The free backup software Duplicati offers all of this, and then some more. The program displays a backup setup wizard automatically after installation. The wizard walks the user through the process of creating the first backup job.

It begins with the selection of a name and the folders and files that should be included in the backup. Duplicati suggests several common Windows folder out of the box, My Documents, My Music or all desktop files for instance (if Windows is the operating system of choice. The program is also available for Linux) Users who store their data elsewhere can add custom paths to the backup easily in the same step.

The space requirements are displayed on screen, and re-calculated whenever folders are added or removed by the user.

Backups can be protected with a password. The default encryption is a built-in AES 256 bit encryption algorithm with the possibility to switch to the GNU Privacy Guard for protecting the backup data. GPG is a free alternative to the popular PGP.

The backup destination is configured in the next step. And this is where Duplicati shines. Available are local and remote backup locations. From Amazon S3 and CloudFiles over WebDAV based, SSH based to plain ftp backups and local folder backups. It is all there and easily configurable.

It is necessary to enter a path, and if a remote backup location has been selected authentication to complete this step.

The last step displays several advanced options, allowing the user to schedule backups, configure rules when to remove older backups, size and bandwidth limits or filters to include or exclude files from the backup.

The backup can be started right after the setup wizard or at a later time.

Most backup settings can be configured for all jobs directly in the program options. Here it is possible to set an encryption method and password, authentication settings for Amazon S3, SSH and other services or the system’s GPG path.

It is possible to change settings and configure new backup jobs even while a backup is running in the background.

Backups can be restored at any point in time, but only by running the software program and selecting the data restore option.

Duplicati is an easy to setup backup program for the Windows operating system and Linux. Is there anything that is missing or a feature that could be improved? Well, it would be great if advanced users could configure backups on one page to speed things up. For now, it is only possible to use the wizard to create backup jobs. A missing feature is the ability to backup hard drives or partitions. Another feature that is missing is an option to restore backups externally.

Windows and Linux users who are looking for a lightweight, highly configurable backup software should download Duplicati for a test ride. The program is compatible with all recent versions of the Windows operating system.

A registration is required which requires entering a name and valid email address. A verification email is send to the mail account. That link leads to a website containing the download link of East-Tec Backup 2009 and the registration code to register the software program.

The backup software program offers four modules in the main interface: Backup, Restore, Tasks and Sync.

New backup jobs are created in this module. One of the interesting – and user friendly – features of East-Tec Backup 2009 are presets that are available. Presets can be used to backup specific, and usually important, files and data. It is for example possible to backup the mail accounts (recognized the email clients Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook and Opera on the test system), Registry keys or user settings from programs such as Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Winamp, Windows Media Player, various web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera but not Google Chrome), Putty and dozens more. It is of course also possible to select files or folders from the computer system.

The data can be backed up to local folders, external hard drives, local area network folders, removable disks, CD, DVD or remote locations using the ftp protocol. The usual set of options are available to use compression and encryption to ensure data safety and integrity. Several backup types can be selected ranging from incremental backups over differential backups to stack backups. Backups can be scheduled and warnings configured.

It is furthermore possible to run programs before and after the task starts and to verify the backup after it has been completed. Another great option is to place backup jobs into groups which can be executed sequentially then.

Backups that have been created can be restored completely. It is also possible to only restore specific files or folders which is obviously great if you only need access to some files or folders of the entire backup.

The Sync option makes it possible to synchronize files and folders between two computers or devices like a local computer and server, desktop computer and laptop or a local computer and a network location.

The interface of the backup software is user friendly, tasks are easy to create. Users who are currently looking for a backup software should take a closer look and download East-Tec Backup 2009 for a test run. It might be exactly what they are looking for.

Update: The offer is over, the page where you could get the free copy of the backup software is no longer available.

O&O DiskImage 3 Express Edition comes with three buttons that control the backup and restoration process. Button 1 creates an image of all system partitions on the computer. The user simply selects a drive where he wants the backup to be restored and that’s it. No selection of single partitions, no options whatsoever. Pure and simple but probably to simple for tech savvy users.

The second button restores a partition. One major drawback is that the system partition cannot be restored. So all personal data on that partition is lost unless you buy the pro or enterprise version which can restore the system partition.

The question that arises is why the program does backup the system partition if it cannot be recovered? The answer to that is probably a business decision. Would a user who needs data from his system partition buy a commercial version of DiskImage? I bet he would.

The last button lets a user browse an image that was created. Each additional backup only saves the differences and not the full partition saving disk space on the (external) hard drive where the images will be stored on.

Paragon’s Drive Backup is an alternative which offers more functionality and the option to restore the system partition as well.