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Good Backup Software (Free or Cheap)

TV's Frink

TV's Frink

You Catch On Pretty Quick
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This is sort of fanediting-related, because we should all be backing up our work.

I'm looking for a good backup program, preferably free or at least cheap. I need the following functions:

1) Set a target location so I can backup one external drive to another
2) Choose which files and/or folders to back up
3) Maintain a single backup - if nothing changed in the selected files, don't back up again, and only re-backup what changed or is new
4) If files were moved or deleted from the source, do the same for the backup

I've tried three programs so far, all of which failed at least one of the above.

-The Seagate Manager that came with one of my external drives fails #1.
-EaseUS Todo Backup fails #3 - it makes a new backup file every time even if nothing changed, which fills up the drive super fast
-BackupMaker fails #3 and #4, including this really annoying thing where I change which files to backup and it goes and overwrites the backup file with the new files selected. Grrr....

At any rate, any better suggestions?
 
Might also be worth discussing good ways to physically protect a hard drive from damage, like being dropped.
 
I think that's beyond the scope of what I'm asking.
 
Well, scratch Paragon Backup Free off the list. If you want to select which files to backup (instead of just by drive or partition) you have to get the pay version.
 
Same deal with Macrium Reflect Free.

I'm starting to get the idea I'm going to need to pay $30 or $40 to get what I want....
 
Maybe Genie Timeline? As for cheap, I guess it depends on your definition. Its $40.
 
$40 seems like a lot to me. I was hoping for something in the $10-$20 range at most.

However, I might have found a good free option. Cobian Backup seems to do most of what I'm looking for. Seems like the only missing function is that when the source file is deleted, it doesn't delete the backup file as well, but it does give you an error message and tell you which files are missing so you can manually delete the backup file yourself.

Fingers crossed...
 
Second Copy is pretty good but costs £20 although that's hardly breaking the bank.

Or just write a simple batch file using the xcopy command if you want to do it for free.
 
Copy/paste too hard?
 
Yes, it's a pain in the ass, frankly. I have to keep track of what is backed up and what isn't, and what files need to be updated.
 
SyncBack Free for Windows is pretty good. I've used that a lot with scheduled backups of specific folders, which seems to be what you're looking for.

Also, several ports of rsync (THE sync and backup tool for Unix/Linux-based systems (including OSX)) exist. GRSync is one of them. I haven't tried it, so I don't know if it supports scheduling.
 
Actually, since I don't keep my external drives plugged in except when I'm backing up, I only do manual backups. But Cobian seems to have done the trick for me.
 
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