Windows User Profile Backup Tool DataGrab

Martin Brinkmann
May 31, 2011
Updated • Jul 15, 2018
Software, Windows software
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DataGrab 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 conventional 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.

DataGrab

data-grab

DataGrab supports the two user profile locations Users and Documents. 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 program backs up the entire user profile folder and may back up additional folders on the drive and specific file types everywhere next to that.

When you select file types that you want to back up, either by checking boxes of preset file types or by specifying other file types, DataGrab will scan the system for any matching file and back it up as well.

The selection of file types will increase the time it takes to back up significantly.

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.

Data is copied like it is to the target directory. DataGrab does not support compression or encryption options, and there is no checking for duplicate files in the target location.  The program does not support any restoration options other than moving backed up files to their original location.

The core purpose of DataGrab is therefore 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 (update: also Windows 8.1 and 10). 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.

Update: While you can still download DataGrab from the author's website, it needs to be noted that it is not developed anymore. The developer has published a new software program that is available for $10 at the time of writing.

You may want to use other tools, such as Paragon's Backup & Recovery or Macrium Reflect instead.

Summary
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Software Name
DataGrab
Operating System
Windows
Software Category
Administration
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Comments

  1. Johnny 4.51 said on January 17, 2016 at 7:17 am
    Reply

    Hello Foolishtech, Your utility is absolutely outstanding! I’m an IT pro, built my 1st 8080 in 1976 at 12 years of age (it took almost 2 years for me to get it working correctly….) However, now I am disabled. I only need to keep my Domain up and the families workstations (4 kiddies (challenging), my wife + my “mad/laugh” lab). I rarely buy software, because, well, I can’t afford all those yearly subscriptions and exorbitant prices, which often offends me. BUT your datagrab video is 1 understatement after another. You have developed one of the most utilitarian, yet robust programs that I have encountered in a great many years. I can’t express how grateful I am that you aren’t raking me across the coals to use it. It may seem simple but I’m inclined to tell you that it hits the spot. You couldn’t have hit a better niche if you had wanted to with this little package and you are selling yourself short by not marketing it. I mean no disrespect, you’re absolutely a genius and a fabulous person from my point of view. Even if you accepted donations or offered registrations for 1$ I believe that you might be surprised at the success of your development. I’m certain that a great many people would use your software and probably already are. With a little push this application would take off like an Apollo moonshot. Please, don’t give up on this- its good to go as is (keep it simple) I’d like to see you get some compensation for yourself, you deserve it. All the hair-brained apps out there asking for an arm and a leg for worthless code and you have truly developed a gem. Please, get it copyrighted, keep the fees reasonable and you’ll be a hero too. This is gold and like I said, you’re a genius and perhaps magnanimous to a flaw. Don’t drop this- you’re saving me hours of time on my daughters crashed PC and its an awesome thing, not to have to dig around for all that data and info. This program is bringing to me stuff I wouldn’t take the time to find and yet its extremely useful output for me to have. I mean even if you charge .99 cents, you’ll be making a statement and it will add up fast. Well, I could go on and on. Thank you for your fabulous utility and my very best regards to you. Drop me a note anytime. Johnny 4.51

    1. Michael said on January 22, 2016 at 8:11 pm
      Reply

      Thank you so much for the kind words. Please contact us via email to sales@foolishit.com. We would very much like to discuss the rest of our software with you to see if d7II (https://www.foolishit.com/d7ii/) or anything else we offer may be a good fit for you.

  2. FoolishTech said on June 9, 2011 at 7:34 pm
    Reply

    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 http://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!

  3. Jojo said on June 1, 2011 at 2:47 am
    Reply

    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.

    1. Dean said on June 1, 2011 at 10:13 am
      Reply

      You can set where it backs up to – the default is C:\Clientdata

  4. Dean said on May 31, 2011 at 6:53 pm
    Reply

    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!

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on May 31, 2011 at 7:24 pm
      Reply

      Dean, you are right, that’s missing.

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