Backup Operations

Manual, scheduled, or real-time — choose how your data is protected

Manual Backup

Want to back up right now? One click.

Select a backup source in the sidebar

Click the "Backup Now" button

Watch the progress bar — real-time stats as it runs

Scheduled Backup

Set your schedule once. Ginkgo handles the rest.

Select a source and open Settings

Pick a frequency under Schedule

Save. Ginkgo runs on that schedule from now on.

Schedule Type	Config Example	What It Does
manual	`—`	No automatic backup. Trigger manually.
hourly	`{"interval_minutes": 60}`	Runs at a fixed interval (default 60 min)
daily	`{"hour": 2, "minute": 30}`	Runs daily at the specified time
weekly	`{"day": "monday", "hour": 3}`	Runs weekly on the specified day and time
monthly	`{"date": 1, "hour": 2}`	Runs monthly on the specified date and time

Watch Mode (Real-Time)

Turn on Watch mode and Ginkgo monitors your files in real time. Save a file? It gets backed up immediately.

💡 Watch mode is ideal for active projects — code, writing, design work. For general use, Daily scheduling is usually enough.

Excluding Files

Not everything needs backing up. Set exclusion rules for temp files, caches, and build artifacts. Patterns use glob syntax, comma-separated.

Open the source settings and find Exclude Patterns

Add patterns like **/*.tmp, node_modules, .git

Save. Those files are skipped from now on.

💡 Patterns support reverse rules: !**/important/** re-includes a previously excluded path. You can also create a .ginkgo-backupignore file (same syntax as .gitignore).

Compression

Ginkgo compresses all backup data automatically. No configuration is needed.

Item	Description
`Algorithm`	zstd (fixed)
`Level`	1 (fixed)

💡 Compression is fully automatic — you don't need to choose anything.

Progress & Cancel

Track backup progress in real time (files processed, speed, ETA). Need to stop? Click Cancel for a safe shutdown — completed work is preserved.

Checkpoints

During long backups you can create a checkpoint — a restorable intermediate state. If interrupted, you resume from the last checkpoint instead of starting over.