// changelog

CarbonCopy

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v2.0.272026-09-26

  • Fixed a behind-the-scenes error that could happen after your PC woke from sleep or lost its internet connection for a moment. Backups were never affected.

v2.0.262026-09-26

  • CarbonCopy can now share basic usage info with KVRNL: which features get used, a daily count of files backed up, and what kind of PC it runs on. It's linked to your license key and never includes your files, their names or folder paths.
  • Crash reports and usage info share one switch in Settings, under General.

v2.0.252026-09-25

  • CarbonCopy can now send KVRNL a short report when it runs into an error it didn't expect, so problems get fixed faster. File paths and email addresses are removed first, and nothing from inside your files is ever included. You can switch this off in Settings, under General.
  • License checks now also say which version of CarbonCopy and Windows is asking, so KVRNL can see which versions are in use and spot keys being misused.

v2.0.242026-09-25

  • The activation window has been redesigned. It now explains exactly how to get a free key on kvrnl.io, step by step, with links to the right pages and a Paste button.
  • The activation screen is now a proper lock: nothing in CarbonCopy can be opened or run until a key is activated.
  • Your license is now stored in a protected form that can't be edited or copied to another computer. CarbonCopy still works for up to 14 days without an internet connection.
  • If your license stops being valid while CarbonCopy is running, backups stop straight away, including one already in progress, and a notification tells you what to do.
  • Clearer messages for every license problem, including how to move your key when it's already in use on another PC. Pasted keys are cleaned up automatically, and pasting an email address or a link by mistake gets a helpful hint.

v2.0.232026-09-25

  • Updates now install reliably. CarbonCopy closes itself while an update installs, and on some PCs the installer could start before it had finished closing, then quietly give up. The app was gone, nothing was updated, and it looked like a crash. The installer now waits for CarbonCopy to finish closing.
  • When you update from Settings you see the download and install progress, and CarbonCopy opens again by itself when it's done. After any update, a notification tells you which version you're on.
  • If an update ever doesn't install, CarbonCopy tells you the next time it starts, with buttons to try again or download the installer yourself.
  • Updates are downloaded into CarbonCopy's own folder instead of the Windows temp folder, which some antivirus programs treat as suspicious.
  • Running the installer while CarbonCopy is open now closes it for you.

v2.0.222026-09-25

  • Clicking the tray icon now opens a small control panel instead of a plain menu. It shows whether everything is backed up, what CarbonCopy is doing right now, and how each backup drive is doing, with buttons to back up now, pause or resume, open Settings, or open the full window. Left and right click both open it, and a double-click still opens the full window.
  • You can pin the panel: drag it anywhere on screen, or click its pin, and it stays open on top of your other windows, right where you put it, until you unpin it or close it with its X. It comes back in the same spot after a restart or an update.
  • When something needs your attention, the panel lists it with a button that takes you straight to the fix.
  • Resume after Pause all now turns back on only the drives that Pause switched off. A drive you had turned off yourself stays off.
  • Quit asks for a second click, so a stray click in the panel can't stop your backups.

v2.0.212026-09-11

  • Fixed a drive being paused with "can't be written to" because CarbonCopy could not rewrite its own small ID file on the drive. On a shared network drive that rewrite can fail simply because something has the file open at that instant. The ID file is now left alone when it is already correct, rewrites are retried and fall back to writing in place, and a file that already carries the right ID is accepted even when it cannot be replaced. Nothing was lost when this happened: the drive paused for one check and copies resumed on the next.
  • Readers of the ID file, including other PCs that keep their backups on the same network drive, now share the file so a rewrite underneath them can go through.

v2.0.202026-09-05

  • When CarbonCopy stops to ask before removing a lot of files, it now says what the files are: which folder nearly all of them are in, or the three folders most of them are in, and what that folder is when it is one CarbonCopy recognises. Before, it gave a bare count and left you to work it out from a list of thousands of paths.
  • Leftover copies of Google Drive's temporary upload files and the Windows Recycle Bin, backed up by older versions, no longer count against the safety limit. They are tidied into the drive's Recycle Bin without a question, because they were never your data. Real removals above the limit still stop and ask.
  • The question card now says plainly what to do: go ahead if you moved or deleted the files on purpose, and sort it out first if the folder itself has moved or a drive has come up wrongly.

