File backup software. Free backup and file synchronization program Exiland Backup Free

Recently, my friend asked me to explain to her how to backup data. She's a humanitarian, so she wanted options that didn't require any customization. Since she is not a stupid person who likes to understand the problem herself and make decisions, I decided to collect the basic principles for her and describe the pros and cons of certain options (as I see them). I decided to publish it here in case some of you find it useful - to help a friend or relative. I would be very glad to receive comments on how the text could be made simpler and clearer.

Basic principles

1. Regularity and frequency

Data backup should be as regular as taking pills. It is for this discipline that you can thank yourself if some kind of collapse suddenly occurs. Sometimes losing even just a few working days due to a failure to backup can be very painful. It’s possible to answer the question of how often you can make backups by understanding the data for what period of time would be least painful for you to lose. One of the best options is to backup data once a week on weekends.

Separateness

It is advisable that the data be saved to a separate external hard drive (or other storage medium) and stored in a separate place from the main data. The principle is quite obvious - if a problem occurs, it will be localized in one place. For example, if the hard drive on your computer fails, the backup disk will function perfectly. However, there is a balance to be struck between ease of access and security. Having a hard drive next to your computer significantly increases your motivation to use it for its intended purpose. And at the same time, this is not the safest option for very important data that should not be lost under any circumstances. This is why there is a distinction between data backup and data archiving.

Double check

As soon as the first backup copy of your data is made, you must immediately check that this data can be restored from it! This means not only that the files become visible. You need to open several files to choose from and check that they are not corrupted. It is advisable to repeat such a check once every certain period (say, once a year).

Discrimination

The best practice is to differentiate data into categories. The category could be their importance to you, the frequency of updates, or simply the topic.

Often backup programs create so-called “images”. They look like one single file. So, it is better to save various data in each such image.

What is it for. Data of different importance requires different handling, this is obvious. You will probably want to store your important documents more carefully than, say, a collection of films. By dividing the data by update frequency, you can, for example, save time spent on backups. Topic - what data is desirable to recover together in one step? A striking example of two types of backups that should be done separately:

Data backup

These are Word documents, photographs, films, etc. The same applies but is often forgotten - bookmarks in the browser, letters in the mailbox, address book, calendar with meetings, configuration file of the banking application, etc.

System backup

We are talking about the operating system with all its settings. Such a backup eliminates the need to reinstall the operating system, make all the settings, and install programs. However, this is not the most necessary type of backup.

Where to make a backup

1. External hard drive. You can often buy it straight out of the box. There are laptop ones - such disks are small in size, but more expensive. Regular hard drives can be purchased relatively cheaply with a capacity of 2 TB - then you won’t have to worry about disk space for a long time.

Fairly reliable (as long as you don't drop or shake excessively)
+ Relatively inexpensive

You must remember to connect the backup disk yourself.
-Not very convenient to carry (does not apply to laptop drives)

2. USB stick - suitable as an additional tool when you would like to transfer data from one computer to another and/or have it at hand. Also, if you don’t want to store the data itself on your computer.
There is one big but - a flash drive has a limited number of records, so if you store data from an application on it that will write intensively, then the flash drive (usb stick) will quickly die out. In addition, in my personal impression, they break quite often. A friend of mine, buying the most expensive flash drives, which were positioned as “unbreakable”, received a broken flash drive within a month or two. To be fair, I must say that I still haven’t had a single flash drive break; some have been working for 5 years already. However, I wouldn’t store data on a USB stick alone.

Mobile storage
+Takes up little space
+Very cheap

Unpredictable reliability

3. Data storage on a remote server (or in the cloud).

There are pros and cons:

The data will be available not only at home, but also at work and while traveling.
+Local separation of main data and backup copies (for example, if, God forbid, a fire happens, the data survives)
+There is no need to connect a hard drive for backup; as a rule, everything is done completely automatically.

It is advisable to encrypt the data, since it is unknown who can access it
-A large amount of traffic is wasted (if it is limited, problems arise)
-Often you can only store data up to 2 GB for free. So, such a backup is an additional expense item

A list with a good description of services can be found

How to make a backup

Here is a list of applications that are worth paying attention to (in my opinion) when backing up to your hard drive.

Popular among the free ones

1. Genie Backup Manager is a very convenient program, but it is a little slow when working
2. Handy Backup - simple interface, works quickly.

