What is a good free backup software that doesn't package files

[taltamir]

I am looking for a free backup solution that does not package the files.
I want it to scan the the origin folder, scan the destination folder, and modify the destination folder to be identical to the target via deleting obsolete files/folders and copying new/modified files. If it can use something like rsync to copy only parts of a file that need changing, even better; but it isn't necessary as long as it doesn't fully recopy everything every time and can at least copy only modified files.

So far I just can't manage to find anything like that for windows that is free. plenty of for pay programs, and plenty of free backup solutions which store the files in a mess of compressed files (and bug me about encrypting even though I am storing it locally in my home)

I have secondcopy and it works perfectly. But it costs money and that means that if I want to setup a backup solution for friends and family I have to get them to buy it as well. I also would ideally want it to be open source but if need be I will use freeware.

 

[General Kenobi]

I'd recommend the open-source DirSync Pro. It's Java based and runs on Windows, as well as any other operating system that can run Java. I use it myself, and I can vouch for its effectiveness. Just remember to read the manual, as some options are a bit ambiguous.

 

[taltamir]

Thank you, it looks exactly like what I was looking for.
I am testing it right now.

 

[General Kenobi]

No problem. Let me know how it turns out.

 

[Maximilian]

Awesome timing on this thread! I just tried windows backup and it didnt do what i wanted, dirsync is exactly what im looking for :thumbsup:

 

[WildHorse]

Another freebie is to open a command prompt and type:

xcopy a: b: /s /e /h

substitute your source drive for the a: above, and your destination drive for the b:

for more info

 

[Fayd]

I am looking for a free backup solution that does not package the files.
I want it to scan the the origin folder, scan the destination folder, and modify the destination folder to be identical to the target via deleting obsolete files/folders and copying new/modified files. If it can use something like rsync to copy only parts of a file that need changing, even better; but it isn't necessary as long as it doesn't fully recopy everything every time and can at least copy only modified files.

So far I just can't manage to find anything like that for windows that is free. plenty of for pay programs, and plenty of free backup solutions which store the files in a mess of compressed files (and bug me about encrypting even though I am storing it locally in my home)

I have secondcopy and it works perfectly. But it costs money and that means that if I want to setup a backup solution for friends and family I have to get them to buy it as well. I also would ideally want it to be open source but if need be I will use freeware.

robocopy /mir does exactly what you want. it's free, already packaged within windows (vista and later. xp requires you download the 2003 resource tool kit)

 

[MtnMan]

Synctoy

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15155

 

[taltamir]

No problem. Let me know how it turns out.

alright. for some odd reason it insisted that the files I had backed up using second copy were different and recopied them, and 10 files out of 40k couldn't be overwritten (so I deleted them manually). but one it got going this was resolved.

I had to make a shortcut in the start menu for it to run and add /scheduler to it for it to actually perform scheduled tasks (off when program runs by default for some odd reason, requires you to click a button)

Biggest issue right now is that I can't make it start minimized to tray, I have to manually minimize it every time. But it is workable. I also submitted appropriate bug reports and suggestions.

So I got one alternative. If there is a better one out there that is FOSS I would like to see it. Or maybe they will address those issues I raised and I would stick with it.

Another freebie is to open a command prompt and type:

xcopy a: b: /s /e /h

substitute your source drive for the a: above, and your destination drive for the b:

for more info

no it isn't.
1. No scheduler.
2. No GUI
3. It does not delete obsolete files and directories.
4. It does not incremental.

robocopy /mir does exactly what you want. it's free, already packaged within windows (vista and later. xp requires you download the 2003 resource tool kit)

Slightly superior solution to xcopy, this one only suffers from lack of scheduler and a GUI as it is capable of deleting incremental copy and deletion of obsolete files from target. Both are not an acceptable solution.

