Aug 10, 2015

Backup job can be set up with rules to match files/folders by their type, attributes and names. This is configured from the UI in the Backup What section of the backup configuration -
https://www.bvckup2.com/img/r8/screenshot-2-backup-settings-5.png

In additional to these, it's possible to also match items based on their timestamps and to match files on their size. This requires editing settings.ini file for the backup job, but this shouldn't really scare anyone who's in need of these matching options, should it? :)

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To get to settings.ini - right-click on the job in the UI, select "Open Folder" > "Configuration and Logging".

To edit settings.ini - exit the app, wait for it to disappear from the Processes tab in Task Manager and then open the ini in Notepad.

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Each filter is stored as an entry under "conf.filters.2.manual" key, e.g.

        conf.filters.2.manual       0 00000010 00000000 \hiberfil.sys

Simple format

There are two formats used to store the rules - simple (as above) and extended (described below). Simple format is used for rules that are created through the UI -

        Leading 0 or 1 is "exclude" or "include"
        Followed by attribute mask in hex format
        Followed by attribute values in hex format
        Followed by a pattern for the name match

Attribute matching works by taking file/folder attribute bitfield, AND'ing it with the "mask" and matching to the "value". Bits in a bitfield come straight from Windows API and they are documented here in [1]

Extended format

Extended format is ... well ... extended. Here's an example of the rule using it:

        + attr (00000010, 00000000) size (100, 200) ctime ( 1991-01-01 00:00:00, now - 1 w ) match *.xyz

This will match _files_ (the "attr" part) that are between 100 and 200 bytes in _size_ and that were _created_ between Jan 1st, 1991 and a week before now, and with a name that matches "*.xyz"

Basically the format is

        + or -
        <match-target> ( <match-details> )
        <match-target> ( <match-details> )
        match <pattern>

<match-target> can be one of the following:

        attr (<mask>, <value>)                        -- attribute match as per above
        size (<min-bytes>, <max-bytes>)      -- size match, files only
        ctime (<when>, <when>)                    -- created timestamp match
        mtime (<when>, <when>)                  -- modified timestamp match

<when> can be in absolute format:

       1970-01-02 03:04:05

or in relative format:

       now
       now - <interval>
       now + <interval>

whereby <interval> is a number followed by 's' for second, 'm' for minute, 'h' for hour, 'd' for day, 'w' for week. For example,

        now - 1 w                        -- a week ago
        now + 123 s                    -- 123 seconds in the future

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If anything's unclear, ask below.

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[1] https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/gg258117%28v=vs.85%29.aspx