A "simple" backup software ?

[tempt6]

Hello,

We currently have a NAS (Synology) which does the job of backuping data in case of a disk crash etc.

We also sometimes backup data manually on an external drive, which we move to another building, in case of theft, fire, etc.
We basically drag-n-drop all directories onto the external disk, and we pick up the disk a few hours later. But there are some issues :
- Copying too many files at once can take hours, and if something went wrong i have no idea what has been already copied and what has not.
- It might interrupt at some point, for various reasons such as when a path is too long
- Sometimes there is a corrupted file somewhere, which we haven't noticed since months, so we keep doing backups of corrupted files

Anyways, I think I should look for a backup software, but I'd like something very simple which just ensures the data is copied. Don't want the backup compressed under any format, don't need to schedule backups, I just want it to copy each file which have been modified since the last backup

Any suggestions ?
Cheers

 

[Wayfall]

Windows Backup:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/back-up-files

Sorry but its the best and simplest way I know which works effectively and is quick to do depending on the size of the HDD/SSD

 

[fluffa]

http://www.tgrmn.com/

ViceVersa

Copy to target, mirror to target (aka copy only changed files) can handle long file names over 256 in length

Also get 30day trail to see if it fits your needs

 

[bambiboom]

Hello,

We currently have a NAS (Synology) which does the job of backuping data in case of a disk crash etc.

We also sometimes backup data manually on an external drive, which we move to another building, in case of theft, fire, etc.
We basically drag-n-drop all directories onto the external disk, and we pick up the disk a few hours later. But there are some issues :
- Copying too many files at once can take hours, and if something went wrong i have no idea what has been already copied and what has not.
- It might interrupt at some point, for various reasons such as when a path is too long
- Sometimes there is a corrupted file somewhere, which we haven't noticed since months, so we keep doing backups of corrupted files

Anyways, I think I should look for a backup software, but I'd like something very simple which just ensures the data is copied. Don't want the backup compressed under any format, don't need to schedule backups, I just want it to copy each file which have been modified since the last backup

Any suggestions ?
Cheers

tempt6,

There is a backup mode specifically for this situation- differential, that only copies files that have been added or changed since the last backup. This mode can be joined to another mode : incremental that backups on a time basis and a hybrid incremental differential. The advantage to differential is that the files that are not changed are not copied for every backup but restoring is longer as the incremental backups have to be merged to the original backup image.

This is a commercial site, Acronis, with a very good description:

http://www.acronis.com/en-gb/resource/solutions/backup/2005/incremental-backups.html

While Acronis is more usual, I use EaseUs ToDo Backup Workstation (7.5, current version is 9.0)

http://www.easeus.com/backup-software/business.html

That not only backups the files but makes a complete system image that can restore the entire system; OS , applications, and all settings to the original system and has a great feature "restore to dissimilar hardware". The software I use allows installation on two systems as long as it's not used simultaneously. As I have a second system for rendering and simulations that take a long time, I'm able to transfer the exact system form the main computer to the rendering . calculation system and event the backup setup is transferred. This has worked really well several times when changing computers, though at the moment I'm having problems after changing the second system to add a PCIe RAID disk controller. Still, until now, it takes only a few clicks (and two hours loading) to completely clone the system and there are the versatile backup features.

The EaseUs free Partition Master programme is extremely good for the price also!

I might mention that I also use external drives for my backups and have found a Startech Aluminium enclosure very reliable:

StarTech 3.5 inch SuperSpeed USB 3.0 SATA Hard Drive Enclosure with Fan >£31

http://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-inch-SuperSpeed-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003F5NS9W/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1453205515&sr=1-3&keywords=startech+enclosure+fan

This uses SATA III, 3.5" HD's and is very fast. The important feature is the switchable cooling fan. As the drive is only run when backing up of restoring /copying, the drives will last for years. These are also durable. One of these fell onto the floor and while the drive had to be pushed back onto the interface, it works perfectly.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > 2X Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 48GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > PERC H310 / Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3844 / CPU = 15047 / 2D= 662 / 3D= 3500 / Mem= 1785 / Disk= 2649] (12.30.15)

 

[ktolo]

The simplest program that I've encountered so far, and it is free is called TrayBackup.
It does incremental backups and you can schedule it to run as a windows task. It's simple, lightweight and free.
I use it here in work, which is a small office.