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Scheduling and automatic protection

Open a backup pair and select its automatic-backup settings to choose when it runs. Scheduling is a balance between recovery freshness and resource use: the more often protection runs, the less recent work can be lost, but the PC, destination, and network are used more frequently.

The maximum amount of recent work you could lose is often called the recovery-point objective. An hourly schedule aims to limit that window to roughly an hour when the PC and destination are available. It does not promise completion at every exact hour if the machine is sleeping or the drive is absent; O&O AutoBackup catches up when it can.

Available schedules​

  • Continuously — watches for file changes and starts after a short quiet period.
  • Every 15 minutes — frequent protection without continuous monitoring.
  • Hourly — the default for personal-file protection.
  • Daily, weekly, or monthly — run at the chosen time and, where applicable, weekday or day of month.
  • Manual only — runs only when you start it.

Choosing a schedule​

  • Use Continuous for small, frequently edited document sets when the destination is normally reachable.
  • Use Every 15 minutes for active work where losing an hour would be costly.
  • Use Hourly as a strong general default for personal files.
  • Use Daily or weekly for large, slowly changing archives.
  • Use Manual only only when another routine reliably reminds you; forgotten manual backups are a common failure mode.

Intervals align to the clock rather than drifting from one completion time to the next. A due run is not started back-to-back with one that has just finished.

Continuous mode waits for a short quiet period after a change. This avoids starting a new backup for every temporary write while an application is still saving. If a file keeps changing, a maximum extension count prevents indefinite postponement.

Run when the drive is connected​

For removable storage, O&O AutoBackup can begin when the correct destination appears. This is often more reliable than expecting a laptop and its USB drive to be present at one exact time. If a backup was interrupted, reconnecting the drive allows it to continue.

A practical laptop routine is to connect the drive at the desk, let O&O AutoBackup catch up, confirm the protected state, and disconnect it again. The disconnection creates isolation; regular reconnection keeps the recovery point fresh.

Autostart is required​

O&O AutoBackup performs scheduled work itself. Under Settings → Autostart:

  1. Enable startup for the current user or all users.
  2. Enable Keep running in the notification area.
  3. Optionally delay the first run after sign-in or run only while the PC is idle.
  4. Decide whether automatic work may run on battery and metered networks.

Closing the window can hide it to the notification area. If autostart or tray operation is disabled, schedules only run while O&O AutoBackup is open.

“For all users” requires administrator rights and an application location accessible to all accounts. Most single-user PCs should use the current-user option.

Missed and deferred runs​

Sleep, shutdown, battery policy, a metered connection, or a missing destination can defer work. O&O AutoBackup reports the reason and catches up when the condition clears. Use Run now when you do not want to wait for the next slot.

Do not interpret “scheduled” as “completed.” The Home page's last-successful-run state is the evidence that data reached the destination.