We have previously written about how to backup your Mozilla Firefox profiles (see our post, Backup Firefox and Thunderbird Profiles). You can also easily backup your profiles in Google Chrome using a free tool, called Google Chrome Backup. The tool also allows you to easily create new profiles and shortcuts to open Google Chrome using specific profiles.
This two-part series of posts shows you how to use Google Chrome Backup to backup, restore, and manage your Google Chrome profiles.
Download Google Chrome Backup from
http://www.parhelia-tools.com/products/gcb/googlechrome.aspx.
Install Google Chrome Backup
To install Google Chrome Backup, double-click on the .exe file you downloaded.
If the following Open File – Security Warning dialog box displays, click Run to continue with the installation.
If the User Account Control dialog box displays, click Yes to continue.
NOTE: You may not see this dialog box, depending on your User Account Control settings. See our post, Windows 7 – How to configure UAC (User Account Control), for more information.
The Welcome screen on the Setup Wizard displays. Click Next.
Read through the License Agreement, select the I accept the agreement radio button, and click Next.
An Information screen displays with a list of changes made in each release of Google Chrome Backup. Read the list, if desired, and click Next.
On the User Information screen, enter your User Name and Organization and click Next.
The Select Destination Location screen displays. If you want to install Google Chrome Backup to a different location other than the default location listed, use the Browse button, or type the different location in the edit box. We accepted the default location. Click Next.
The Folder Does Not Exist dialog box displays. Click Yes to have the Setup Wizard create the folder automatically.
The Select Start Menu Folder screen displays. If you want to put the Google Chrome Backup shortcuts in a different Start menu folder other than the default folder listed, use the Browse button, or type the different folder in the edit box. We accepted the default folder. Click Next.
The Ready to Install screen displays with a summary of the settings you selected. If you want to change any of the settings, use the Back button. Otherwise, click Install to continue with the installation.
Once the installation is done, the Completing the Google Chrome Backup Setup Wizard screen displays. If you want Google Chrome Backup to start as soon as you close the setup wizard, select the Run Google Chrome Backup check box so there is a check mark in it. It should be selected by default. Click Finish to close the setup wizard.
Start Google Chrome
If you did not select the Run Google Chrome Backup check box before closing the setup wizard, open Google Chrome Backup from the shortcut placed in the Start menu. When Google Chrome Backup starts, it checks for a new version of Google Chrome. If there is a new version, a dialog box similar to the following displays. Click Yes if you want to go to the website to download the new version. Otherwise, click No to open Google Chrome Backup.
NOTE: This search for a new version of Google Chrome includes development versions.
Protect the Backup File with a Password
The Google Chrome Backup main window displays. Before backing up your profile, decide whether you want to password-protect your backup file. If you do, click the wrench button and select Protect backup file (password) option from the drop-down menu to turn on the option. When the option is on, there should be a check mark to the left of the option on the drop-down menu, as pictured below. You will asked, when backing up a profile, to enter a password to protect it.
Backup a Profile
There are two ways to backup a profile. First, we will show you how to backup a profile using a wizard. To do this, click Run Wizard.
The Google Chrome Backup Wizard displays. Select Backup and click Next.
The next screen allows you to select which profile you want to backup. If you want to backup the default profile, select the Backup default profile radio button. If you have created another profile that you want to backup, select the Select a profile to backup radio button and select the desired profile from the drop-down list. We chose to backup the default profile. Click Next.
The next screen allows you to specify the location for the backup file. Click the Browse button.
The Save As dialog box displays. Navigate to the folder in which you want to save the backup file. A default name for the backup file is automatically entered into the File name edit box. Google Chrome Backup uses its own file extension (.gcb) on the backup files. Change the file name, if desired, preserving the .gcb extension, and click Save.
You are returned to the Google Chrome Backup Wizard. The path to the backup file displays below Save backup to. Click Backup to start the backup process.
To minimize the size of the backup file, you can clear the cache of the selected profile. A dialog box displays asking if you want to do this. Click Yes to create a smaller backup file.
Even if you have never created a Google Chrome backup file, the following dialog box displays, saying that the file already exists. Click Yes to continue with the backup process.
If you chose to protect your backup file with a password, as described earlier in this post, the Set password dialog box displays. Enter the desired password in the Set the password to protect edit box and again in the Retype password edit box. The strength of the entered password displays in the Strength bar. Click OK.
You are returned again to the Google Chrome Backup Wizard. The status of the backup process displays at the bottom of the dialog box. When the backup process is finished, a message displays telling you where the backup was saved. Click Finish to close the wizard.
You can also backup a profile by right-clicking on the profile’s icon in Google Chrome Backup and selecting Backup this Profile from the popup menu. However, when we tested Google Chrome Backup in both Windows XP and Windows 7, we could not get this option to work. If you manage to get it working, let us know. In the meantime, you can easily use the wizard to backup your profiles.
Wrap Up
This was the first post in a two-part series about using Google Chrome Backup to backup, restore, and manage your Google Chrome profiles.
In this post we covered installing and starting Google Chrome Backup, protecting the backup file with a password, and backing up a profile.
Stay tuned for the next post where we will cover setting up Google Chrome Backup so it starts when Windows starts, creating a new profile, creating a desktop profile to open Google Chrome using a specific profile, and restoring a profile.
No comments:
Post a Comment