Additionally

Often in the settings of backup programs there is an option to make an incremental or differential backup. The practical difference is quite simple. With differential backup, you can save on the space it takes up. But there are only two recovery options: data in the state when a full backup was made + data at the time when a differential backup was made.

Incremental backup allows you to roll back to any point in the past when the backup was made. However, especially if changes in data occur frequently, the space will be consumed quickly.

It would seem that there is nothing difficult in creating a backup copy, but many users often forget how important it is to take care of the safety of their data in a timely manner. After all, you may lose important files due to a technical failure, theft, or infection of your computer with a virus.

But where to start? Of course, you can always manually copy important files to a free drive. However, to simplify the process, it would still be more logical to turn to professional programs that will help you create a backup copy with minimal expenditure of your time and effort.

In addition, creating backup copies is extremely necessary for small business owners if it involves the collection of personal information about clients. Thus, in accordance with the recently introduced General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union, any company that gains access to users’ personal data is obliged to protect this information. Personal data includes the user's name, email and residential address, as well as IP address.

In the settings of the backup program, you can always choose how often and which files from which folders need to be copied. In addition, you can also select files that will require the maximum level of protection. When choosing such a program, you need to pay special attention to how protected your data will be and how easily you can access it in the event of a critical situation.

This list will help you get acquainted with the most common, easy-to-use and, importantly, free programs for creating backup copies.

EaseUS Todo Backup Free

This program represents a perfectly balanced balance between automatic protection and manual control:

Various types of backup

No difficulty in setting up

Automatic smart backup system

With EaseUS Todo Backup Free, you can back up individual files, folders, and drivers. It is also possible to create a backup copy of the entire system. In addition, the program offers a “smart” feature: it remembers which folders you most often copy files from. However, you can also save the created copies in cloud storage.

The program allows you to choose from several backup modes: full, incremental, differential backup and scheduled backup.

Some functions are available only in the premium version, however, the free version of EasusUS Todo Backup provides a sufficient number of options for comfortable work.

The free version of EaseUS Todo Backup provides access to almost all the features found in the paid version. For example, you can set up scheduled backups. However, in the free version you won't be able to perform trigger event backups, which is definitely not a necessity for most users. You also won't be able to access command line copying, Outlook mail backup and recovery, or computer-to-computer transfers. In fact, these features may be useful, but they are certainly not critical for most people.

During installation, you will be prompted by default to install the Chrome browser and Bing search engine, so if you do not need this, then simply uncheck the appropriate boxes before clicking “Next”.

Everyone solves the problem of backing up data in their own way: some use an external HDD drive for this, others copy everything important to CDs and DVDs, some prefer to have an “extra” internal hard drive, where they dump files and folders from time to time. But, by and large, the problem of backup is not where to create a copy of important data, but rather remembering to do it. Every person who works at a computer has important files that are often changed and supplemented. These can be Excel tables, Word documents, files that store settings for various programs - from the disk cataloger database to user browser profiles. Such files have much greater value than films, videos, music and other data that are downloaded from the Internet by the gigabyte and recorded on backup media. Burning a once downloaded movie to disk is a simple matter. But daily creation of copies of constantly changing work files is quite a troublesome task, and few people are so organized that they constantly remember the need for backup and make it. In today's review, we will look at programs that eliminate the need to remember to constantly save a copy of important data. Moreover, we will focus only on those of them that have free status.

Developer: Desktop Software
Distribution size: 10 MB
Distribution: free
File Backup Watcher Free is a simplified version of a commercial utility produced by the same company. There are few features in the free version, but for some they may be quite enough. The program interface is represented by three tabs, from which you can draw a conclusion about its main functions - “Backup”, “CD/DVD recorder” and ZIP. So, in addition to backing up data, the program is capable of recording to optical media and working with ZIP archives. However, all three main functions exist separately. In other words, you cannot configure the program to automatically compress copies of files and write them to disk.

In order for the program to perform backups, you need to create a profile. The step-by-step wizard will not let you get confused in the settings - first select the profile name, then indicate the folder from which you want to copy files. In this case, you can specify whether nested directories should be taken into account. After this, select the folder in which the backups will be stored. File Backup Watcher Free does not provide the ability to backup to a CD/DVD or to a network drive, so such a folder can only be located on one of the local drives. The USB drive connected to the computer is also not in the list of devices. The last step of the wizard is to configure the task scheduler. In order to see its settings, you need to select the automatic copying method. The planner is made very conveniently: each month, day of the week, day, hour and minute has its own button. By pressing the necessary buttons, you can specify the time at which files will be copied.

