Backing up data regularly should be one of the most important tasks of every computer user; Yet only a minority is doing it thoroughly and regularly. The rest is flirting with disaster as there are numerous incidents that can delete data on computer systems. The most common ones are hardware failures, which can mean damaged hard drives but also (partially) unreadable CDs or DVDs, computer virus attacks but also human error. If you have ever met someone who partitioned the wrong hard drive you know that the latter can be cause for great frustration.
Backups are the single most effective method of preventing data loss on computer systems. The following article will list the 10 best Windows backup software programs.
The Windows backup software has just recently been released in a new version. The application can backup files, folders, partitions and complete disk images. It offers recovery options, cloning, disk wiping, image integrity checks and a scheduler. Without doubt one of the most popular and feature rich backup programs for the Windows operating system. You can read a full review of Easeus Todo Backup here.
cobian backup
Cobian Backup is a free backup software for personal use that supports both local and remote backups. The software is constantly under development by the developer which means that features are included regularly. Some of the key features include full, differential and incremental backups, file compression including the popular 7-zip format plus strong encryption for data security.
windows backup software
An Open source backup solution supporting incremental backups, one-click restore options, task scheduling and email notifications. Some advanced options include ssh tunneling and connecting to rsync daemons.
It makes use of a server client system. One or multiple backup servers can be created on computers running Windows by installing the server version on these computer systems. The client will be installed on the any computer system where files should be backed up regularly.
The free backup software supports authentication, scheduling and connection by IP or hostname.
Cucku Backup Discontinued
cucku backup
Cucku Backup calls itself social backup. It provides local backups but also backups on friend?s computers. It supports complete and continuous backups and can automate the remote backup process to take that of the user’s shoulders. All files that are backed up use encryption algorithms to ensure data safety and integrity so that the backup partners cannot see the file names nor contents of the files that are send over to their computer systems.
It works best in computer networks but can also work over the Internet if enough time or upload bandwidth is provided.
The free backup software Backup Maker provides extensive backup capabilities. It comes with a standard and expert mode to suite both the needs of experienced and inexperienced users. The software supports full and partial backups, local and remote backups, selection of a backup execution interval and execution on certain events like USB detection or start and shutdown.
All in all an excellent software program to backup files on the Windows operating system.
ace backup
Powerful free backup software that supports multi-versioning, backups to local and remote locations, file compression and encryption.
synctoy
SyncToy is offered by Microsoft as a free download for the Windows operating system. It can be used to easily synchronize data between computer systems. The program offers five different synchronization options that the user can choose from including a preview option before starting the process.
mozy
Mozy is an online backup solution that offers backup clients for Windows NT based systems and Mac OS X. Every registered user receives 2 Gigabytes of free space with the option to sign up for a paid account for currently $4.95 that offers unlimited backup space. Several pre-configured backup sets are populated after installation including bookmarks, documents and multimedia files. These can but do not have to be backed up. Expert mode provides access to the full file system to pick files or folders to backup directly.
personal backup
A free backup software for the advanced user that provides great file filtering options. It comes with the usual set of features including local and remote backup creation (including SFTP), file compression and encryption, status reports and log file generation.
allways sync
Another software that has been primarily designed for file synchronization that is also supporting file backups to a local drive, over a local network or the Internet. It works on a per directory basis and can be installed on as many computer systems as the user desires. The software comes as a setup or portable version.
comodo backup
Another free backup solution for Windows users. Comodo Backup can backup files and folders on a local computer system to other drives, network locations, ftp servers and removable media. Backups can be scheduled and notifications can be send to inform about completed backup jobs. Other features include compressing backups, data recovery options, support of multi-session backups and incremental backups.
driveimage xml
DriveImage XML is more a drive imaging software than a backup program. It can however be used to backup a full hard drive or partition to another drive. It uses the Volume Shadow Service to create exact backups during runtime. It is afterwards possible to restore the backup either from within Windows or with the use of a boot disk.
Macrium Reflect is a file backup and disk imaging solution for the Windows operating system. It comes with all the bells and whistles one would expect, from extensive options to backup files to scheduling features, encryption and password protection to protect the data from third parties, 32-bit and 64-bit operating system support, logging, a Linux based Rescue CD with network access and options to save the backup to network drives, USB storage, Firewire drives or optical drives.
Areca Backup is a free open source backup solution for Windows. It supports incremental, image and delta backups on both local drives and ftp servers.
It basically allows you to select a set of files / directories to back-up, choose where and how (as a simple file copy, as a zip archive, …) they will be stored, and configure post-backup actions (like sending backup reports by email or launching custom shell scripts)
The verdict:
The choice of the correct backup software depends on several factors including the data size, the frequency of backups or the local computer infrastructure. It is therefor not possible to point at one application and crown it the best free backup software.
Update: A lot of new backup applications have been released in recent years. Here is a selection of the programs that have been released in that time:
Mailstore Home Backup – A specialized backup program to backup emails. It supports both desktop email clients as well as Pop3 and SMTP servers. The program is very versatile and free. The new version is available as a portable version as well, ideal for an USB stick.