v2.0.192026-09-05

  • Each backup drive now gets its own pass, all at the same time. Before, the drives were taken one after another for each folder, so a slow network drive that took an hour to list and copy held a fast local drive, and every folder queued behind it, at not backed up yet for that whole hour, while the screen said nothing had been copied.
  • The activity bar now says what the background check is doing right now, for each drive: reading a folder, comparing it with the drive, copying so many files, tidying the Recycle Bin. A long first backup no longer looks stuck.
  • Listing a large backup on a network drive is several times faster: folders are read several at a time instead of one round trip each.
  • Files and folders managed by OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox, and files on deduplicated or compressed drives, were being skipped as if they were shortcuts. Whole folders could silently never be backed up, with no error anywhere. Only real shortcuts and junctions are skipped now.
  • A folder that cannot be fully read now shows a clear warning naming it, instead of a line in a log file. Windows own system folders at the root of a drive and Google Drive scratch upload folders no longer count against a folder or get copied.
  • A copy that failed because the destination folder could not be created was previously treated as if the file had simply been deleted. It is now counted and reported. Deleting a folder on your PC no longer ends with a wholesale delete on the drive: files go to the Recycle Bin one by one and only empty folders are removed.

v2.0.182026-09-05

  • A file that was being written by another program while CarbonCopy copied it could end up as a scrambled backup copy with the right size and date, which every later check then trusted. A copy is now kept only if the file held still while it was read; otherwise it is copied again, and a file that will not sit still is left for the next backup.
  • Your settings file can no longer be lost. Every save is written all the way to disk before it replaces the old one, the previous version is kept beside it, and a damaged file falls back to that previous version instead of starting from empty.
  • Scheduled backups now copy several files at once, up to the Files copied at once setting. They copied one at a time before, so a first backup of many small files to a network drive was slow. Large files also move in bigger pieces.
  • The drive check that runs every two minutes no longer writes anything to your drives, so an external disk can spin down. The full write test still runs every half hour.
  • CarbonCopy uses less of your computer while its window is hidden: it runs at a lower priority, and the timer that used to tick constantly now only runs when a file has changed. Folder sizes on the main screen come from the backup itself instead of re-reading every folder.
  • A folder with no backup drive ticked now shows an amber warning straight away instead of a confusing hasn't backed up message a week later. Saving a file in an editor while CarbonCopy is reading it no longer fails with file in use, one drive failing no longer stops the other folders from being backed up, and the what's new box waits until you open the window instead of appearing over your sign-in.

v2.0.172026-09-03

  • Everything is now on one screen: your folders on the left, your backup drives on the right, and anything that needs your attention along the top with a button that fixes it. The separate Protection, Destinations and Issues tabs are gone.
  • Back up to as many drives as you like. The old limit of three is gone. Each folder row shows which drives it is copied to, as lettered chips or as a count once you have many, and you tick drives on or off inside the row.
  • Adding a folder you had previously removed now picks up its existing backup instead of starting again. CarbonCopy remembers folders that were removed with their copies kept, reuses their folder on the drive, pre-ticks the drives they went to, and the preview says how many files are already backed up. It no longer warns that a large existing backup is about to be moved to the Recycle Bin when it simply had not finished counting.
  • Drives can be renamed in place, pointed at a different folder, turned off, or removed, all from their row. Adding a drive asks once whether your existing folders should go there too. Removing one never deletes anything on it.
  • Settings are one page. There is a search box that filters every setting as you type, an overview of your setup with the quick actions, preset choices instead of sliders, a one-click Back to recommended, and How to use as short questions and answers.
  • Your settings file is upgraded automatically the first time this version starts, and a copy of the previous one is kept beside it.

v2.0.162026-09-03

  • Fixed a destination set to the root of a drive (for example the whole of D:\) being refused by every background check since 2.0.15, so nothing new was backed up there and, after a week, a "hasn't backed up" warning would have appeared. Live copies still went through; the scheduled catch-up did not. Both work again.
  • Fixed the add-folder wizard getting stuck on "Checking the folder" with its button greyed out when the destination is a network drive or remote storage with a very large existing backup. Counting what was already there could take longer than anyone would wait. It now shows live progress, gives up counting after half a minute and says so, and always lets you carry on.
  • Renaming a destination is a plain click on its name on the Destinations page and changes nothing but the label. That was already true, but the name didn't look editable, so people went through Set up instead and worried it would re-copy everything. It now looks like the text box it is, with a pencil, and the Set up button explains it is for changing the folder, not the name.

