copied are skipped.
• Configurable exclusions: Add folder names to ExcludedFolderNames in config.json to skip regeneratable artifacts (e.g. node_modules, bin, obj) and speed up backups of developer workspaces. Empty by default — everything is backed up unless explicitly excluded.
• Flush retry with bounded retries: Batch database inserts retry up to 3 times on failure before dropping entries, preventing unbounded re-queuing.

Scheduling

• Interval mode: Every N hours (1–168).
• Daily fixed-time: Runs once per day at a configured time (e.g. 2:00 AM).
• Manual mode: Run on demand only.
• Launch at startup: Optional registry-based auto-start so backups run whenever you're logged in.
• Catch-up logic: If a scheduled backup was missed (app closed), the next run fires soon rather than waiting a full interval.

UI

• Dashboard: Live status, countdown to next backup, progress bar with per-file detail for large files, skipped-files tab (persisted across restarts).
• Backup History: Browse, open, or delete past snapshots.
• System tray: Run, pause, resume, or skip backups from the tray context menu. Disable automatic backups directly from tray.
• Notifications: Toast-style notification when a background backup starts (configurable).

Updates

• Updates are published through this repository's GitHub Releases tab.
• Download the latest MyLocalBackupSetup.exe installer and run it manually.
• Newer installers replace the existing per-user install when the version number increases.

Tech Stack

• Framework: .NET 9 / WPF (Windows)
• Database: SQLite via Microsoft.Data.Sqlite (WAL mode on local drives, exclusive mode on removable)
• Installer: WiX v5 Burn bundle EXE wrapping MSI (per-user install to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\MyLocalBackup — no admin required)
• Self-contained: Bundles the .NET runtime — no separate .NET install required

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit)
• NTFS destination drive (hard links require NTFS)

Building

dotnet build MyLocalBackup.UI/MyLocalBackup.UI.csproj

Release Build (EXE Installer)

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File release-build.ps1 -Version X.Y.Z

The script handles: publish, regenerate Files.wxs, MSI build, Burn bundle EXE build, and copy the installer to Desktop. Hashes are printed for release verification.

Project Structure

MyLocalBackup.Core/       Backup engine, database, configuration, models
MyLocalBackup.UI/         WPF desktop application
Staging/                  WiX MSI + Burn bundle EXE packaging
release-build.ps1         Automated release build script
PackagePortable.ps1       Portable ZIP packaging script

License

MyLocalBackup is open source under the MIT License.

You may use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and sell copies of the software, provided the MIT copyright and permission notice are included in copies or substantial portions of the software.

Third-party dependencies and build tools remain under their own licenses. In particular, WiX Toolset extensions are external build dependencies and are not vendored in this repository.