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.
Cobian Backup is a free for personal use backup software 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.
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 backup software supports authentication, scheduling and connection by IP or hostname.
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 filenames 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.
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.
Powerful backup software that supports multi-versioning, backups to local and remote locations, file compression and encryption.
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 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.
A backup 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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78 Responses to “The 10 Best Windows Backup Software Programs”
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Wonderful suggestions and great info. Thank You
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.
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 http://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.
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, http://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?
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.
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.
which supports ntfs change log feature???
“which support ntfs log feature”…
No, AIMstor uses a filter driver. NTFS log filter will only tell you what files have changed, not the data.
The problem with log approach, is with something like a PST file, you would need to transfer the whole file. With a filter driver, you only need to transfer the changed bytes thereby reducing backup time. Also because the backups are stored in an incremental fashion, if you decide to keep different revisions of your data (highly recommended), then you actually only store the original file and the differences.
I use GRBackPro Professional Backup Software for Windows. This is a really smart software, plain of professional options and very well supported. I’m asking myself why you have not listed it. Find it at http://www.grsoftware.net
For off site backup, AB2L.com works good. Simple, cheap, and prevents against backing up corrupt files or files that have been modified by something without authorization, like virus.
I use Acronis True Image…..Very robust & stable….You can take a sector by sector copy of the whole hard disk or the currently active image. you can schedule regular backups to an external hard drive, do incremental backups etc…
i lost one hard disk but was a cinch writing the the backed up image to another hard disk….
worth every penny you pay for it….
What abt SOS online backup ?
Anyone heard of Robocopy? NOTHING is faster.