Current Answer: ZimaOS Backup Scheduling Has Moved Beyond the 2025 “Fixed Early Morning” Behavior
The November 2025 thread described Automatic backup as running once per day at a predefined early-morning time with no user-selectable schedule. Do not use that as the current rule. The September 2026 ZimaOS 3-2-1 Backup guide now says scheduled backups run automatically at the interval you set.
Think in Tasks: One Source, One Destination, One Schedule
Current Backup uses a from-to model. Pick the source—Cloud, LAN, USB or Zima—then pick the destination and schedule the task. Multiple tasks can run side by side, which is useful when photos, documents and app data need different destinations or intervals.
The ZimaOS high-speed backup overview shows the broader local/cloud backup model.
Do Not Assume “Scheduled” Automatically Means Versioned or Incremental in the Way You Expect
The current public guide documents scheduling, multiple tasks, resume/fault tolerance and multiple destinations. It does not define every edge case raised in the old thread—such as whether every unchanged file is hash-skipped, how deletions propagate, or whether previous versions are retained for every destination type.
For important data, test the semantics with a small folder before trusting the task:
- Create files A and B, then run the backup.
- Edit A and add C, then run it again.
- Delete B at the source and run again.
- Inspect whether the destination keeps, replaces or removes each file.
A Backup Job Is Only Proven When You Can Restore It
Keep at least one second-media or offsite copy for irreplaceable data. CISA's ransomware guidance recommends protected backups, while NIST's contingency planning guidance emphasizes recovery planning and testing.
Use Separate Tasks When the Data Has Different Recovery Needs
Family photos, work documents and disposable downloads should not necessarily share the same schedule or destination. Create separate tasks so critical data can have a second local copy plus an offsite copy, while lower-value data can use a simpler plan.
If you want a separate application-level backup engine with its own retention model, the Duplicati hardware and backup guide provides another ZimaOS option.
