Python Automatic Backup Script for Specified Directories

In this tutorial we introduce a Python project that automatically backs up a specified source directory to a target location, ensuring important data is protected.

First we define the source and target directories and import the required modules (shutil, os, datetime).

import shutil
import os
import datetime
# source directory
source_dir = "C:/Users/Administrator/Desktop/backup/source"
# target directory
target_dir = "C:/Users/Administrator/Desktop/backup/target"

Next we create a backup function that generates a timestamped backup folder in the target directory and copies all files from the source using shutil.copy.

def backup_files():
    """Copy all files from source to a new backup directory"""
    backup_dir_name = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d%H%M%S")
    backup_dir = os.path.join(target_dir, backup_dir_name)
    os.makedirs(backup_dir)
    for file_name in os.listdir(source_dir):
        source_file = os.path.join(source_dir, file_name)
        target_file = os.path.join(backup_dir, file_name)
        shutil.copy(source_file, target_file)

Finally we add a main loop that runs the backup function every minute.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    while True:
        backup_files()
        time.sleep(60)

Running the script creates a new timestamped backup folder each minute, providing continuous protection of the data, and can be extended with libraries such as paramiko or pysftp for cross‑platform automated backups.