Auto Back Up Utility Generator is a complete, browser-based backup automation solution built specifically for Chartered Accountant offices to safeguard irreplaceable financial data — audit files, ITR workings, GST records, books of accounts, and client documents. It runs as a single self-contained HTML file, requiring no installation, no server, and no internet connection to generate the backup scripts. Through a guided step-by-step wizard, any staff member without programming knowledge can produce a complete, ready-to-run backup ecosystem in under two to five minutes.

1. Drive Verification & Safety

Before any backup runs, the system verifies the correct external drive is connected:

1. Two verification methods available — Hardware Serial (manufacturer disk ID, survives reformatting) or Key File (a specific file placed on the drive).
2. If the wrong drive is connected, the backup refuses to run and prompts the user to connect the correct drive — preventing accidental backup to a personal pen drive or someone else's disk.
3. OS-specific instructions (Windows / macOS / Linux) for finding the hardware serial number are shown automatically based on the selected operating system.
4. All source folder paths are validated before backup starts — if a folder has been renamed or deleted, the backup aborts with a clear error rather than silently skipping data.

2. Full Backup & Incremental Backup

Two distinct backup strategies, selectable per requirement:

1. Full Backup — creates a new dated folder every run (e.g. "Back Up 22-May-2026"), giving a complete historical snapshot for each day.
2. Incremental Backup — maintains a single permanent folder, updated on every run using Robocopy. Two sync modes: Safe Additive (only adds/updates, never deletes) or Pure Mirror (exact mirror — files deleted from source are removed from backup too).
3. TeraCopy integration for accelerated copying with automatic fallback to Windows xcopy if not installed.

3. AES-256 Encryption with Zero Residue

1. Backups can be encrypted using industry-standard AES-256 via 7-Zip, with header encryption enabled — file names inside the archive are hidden too, not just the content.
2. For incremental backups, a unique cycle ensures zero unencrypted data is ever left on the drive: the previous encrypted archive is extracted to a temporary folder, synced with the source, re-encrypted, and the temporary folder is permanently deleted — every single run.
3. If 7-Zip is not installed, the backup proceeds without encryption and clearly flags this in the report — the backup is never silently skipped.

4. Cloud Backup via rclone

1. One-click cloud sync to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, FTP, or SFTP — using rclone, a free and open-source tool supporting 40+ providers.
2. Full backups upload to a dated cloud folder; incremental backups upload the encrypted archive directly — keeping local and cloud always in sync.
3. OS-appropriate setup instructions (Command Prompt for Windows, Terminal for macOS/Linux) are shown automatically.
4. A note on the DPDP Act 2023 data localisation requirements is included to guide users handling client personal data on cloud storage.

5. Auto-Delete Old Backups (Retention Policy)

1. Old backups — both local and cloud — are automatically deleted based on a user-defined retention period (in days), keeping storage usage under control.
2. Retention reads the date directly from the backup folder name (e.g. "Back Up 22-May-2026"), making it completely reliable regardless of file modification timestamps.
3. Clear on-screen examples explain the exact mechanism — e.g. "1 day = only today's backup is kept; everything older is deleted" — so there is no ambiguity about what will happen.

6. Email Notifications with Full Report

1. After every backup run, a detailed report — start time, end time, duration, encryption status, cloud status, and any warnings — is automatically emailed to one or more recipients (comma-separated).
2. Works with Gmail App Passwords via PowerShell — no third-party email service or paid API required.
3. If email sending fails for any reason, the actual error (e.g. wrong password, blocked port) is displayed on screen so the user can fix it immediately.

7. Setup Checker — Pre-Flight Verification

1. A dedicated checker utility verifies, before the first backup ever runs, that all required components are correctly installed and configured:
2. Checks: destination drive accessibility, TeraCopy, 7-Zip, rclone (and its cloud remote configuration), PowerShell email capability, and the hardware drive serial — each with a clear OK / WARNING result.
3. A colour-coded summary (green / yellow / red) tells the user at a glance whether the backup is ready to run, and exactly what to fix if not.

8. Intelligent Restore Utility

1. A separate, permanent, and reusable restore utility — generated once, used forever, no need to regenerate for each new backup.
2. At runtime, it scans the backup location (local drive or cloud) and presents a numbered menu of all available backups, clearly distinguishing Full Backups, Incremental Backups, and Encrypted Archives.
3. Automatically decrypts AES-256 archives using the stored password, locates the correct backup folder even inside nested archive structures, and offers to restore to the original file locations (read from a manifest saved with every backup) or to a custom folder of choice.
4. Cloud restore: lists all available cloud backups, downloads the selected one, and restores from it — same intelligent menu and decryption.
5. All temporary folders are automatically cleaned up — whether the restore completes successfully or is cancelled by the user at any stage.

9. Modify Utility

1. Any previously generated backup script can be loaded back into the system — every setting (sources, destination, encryption, cloud, email, retention) is automatically read and populated into the form for editing.
2. Backward compatible — scripts generated by earlier versions can be loaded, updated, and regenerated with the latest improvements.

10. Multi-Platform & Zero-Cost

1. Works on Windows (full feature set), with macOS and Linux support for source selection and instructions.
2. Built entirely on free and open-source tools — 7-Zip, rclone, Robocopy, PowerShell — zero licensing cost, zero subscription, zero cloud storage cost beyond what the user already has.
3. The entire HTML source code is visible and auditable — full transparency for a tool that generates security-critical scripts.

Developed entirely through AI-assisted programming using Claude (Anthropic) — 33+3 iterative versions, each refined through real-world testing on actual hardware, external drives, Gmail accounts, and Google Drive cloud storage.

Built on: HTML5 • JavaScript • Windows Batch Scripting • PowerShell • 7-Zip • rclone • Robocopy • Zero external paid services