📂 Home Backup & Restore Utility (v11.7)

A lightweight, powerful, and intelligent backup tool for Windows, written entirely in PowerShell with a modern WPF GUI. It features "Time Machine" style incremental backups using NTFS Hard Links to save disk space while keeping every backup snapshot fully accessible.

Now features advanced Automation & Retention policies (Timeshift style).

📸 Screenshots

A smart, incremental backup utility for Windows built with PowerShell & WPF. Features NTFS hard-linking for storage efficiency, auto-dark mode, and a modern GUI.

✨ Key Features (v12.0)

• 🤖 Smart Automation (Timeshift Style): Set it and forget it. Configure retention levels for Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Boot backups. The tool automatically rotates snapshots, deleting the oldest one of that specific type before creating a new one.
• 📅 Task Scheduler Integration: Automatically creates, updates, or removes Windows Scheduled Tasks directly from the GUI. No manual configuration needed.
• 🚀 Smart Incremental Backups (Turbo Mode): Uses NTFS Hard Links. If a file hasn't changed since the last backup, it links to the old file instead of duplicating it. This saves massive amounts of disk space.
• 💻 Headless / CLI Support: Run backups silently in the background using command-line arguments. Ideal for custom scripts or system admins.
• 🛑 Shutdown Prevention: During a background backup, the tool temporarily blocks Windows Shutdown/Restart to prevent data corruption, ensuring the snapshot finishes safely.
• ⚡ Differential Restore: Checks if the destination file is already identical (same size/time) to the backup. If so, it skips the copy, speeding up restoration.
• 🛡️ Safe Mirroring (Context-Aware Clean): Removes extraneous files only within the specific sub-directories being restored. Guarantees that unrelated files in the parent directory are never touched.
• 👻 Ghost Folder Cleanup: Automatically detects and forcibly removes stubborn empty folders locked by Windows system attributes.
• 🎨 Modern UI & Theme Engine: Automatically detects your Windows theme (Light/Dark mode) and adjusts the interface in real-time.
• 💾 Persistent Settings: Remembers your selected source folders and retention policies between sessions.

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• OS: Windows 10 or Windows 11.
• File System: The backup destination drive must be formatted as NTFS to support Hard Links.
• Privileges: Administrator rights are required to configure Scheduled Tasks.

Installation & Usage

Option 1: Using the Executable (Recommended)

1. Download the latest HomeBackup.exe from the Releases Page.
2. Place it in a folder (e.g., C:\Tools\HomeBackup).
3. Double-click HomeBackup.exe to run.

Option 2: Running the Script

1. Download HomeBackup.ps1.
2. Right-click and select Run with PowerShell.

🤖 Automation & CLI

GUI Automation

Go to the AUTOMATION tab in the app.

1. Check the boxes for the intervals you want (e.g., Daily and Weekly).
2. Set how many snapshots to keep for each type (e.g., Keep 5 Daily, Keep 2 Monthly).
3. Click APPLY SCHEDULES.
   • The tool will register the tasks in Windows Task Scheduler.
   • Snapshots created by automation will have suffixes like _2024-02-01_12-00-Daily.
   • Retention policy only deletes snapshots of its own type (e.g., a Daily backup trigger will never delete a Monthly snapshot).

Command Line Interface (CLI)

You can trigger backups manually via terminal or your own scripts:

# Run a silent backup (uses Manual settings)
.\HomeBackup.exe -Silent

# Run a specific type (Applies 'Daily' retention policy)
.\HomeBackup.exe -Silent -BackupMode Daily

# Run a Monthly backup
.\HomeBackup.exe -Silent -BackupMode Monthly
**Supported Modes:** `Manual`, `Hourly`, `Daily`, `Weekly`, `Monthly`, `Boot`.

⚙️ Configuration (Exclusions)

You can customize exactly what gets skipped by editing the exclude_list.json file.

Example exclude_list.json:

JSON

{
  "GlobalExtensions": [".tmp", ".log", ".bak", ".dmp", ".vdi", ".vmdk"],
  "GlobalFolders": ["node_modules", "bin", "obj", ".git", ".vs", "AppData", "cache"],
  "IgnoredSystemFolders": ["$RECYCLE.BIN", "System Volume Information", "OneDriveTemp"],
  "FolderSpecific": {
    "Downloads": [".exe", ".msi"],
    "Videos": [".srt"]
  }
}

⚠️ Disclaimer

This script is provided "as is". Use at your own risk. The author is not responsible for any data loss. Always test the script in a safe environment first.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Created by @osmanonurkoc