Backup Sets

What Is a Backup Set?

A backup set is a named configuration that groups together the folders you want to protect, the file patterns you want to exclude, and the schedule on which backups run. You can create multiple backup sets to organize different types of data — for example, one set for documents, another for project files, and a third for media.

Each backup set tracks its own version history independently, so you can restore any set to any previous point in time without affecting others.

Creating a Backup Set

Set creation is GUI-only today — the CLI's sets group is intentionally narrow on writes (only the email-policy switch). Use the desktop wizard, then drive runs from either side.

• •Open the BackupEngine desktop agent and navigate to the Backup tab.
• •Click New Backup Set in the top-right corner.
• •Enter a descriptive name (e.g., 'Work Documents', 'Source Code', 'Photos').
• •Choose a Destination: BackupEngine Cloud, Local PC, Network PC, Google Drive, or OneDrive.
• •Click Add Folder to select one or more directories to include.
• •Optionally, add exclude patterns to skip files you do not need (see below).
• •Choose a schedule: Manual, Daily, or Weekly.
• •Enable CDP (Continuous Data Protection) and VSS (Open File Backup) if desired.
• •Click Save to create the backup set.

Backup Destinations

BackupEngine supports multiple backup destination types. You can back up to a single destination or simultaneously to multiple destinations for redundancy. See Multi-Destination Backup to learn how to implement a 3-2-1 backup strategy in one backup set.

• •BackupEngine Cloud — encrypted storage on iDrive e2 with zero egress fees. Default, recommended for off-site protection.
• •Local PC — back up to a local folder or external drive on the same machine. Fast, no internet required.
• •Network PC — back up to a shared network folder (SMB/CIFS). Good for on-premises NAS or file server.
• •Google Drive — back up to your Google Drive account via OAuth. Uses your existing Google storage.
• •OneDrive — back up to your Microsoft OneDrive account via OAuth. Uses your existing Microsoft storage.

Exclude Patterns

Exclude patterns let you skip files and directories that do not need to be backed up. This reduces backup size, speeds up scans, and avoids wasting storage on temporary or generated files.

• •Wildcard patterns: *.tmp, *.log, *.cache — skip files by extension.
• •Directory names: node_modules, .git, __pycache__, build, dist — skip entire folders.
• •Path patterns: /Users/me/Downloads/** — skip a specific directory tree.
• •Size filters: files larger than a configured threshold can be excluded automatically.
• •Hidden files: optionally exclude dot-files and dot-directories.

Inspecting and Running Backup Sets

Once the set exists, both the GUI and the CLI can list the configuration, kick off a manual run, and tail recent jobs.

backupengine sets list                            # All sets, multi-destination fan-out included
backupengine sets list --json                     # Same data, machine-readable
backupengine backup start "Documents"             # Run one set by name
backupengine backup start                         # Run every enabled set
backupengine backup list 50                       # 50 most recent jobs
backupengine sets email "Documents" only-on-failure  # Flip per-set email policy