 

[Emulex]

you do realize win7 can run in a .vhd and vhd's are just containers like zip files - iirc win7 ultimate or enterprise just backed up into something along that type of container (not much compression either). mounting a vhd shouldn't be that hard by powershell

 

[taltamir]

you do realize win7 can run in a .vhd and vhd's are just containers like zip files - iirc win7 ultimate or enterprise just backed up into something along that type of container (not much compression either). mounting a vhd shouldn't be that hard by powershell

I don't want a container. I want un-containered files. This way I can browse the backup easily and selectively copy out individual files from it without having to resort to a "restore" operation from specialized software or manually trying to locate which of the hundreds of ambiguously named zip files contains the files I need to actually restore. And so can your average computer user. I already own a copy of "SecondCopy 8" which does everything I want but I have friends and family who don't want to pay for it and as such have no backup at all.

By backing up the entire "Users" directory as well as "AppData" and "ProgramData" I am assured of new configurations and data being backed up as it is added without the user needing to configure it. I set it once and when they explode their computer I can selectively copy back things to their new install / drive. It is a little slower on first backup and not as space conserving. But space is plentiful and it is much faster on restore.

For my own use it lets me have a simple configuration that doesn't require babying and adds new content automatically. And I get to learn exactly where each program keeps its important bits and selective restore only the stuff I want on a fresh windows install.

Synctoy

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15155

This might work, I will check it later.

 

[abaez]

I use Syncback. The free version is good enough for my purposes.

 

[Lifted]

Slightly superior solution to xcopy, this one only suffers from lack of scheduler and a GUI as it is capable of deleting incremental copy and deletion of obsolete files from target. Both are not an acceptable solution.

As far as a lack of scheduler, it would be silly for tools which come bundled with the OS to include their own task scheduler instead of using the excellent one already included. All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Task Scheduler.

It's basically rsync for Windows.

Most Windows apps that make use of scheduling will create a scheduled task using task scheduler. Otherwise you'd be dependent upon some third party service, or app running at start-up, duplicating only the most basic functions of task scheduler (which is likely already running as service on your computer anyway).

 

[General Kenobi]

alright. for some odd reason it insisted that the files I had backed up using second copy were different and recopied them, and 10 files out of 40k couldn't be overwritten (so I deleted them manually). but one it got going this was resolved.

I had to make a shortcut in the start menu for it to run and add /scheduler to it for it to actually perform scheduled tasks (off when program runs by default for some odd reason, requires you to click a button)

Biggest issue right now is that I can't make it start minimized to tray, I have to manually minimize it every time. But it is workable. I also submitted appropriate bug reports and suggestions.

So I got one alternative. If there is a better one out there that is FOSS I would like to see it. Or maybe they will address those issues I raised and I would stick with it.

Ok, that first issue I've never encountered, but then again, my previous backup prior to using DirSync Pro was actually done manually, when I was still undecided about which software I wanted to use.

I definitely agree with you regarding the scheduler/minimized start issues, and I think that's something the developer really needs to work on. Apparently there's an update in works to utilize Java 7 capabilities, so I'm hoping that we'll see some changes to these other functions as well.

Personally I went through a few other programs, but even with the current condition of DirSync Pro, I prefer it to the other free options. If you'd like to do some more research on your own, these two Wikipedia articles are something I found useful:

List of backup software
Comparison of file synchronization software

 

[taltamir]

As far as a lack of scheduler, it would be silly for tools which come bundled with the OS to include their own task scheduler instead of using the excellent one already included. All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Task Scheduler.

They lack direct interaction with task scheduler though. You can manually set up a batch file or a windows script file to run them based on a task in task scheduler. But it is honestly too much of a pain.

It's basically rsync for Windows.

Pretty much.

Most Windows apps that make use of scheduling will create a scheduled task using task scheduler.

Which is exactly what I want in a program. It is indeed best if they use the OS built in scheduler, they just need to hook with it and use a GUI.

