# Features

**BudgieBackup** is a Windows backup suite (Version 0.9.26.267) made up of
CreateBudgieBackupFile, RunBudgieBackupFile, BudgieBackupSysTray,
BudgieBackupUpdater, BudgieBackupSync, and the Budgie Backup.scr and
Budgie Backup 3D.scr screen savers.

- **Home page:** https://budgiebackup.com (now live)
- **Documentation / back-end:** https://fearby.com/utilities/budgiebackup/

- **CreateBudgieBackupFile** — author a backup plan and save it as a
  `.budgiebackup` file.
- **RunBudgieBackupFile** — open a `.budgiebackup` file and execute the backup.

## CreateBudgieBackupFile (plan authoring)

### Choosing what to back up

- **Simple** screen: one checkbox per well-known location — personal folders
  (Documents, Desktop, Pictures, etc.), browser profiles, email data, AppData
  subtrees, and the Start Menu.
- **Advanced** screen: pick anything else on the machine, folder by folder.
- **Auto-detection** of installed browsers and email clients via the registry;
  unavailable apps are unticked and disabled.
- Backs up **OneDrive** (every signed-in account; only files already stored on
  this PC — online-only placeholders are skipped, not downloaded) and
  **Dropbox**.
- Add **custom folders or files** by browsing, or from your saved **favourite
  folders and files** (with a note on each).
- Contextual help text as the mouse moves over each option.

### Understanding the selection

- Background **folder scanner** shows "N folders · N files · size" per row and
  a running total of everything ticked.
- **Progress bar** and busy cursor while scanning; hardened per-directory error
  handling with partial-scan markers.
- **Drive-type pills** per row — Solid State Drive (Fast), Magnetic Hard Drive
  (Slow), or Network (Medium) — detected without admin rights.
- **Drive S.M.A.R.T. data** and drive/file **icons**.
- Validation of backup destinations, with checks for destinations that sit
  inside source folders.
- **Drive-space forecast** in the footer — how full the Primary and Secondary
  destinations will be after the current selection, shown on the backup
  locations, simple and advanced screens, and updating as you tick.

### Where the backup goes

- Primary and optional **secondary backup location**, each a folder on a drive
  letter on this PC (internal, USB or other locally attached drive).
- **Unsafe destinations are refused** - network paths (`\\server\share`), IP
  addresses, mapped network drives, device paths, junctions/symbolic links, `..`
  segments and hidden Unicode characters.
- Prompts you to **insert a removable drive** when one is needed.

### Options captured in the plan

- Create a **System Restore point** before the backup.
- Include a **verbose log** and a **system log** inside the backup.
- **Prevent screen saver / sleep** during the backup.
- **Compress after backup** (zip) — opt-in, off by default, with a warning
  about corruption after the backup potentially invalidating the archive.
- **Force split** archives under 4 GB (FAT32-friendly).
- Completion **sound**.

### Saving the plan

- Backup names are limited to letters, numbers, spaces and `- _ . ( ) + , [ ] #`.
- Plans are **signed on save** (HMAC-SHA256 with a per-user key protected by
  Windows DPAPI), so RunBudgieBackupFile can detect a plan that was changed or
  did not come from this Windows account.
- Plans are **saved atomically** - no half-written file if the PC or drive fails
  mid-save.

### Search

- **Search backup** form to find files within a backup; right-click to add
  results to the backup selection, or save them as favourite folders/files.

## RunBudgieBackupFile (plan execution)

- Opens `.budgiebackup` files via double-click, argument, or **drag-and-drop**.
- **Signature check on open** — detects a plan that was edited after it was
  saved, or saved under a different Windows account.
- **Strict file checks on open** — a `.budgiebackup` file naming a malformed or
  unsafe path (over-long, hidden control characters, wildcards, `..` segments,
  Windows device names) is refused rather than run.
- **Pre-flight validation** before anything is touched — do the source folders
  still exist, is there enough free space, is the destination drive actually
  connected — reported up front rather than discovered halfway through a run.
- Runs an **ordered, numbered step list**; only whitelisted task types execute
  (displayed command strings are never run).
- **Volume Shadow Copy (VSS)** — one shadow copy per source volume so open /
  locked files copy cleanly; snapshots always cleaned up afterwards.
- **Backup-semantics fallback** (`SeBackupPrivilege`) for access-denied files,
  with an auto-exclude last resort that logs and reports skipped files rather
  than failing the run.
- **Streaming zip engine** (when compression is on) — archive lands inside the
  backup folder and grows from the first file; byte-accurate progress;
  **pause/cancel work mid-file**.
- **Auto Speed Boost** — an optional "Copy speed" tier (Normal / Fast / Max /
  Turbo / Insane (SSD)) that lets a plain, non-zip copy use more worker
  threads at once when the detected source/destination drives can safely take
  it, ramping up and backing off automatically based on measured throughput.
  Not available when compression is on, since compression always runs on a
  single thread by design. The first time a tier above Normal is chosen, a
  one-time warning explains that more threads are faster on a healthy disk and
  harder on a failing one.
- **FAT32 / large-backup splitting** into even 3.8 GB volumes
  (`Name.zip.001`, `.002`, …) that open in 7-Zip as a single tree.
- **Free-space checks** for primary and secondary destinations.
- **Copy to secondary location** after the primary backup.
- **Mirror full backups** — copy only what has changed since the last run.
- **Post-backup verification** — zip entry count re-read from disk must match
  before staged copies are removed; source folders are never touched.
- **Live system panel** with separate disk Read / Write gauges, plus a live
  worker-count / speed-boost gauge.
- **Remote monitor** — watch a running backup's progress from your phone or
  another device on your own Wi-Fi network, including via a QR code. Local
  network only (never internet-facing), code-protected, with the code stored
  encrypted (DPAPI) and a firewall rule limited to the local subnet.
- **End-of-run statistics**; on success both bars snap to 100% and Explorer
  opens at the finished backup.
- **One-page PDF run report** written into both backup locations at the end of
  every run - succeeded, failed or cancelled.
- **Badges** and saved run statistics.

