Everything you need
to back up with confidence
A complete guide to setting up Triton, creating automated backups, restoring files, and following best practices to keep your data safe.
1. Initial Setup
Before your first backup, you need a repository — the encrypted storage location where all your snapshots will live. Triton supports local folders, network drives, SFTP servers, Backblaze B2, Azure Blob, and any rclone-compatible storage.
Go to Repositories and click "New Repository"
Choose a storage backend: Local (a folder on your PC or external drive), SFTP (a server you have SSH access to), Backblaze B2, Azure Blob, or RClone for any cloud provider. You will need the connection details and credentials for the chosen backend.
Set a strong repository password
This password encrypts all your data before it leaves your computer. Triton stores it securely using the Windows Data Protection API (DPAPI), tied to your Windows account, so you won't need to type it again on this machine. However, if you reinstall Windows, move to a different PC, or lose access to your account, the stored password will not be recoverable — always keep a separate copy in a safe place such as a password manager.
Click "Initialize" to create the repository
Triton will create the repository structure at the chosen location. This only happens once. After initialization, the repository is ready to receive backups.
Connect to an existing repository (optional)
If you already have a Restic repository from another tool, choose "Connect to existing" instead. Enter the same path and password and Triton will recognize it immediately.
2. Your First Backup
Create a backup job that defines what to back up, where to store it, and which files to exclude.
Click the profile dropdown and select "New Profile"
Each profile is an independent backup job with its own source paths, repository, schedule, and retention policy. You can create as many profiles as you need — one per machine, project, or backup destination.
Add the folders you want to back up
Click "Add path" and select folders. You can add multiple paths in the same job — for example, your Documents and Desktop together.
Select a repository
Choose one of the repositories you set up. You can use the same repository for multiple jobs — Restic's deduplication ensures data is not stored twice.
Set a retention policy (recommended)
The retention policy controls how many old snapshots to keep. It is optional but highly recommended — without it, snapshots accumulate indefinitely and storage fills up. A good starting point: keep the last 7 daily, 4 weekly, and 6 monthly snapshots. When enabled, old snapshots are pruned automatically after each backup.
Run the backup manually to verify it works
Click "Run Backup Now" and watch the progress. The first run is always the slowest — subsequent backups only transfer what has changed.
3. Scheduling Automatic Backups
A backup that only runs when you remember it is not a reliable backup. Set up a schedule and let Triton handle the rest.
Set a schedule in your backup job settings
Inside each backup job, go to the Schedule tab and enable the schedule toggle. Choose a frequency: hourly, daily, or weekly. For most users, daily at a fixed time (e.g. 2:00 AM) is the best balance between protection and storage use. The Scheduler page gives you an overview of all your scheduled jobs in one place.
Enable "Launch at login" in Settings
For scheduled backups to run automatically, Triton needs to be running. Go to Settings → Launch at login to start Triton automatically with Windows. When you close the window while a backup is active, the app minimizes to the system tray and continues running in the background.
Schedule Prune and Integrity Check
Prune removes old snapshots that fall outside your retention policy, freeing up storage. Integrity Check verifies that all data in the repository is intact and uncorrupted.
Both operations can run chained — automatically after each backup — or on their own independent schedule. When both are enabled, Triton always runs them in the correct order: Backup → Integrity Check → Prune. Prune only runs if the integrity check passes, so you never remove snapshots from a potentially damaged repository.
Enable email notifications (optional)
Go to Settings → Email Notifications and enter your SMTP details. Triton will send you an email when a backup succeeds or fails — useful if you don't check the app daily.
4. Restoring Files
Triton makes restoring straightforward — browse any snapshot and restore individual files or entire folders.
Test your restores regularly. A backup you have never tested is a backup you don't know works. Restore a random file once a month to confirm everything is intact.
Go to Snapshots and select a repository
You'll see a list of all snapshots sorted by date. Each snapshot is a complete point-in-time view of everything you backed up at that moment.
Browse the snapshot contents
Click on a snapshot to browse its file tree. Navigate into folders, search for specific files, and select what you want to restore.