v2.0.152026-09-02

  • Fixed backing up a whole drive (for example D:\). CarbonCopy was comparing the drive against itself instead of copying it to the backup destination, so nothing was ever backed up and it renamed and tidied files on the source drive. Whole-drive backups now go into a proper folder on the destination, and any setup affected by this is repaired automatically the first time this version starts.
  • A folder CarbonCopy is no longer allowed to read (a permissions change, a network share that half-answers) used to look identical to a folder you had deleted, so its backup copy was moved to the Recycle Bin. CarbonCopy now notices it couldn't see everything and removes nothing on the strength of a partial view. The same protection covers linked and shortcut-style folders.
  • Before every single write, CarbonCopy now re-checks that a destination really is the drive it knows. Previously it trusted its last health check, which meant a different drive taking over the same letter could be written to for up to two minutes.
  • Copies are now forced all the way to the disk before replacing the previous copy. A power cut at the wrong moment could previously leave a file that was the right size and date but full of nothing, which CarbonCopy would have believed was a good backup indefinitely.
  • Recycle Bin clean-up now runs only on destinations that are switched on and verified. It could previously permanently clear old bin folders on a drive CarbonCopy had decided not to trust.
  • Unplugging a folder's drive and plugging it back in no longer quietly stops live copying for that folder. It used to leave only the scheduled check running.
  • The two-minute health check kept running after a licence relock and re-activation. Previously it stopped for the rest of the session, so drive and staleness alerts went silent.
  • A hiccup at the licence server no longer locks the app and stops backups. Only a genuine answer that the key is revoked or moved can do that; an outage is treated as no answer.
  • Exclude patterns now match whole file and folder names. The default .git was quietly skipping every .gitignore and .github folder in every project, and a short pattern like tmp took out anything containing those letters. Wildcards such as *.log now work.
  • Fixed several freezes: adding or locating a folder on a slow network path, confirming a drive, saving a destination, and restoring from the Recycle Bin all run in the background now.
  • Empty folders now survive a background check instead of being created and immediately tidied away. The low-space warning stopped flickering on and off. A drive that changed state no longer leaves contradictory cards on the Issues tab, and a big-removal question clears itself once the check runs clean.
  • The tray menu shows the real state (Running, Paused, Needs attention) and Pause All now has a matching Resume All. The Pause button on a folder reads Resume once it's paused. If your settings can't be saved you get a clear message instead of a wall of technical text.

v2.0.142026-08-18

  • Downloads and automatic updates now come straight from KVRNL's own servers instead of a third-party host. Updates are quicker and more reliable, and nothing inside the app itself has changed.
  • If you installed this app before today, please download it once more from kvrnl.io. Older copies still look for updates at the old location and can't carry themselves across the move — this one time has to be done by hand.

v2.0.132026-08-14

  • Fixed tooltips running off the side of the screen. The explanation text wasn't wrapping at all, so longer ones stretched into a single endless line and got cut off before you could finish reading them. They now wrap to a readable width and break into short paragraphs.
  • Fixed the destination dropdown in the Recycle Bin being white text on white — unreadable. Windows draws drop-downs in its own light colours unless an app replaces them outright, which CarbonCopy hadn't. The same fix covers the file list's column headers and row highlighting.

v2.0.122026-08-14

  • Fixed the "hasn't backed up in X days" warning that wouldn't go away. A single file that couldn't be copied — a mail file, a browser database, anything another program had open — was enough to stop CarbonCopy ever recording a successful backup again. The warning then counted up forever on a folder that was, in fact, being backed up perfectly every half hour, and nothing you did would clear it. It now clears itself the moment a backup succeeds.
  • Fixed the same warning coming straight back after restarting. The time of each successful backup was never actually being saved to disk, so every restart loaded the old date and put the warning back up.
  • Files that can't be copied are now reported on their own, as a plain warning that names how many and points you at the log — instead of being invisible and quietly poisoning the health of the whole folder.
  • Warnings can now be dismissed. Advisory items have an X, and dismissing one keeps it away for a week rather than for the two minutes it took the next health check to put it back. Anything that means a folder genuinely isn't protected — a disconnected drive, a missing folder — deliberately can't be hidden.
  • Completely rebuilt the Settings screen. It was one long scroll where the two settings anyone actually changes sat in the same pile as the deletion ceiling and the debounce timer. It's now organised into pages down the side — General, Backups, Deleted files, Safety limits, Speed, Your setup — grouped by what you're trying to do rather than by which part of the code they belong to.
  • Every setting now explains itself. Hover anything and a tooltip appears immediately, in plain English, telling you what it does and how to choose — including what the sensible default is and when you'd want something different.
  • New How to use page inside Settings, replacing the separate help window, so the instructions no longer lock the rest of the app while you read them.
  • New Report a bug page. Describe the problem in your own words and it goes straight to KVRNL, with your version, drive status, settings and recent log entries attached automatically — so a report doesn't turn into twenty questions. The technical details are optional and you can see exactly what's included.
  • New About page with your version, the machine your licence is tied to, and links to your account.

v2.0.112026-07-24

  • Fixed the app freezing after adding a folder. The first backup was running on the same thread that draws the window, so CarbonCopy locked up with a spinning cursor until it finished — which on a large folder could be several minutes. It now runs in the background as it always should have, and the window stays responsive throughout.
  • Fixed the same freeze in every other place it could happen: turning a destination on, changing where a folder backs up to, switching between Mirror and Archive, removing a folder and its copies, and browsing the Recycle Bin.
  • Setting up a destination and opening the add-folder window no longer stall while they check drives. Anything that reads from a disk now happens in the background, so a slow or disconnected network drive can't hold the window hostage.

