There’s a lot of software out there that can be used to backup files to an external hard drive, or even to the cloud. But did you know that Windows 7 actually has some pretty sophisticated backup software built in? It can be used to make a single backup, or to regularly backup your files to keep your archive up to date.

You can backup to either a portable hard drive, to USB flash drives or to CDs or DVDs. The most popular method is to backup to a portable hard drive, as these are very cheap and can be easily connected and carried around. Portable drives are also very useful if you want to keep an off-site backup of your data.

You can find the options to backup your computer’s files from the control panel. Simply click on “start”, and then “control panel” and then find the option to backup your computer under the heading of “system and security”. You’ll be taken to a screen where you can set up a new backup or restore files if you already have an archive. You’ll need to be a computer administrator to do this, as you’ll see by the shield icon next to the link called “set up backup”. Clicking on this will start a wizard where you can set the parameters of your backup job.

You’ll need to select the device you want to use to hold your backups. Plug in a portable hard drive of suitable size to hold all the files you want to archive. The wizard will tell you the size of your drive, and the amount of free space you have on it.

On the next screen you can choose whether to manually select the files you want to backup, or let Windows 7 decide for you. If you have specific files and folders you want to backup, then do it manually but in most cases the automatic selection will work best. Click on next, and now you can see a summary of your selections. You also have the option here to set up a schedule for backups. A weekly backup is usually good enough, but if you are a heavy computer user then maybe select a daily backup.

You should now save your settings by clicking on the button to end the wizard. Congratulations, you’ve set up a backup job on your computer. All you need to do now is wait until the time you selected on your schedule, or you can click on the button “back up now” to start immediately.

To begin the process of creating your system backup image, click on “start” and in the search field, type in the word “backup”. Now you should see under the programs section of the search results a program called “backup and restore”. Click on this and it will open up the utility you need to begin creating a system image.

On the left hand side of the screen, there will be a link entitled “create a system image”, so click on that and you’ll be taken to a screen where you’ll get to choose where you want to save your system image. Now – a system image means backing up every file and folder on your computer, so you need to choose a location that is big enough for the task. Usually a removable USB hard drive is a good choice, but if you want you can also back up to multiple DVDs or to a network location if you have multiple computers linked up over a network.

Click on “next” and you then get to choose which drive you want to back up. You can use this utility to backup any drive connected to your system, but in this case we want to choose the “C:” drive, which is where your Windows 7 operating system is, and all your program files. Again, you’ll be shown how much space is being used up on your C: drive, so you need to check to make sure you have enough space on your external drive to save the image. If you’re using DVDs, each DVD can hold only 4.7GB of information, so they usually aren’t suitable for this task, but you have the option anyway. Naturally, you won’t be able to back up onto the same drive as your windows 7 installation, as the whole point of this is to protect against a hard drive failure, and if your backup is on the same drive as your operating system, you’d lose that too.

Once you have selected all the options and you’re happy, click on “start backup” to begin. The time it takes to complete the backup will depend on how much data you have stored.

Once your backup is done, the next step is to create a repair disk. This will allow you to boot up your computer should Windows 7 not work. You do this from the main “backup and restore” page we were at before, but this time click on “create a system repair disk” on the left. All you need do is insert a black CD or DVD, and click “create disk”. Keep this disk in a safe place, as if you have any problems with your computer, you may need it to restore your data.

First, a quick review of creating a hard drive partition is demonstrated. To begin, go to Start > Right-click Computer > Manage. Or, enter computer into the run and search box and select Computer Management from the available options.

Click on Storage > Disk Management. Choose the drive that you want to partition. In this example, there is only one hard drive to choose. It is a 1TB hard drive with an NTFS files system and plenty of space to allow for a significant partition if necessary.

Here, the amount of shrink space entered is 100,000 MB, or 100 GB. This is a decent size for a VHD and it can be altered in the future. Click Shrink when done.

Select this unallocated space and right-click and choose New Simple Volume. The setup Wizard will appear. Follow the steps and fill in the partition size. You should see the VHD listed when you double-click Computer. In this example, it is named “Archive”.

Now that the VHD image has been created and named, the next step is to choose the data to backup. You may drag and drop as many files as the space will allow. With a partition of this size, a large amount of data can be stored over time. The computer used in this example shares data with other PCs on a remote network. Using Windows 7 Backup and Restore, you can backup all data on the PC easily and save yourself the trouble of dragging and dropping.

Backup to Virtual Hard Drive

To use the new VHD for a complete Backup and Restore, follow these steps:

Open the Control Panel and choose System and Security. Click “Back up your computer”. You will then see this option:

Select Options in the Check backup settings then click Change Backup Settings and you will see this window representing all drives. Select the new VHD as the backup Volume by clicking on it and then click Next.