Choose a restore destination
You can restore to the original location (which will overwrite existing files) or to a different folder to compare before replacing.
The 3-2-1 Rule
The 3-2-1 rule is the gold standard for backup strategy. It's simple, proven, and protects against almost every failure scenario.
A practical setup: one Triton job backs up to a local external drive (fast, free restores), and a second job backs up to Backblaze B2 or SFTP (offsite, survives local disasters). Both jobs can point to the same source folders — Restic deduplication means you won't waste space.
Tips & Habits
Small habits that make a big difference when something goes wrong.
Back up daily
Daily backups mean you can never lose more than one day of work. Schedule them at night when your computer is idle — the backup runs silently in the background.
Verify your backups
Once a month, restore a random file to confirm the backup is readable. Triton also shows snapshot size and stats — a sudden drop in snapshot size can signal a problem.
Keep your password safe
Your repository password is the only key to your data. Store it in a password manager (Bitwarden, 1Password, KeePass). If you lose it, the data is permanently unrecoverable.
Use retention policies
Without a retention policy, old snapshots accumulate forever and storage fills up. A policy like keep 7 daily + 4 weekly + 6 monthly gives you solid history without waste.
- 7 daily snapshots for recent recovery
- 4 weekly for medium-term history
- 6 monthly for long-term archives
Exclude what you don't need
Skipping large, unnecessary folders makes backups faster and cheaper. Common exclusions:
node_modules— reinstallable.git/objects— can be large- Temp files and browser caches
- Virtual machine disk images
Set up email notifications
If a scheduled backup fails silently, you won't notice until you need to restore — and then it's too late. Email notifications alert you immediately when something goes wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Triton and how it works.
If your computer is off at the scheduled time, that backup will be skipped and will run at the next scheduled interval. To maximize coverage, keep your computer on and Triton running — or choose a schedule that fits when your machine is normally active.
Yes. Multiple jobs can share the same repository. Restic's content-defined chunking means identical data across jobs is stored only once — you won't waste space.
Note: only one backup job can write to a repository at a time. If two jobs try to run simultaneously, the second will fail with a lock error. Make sure scheduled jobs that share a repository are staggered so they don't overlap.
The first backup stores everything. After that, each subsequent backup only stores what has changed — new or modified chunks. How much additional storage each snapshot uses depends heavily on your data: files that change frequently (databases, virtual machine images) grow the repository much faster than static files like photos or documents. Data that is already compressed (videos, ZIPs) benefits less from Restic's built-in compression.
The best way to estimate storage needs is to run a few backups and check the repository stats in Triton — it shows exactly how much space each snapshot added.
Yes. Restic encrypts all data with AES-256 before it leaves your computer. The storage provider (B2, SFTP, Azure, etc.) only ever sees encrypted chunks — they cannot read your files.
Your repository password is the encryption key. It never leaves your machine and is stored securely using the Windows Data Protection API (DPAPI), tied to your Windows account.
A snapshot is a complete point-in-time view of everything you backed up. Each time a backup job runs, it creates a new snapshot. You can browse, search, and restore files from any snapshot independently.
Snapshots are deduplicated — storing 30 daily snapshots of the same folder does not cost 30× the storage. Only the differences between snapshots take up additional space.
Yes. Install Triton on the new computer, connect to the same repository (same path + same password), and all your snapshots will be available immediately. This works across machines — Restic repositories are fully portable.
Nothing. Your repository is a standard Restic repository — completely independent of Triton. You can access it with any Restic-compatible tool, including the Restic command-line tool, at any time. Your data is never locked in.
Go to Logs in the sidebar to see the full output of the failed backup. Common causes:
- The remote storage is unreachable (check network/VPN)
- Credentials for the storage backend have expired
- A source file is locked by another process (common with Outlook .pst files)
- The repository has a stale lock — go to Repositories → Unlock
No. Triton sends your backup data only to the storage backend you configure (B2, SFTP, Azure, etc.). Triton itself only contacts its licensing server to validate your license — no backup data, file names, or metadata is ever transmitted to us.