1. Can I install PortableApps in a folder on my hard drive? Or does it have to be on a portable drive?
2. If yes, would that installation be any different from an installation on a USB dongle, say?
3. What does "Backup" do? Is that a simple .zip file generation/packaging? Or is it more than that?
4. What does "Restore Backup" do? Is that simple unzipping/unpacking? Or is it more than that?
5. I see "Restore Backup" doesn't ask for a destination folder/drive. What's the use of it then? Does it restore the backup on the same drive that runs "Restore Backup"? How is that possible? And why would I "restore backup" on the same drive I am running "Restore Backup" from? At any rate, my suggestion is that it should ask for a destination folder.
Thank you for a great application/platform.
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1. Yes. No. You can use it on any drive you want. But if you install it to C:\, do not install it within Program Files.
2. Normal install to C:\PortableApps. You may want to delete autorun.inf from the C:\ root afterwards (so your drive isn't renamed and the icon changed... reboot after deleting)
3. Backup backs up the stuff it says it does. It'll either do the whole drive. Or just the Documents directory or just the Data directories from all the apps (ie all your app data).
4. It restores it to the right place
5. Because you just install the platform to the drive you're using and then restore the backup.
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3. Say I just unzip (using 7-Zip or some other general purpose unzipping application) the PortableApps backup file somewhere in a folder on my hard drive: would that count/function just as the restoration provided by the "Restore Backup" command? Or would there be something missing? So far I've tried it, and it seems to be working fine, with no difference from a "proper" restoration.
5. I'm afraid I've been misunderstood (or that I just misunderstood what "Restore Backup" does--hence my #4 question): I have a USB dongle with PortableApps installed on it (denote this by "Drive F"). I have a PortableAppsBackup.zip file somewhere on my hard drive, representing the backup of Drive F. I run PortableApps from Drive F, and run the Restore Backup command on the PortableAppsBackup.zip file. Where would this Restore Backup command restore the stuff? On Drive F? Does that mean that it will overwrite Drive F? How can that be, as its files are still in use?
3. That depends on whether it was a FULL backup or not. There are 3 options. Only a full backup includes the whole platform. If you backup appdata and just unzip it somewhere, it'll just be app data and no apps.
4. Because it'll overwrite everything else and restore all apps. Again, there are 3 backup options: Documents, AppData and Full. Only Full would worry about files being in use. And since the only files that would be in use are the platform and the backup utility, it'll just restore everything else. In the 2.0 release, it will avoid restoring the the platform directory.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thank you. At this point in time I am only concerned about a FULL backup. (Just to make it easy for you to answer I'll be numbering my questions again, so you can just answer Yes/No)
(b) Consequently, one can simply replicate a PortableApps USB dongle by unzipping the full backup file onto a differen USB dongle, is that so?
Again, let me thank you for a wonderful application, and keep up the good work.
The answer to both is yes. Though for (b) if you just want to replicate it, it's far easier to just copy everything on one drive to another.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Any chance Toucan will be integrated to make a sync backup thing? Otherwise I'll just use Back in Time on my Linux box.
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Sorry for going off topic here but thats for bringing Back in time to my attention. I have been looking for a backup program for my linux box for a while now and this looks like a good candidate
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