Notice that Windows 7 warns that this drive is on the physical disk as your system drive. This warning is there because this is not the ideal space for a final backup. It is rather easy to transfer the data from the VHD to an external hard drive at a later time as often as needed.

To select specific documents, rather than a full backup, highlight “Let me choose”. To allow a full backup, highlight “Let Windows choose”.

You can set a schedule for the backup to occur at regular intervals but always be sure to make a final backup on an external hard drive. On a network this is particularly useful. You can, for example, backup a shared network folder on a weekly basis and ensure that shared network files are continually backed up. Set it any way you like.

System Restore is only backing up key elements of the operating system like the Windows Registry, user profile or Windows File Protection files.

One of the limitations of System Restore is that old restore points will be deleted automatically based on the available hard drive space for the feature. This means that it is only possible to restore recent system states.

Some users might want to backup an early System Restore point before it gets deleted to be able to restore it at a later time. This can be done by copying a restore folder and saving it into a different location.

Two barriers need to be passed for this to happen. The first is the hidden state of the System Volume Information folder, the second the access rights.

The option to hide protected operating system files needs to be disabled so that the System Volume Information folder becomes visible in Windows Explorer. This is done in the folder options. Windows 7 users open Windows Explorer, click on Tools > Folder options to open the configuration menu. The view tab contains the option to hide protected operating system files.

The System Volume Information folder should now be visible in Windows Explorer. It is not possible to access it right away because of the access rights of the folder. The rights can be changed with a right-click on the folder and the selection of properties. This opens a configuration window.

Switch to the Security tab in that folder.

Click the continue button. This opens a new window that lists all users or groups that have access rights. Click the add button in that window.

Enter the user name of the user who should be able to access and work with the folder. Click the check names button to find the username and ok to apply the changes.

It is now possible to access the System Volume Information folder in Windows Explorer. The system restore points use cryptic names. The best way to identify them is to look at the date they were created or modified. Pick the ones that you want to backup. It is advised to copy the System Restore points to a different location.

You can now revert the changes made to the System Restore folder and the folder visibility. If you want to restore a previously backed up System Restore point you need to copy it back into that folder to be able to do so.

Paragon Drive Backup 2010 is a backup solution for computers running a Microsoft Windows operating system. It is basically a lighter version of the more expensive Backup & Recovery Suite that is offered for $69.95 at the Paragon website. It is an easy to use backup software that provides everything necessary to perform data backups and restoration.

Download

We are offering the file in cooperation with Paragon via Bittorrent. Users who want to download the 32-bit or 64-bit edition of the program need a Bittorrent client to download the file. A good Bittorrent client for the task is uTorrent which can be downloaded at the developer’s website. All that needs to be done is to download one of the torrent files after installation of the Bittorrent client. A double-click on the torrent should add that torrent to the program interface and start the download immediately.

Please keep the torrent in the program for a while to seed it to other users as well. Thanks a lot!

Users with difficulty can post a comment in this article so that they can receive help downloading the files.

• Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition 32-bit
• Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition 64-bit

Installation

A double-click on the program file after the download will start the setup for the drive backup software. The setup will display the following screen that can be used to get a license for the program:

Everything else should be self explanatory.

Here is the direct link to get a serial for the software.

Paragon Drive Backup 2010 SE Review

Paragon Drive Backup makes use of the usual Paragon software interface that puts the tasks that can be done with the software in the left sidebar and the information of the active task in the main window.

The tasks are divided into Basic Backup / Restore Tasks, Advanced Backup Tasks, Tools and News and Documentation.

The basic backup and restore tasks can be used to perform a smart backup, schedule disk, partition or file backups and restore a previously created backup. Every selection will open a wizard guiding the user through the steps to perform the selected task.

• Smart Backup: Gives the user options to backup partitions, entire hard drives, files, email (Windows Mail and Outlook), documents in the MyDocuments folder or media files that are located in the same folder structure. Backups can be executed right away or scheduled.
• Schedule Backup of Disk or Partition: A faster way to schedule backups of disks and partitions of the computer system.
• Schedule File Backups: A faster way to schedule file backups.
• Restore: Ability to restore backups that have been created in the past.

File backups can be further customized by using so called include and exclude masks that make sure that certain file types or names are included or excluded from the backup. That’s very handy for operations where specific file types need to be backed up, for instance all document formats on drive C.

The advanced backup tasks offer differential partition backups and incremental file backups which can be used to reduce the size requirements of backups. Paragon Drive Backup will automatically use compression technologies to decrease the size of the backup.