## BudgieBackupSysTray

- Quick access to the rest of the suite from the system tray — the front door
  to documentation, every log the suite has written, and the other apps.
- Shows global run stats on hover, and in a details view on double-click.
- Lists the 10 most recent `.budgiebackup` files, with search.
- **Remember Custom Folders / Favourite Files** — save paths you use often, with
  a note on each; stored encrypted (DPAPI) and shared with
  CreateBudgieBackupFile.
- **Phone Upload** — send photos and videos from your phone to this PC over your
  own Wi-Fi (QR code to connect). Local network only, code-protected, photos and
  videos only, keeps at least 2 GB free, and marks received files as downloaded
  from the internet.
- **Budgie Backup News** — important notices from the author (for example a
  certificate change that needs a manual download, or an end-of-life notice).
  Checked 5 minutes after sign-in and then daily; each message is shown once.
  Every notice is digitally signed and verified on your PC before it is shown,
  and the window says who signed it. The automatic check can be switched off.
- **Server status** in the menu (from fearby.instatus.com), with its own
  on/off switch for the automatic check.
- Documentation menu (including Privacy and Third Party Licences), debug folders
  and the Alpha Tester registration form.
- Experimental backup-scheduler interface — switched off in this build while it
  is finished and tested (see `roadmap.txt`).
- Optional launch at Windows startup.

## BudgieBackupUpdater

- Checks for and installs new builds across all the apps in the suite
  together, not one at a time.
- Lets you preview the change log before committing to a download.
- Reads updates from https://budgiebackup.com, only with your permission
  (optionally automatic).
- **Signed update information** — `version.json` must carry a valid signature
  (`version.json.p7s`) from Budgie Backup's own pinned code-signing certificate,
  or nothing in it is used. Each stage of the check is shown on screen.
- **Pinned installer signature** — the installer must be signed with that same
  certificate (not just one in the same name), is re-hashed and re-checked just
  before it runs, and is kept in an administrator-only download folder.
- **Never downgrades**, and re-checks every redirect against the allowed sites.
- **Where to go next** — if an update cannot be checked or installed, the window
  points you to https://budgiebackup.com and then to budgiebackup@fearby.com,
  with an email pre-filled with the version and the problem.

## BudgieBackupSync

- Optionally syncs a local Budgie Backup to a Backblaze B2 bucket you create
  and control — see `disclaimer.txt`, Section 13, for the full terms
  (Backblaze charges are yours alone).
- Start, pause, rescan, and cancel an upload.
- Remote monitor — watch upload progress from your phone, including via a QR
  code (local network only, code-protected and stored encrypted).
- Your Backblaze key is held in memory only, the Key ID is masked on screen, and
  the storage address is checked (`https://*.backblazeb2.com` only) before the
  key is used.
- Badges from your sync stats.

## Budgie Backup.scr

- Screen saver showing when the last backup ran, how much is protected,
  whether anything failed, and — if a backup is running right now — its live
  progress, alongside a news-ticker style status line and achievement badges.
- Multi-monitor support, burn-in protection (fade in/out), and preferences.

## Budgie Backup 3D.scr

- A second screen saver, installed beside the first with its own tick box:
  your drives on a 3D stage (spinning-platter hard disks and M.2 SSDs), each
  with its label, size and space used.
- During a backup, spotlights pick out the drive being read and the drive
  being written, and data flies between them; when idle, your achievement
  badges orbit as 3D medals and your disk benchmark figures replay as a
  background "rain".
- Read-only: the scene is given drive letters, labels, sizes and a count of
  file types - never file names or paths. Glow off by default; needs the
  Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (a plain status screen is shown without it).

## Shared across the suite

- **Bug report tool** — Ctrl+Alt+F12 on any form. Email is optional,
  screenshots are only attached if you choose, and you can edit the text before
  sending. Reports are **encrypted on your PC** (AES-256-GCM, key wrapped with
  RSA-4096) before upload.
- **Digitally signed** programs and installers (Certum code-signing certificate).
- Files, folders and links opened from an administrator app open at **normal
  user level**.
- Built-in **alpha expiry** date, so outdated pre-release builds stop running.
- **Update checker** and **About** box.
- **Disclaimer** screen with countdown on first run.
- Admin **manifest / elevation** handling.
- **Verbose session logging** with unhandled-exception capture.

Released 27 October 2026 (v0.9.26.300)