After the profile is created, its name is displayed on the first tab of the program. Even if the automatic copying method is selected for the profile, the task can be started manually using the button on the program toolbar or the F5 key. For more convenient management of profiles, the program provides the ability to organize them into folders. However, you cannot launch all profiles by clicking on the folder name - to do this you will have to open the folder and select all the profile names. If you have created tasks that File Backup Watcher Free should run on a schedule, the program can be placed in the tray, and it will silently run in the specified mode. When a program is active, its icon is grey-green. If you need to postpone completing tasks for a while, you can simply click on the icon and select the “Pause” command in the menu. The icon will turn gray and red and operation will be suspended. When performing a backup, File Backup Watcher Free places a copy of the original directory in the specified folder, adding the date and time of copying to its name. When copying again, the program simply creates a new folder with a different name. Thus, the task of deleting old backups falls on the user's shoulders - after a while there may be too many of them. You will have to manually burn saved copies to DVD or archive them. Both tabs - "CD/DVD recorder" and ZIP - have a file manager. On the archiver tab, it is single-panel - by selecting files, they can be zipped or unzipped using buttons on the toolbar or commands in the context menu.

On the disc burning tab, the file manager is presented in two panels - the first displays all the files on the hard drive, the second allows you to create the contents of the disk by dragging files and folders onto it using the mouse. It's important to note that File Backup Watcher Free can not only burn discs, but also create ISO files.

Overall, despite its limited functionality, File Backup Watcher Free is a fairly convenient and simple backup solution. It can be safely recommended to anyone who is used to storing copies of files on a second hard drive. If the main hard drive fails, you will certainly appreciate the program's performance.

Developer: ree-backup.info/back2zip.html
Distribution size: 535 KB
Distribution: free
This program is distinguished by its incredibly fast installation (the entire process takes just a few seconds) and its lively nature. Immediately after installation, Back2zip automatically creates a new backup job, assuming that you store your most important files in the My Documents folder. In addition, the program creates a MyBackup folder on drive F (if you don’t have one, it may choose another one) and immediately begins copying the contents of the “My Documents” directory into it. You can guess that Back2zip is actively working by the animation of the tray icon. In short, the first thing you need to do after starting the program is to delete the automatically created task. Back2zip is built on the principle “it couldn’t be simpler.” There are no familiar wizards here - all operations can be performed directly in the main program window. First, by clicking on the Add Folder button, you specify the folder whose contents you want to monitor (it can also be added by simply dragging it from the file manager), then using the Select Folder button, you select the folder in which copies will be saved. It can be located not only on a local drive, but also on a network drive. USB storage devices are also supported.

As the program developers rightly note in the documentation, “there is no third step in setting up the program”; after the first two, it is ready to work. Simplicity, however, also has its downside. First, there can only be one folder for saving copies, and if you change it, it changes for all jobs. Secondly, backup cannot be started for only one task - all are executed at once. Back2zip has a task scheduler where you can select the interval for saving copies - from 20 minutes to 6 hours. In addition, you can limit the running time of the program, say, allow it to make copies only at night.

It is worth paying attention to the settings for creating copies. Firstly, Back2zip can archive files in ZIP format, and the user can even choose the compression level.

Secondly, the program is able to save previous copies. In its settings, you can specify the time during which copies of files will be saved - from one day to two weeks. All copies older than the selected period will be automatically deleted. If you wish, you can disable the ability to save earlier copies, and then each time the old files will be replaced with new ones. Despite the fact that all tasks are saved in one folder, you cannot get confused in them. Back2zip works like this: in the directory selected for copying data, it creates a folder that is named exactly the same as the folder that is being copied. A directory is created in it, the name of which consists of the current date, and files are placed in it. If you choose to save previous copies in the settings, there are several folders with dates. In general, the program made a very good impression: the interface is simple and convenient, I was pleased with the possibilities for archiving files and automatically deleting old copies.

