I’ve been using Duplicati for the first time for a few days on a Windows 11 PC. I set up a backup with a frequency of one backup per day to an external SSD. For various reasons, I didn’t turn on my PC for 3 days, and when I did, I hadn’t plugged in my external drive.
I thought that as soon as I plugged in the drive (or shortly after), the backup would start, but it didn’t. I noticed in the interface that the next backup is scheduled in 21 hours.
In my configuration, I did check “Run backups automatically.” Is this normal? Did I miss something in the setup?
When configuring backups, it says, “If a scheduled time is missed, the task will start as soon as possible.” What does “as soon as possible” actually mean?
I’m taking an educated guess here - I’m sure someone with a definitive answer will be along shortly.
I suspect that Duplicati is assuming that your backup target is always available. So “as soon as possible” probably meant that when it first started up when you booted the PC, it tried to do the backup but failed because the target wasn’t there, and so failed. (I would imagine this would show in the logs somehow)
I doubt Duplicati will keep restarting the backup attempt hoping the backup target has now appeared. So in your case, I suspect “it tried and failed” and then gave up until the next scheduled one.
Great answer from @Lerrissirrel as far as I can tell. Logs will say. In new UI, check
lower right corner for a red icon. Alternatively check your job log in three-dot menu:
A few additional points regarding my initial question:
Yes, of course, I checked the logs, and unsurprisingly, an error was reported indicating that the folder intended to hold the backup didn’t exist.
I tried something else this morning. I plugged in my external hard drive before turning on my PC. I thought that when I started the PC, DUPLICATI would check the previous backups and (since we’re already 4 days behind schedule on the backups), it would immediately start a new backup.
But no … DUPLICATI is still indicating that it’s going to wait until 2 PM today (the scheduled time for backups) to perform the backup, even though it’s 9 AM.
So it seems that if my PC isn’t turned on at the scheduled backup time, it will wait for the next scheduled date and time… which doesn’t seem satisfactory to me. I’m still wondering what this phrase in the backup scheduling interface means: “If a date was missed, the task will start as soon as possible.”
To be pedantic, starting the PC doesn’t start Duplicati unless it’s a service, or
somehow you have arranged a login at boot, in which case it will start as you.
When Duplicati eventually is running, it will start a backup that missed its time.
Consider the whole phrase. When was the previous scheduled run attempted?
Are you saying that the PC was turned off before 2 PM yesterday and kept off?
If not, yesterday’s run would have happened, leaving schedule set up for today.
… DUPLICATI is still indicating that it’s going to wait until 2 PM today (the scheduled time for backups) to perform the backup, even though it’s 9 AM.