is there a benefit to using an NT8 backup file versus just backing up all files?

[balltrader]

I am interested in in automating the backup of all ninjatrader desktop data.
I searched the bin folder, but could not find an exe file which could be called directly to create a nt8bk file.

if there is no command line argument / switch which could be set and used by windows task scheduler to automate the backup, then if the files are simply copied (backed up), is there an advantage to using the backup file nt8bk, versus just restoring from a 2nd set of files created by any standard file backup command, i.e. robocopy?

[balltrader]

Well it appears the nt8bk file is a simple archive. I was also surprised to get a popup saying " The reminding service..." then I discovered that the Tools > Export > Backup File " has a checkbox which will give you a reminder to do the backup.

Anyway, when I used 7Zip to create a zip archive of the folder Ninjatrader 8, it had trouble accessing the following files:
\db\NinjaTrader.sqlite
\log\log.{YYYYMMDD}.00001.en.txt
\log\log.{YYYYMMDD}.00001.txt
\trace\trace.{YYYYMMDD}.00001.txt

because they are locked by other processes, i.e. the data connection has locked those files.

but the file size of the archive is much smaller ( 50 %) than the Ninjatrader archive. Maybe it is because it lacks the sql lite db, although I have not checked the filesize of sqlite, i can't imagine it is THAT LARGE.

anyway, i will continue to experiment, maybe try WBAdmin to create a shadow copy which can be backed up without violating the "file locked" message.

the real question is, can this archive be restored, lol.

[balltrader]

I found a freeware software program named Cobian Reflector, which uses Volume Shadow Copy to image the drive, so files in use are also backed up, not skipped.

Then it compresses the NinjaTrader 8 folder to a zip file, and it can also be encyrpted. And it has a scheduler, so it can run every 30 minutes etc. And it has SFTP capability, so it can transfer the backup offsite.

A backup of
Files in archive: 2279.
Folders: 203.
Uncompressed size: 1.65 GB
Created a zip file of size:
Backup size: 505.65 MB.
In duration Time elapsed: 0 hours, 3 minutes, 53 seconds.

Pretty cool.