Macrium Reflect Free – This is a disk imaging software that can create a mirror image of a disk partition or complete hard drive. The free version is relatively limited in functionality.
Related Articles:
Macrium Reflect Free 5, Free Disk Backup SoftwareLojiklSweep, Free Backup Software With Online Backup Services Support
Windows Backup Software: Backup Maker
Ace Backup: Versatile Backup Software
Windows Backup Software
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Wonderful suggestions and great info. Thank You
After doing extensive research with all of the above mentioned backup solutions personally I have come to the conclusion to use the Freeware version of Macrium Refelct.
Please note that there is a huge difference in backup solutions that just copy your needed files to a safe location and backup solution that actually make a complete backup/image of your drive including the MBR (= Master Boot Record) that is needed to actually boot your system once you put a backup image onto your drive or partition
I think that should have been mentioned in this article as the term “backup” is generally perceived as a “safe and clean copy of the system OS” that can be used to restore the system once that messes up. Took me some time to see that Cobian and others actually cannot be used to restore system backups, but only restore files. Perhaps it would be useful to write a post about backup image software and make it clear that it is only being used to keep the system safe in contrary to backup software that simply copies files inside a working OS.
So Macrium Reflect backs up my system/OS drive in no time, 5GB in 1.5min, and also has a very useful plugin for either a Linux or BartPE boot cd. I simply formatted my system drive/partition, installed the OS from scratch, then all the software and settings I wanted and finally made a bootable backup image of all that and saved that. You can either save it to a USB drive, a DVD(s) or another bootable partition. Like that when the OS messes up I can use this clean backup. For people that do not want to use a cd to get into the Linux or BartPE you can simply create a small partition and make that bootable so that when you start your system you are being asked if you like to boot into the recovery PE or into your normal OS. Just look up “boot BartPE from Hard Drive HDD” for that info.
Altogether a very handy solution to backup your system without having to worry afterwards. And it does not even matter if the partition or drive does not have exactly the same size it did when the backup image was created like in DriveImage XML. As long as the image fits on the drive it will be running in a couple of minutes. Macrium Reflect has been around for a couple of years but with everyone hyping Acronis (that really messed up and shot my smoothly running OS many times) it was hard to find, but since I discovered it I won’t choose any other and on top it is 100% freeware.
The second user said that “backup” means safe copy of OS that can be restored. That sounds like a drive-level backup, and that’s not the typical meaning of backup at all. The proof is in the pudding: the article talks about 10 backup solutions and most of them use the term “backup” and don’t have that feature.
This comment sounds very curiously like you are trying your best to plug this software. If not, thank you for the comments based on your research.
As the author mentions, the normal use of the word backup does NOT imply that images of drives are created. In the case of a drive failure, you do need to start by reloading the operating system. This is why it is important to have the original installation media or restore discs from the computer vendor.
Although this software you talk about does drive images, it is not a very interesting backup software, as it does not allow you to backup individual files and folders. This means that you can ONLY backup and restore the entire hard drive. Although this is a nice way to avoid reinstalling Windows, it is not an acceptable means of backup.
Imagine you have a couple of files… File1 and File2. File1 is on your drive, then you do a backup with your drive imagine software. You then create and work on File2 for a couple days. At the end of the week, you take another drive image. Somewhere before taking the new image however, you accidentally deleted File1. Since File2 does not exist on the last drive image that you have, you would have to overwrite ALL of the changes made to the drive and take your whole computer back in time in order to get File1 back. File2 dissapears, as well as everything else that you’ve added, changed, downloaded, etc. As you can see, not real practical for actually protecting your files!
I prefer Idrive for offline storage… it will backup ALL files and it has some great features (i.e. file versions, incremental backup, etc.).
Can’t say enough about Cobian…have tried various solutions and keep coming back.
Don’t forget Areca… it’s open source, and works great….
No love for Carbonite? It does what Mozy does by faster, easier, and more cheaply.
It tried to concentrate on free solutions and Mozy offers 2 Gigabytes while Carbonite none.
Carbonite is a poorly constructed product. It is grossly inefficient and is a huge resource hog. Just look at system resources while it is running or not and it will rank at the top of CPU and memory usage.
Could be the most hyped pile of crap I have ever seen.
Last I checked, Carbonite WILL NOT back up external hard drives. And they don’t tell people this (it should be in flashing red letters on their site). So most people relying on Carbonite will eventually lose a lot of their data.
acronis true image workstation and server
I also have recently entertained Clonezilla. I don’t trust it yet, but I’ve downloaded it. With it’s popularity, I am suprised not to see it on the list. Before I start trusting it, I would be curious to see what your thoughts on it are, Martin. I use Acronis TI now, but have been looking for a good, free bare metal backup.
I should not have named it “best” but “good” or “popular” instead. Yes there are other applications that are nice. Clonezilla is used for cloning partitions or hard drives. It can be used for backup purposes but that is not its main purpose. It is however a nice software. Did not add Acronis to the list as it is not free.
