Best Backup Software?

[Snowburden]

So I'm looking for some backup software that I can backup certain content that I want. Acronis True Image was good for that, but what I don't like about it is the backup are in the Acronis True Image file Type. WD Backup does what I want and I can see the files without having to go into the file type or whatever like Acronis. HOWEVER, you can only have one backup at a time. I would like multiple, mainly because certain things I backup twice a week, and others once a month.

And I would also like the software to only backup files that have been changed in the files and folders, instead of a whole new backup and such. Microsofts Sync Toy did a similar thing that when you sync you can make it only sync new files and nothing would get overwritten, just the new files would be added, or if the files were modified it would add those. But the Toy Sync program has long been not getting updates (an abandoned project I think).

So is there a backup program that is simple and I can have multiple backups, and they'll backup whenever I want them to, and doesn't have a file type that all the backup is in. And when backup, if nothing has changed, it won't backup, and if there is changes, it'll add new content instead of making a whole separate backup.

 

[reedo_43]

http://www.cobiansoft.com/cobianbackup.htm
Very configurable and does all of those things. And free...

 

[boosted1g]

For full disk images I really like macium reflect, very feature rich for freeware and can even setup boot menu.
This can do incrimental backups and scheduling and you can tell it to keep X number of backups.
It is in its own format but you can mount a backup and browse files and use boot cd or windows pe environment to restore so it is not an issue.

For just copying some files syncback is my goto choice.

 

[mwryder55]

You could set up multiple XCopy scripts in scheduler to do what you want. I have used it to backup hundreds of thousands files. It can do the entire job in minutes instead of days using Windows copy.

 

[boosted1g]

You could set up multiple XCopy scripts in scheduler to do what you want. I have used it to backup hundreds of thousands files. It can do the entire job in minutes instead of days using Windows copy.

This wont make an image and wont be able to copy files in use by the system

 

[mwryder55]

You could set up multiple XCopy scripts in scheduler to do what you want. I have used it to backup hundreds of thousands files. It can do the entire job in minutes instead of days using Windows copy.

This wont make an image and wont be able to copy files in use by the system

From the looks of the original post it looks like he is looking for a copy of specific files, like music or videos, and not a disk image. He wants to only back up changed files and be able to view or recover them without any special software.

 

[USAFRet]

Full disk or partition image - Macrium Reflect

Individual files and/or folders - SyncBackFree or FreeFileSync

 

[RolandJS]

Macrium Reflect version 7, eventually the free version will be available, will do differential and/or incremental backups much faster than earlier versions, free or pay-for. The images MR makes can be accessed very quickly from within MR residing on the HD, no special usb or dvd boot required. And, having the external media offline once any particular backup session is completed -- reduces [but does not eliminate] chances of original and backups being "ransome-wared".

 

[USAFRet]

Macrium Reflect version 7, eventually the free version will be available, will do differential and/or incremental backups much faster than earlier versions, free or pay-for. The images MR makes can be accessed very quickly from within MR residing on the HD, no special usb or dvd boot required. And, having the external media offline once any particular backup session is completed -- reduces [but does not eliminate] chances of original and backups being "ransome-wared".

I just upgraded my MR v6 to v7. Paid v6, free upgrade to v7.
And yes, you can directly access the entire file/folder structure living inside the .mrimg filetype. And v7 will open images made with v6.
Opens it in Explorer, just like any other drive.

And in my situation, the backups live in the Linux-based NAS box, rather than another drive in this same system.

 

[Snowburden]

I actually looked into Cobian Backup and it seems pretty useful. It doesn't have a backup file-type which is what I'm looking for. So this may work... just need more testing.

 

[Snowburden]

Full disk or partition image - Macrium Reflect

Individual files and/or folders - SyncBackFree or FreeFileSync

SyncBackFree was exactly what I was looking for in every way. Thank you so much!