[SOLVED] In need of backup software, which one to choose?

[MadsModsat]

I've been looking for a good program for syncing files and folders between two drives.

I recently bought a Seagate IronWolf 6TB HDD, because I got tired of having a lot of different smaller drives.

However, I'm unsure if the Seagate drive is failing already after just a few weeks, and since backups are always recommended I bought another 6TB drive (different make and model)

But since the Seagate drive is still working perfectly fine, I might as well use it for backup. It doesn't corrupt data, and in the last two days I have copied for 6 hours straight from the drive, and 6 hours straight to the drive without problems, it just makes a weird mechanical noise I'm not comfortable with.

But I might as well mirror/copy the two 6TB drives with eachother for as long as possible, until I can replace the Seagate drive.

But so far I have never really used any backup software, I just copied new files to backups on whatever drive had free space.

But with a little more than 4TB data currently (and rapidly growing in size), and a drive where files are added or removed frequently, I would like to automate that process if possible.

I have narrowed it down to EaseUS ToDo or Acronis True Image, but I honestly don't which of the two to choose, or if any of the two is the best solution for me, and I'm not completely sure which one would be the better of the two for my usage scenario.

All I need is a program, that either once or twice a day (or in realtime) copies freshly added files from the source drive to a backup drive, or removes recently deleted files on the source drive, from the backup drive.

The source drive and the backup drives both consist of two partitions of the same sizes. I need both partitions to be backed up to their equaly sized counterparts on the backup drive.

I don't need all kinds of fancy features other than what I mentioned above. At least I don't think I need anything else, but there may be features which I would like, but I'm not aware actually exists.

Sorry for the long post, thanks a lot in advance for any replies.

 

[Lutfij]

Macrium also make one that's known as Reflect. EaseUS's app is free to use but the latter will need to be purchased. Not sure if freeware options are what you're looking for.

 

[schmuckley]

Acronis. There are other methods..
Clonezilla will copy anything exactly, then there's Norton Ghost.

Acronis is free if you have a WD drive.
Clonezilla and Norton Ghost are free, too.
Norton Ghost is on Hiren's Boot CD version 10.5 or older.

 

[USAFRet]

Do you want a sync, or do you want a backup?
Two different things.

------------------
All I need is a program, that either once or twice a day (or in realtime) copies freshly added files from the source drive to a backup drive, or removes recently deleted files on the source drive, from the backup drive.
-------------------

That points to a sync.

For that, FreeFileSync or SyncBackFree will do it.
I've used both in the past.
But have moved on to a real backup solution with Macrium Reflect.

 

[USAFRet]

Acronis. There are other methods..
Clonezilla will copy anything exactly, then there's Norton Ghost.

Acronis is free if you have a WD drive.
Clonezilla and Norton Ghost are free, too.

CloneZilla, as the name implies, is for an actual clone. Not a backup or sync.

 

[MadsModsat]

Do you want a sync, or do you want a backup?
Two different things.

------------------
All I need is a program, that either once or twice a day (or in realtime) copies freshly added files from the source drive to a backup drive, or removes recently deleted files on the source drive, from the backup drive.
-------------------

That points to a sync.

For that, FreeFileSync or SyncBackFree will do it.
I've used both in the past.
But have moved on to a real backup solution with Macrium Reflect.

Yeah, I apologize, I'm confusing the different terms. English isn't my first language, so I sometimes use the wrong expressions.

What I meant was more like mirroring the two drives - or synchronizing them. I have a source drive I use on a daily basis - every now and again I need the source drive to be mirrored (or copied / synchronized) to the secondary drive.
Almost like cloning, except I don't need to clone the complete drive, just need files to be updated periodically to keep the drives exactly the same -ie adding new files to the secondary drive if I copy files to the source drives, and removing files from the secondary drive if I remove them on the source drive.

In a way, I could have run a RAID1 setup, but I don't think that is neither the best solution nor neccessary.

Until now, I just go to the root of one drive, copy all and paste it to the other drive, opting not to replace the duplicates. But there has to be a better way.

The idea is, to still have a completely updated drive, if one of the two drives dies. That was what I was incorrectly calling a backup.
The data is quite important, and I also have most of it on an external drive. But I prefer using internal drives on a daily basis, because I among other things want to avoid of the small "sytem hangs" (I don't know the correct word) you get when you use file explorer, when having external drives connected via USB permanently - when they "wake up".

I will continue to store the same data on an external drive, but that will be updated less regularly.