I really like Personal Backup and Cobian Backup if I had to pick two from the list of ten Windows backup software programs. Mozy is nice if you want to backup data that is not huge in size, say a few hundred Megabytes. I use it to keep data in a remote location for emergencies, i.e. computer gets stolen. Does not help you then to have a backup on an external drive if the thiefs take that as well.
What about Macrium Reflect? It’s capable of cloning and backup. Anyone out there have any experience with it?
I prefer http://syncplicity.com/ for online backup and sync.
Hi Martin, nice review. But you forgot to mention SafeCopy backup www.safecopybackup.com. For my personal computers, I’ve been using SafeCopy. In particular I was able to backup USB drives, share files and backup both my Mac and PC with one account. I’m very happy with it and it may be worth checking out.
what about acronis?
macrium reflect is pretty good too.
what other software can do a full disk backup that can be restored from a cd boot disk. (I’m using bartpe + macrium for that).
if only the free version allowed exclusion of certain folders.
where is Norton Ghost ? I thinlk its the BEST backup/restore software. Easy to use and errors free.
Ghost 15 is an unfinished program with errors, that Symantec dosn’t seem to be able to fix. E.g. Error ED800012.
Thanks for these informative tips on software back-ups. It is very important to back-up your files and data to ensure recovering of lost files in the future.
I like Acronis for backups, specifically True Image. I used to use Ghost but switched to Acronis and haven’t looked back. It offers flexibility and I also find the browse capability handy to be able to pick and choose files or folders to restore from my archive.
I’ve been using SafeCopy, www.safecopybackup.com, for a few months and am super impressed with the ability to backup all my Mac and Windows computers into a single account. It also has a nice iPhone App and Smartphone interface for mobile access to my files. I switched from Carbonite and haven’t looked back. -Troy
Have you ever seen Uranium Backup ?
I think it should appear in the list, it has a lot of options and it is really stable !
http://www.uraniumbackup.com
Acronis True Image is the best data or drive image backup software. It ain’t free but worth every penny you pay for it….. It has saved me so many times. Be sure to take regular incremental backups. You have whole lotta options in there deciding what types of files to backup by file extension, folders, commands to execute after backup, encrypted backups etc etc….
Cobian, Personal Backup, Ghost, Backup4All Pro4, and Paragon all failed to make a compressed files full backup to multiple DVDs. Does anyone know, for certain, of a program that will actually do this?
Winows 7 Backup and Restore makes reliable DVD Backups.
Acronis will backup to multiple files of the size you specify …
mule
Mule, thanks very much for the factoid on Acronis. However, I need to hear from someone who has actually taken a compressed files full backup, of at least 25GB from HDD, to completion on multiple DVDs, preferably double layer. Most file backups claim to do this but I have not found one that actually performs. Maybe I’ll give up and get another external hard drive and hope it doesn’t quit like the last one.
Martin, the final results are in. None of the freeware backups succeeded in making a compressed files full backup to multiple DVDs in my informal test. Three commercial backups failed the same test. None of the eight trial ware commercial backups tested would backup to DL media. Paragon Drive Backup 9 provided a usable drive image and Migo PC Backup 10 did a full compressed files backup, both to multiple DVDs. Sorry Mule, Acronis trial ware download would not install.
How about SyncBack?
Anon, did not try SyncBack but will include it in my next test.
Which one of these would do a better job of keeping any monitored modified files in sync with a USB external drive as opposed to constantly backing up ALL files on each run?
I currently use Windows 7 RC and I use the backup feature with Windows which allows for drive and system images to be created, albeit slowly. However, I need a program that can not only create drive images compatible with Windows but also just backup any modified files or directories instead of all of them every time the backup runs. I understand the principle of running a backup is to reliably save your system’s status but I would just rather have the utility copy over any changed files to my USB drive to keep the backing to a minimum.
Another way this could be resolved would be if anyone knows a way I can use my external drive to keep an exact copy of an internal drive much like a RAID setup.
Automatic Backup 2 Local
just tried GFI Backup – Home Edition 2009
it’s free and works great
next review you should test it too
Acronis suffers from a major flaw: disk defragmentation between incremental backups (whether between the first full backup and an incremental backup, or between consecutive incremental backups) causes the resultant .TIB file to be up to twice as large as it would be had no defragmentation been performed on the disk between backups.
This problem still exists in version 12.0 of the Acronis TrueImage products. Customers have been complaining about this problem since version 7, circa 2004. See http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=37401
As yet, I have not seen an explanation as to why Acronis has not fixed this problem. Other products do not suffer from this limitation. If the problem is the unavoidable result of sector-based backups, then Acronis should redesign the product such that it does not use a sector-based approach to creating incremental backups. (Full-disk and partition backups would, ideally, continue to use a sector-based approach.)
In other words, if you are dead-set on using Acronis’ products, be sure to disable scheduled/automatic disk defragmentation on your computer.
wow. what kind of window its that? ^_^
good post..as it is a basic need of every windows user as these days many spyware and adware virus are hitting the pc..you need to have any backup software so you wont lose your important data..
Considered reviewing AIMstor by http:\\www.cofio.com . It does Backup , Replication an Archiving all in our package. Free license available for smaller configurations.