Start-WBBackup

The Start-WBBackup cmdlet starts a one-time backup operation.

You can use the settings from an existing backup policy for the scheduled backup by specifying a WBPolicy object, or you can start a backup by using new settings. If you use new settings to create a backup, you must do the following:

-- Specify the items to include in the backup by using the Add-WBVolume, Add-WBFileSpec, Add-WBSystemState, and Add-WBBareMetalRecovery cmdlets. -- Specify the location for backup storage by using the locations already defined in a WBBackupTarget object or by updating an object of that type.

Before you can add a backup target to a WBPolicy object, put the WBPolicy object in edit mode. To put the WBPolicy object in edit mode for a policy that you have set as the scheduled backup policy, use the Get-WBPolicy cmdlet with the Editable parameter. The Get-WBPolicy cmdlet creates a new WBPolicy object that is already in edit mode.

To use this cmdlet, you must be a member of the Administrators group or Backup Operators group.

The first command creates a new backup policy object and stores it in a variable named **$Policy**.
PS C:\> $Policy = New-WBPolicy

The next command creates a backup source, adds the file named "C:\15-12-08_1645.jpg" to the backup source, and stores the backup source in a variable named **$FileSpec**.
PS C:\> $FileSpec = New-WBFileSpec -FileSpec C:\15-12-08_1645.jpg

This command associates the backup source in the **$FileSpec** variable with the backup policy in the **$Policy** variable.
PS C:\> Add-WBFileSpec -Policy $Policy -FileSpec $FileSpec

This command stores the volume that has the drive letter F: in the variable named **$Volume**.
PS C:\> $Volume = Get-WBVolume -VolumePath F:

This command stores the volume in the **$Volume** variable in the backup policy in the **$Policy** variable.
PS C:\> Add-WBVolume -Policy $Policy -Volume $Volume

This command adds the current system state options to the backup policy in the **$Policy** variable.
PS C:\> Add-WBSystemState $Policy

This command adds the ability to perform a bare-metal recovery to the backup policy in the **$Policy** variable.
PS C:\> Add-WBBareMetalRecovery $Policy

This command creates a new backup location object that contains the volume that has the drive letter D: and then stores that object in the **$BackupLocation** variable.
PS C:\> $BackupLocation = New-WBBackupTarget -VolumePath D:

This command adds the backup target based on the backup policy in the **$Policy** variable and the backup location in the **$BackupLocation** variable.
PS C:\> Add-WBBackupTarget -Policy $Policy -Target $BackupLocation

This command specifies that the backup policy in the **$Policy** variable uses Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) copy backups.
PS C:\> Set-WBVssBackupOptions -Policy $Policy -VssCopyBackup

This command starts the backup by using the backup policy in the **$Policy** variable.
PS C:\> Start-WBBackup -Policy $Policy

This example starts a backup by using new settings.

PS C:\> $Policy = Get-WBPolicy
PS C:\> Start-WBBackup -Policy $policy -Async
PS C:\> $BackupJob = Get-WBJob

This example starts a backup by using the settings for scheduled backups defined in a backup policy.

The first command gets the current backup policy and stores it in the variable named $Policy.

The second command starts the backup. Because the command specifies the Async parameter, the cmdlet returns immediately.

The third command gets the backup status and stores it in the variable named $BackupJob. Because the second command includes the Async parameter, you can view the backup status by using the Get-WBJob cmdlet.

WBPolicy

The Start-WBBackup cmdlet uses a WBPolicy object to determine what to include in the backup and where to store the backup.

String

If you do not specify the Async parameter, the Start-WBBackup cmdlet displays status messages from the currently running backup as strings. If you specify the Async parameter, you can use the Get-WBJob cmdlet to get the status of the currently running backup operation.