BACKUP9.EXE

BACKUP9.EXE is a free Windows command line program that maintains a number of historical backups (9 by default) of one or more files.  For example, this command:

backup9.exe c:\baz\foo.bar

Will generate these backup files:

c:\baz\foo.bar.bk1
c:\baz\foo.bar.bk2
c:\baz\foo.bar.bk3
c:\baz\foo.bar.bk4
c:\baz\foo.bar.bk5
c:\baz\foo.bar.bk6
c:\baz\foo.bar.bk7
c:\baz\foo.bar.bk8
c:\baz\foo.bar.bk9

Where foo.bar.bk1 is the most recent backup, foo.bar.bk2 is the next most recent backup, et cetra.  Please note that this assumes that backup9 was called 9 times, and the original file changed each time.

Usage

backup9 [/a] [/de] [/e] [/i] [/l#] [/m] [/nologo] [/q] [/s] [/v] filespec [target]

Where filespec is a specification of the file(s) that should be backed up, and target is the path (drive and folder) where the backup files should be created.

Switches:

/a	Always perform backup, even if no change since last backup.
/de	If there are old backups beyond the number of backup levels, delete them.
/e	Replace the source file's extension instead of appending.
/i	Ignore errors in the file specification.
/l	Number of backup levels, from 1 to 999 (defaults to 9).
/m	Maintain the folder structure.  This is only applicable with the /s switch and a target path.
/nologo	Suppress logo banner.
/q	Quiet mode - no banner or operation status.
/s	Recursively enter sub-folders.
/v	Verbose output (detailed information).

Notes

• The filespec can contain the wildcard characters, the asterisk (*) and the question mark (?).  It can also include multiple files separated by semi-colons.
• If the target folder does not already exist, it will be created.  If no target folder is specified, the backup files are created in the same folder as the source file.
• If either the filespec or target parameter contains spaces, it should be enclosed in quotes.
• No backup is made if the file has not changed since the last backup.
• If a file is locked, backup9 will retry up to 10 times over a one second period.  This is helpful for files that are sometimes briefly locked, like a database.
• Pressing the Escape key will interrupt the operation.

Example #1:  Specifying a Target Folder

backup9 /l3 c:\baz\foo.bar d:\target

Produces these backups:

d:\target\foo.bar.bk1
d:\target\foo.bar.bk2
d:\target\foo.bar.bk3

Example #2:  Wildcard, Long Path

backup9 /l3 "c:\baz\foo bar.*"

Might produce these backups:

c:\baz\foo bar.dat.bk1
c:\baz\foo bar.dat.bk2
c:\baz\foo bar.dat.bk3
c:\baz\foo bar.txt.bk1
c:\baz\foo bar.txt.bk2
c:\baz\foo bar.txt.bk3

Example #3:  Multiple Files

backup9 /l3 c:\baz\foo.dat;bar.txt

Produces these backups:

c:\baz\foo.dat.bk1
c:\baz\foo.dat.bk2
c:\baz\foo.dat.bk3
c:\baz\bar.txt.bk1
c:\baz\bar.txt.bk2
c:\baz\bar.txt.bk3

Example #4:  Replacing Extensions

backup9 /l3 /e c:\baz\foo.bar

Produces these backups:

c:\baz\foo.bk1
c:\baz\foo.bk2
c:\baz\foo.bk3

Download

Click the button below to download version 3.1 of BACKUP9.EXE, released December 11th, 2023.