The tools section finally can be used to create recovery media so that the data can be recovered even if the operating system fails to load. Most users might want to start with this option to be able to restore the backups if the OS should fail.

One interesting option provided by Paragon Drive Backup 2010 is the archive integrity checker which can verify the integrity of previously created backups.

Drive Backup can create a backup capsule on a connected hard drive that will then be used to store the backups that are performed by the software.

Other features of Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition:

• Paragon Hot Processing, Microsoft VSS Support – Ensures that all files and folders are copied even if Windows is running.
• Selective Restore – Restore only files needed
• Support for Ext3/4FS, Apple HFS+ file systems

Verdict

Paragon Drive Backup 2010 Special Edition is an easy to use backup solution for the Windows operating system. It is relatively easy to use and configure thanks to the wizards that are displayed whenever a task is created.

Christmas Giveaway

You can grab a license of the backup software by downloading the setup files via Bittorrent. The option to create a new license will be given once the setup of the backup application has started. Make sure you download the right version (32-bit or 64-bit offered).

Paragon is offering support during the giveaway at Twitter. Anyone who runs into installation or usage problems can contact them during that time to sort things out.

Raju is giving away Antamedia Print Manager licenses, check out his blog for a chance to win those.

The interface looks well designed and it is obvious that the program has been designed with usability in mind. Users can select one of the quick backup options in the left sidebar (backup entire Registry, backup system partition or backup user settings) or select a backup source from the main pane instead. These include options to backup mail accounts, the system state, disk, partitions and the MBR, full or custom Registry keys or files and directories.

A selection screen will be displayed depending on the choice that the user made. The user can for example select specific Registry keys or desktop email clients when selecting the custom Registry or Mail accounts backup option from the interface.

It is possible to select multiple options of a specific backup source but not multiple backup sources. That’s a bit unfortunate as it potentially means that several backup jobs need to be configured to create all desired backups.

Backups are divided into six steps that can be easily followed.

• Backup Source: Selection of backup type
• Backup Settings: Include and exclude filters, password protection, compressions and file sizes can be configured in here.
• Backup Destination: Options to store the backup locally, on network drives, ftp servers or Comodo online storage.
• Other Settings: Configure email notifications, macros and tasks that should be run before or after the backup.
• Scheduled Backup: Schedule the backup instead of running it immediately.
• Backup Progress: Log that details the progress.

The history pane will detail all backups that have been created with Comodo Backup with options to restore or delete these backups right from within that pane. It is furthermore possible to restore backups using the restore pane. This might be handy if backups need to be restored that have not been created on that computer system.

Comodo Backup is an easy to use backup software for the Windows operating system. It offers a clean interface and most functionality that users would expect from a backup software. It would have been nice if users could define a backup that would include several backup sources at once. Another interesting option would be to be able to add backup shortcuts to the sidebar so that the first few steps of the process can be skipped.

Comodo Backup is available for most 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows including Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.

Tabs provide access to the backup software’s functionality. The configuration of the backup is handled in the manual backup tab. It might look like backup overload at first glance because of the options the developer has stuffed in the interface. There are basically four sections of importance here. Section one defines the first directory on the local computer system while section three defines the second directory. Section 2 defines the direction of the backup which can either be from directory one to directory two, directory two to directory one or in both directions. It also handles the backup modes which include copying all files, erasing the source, mirroring the directories or updating data.

The last section can be used to create filters. It is possible to define filters by time and date or file size and names. A new batch job can then be created after the configuration has been finished.

Backups can then be created by switching to the batch backup tab and clicking on the Make Backup List button. This will create the file list for the backup. A click on the Execute Backup List will start the backup process. Another option is to click directly on the Batch Run button to create the backup list and start the backup.

The third tab of the backup program provides access to a few global options that include enabling reporting, creating empty directories or copying file attributes.

Zback is a portable backup software program that can create quick data backups. It lacks functionality mainly thanks to its portable nature.

The reason for this is that many users believe that the data is safe on Internet servers. A lot can happen that can put the data on those servers at risk. This ranges from hacking attempts, hardware failures that cause data loss or bankruptcy. It is therefor essential to make sure that data that is stored online is backed up regularly.

We have already mentioned how to backup Gmail before should be essential for every Gmail user. While it is unlikely that Gmail will be discontinued there have been times where the service was not accessible. Having a backup of the data would make it possible to access the emails anyway.

Google Docs Backup is another Windows backup software that can be used to backup one of the popular Google services. Users can use it to backup all documents on their local computer system that they have uploaded to Google Docs. Usage of the backup software has been simplified. All that needs to be done is to enter the username and password of the Google Docs account and to select a directory on the local computer where the data should be downloaded to.