v2.0.102026-07-24

  • Mirror and Archive are now properly explained before you pick one. Clicking the setting used to flip it the instant you touched it — it now opens a window laying out both options, what each one does to your files, and which one this folder currently uses, with a Save and a Cancel.
  • Switching a folder from Archive back to Mirror now tells you what it would cost first — it counts the files the archive has been holding on to that your folder no longer has, and shows you the number before you commit.
  • The Protection screen now spells the setting out ('Mirror — remove it from the backup too') instead of showing a single word you'd have to guess at.
  • Added a note making clear that CarbonCopy's Mirror is not the same thing as Google Drive's 'Mirror files' setting. They share a word and mean completely different things — Google's decides whether your cloud files are stored on your PC, ours decides what happens to a backup copy when you delete the original.
  • CarbonCopy now warns you if you pick a cloud folder (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox) to back up. Those files often live online rather than on your PC, so copying them means downloading your entire cloud account — worth knowing before it starts, not after. It also warns if you try to use one as a destination, where everything you back up would get uploaded again.
  • Rewrote the in-app help. It was still describing two destinations and buttons that no longer exist.

v2.0.92026-07-24

  • New Protection screen. Instead of a settings page, the app now opens on a plain answer to 'am I actually backed up?' — every folder you protect, its status at every destination, and when it was last verified.
  • Adding a folder now shows you what's about to happen first. You pick the folder, pick where it goes (nothing is ticked for you any more), and then see the file count, the size, what's being skipped, and — importantly — a warning listing anything already in that destination folder that would be moved to the Recycle Bin. Nothing is copied or removed until you press Start.
  • CarbonCopy now recognises your backup drives by their hardware ID rather than their drive letter. If a drive comes back as E: instead of D:, it spots it and carries on. If a different drive takes that letter, it refuses to write to it and asks you first — previously it could have started backing up onto the wrong disk.
  • If you rename or move a folder you're backing up, CarbonCopy now finds it and asks whether to follow it. Before, it went quiet and simply stopped backing that folder up, while the dashboard still looked perfectly healthy.
  • New safety ceiling on removals. If a background check ever wants to remove far more than usual — because a folder moved, a drive mounted oddly, or something went wrong — it stops, touches nothing, shows you the exact list of files, and asks. Adjustable in Settings.
  • New weekly heartbeat: if a folder hasn't backed up successfully in seven days, for any reason at all, you're told.
  • New Issues tab. Everything that's wrong, in plain English, with buttons that fix it — instead of an error log nobody opens.
  • New per-folder choice between Mirror and Archive. Mirror keeps the backup matching your folder (what it has always done). Archive means the backup only ever grows, so nothing you've ever had can disappear, even if you delete the original.
  • New Recycle Bin browser. Removed files have always been recoverable, but until now the only way to reach them was through File Explorer. You can now browse and restore them inside the app.
  • New 'Verify backup' button — checks every file against the backup and gives you a straight count rather than a status light.
  • Removing a folder now asks whether to keep the backed-up copies (the default) or remove them, instead of a bare Yes/No.
  • Destinations are now tested properly when you set one up — CarbonCopy writes a real file to prove it can, checks free space, and warns you if the folder isn't empty. A read-only network drive used to pass the old check and then fail every single copy quietly.
  • After an update, CarbonCopy now waits a couple of minutes before its first background check, and tells you once if anything works differently. Your folders, destinations and settings are carried over exactly as they were.

v2.0.82026-07-13

  • Removed Turbo mode. It copied many files at once, which actually slowed backups down when saving to a single drive (the drive spends its time jumping between files instead of copying). Normal backup speed is unchanged, and your files were never at risk — every copy is written to a temporary file and swapped in only once complete.

v2.0.72026-07-13

  • Added a 'Refresh Connections' button to the dashboard — re-check all your destinations and sync anything missed while a drive was disconnected, without waiting for the next automatic scan.

v2.0.62026-07-13

  • Added a third backup destination — you can now mirror to up to three places at once.
  • New per-folder routing: pick exactly which destinations each source folder backs up to with simple checkboxes (defaults to all, so nothing changes unless you choose).
  • Rename any destination to whatever you like — just click its name and type.

v2.0.52026-07-13

  • Lighter on your PC — lower idle CPU and memory use, and fewer disk reads during background scans. No change to how it works.

v2.0.42026-07-13

  • Fixed the app failing to open after it had already been activated once — it now launches reliably every time.

v2.0.32026-06-18

  • Maintenance and reliability improvements.

v2.0.22026-06-10

  • Faster large-transfer (Turbo) mode and reliability fixes.