The Cellarer, which keeps your files backed up

What the Cellarer does#

The cellarer kept the household's stores, so nothing laid by was lost. The Cellarer keeps your photos, videos and documents backed up, and checks that they restore.

It holds the Steward's office on an everyday PC while Castellan's developer features are off. On a gamer's PC, the Butler holds it, and the Cellarer works behind it.

The Cellarer comes with the Household license. It uses no AI, and needs no account.

Castellan's own backups are of settings, not files: the Cellarer is the one that keeps your files.

What it backs up, and where#

• Your folders: Documents, Pictures, Videos and Desktop at first, wherever Windows keeps them, OneDrive included. Add Music, or any other folder.
• To one place you choose: a folder on an external drive, on another drive, on the network, or in a cloud folder already on this PC, such as OneDrive.

Nothing is backed up until you choose the place. See Set up a backup, and get files back.

Plain copies#

The backup is your folders as they are, in Cellarer backup\<this PC's name> in the place you chose. File Explorer opens it, and copies files back, with nothing else installed. Open the backup, on its page, opens it.

Only what changed#

Every hour, and when you press Back up now, the Cellarer copies the new and changed files. Each is copied whole, and checked as it goes, before it takes its place in the backup. A file that changes while it's copied waits for the next round.

Nothing in the backup is deleted#

• A file you delete from the PC stays in the backup.
• A file you change: its older copy goes to Earlier versions, under the time it was replaced.

Restore checks#

Every 7 days, and when you press Check a restore now, the Cellarer restores 10 files at random, up to 1 GB, to a temporary folder, and checks each matches what was backed up. A file that doesn't, or is missing, is said, and copied again the next round.

What it says isn't covered yet#

The page says plainly:

• No place chosen.
• The drive is away: it waits, and backs up when it's back.
• The drive is full, with what waits for room.
• The backup is on the same drive as what it backs up: one failing drive would take both.
• A file in use, unreadable, or with too long a path.
• Files only in the cloud, and folders not chosen.
• No restore checked yet.

OneDrive's online-only files#

A file that's only in OneDrive's cloud isn't read: reading it would download it. It's already kept by OneDrive.

Its page#

The Cellarer's page is at http://cellarer.localhost:21010/, and Open on its card in Castellan goes there. It shows your backup (backed up, waiting for the drive, full, or not set up), each folder with its files and size, what isn't covered yet, the last restore check, the recent rounds, and Getting files back. Back up now is at the top.

Its settings#

What it can't do#

• One place. For a second copy elsewhere, copy the backup folder yourself, for now.
• Files, not Windows. It backs up folders: not Windows, your programs or their settings.
• A file in use, such as a mail store or a database open in an app, is skipped while it is, and tried again each round.