I definitely agree with you regarding the scheduler/minimized start issues, and I think that's something the developer really needs to work on. Apparently there's an update in works to utilize Java 7 capabilities, so I'm hoping that we'll see some changes to these other functions as well.

Both are easily doable in java 6. I have java 6 programs that do it. It is just a matter of the author setting proper defaults and allowing/adding the capability.

List of backup software
Comparison of file synchronization software

I checked that but all the programs I got ended up forcing me to store the data in compressed archives, hence my question.

 

[General Kenobi]

Both are easily doable in java 6. I have java 6 programs that do it. It is just a matter of the author setting proper defaults and allowing/adding the capability.

I'm aware. I just meant that the developer isn't likely to release any other updates before the Java 7 update, so I was hoping that any fixes/additions would become available with that update of DirSync as well.

 

[Lifted]

You can manually set up a batch file or a windows script file to run them based on a task in task scheduler. But it is honestly too much of a pain.

1. Open Notepad
2. robocopy c:\foo d:\foo /mir
3. save as backup_foo.cmd
4. Open Task Scheduler
5. Schedule backup_foo.cmd to run at whatever schedule you like.

I realize you're looking for something "simple" (a GUI can make the above any more simple?) yet you've spent 100x as much time looking for alternate solutions, and posting why you don't want to do the above, as it would have taken to do the above.

 

[Diogenes2]

I don't know if this does all you want, but i came across it recently and it appears robust, considering it's free for private use..

http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

 

[Fayd]

alright. for some odd reason it insisted that the files I had backed up using second copy were different and recopied them, and 10 files out of 40k couldn't be overwritten (so I deleted them manually). but one it got going this was resolved.

I had to make a shortcut in the start menu for it to run and add /scheduler to it for it to actually perform scheduled tasks (off when program runs by default for some odd reason, requires you to click a button)

Biggest issue right now is that I can't make it start minimized to tray, I have to manually minimize it every time. But it is workable. I also submitted appropriate bug reports and suggestions.

So I got one alternative. If there is a better one out there that is FOSS I would like to see it. Or maybe they will address those issues I raised and I would stick with it.



no it isn't.
1. No scheduler.
2. No GUI
3. It does not delete obsolete files and directories.
4. It does not incremental.



Slightly superior solution to xcopy, this one only suffers from lack of scheduler and a GUI as it is capable of deleting incremental copy and deletion of obsolete files from target. Both are not an acceptable solution.

huh? why do you need a GUI? drop the commands into a .bat file, set the bat file to run automatically with windows built in task scheduler.

why have more shit installed on your machine? i wouldn't want a GUI for robocopy, because then i wouldn't be able to use it in batch files.

 

[WildHorse]

huh? why do you need a GUI? drop the commands into a .bat file, set the bat file to run automatically with windows built in task scheduler.

why have more shit installed on your machine? i wouldn't want a GUI for robocopy, because then i wouldn't be able to use it in batch files.

I agree with Fayd.

However, here's one I read about (haven't used) that claims it's better than Robocopy:

RichCopy

 

[Mouse_bite]

I have been using Bart for a month.
http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/bart/
It is a very simple one way sync deal. It does incremental backup. It does not have a scheduler, but seems to cut it for my needs.

 

[Gooberlx2]

I agree with Fayd.

However, here's one I read about (haven't used) that claims it's better than Robocopy:

RichCopy

It's threaded, so parallel copy tasks, but otherwise it's essentially the same. But it is command line scriptable, and comes with a nice GUI. I use richcopy all the time.

Since OP mentioned rsync (a command line utility, btw), he could also use a windows implementation of rsync, and/or unison.

 

[JimKiler]

Synctoy

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15155

+1

 

[homercles337]

I use GFI (http://www.gfi.com/)

 

[stevech]

I've used SecondCopy for a long time. Best of all I've tried. Easy to config. All the features, including option to keep last n versions.

Almost free, like $29.
For me, backup is really important so most freeware is to me not trustworthy enough.
http://www.centered.com/download.html