Developer: thecopier.narod.ru
Distribution size: 1.5 MB
Distribution: free
The Copier consists of three separate utilities, which can be a little confusing at first. The first of them is responsible for creating backup tasks, the second is for executing them, and the third contains program settings. Each of the three utilities can be launched separately. The first component that you will become familiar with after installing the program is the “Task Editor”. With its help, tasks are compiled, that is, it is indicated what, where and when needs to be copied. The result of working in the "Task Editor" is a database file with a Dat extension, which is saved and then loaded into the main module of The Copier. The Job Editor window includes four tabs. First, you need to select a name for the task, then on the “Archive” tab, add files and folders, copies of which you want to save. One task can contain a whole list of files and folders, and regular expressions can be used. For example, to copy all files in a folder that have the Doc extension, you need to add the line Drive:Folder:*.doc. Exceptions can also be used. This is convenient if there are files of different types in a folder, and you need to copy everything except one or two types. Exceptions are indicated in a special field in *.exe format. If you do not uncheck the "Apply to entire list" checkbox, they will be valid for all folders that are selected for copying.

On the same tab, you need to specify the name of the archive in which copies of files will be saved, and the path to it on disk. The name can be created using a mask. *Y in the name means the year in the format of four digits, *y - the year in the format of the last two digits, *M - month, *D - day, etc. (all available masks and their meanings can be found in the help file). The archive name can include any combination of masks. For example, if a backup is performed on October 11, then the saved archive that uses the *D*M.zip mask will be named 1110.zip. The "Copies" tab is used to select folders to which you want to copy important files. You can select several folders (located on the hard drives of your computer or on the local network) and for each specify the frequency of saving. You can create copies daily or on specified days of the week. If you select Odd/Even, backups will be saved to different folders on odd and even days. On the "Additional copies" tab, you can specify the folders into which previously saved archives should be copied. Thus, we are dealing with double data storage - first the main files are copied to a safe place and placed in an archive, and then a copy is created for this archive. Such copies may be created at the end of each week, month, quarter or year. If desired, the original archive can be automatically deleted. On the Commands tab, you can set different actions to be performed before or after the backup. Teams can be external or internal. Internal ones include copying, moving, renaming and deleting files, and external ones include launching various applications. After completing work on a task, it is saved and then opened in the main module of The Copier. You only need to do this once - then the program remembers the path to the file and opens it automatically. It is worth noting that one data file can contain several tasks, each of which has its own parameters for the archive, folders in which saving is performed, etc. From the main program window, you can start a manual backup, view and print a report.

To change report parameters and make other changes, you need to go to the settings window. It defines the schedule according to which the copying is performed. Here you can select not only the frequency of creating file copies, but also the time of day. The scheduler settings are quite flexible - you can copy on all days except weekends, on selected days of the week or month, once a day when the program starts, etc. Here, in the settings, you can specify the parameters for creating an archive, such as the degree of compression, creating a self-extracting archive, saving empty directories, and encoding file names. If you plan to back up large amounts of data, it makes sense to specify a single volume size. It can be equal, for example, to the size of a CD. Also interesting is the ability to choose the behavior of the program after performing a backup. It can send a report by e-mail, print it, close it, and even turn off the computer.

Among the disadvantages of The Copier, it is worth noting a slightly confusing scheme of work (it would be more logical to organize it within one utility, rather than create several) and the inability to download several data files at the same time. In other words, if you want to create several different backup jobs that need to run constantly, you need to put them in one data file, otherwise you will have to constantly load one DAT file after another into The Copier.

Developer: Comodo Group
Distribution size: 4.5 MB
Distribution: free
This program is so functional that it can compete with many commercial analogues. The user gets the opportunity to create different backup tasks, configure each of them separately, and run them in manual or automatic modes. The window for adding a new task contains a number of tabs on which the backup project is fully configured. There are as many as five data saving modes available.

In addition to simple copying, Comodo BackUp offers file transfer (after which the original files will be unavailable in the old location), copying with subsequent deletion of old copies, transfer with deletion of old copies. In addition, there is an interesting synchronization mode in which the backup copy is created not according to a schedule, but in real time. As soon as the program commits changes to the source file, it immediately creates a copy of it. When using this mode, you do not need to use the scheduler; if you have chosen any other backup method, you will need it. The scheduler is very flexible and allows you to perform backups on specific days of the week, months, and days of the month. The copying start time is also indicated. In addition, it is possible to execute the task periodically, after a specified number of hours, when the program starts or when it is closed. Comodo BackUp can do more than just copy all files from a selected folder. In the project settings, you can specify whether subfolders should be taken into account, and if necessary, specify which subdirectories should be excluded from the task. It is also possible to exclude some files by selecting their type, specifying attributes, minimum or maximum size. You can do the opposite, that is, specify not exceptions, but masks for files that should be copied.

