Data Grab is a free tool for the Windows operating system that can be used to backup user profile data and other data from a connected drive. The portable backup software displays a list of options once you start it up on the target system.
The program supports backups from the current system or another Windows operating system installed on one of the connected and accessible drives. Please note that DataGrab is not a convention backup software with options to restore the data at a later point. It is more of a recovery solution in case of a damaged system.
The source drive with the Windows installation is selected under Target Drive. You can select the current operating system, or an operating system on a drive that is connected to the current OS.
Data Grab supports the two user profile locations Users and Documents and Settings. All valid user profiles found on the selected drive are displayed immediately after a drive has been selected.
It is possible to select one, multiple or all user profiles for backup.
The user profiles configuration setting displays a list of files, folders and data that can be backed up by the program. This includes the pictures, music and videos folders, saved games, downloads or application data folders for applications that store user data in the user directory.
Users can add additional folders on the system which are then included in the backup. DataGrab can automatically add documents that are stored in the root folder of the drive or partition. The program suggests a few formats, like Adobe’s PDF format or Microsoft Word and Excel formats. Custom file types can be added with the help of wildcards. This is helpful to include all files of one or multiple types in the backup. The program will scan the selected hard drive for all file types that have been added by the user.
Specific local and guest operating system data plus current user data can be added to the backup as well. The backup includes minidumps or OS information automatically in the backup. Those information may be helpful in analyzing a damaged system.
Most settings and options can be modified to create a custom user profile backup. It is for instance possible to only backup a specific user directory, and of that user directory only specific files or folders. This approach reduces the storage requirements of the backup noticeably.
DataGrab supports multiple copy methods, including shell api, win32 api and use of external programs like Xcopy or Unstoppable Copier.
Data is copied like it is to the target directory. There are no restoration options available other than to move the data back to their original location. The core purpose of DataGrab is therefor not to backup the data for emergency restoration, but to have them available at a different location. This is for instance helpful when analyzing a system, or trying to recover data from a system that is damaged and no longer booting.
Take a look at the following introductory video that explains the core concepts of the backup software.
DataGrab is compatible with the client operating systems Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The developer notes that it may also work with server operating systems.
The program can be downloaded from the developer website at Google Sites. Please note that it requires that the Visual Basic 6 Redistributable Package is installed on the system. (via)
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Really nice little program – the one thing it’s lacking; something that tells me how much data I’m about to backup; it’d be nice to know if I should go and get a coffee, or three.
Plus, I want a pony. haha
Thanks for the great find!
Dean, you are right, that’s missing.
I was playing with this the other day. After about 15 minutes of running, I decided to cancel it.
But I was not able to find if the program had deleted the partial data it collected or if it is hidden somewhere. It was not clear where the data was being backed up to.
You can set where it backs up to – the default is C:\Clientdata
Hi, author of the app here.
First, very excited someone discovered this! Thanks for promoting it!
Yep, DataGrab definitely needs to tell you how much data you’re about to back up. Problem is, (at least as far as I know how to do it in code) it takes a lot of time to compute all those different locations and add up the space required. I do plan to implement this in the future once I can work out a better way to grab space requirements.
@Jojo, there’s actually a bug in the version you’ve downloaded which searches the entire partition for basically NOTHING, before starting the data copy. There is no partial data that DataGrab collects during this time, except building a list of file system objects to copy. Please update to v1.2.3 and the “Searching Partition” prompt should only appear and scan if needed.
@everyone, DataGrab was intended to be used with RoadKil’s [awesome] Unstoppable Copier app, found at www.roadkil.net so please use that where possible as it is a far better copy routine than DataGrab’s internal bit.
Contact information for me is available at my website if anyone has further questions or comments. Thanks!