A few optional settings are available. It is for example possible to select the output format for each document type and to route the traffic through a proxy server. A click on the Exec button will initiate the data backup which can take some time depending on the size of the data stored at Google Docs and the connection speed.

Gdoc Backup (via To The PC) is a free software program for the Windows operating system.

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.

EASEUS Todo Backup 3.0 Free

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

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.

DeltaCopy

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.

Backup Maker

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

ace backup

Powerful free backup software that supports multi-versioning, backups to local and remote locations, file compression and encryption.

Microsoft SyncToy

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

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

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

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

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

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 FREE Edition

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

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.

DeltaCopy is an Open Source portable Windows backup software that supports incremental backups, email notifications, one-click restore options and a task scheduler in an easy to use interface. It will run on any Windows NT based operating systems. The developers have not listed Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 on their web pages.

Interestingly enough it can connect to rsync daemons running on Linux systems since it basically is a Windows wrapper around rsync. SSH Tunneling is available if the destination server is a Linux / Unix system running rsync.

How does the Windows backup software work?

The administrator installs the server version of Deltacopy on one machine. The backup software installs itself as a Windows Service. Once the server is up and running so called virtual directories can be created. This is a similar procedure to setting up an ftp server. The admin picks a folder on a hard drive on the server with the option to create multiple virtual directories on the server.

The client is then executed on a client machine. Profiles manage the backup jobs on the client machine. This is the place where the user selects the files and folders that should be backed up regularly. The backup server will be entered during that configuration as well. The server can be identified by entering the IP or hostname of the server running the backup software.

Authentication is possible. This has to be enabled during server setup and the client computer has to use the same login credentials that have been created on the server to be able to perform the backup.

Backups can be initiated either manually or by using the Windows Task Scheduler. Files can be restored from the client interface if the need should arise.

DeltaCopy is a sophisticated but not overly complicated Windows backup software that works best for small home and company networks.

The interface seems to have received its last lift in the last century which would not be that of a problem if there would not be so many buttons and menus available. It takes a while to get used to the interface but once that has been achieved users will reap the benefits of the backup software.

Personal Backup supports the creation of backups on local and network hard drives as well as ftp servers using ftp and sftp connections. The first ace that is actually a pretty handy feature is the creation of several so called auto backups which can be configured independently of each other. That comes in handy with the excellent filtering options of Personal Backup.

As soon as a folder or partition gets added to the backup list it is scanned and a list of all file types, their count and total sizes are displayed next to the usual information like directories and many options.

The listing of file types makes it pretty comfortable to pick certain file types that should be backed up on all hard drives and schedule those backups next to other backups. One scenario would be to backup all .doc, .xls and other document formats on all drives regularly which is just a few clicks away in Personal Backup.

The filtering options of this Windows backup software are immense. Filters can be set to match filenames, file attributes, file sizes, time and regular expressions. The preview button can be used to check on the files that would be backed up by Personal Backup which can be used for verification.

The options that define the output are as extensive as the filtering options. Some of the backup options include:

• To backup single files or one zip.
• Preserve, ignore the directory structure, create separate directories for drives.
• To compress the files and add file type exceptions.
• To encrypt the backup using AES.
• To add notes, send emails and run external programs before and after backup.
• To synchronize files
• To verify files
• To chose a backup mode from Copy, Full, Differential and Incremental.
• To adjust the time gap for timestamp comparison
• Creation of a backup log
• Integrated restore function for whole trees or selected files
• Automatic decryption on restore
• Synchronise backup directories

The Windows backup software contains so many options that it will really take a while before everything has been discovered. Most of the options are not needed to perform a simple backup but Personal Backup is more a software for users who want to make exact backups on their system, who want to point at the exact data and backup that data.

Backups can be scheduled multiple ways which range from daily to weekly backups. It is also possible to combine backup methods during the scheduled backups, for instance to create multiple backups for data safety purposes.

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.

So what is the Drive Backup Express offering in detail? It obviously allows the user to backup to hard drive or partition if it is currently accessible in Windows XP or Windows Vista. The Drive Backup version only supports backing the data up on other drives that are connected to the computer but that should be enough for most users anyway.

The archive that is created during backup is compressed, it used roughly 17 Gigabytes to backup my 50-something Gigabyte hard drive. On the other hand that drive had a lot of free space, only 19.2 Gigabyte were filled with data.

The images that get backed up by Drive Backup Express can be restored which means it’s possible to backup partitions or complete drives. Resizing is supported as well.

That’s basically the functionality of Paragon Drive Backup Express. The commercial Drive Backup software supports several interesting additional features like incremental backups, backup encryption, backup on CD / DVD and file restoration.