From zero to your first verified backup

1. Install AMBackup

Download the installer from the downloads page and run it. It is an MSI for all users: Windows will ask for administrator permission once.

When you open it, SmartScreen may warn that the program is not signed. Click More info and Run anyway; that is normal for software without a commercial certificate. If you want to check the file, compare its SHA-256 with the one we publish.

2. Create the first profile

A profile is a set of settings: which folders are backed up, to which destination, with which key and on which schedule. The usual thing is one per computer; if you share the PC with someone else, one per user.

When you open AMBackup for the first time you will see an empty Status section and a button to create a profile. Give it a recognisable name: Home-PC, Work-laptop, Shop.

3. Choose what gets backed up

The Source section starts with a scan of the computer. The app detects and suggests:

• Personal folders: Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Videos, Music and Downloads.
• Mail: Outlook profiles (PST/OST files) and Thunderbird.
• Browsers: Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Brave profiles, with bookmarks, history and extensions.
• Large folders: heavyweight directories where you should decide whether they go in or not.

Tick what you want to protect and add your own folders with the add button. Use exclusions to leave out what adds nothing: caches, temporary files, virtual machine images, series or games.

4. Choose destination and key

AMBackup supports four types of destination:

• Local or USB: a folder on another physical disk. The fastest and the cheapest.
• Network (SMB): a shared folder on a NAS or another PC, with a username and password.
• SFTP: a server with SSH, for example a VPS or a NAS with SFTP enabled.
• S3: S3-compatible storage (AWS, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, MinIO…).

Then you set the encryption key. With it, backups are encrypted with AES-256 on your computer before anything is written. Without that key there is no way to read the repository: it cannot be recovered, not by you and not by us. Keep it in a password manager and, if you can, somewhere other than the backup disk.

If you want, enable a second copy to another destination. Copying twice, to two different places, is the difference between having a backup and believing you have one.

5. Schedule the backups

In the Schedule section you choose the frequency and the time: daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. The app creates a task in Windows Task Scheduler, so the backup runs even when AMBackup is closed.

If the computer was off at the scheduled time, the app asks you on startup: Yes (run it now), Postpone (later) or No (skip it until the next one).

Retention defines how many backups are kept per day, week and month. The usual: 7 daily, 4 weekly and 12 monthly. Old ones are removed with prune so the disk does not fill up.

6. Restore files

Restore section. Choose the profile and you will see the list of available backups with their dates. Select one and browse its contents.

1. Tick the files or folders you want to recover.
2. Choose the destination: original location or another folder. The second option is the safest if you want to check before replacing anything.
3. Click restore and wait. The log shows the progress and any warnings.

7. Check that the backup works

A backup that has never been tested is not a backup. Once a month:

• Open the app and check in Status that the last run finished well and on the expected date.
• Run an integrity check: it verifies a sample of the repository data and detects corruption.
• Restore any file to a temporary folder and open it.

8. Command-line use

AMBackup can run without an interface so you can integrate it into scripts or your own tasks. The exit codes tell you whether the backup finished well, and the log stays available to review later.

This is useful if you already have a monitoring system or if you want to launch backups from another scheduler. In normal home use you do not need it: the Windows task the app creates is enough.

9. Good practices that actually matter

• 3-2-1 rule: three copies, on two different media, one off the computer. With AMBackup: local disk + external disk or network, and S3 if you can.
• External disk connected only during the backup: ransomware encrypts connected disks too.
• Key stored separately: in a password manager, not on a sticky note and not in the same folder as the backup.
• Test the restore: once a quarter, at the very least.
• Check the status: if you have not looked for a month, you have probably been without a backup for a month.

10. Common problems

The backup fails and the destination does not show up

It is usually the disconnected disk, the network drive without a session or the SFTP server being down. Reconnect and run it again; the repository is still where it was and the backup carries on from the last point.

The antivirus blocks the executable

Some antivirus programs flag unsigned software. Add an exclusion for the installation folder or verify the MSI's SHA-256 first.

The scheduled task does not run

Check in Windows Task Scheduler that the AMBackup task exists and that the computer was not off or asleep at that time. If the user was not signed in, check that the task is set to run under the correct account.

I have forgotten the key

There is no possible recovery. You will have to start a new repository with a new key; the previous one stays unreadable for ever.