Backup copies of data can be saved not only on local or network drives, but also on a USB drive, FTP server, or recorded on a CD/DVD. When you choose to burn to a CD, the program can set a volume label and erase data that is already written to the disc.

On the Options tab, very important parameters are set that relate to saving copies of files. Comodo BackUp can operate in either full or incremental backup mode. In the first case, each time the job is executed, the data will be copied completely. In the case of an incremental backup, a complete copy of the data is created only the first time, and then only those files that have changed since the previous recording are copied.

When working with different data, it often happens that it is necessary to restore an old copy of a file because important information was accidentally overwritten, deleted or edited in the new one. Therefore, it makes sense to keep several backup copies. Their number is indicated in the Number of Version field. Files can be copied in their original form or packed into a ZIP archive. Comodo BackUp supports choosing the compression level, as well as adding a password to open the file. For convenience, variable data such as date and time can be used in the archive name. The same goes for the name of the folder in which the backups are saved. The execution of Comodo BackUp tasks can be linked to the launch of other applications. For example, you can select an application that should be launched before the backup is performed or immediately after it completes. To ensure that all backup parameters have been entered correctly, you can test the job on the Test tab. If some data is missing, for example, it is not indicated where to save copies, the program will display a corresponding message and you can correct the error.

Conclusion

Among the free backup programs, you can easily choose the one that suits you. Of the apps reviewed, File Backup Watcher Free 2.8 has the fewest backup features, but it does have tools for burning CDs and creating ISO files. Back2zip will be a good solution if you don't have a lot of important files to copy. In this case, the limitations associated with the inability to run jobs separately and select different destination folders will not seem critical. The Copier has a slightly confusing way of working, but it makes it possible to organize backups of large amounts of data. By creating several jobs within one database, you can set your own copy parameters for each of them. The ability to create an additional copy of the data archive is also worthy of attention. Finally, Comodo BackUp can be called a professional backup solution. This program includes the ability to upload copies to an FTP server, burn them to CDs, and select files for backup based on their attributes, size, and type.

Basic principles

1. Regularity and frequency

Separateness

Double check

Discrimination

The best practice is to differentiate data into categories. The category could be their importance to you, the frequency of updates, or simply the topic.

Often backup programs create so-called “images”. They look like one single file. So, it is better to save various data in each such image.

Data backup

System backup

Where to make a backup

Fairly reliable (as long as you don't drop or shake excessively)
+ Relatively inexpensive

You must remember to connect the backup disk yourself.
-Not very convenient to carry (does not apply to laptop drives)

Mobile storage
+Takes up little space
+Very cheap

Unpredictable reliability

3. Data storage on a remote server (or in the cloud).

There are pros and cons:

A list with a good description of services can be found

How to make a backup

Here is a list of applications that are worth paying attention to (in my opinion) when backing up to your hard drive.

Popular among the free ones

1. Genie Backup Manager is a very convenient program, but it is a little slow when working
2. Handy Backup - simple interface, works quickly.

Additionally

Incremental backup allows you to roll back to any point in the past when the backup was made. However, especially if changes in data occur frequently, the space will be consumed quickly.

The main idea of automatic copying programs is that all operations related to copying data and preventing its loss are performed automatically, without requiring the user's attention.

Of course, creating backups manually is not difficult, but if you do it regularly, it becomes more annoying than all the daily household chores. And, since you don’t see the results of your efforts immediately, you don’t have the patience to create a data backup without the appropriate automatic tools.

Handy Backup is a comprehensive tool for automatically copying data on computers running Windows. It makes it easy to produce automatic copy your system, hard drive or even a small corporate network.

The program has compression functions, file encoding, includes an integrated FTP client and an interface for online backup, and much more - and will serve both beginners and advanced users well.

Automatic Copy Technique

Typically, automatic copying consists of five steps:

Retrieving valuable data from your hard drive
Compare selected data with existing copies and identify new and changed files
Compressing files to reduce the amount of disk space and network time required—for example, when backing up to an FTP server.
Copy files to the desired storage medium or server
Recording all operations and sending e-mail notifications about the results, so that the user always knows that the data was copied successfully.

Benefits of Auto Copy

Handy Backup includes all of the above features and supports a wide selection of media to which data is copied, as well as data transfer protocols.

The functions of encryption, storing different versions of the same data set, as well as the operation of a task in a chain of other programs are supported.