Funny you should mention FreeFile Sync, I came across it a little while ago, and I was just about to install it.
It seems to provide exactly the functions I need. I hadn't heard of it before.
I will gladly pay money for a program which offers better reliability or maybe some support options, if that's something to be considered, but I will begin by trying out FreeFile Sync.

But I don't know if it is even neccessary to pay for a complex program. It is actually a very basic operation I need, only the synchronization of files between 2 internal drives.

I was also looking at Acronis, as suggested by schmuckley, and it looks great - but maybe it is actually overkill for my needs. Not that's neccessarily a bad thing.

I actually have a lot of WD drives, but I removed 3 of them when I swapped them for the 6TB drive(s), and now I don't have any of them installed in my current setup.

I have seen Macrium mentioned a few times on this forum, I'll have a look at that as well - thanks Lutfij

Thanks again for your replies, they are much appreciated.

 

[USAFRet]

Those 2 applications will, I think, do exactly what you're looking for.

But again, look to having an actual backup situation. I use Macrium Reflect for this.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[MadsModsat]

I tried FreeFile Sync, and it must say it's excellent - simple, and it does what I was hoping for. I think I'll use it for a little while, and if I keep enjoying the program, I'll probably donate - I like open source software, and if it is good, I don't mind putting some money to a good cause.

I think it is out of an old (bad) habbit, that I use this kind of "backup", or synchronizing of drives. I worked for a small IT company back in early 2000, and we had a room full of computers synchronizing everything every 15 minutes. So if something went wrong, I just went to the next room, pulled out a hot swappable drive, mounted it in my work desktop PC (which was also setup for hot swapping drives) and carried on as if nothing had happened. Not that it happened often, but it came in very handy for example, when a new emplyee somehow managed to delete three months worth of work.
There's no need to restore any data from a backup, you just swap the drives and on you go.

It was back when it became popular to digitalize (is that a word even?) paper documents and make them available on private servers - either for Hospitals or for the municipal offices and documents of that kind.
It took up a lot of harddrive space, and a lot of documents were added all the time.
It worked out quite well doing the "backups" that way, so that's what I've done ever since - just manually matching HDD content.


But I should probably look into a more modern backup plan, I'lll definately check out the link you provided, I'm very interested in other, and maybe more efficient / safe, ways of backing up valuable data.

Thanks again for your time and help

 

[USAFRet]

Once set up, my Macrium routine is all hands off. Runs every night, on schedule.
Each system gets a folder, each drive in that system gets a subfolder.
Nightly Incremental or Differential, as that particular system needs.

I had to use that a year ago. An SSD died suddenly.
960GB Sandisk, 605GB on it. Secondary drive.
Slot in a new drive, click click...all 605GB recovered exactly as it was at 4AM that morning when it ran its nightly Incremental.
No worries about "Oh, I forgot to tell it about this new folder".
Entire drive.

All it takes is relevant drive space somewhere. NAS box or external drives.

 

[MadsModsat]

That does sound like the ideal way to do it, I must admit. Sometimes old habbits die hard, but it would be a shame if I was going to miss out on a more optimzed and streamlined backup solution, just because an old solution works - but maybe not incredibly well.

I haven't kept up to date at all, since it was never really that important, and I can see there's a lot to learn. But at least you have pointed me in the right direction, and I'll definately learn as much as I can from this, and I'll make sure to look into Macrium, it sounds like very good solution.

 

[USAFRet]

By just considering your backup solution, you are WAY ahead of the pack of most people.

For most, they don't think about it until 5 minutes after they need it.
Then, it is like going to the store to buy a fire extinguisher, when the kitchen is already on fire.

 

[MadsModsat]

That is exactly what finally dawned on me the other day. At one point, my most important data didn't take up a lot of room, and I just copied to different locations where I happened to have free space, so I always had two copies of every bit of data.

But through the years, the amount of important data I have acumulated requires a dedicated backup solution of some kind, I've finally come to realize.

Actually, I also just received a Noctua NH-D15 Chromax.Black today, since I'm considering to ditch the AiO and replace it with an air cooler. There's a big difference between the worst possible outcome when an AiO fails and an aircooler.

Although I've had several AiO's and never run into a problem, I'm beginning to lean towards air cooling again - you never know what can happen
So one of the upcomming days, I'll switch to the NH-D15, it should perform similarly to my Kraken x62 according to reviews, so if the temps are good, I'll ditch the Kraken x62.
I had an NH-D14 when they were just released, and that was an excellent cooler, and now they are not even beige anymore 😛