What is your Backup Software of preference?
I want to automate backups for my Windows 10 rig including several folders and Outlook E-Mails.
Should I just write a bashscript for WSL and use smth like rsync to do this, or is there any Backup Software you can recommend that makes things easier to manage? Some of the bigger names out there seem to be Aomei, Acronis, Easeus and Ashampoo. Most come with a standard version which often seems quite limited. Then again it's BF, so may pick smth up if it's good. FOSS tools are welcome, too 
What do you use for backups that would work on a Windows 10 rig?
Comments
In the past I have used the free Veeam product https://www.veeam.com/virtual-machine-backup-solution-free.html - but I had some issues backing up my Windows desktop to a NFS share on local network. I didn't have energy to debug it.
After that I have installed a trial version of Macrium Reflect then upgraded to a paid version and had no issues on backing up the same machine on the same NFS share.
Both of the mentioned software makes a full disk image and then some incremental backups - Macrium has more advanced options and you can configure how to take backups.
Hope it helps.
Disk imaging and backup are different.
On Windows I've used duplicati to backup directories.
https://github.com/duplicati/duplicati
I use duplicati on all the desktops we have here at the office.
You can try rclone, it worked pretty great with b2 for me. You need to create a scheduled task for this if you want to do this periodically, manage your filtering rules: https://rclone.org/filtering/ etc.
I have also tried syncbackpro for non-tech user, it worked great too with periodic backups/sync triggers.
Thanks, will have a look!
The name "Veeam" rings a bell.
Can Duplicati automatically take Outlook Backups, too? Some of the Backup Software I mentioned, seems to be able to Backup Outlook out of the box, too.
Will have a look, thanks! Also a good idea
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Have you tried Macrium?
For data - Backblaze offer backup options.
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Is it portable? Do I need administrator right to install it?
https://microlxc.net/
Will look into Macrium, thanks!
Backblaze seems nice, but it seems that would yet be another recurring fee for Backups in the cloud. I already have Koofr and other Cloud Storage, so I am really just looking to backup stuff to an external drive and then to the cloud storage I have.
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I use iDrive for real-time and cloud backup on Mac and Windows and AOMEI for local backups and imaging on Windows.
I've been happy with both solutions and AOMEI has already saved my bacon a couple of times. It was also very handy when I upgraded my laptop HDD to SSD.
AOMEI is currently running a BF offer for $20 on StackSocial (using code APPS30) and they often run offers on their website. It's a lifetime license valid for 2 devices.
https://stacksocial.com/sales/lifetime-of-aomei-backupper-professional
Yes it is. Have used the portable version available as a zip on GitHub releases. The portable version doesn't require administrator rights as I can remember.
Totally forgot they were on Stacksocial! Thanks
I just grabbed this deal now. For two PCs that's good enough for me!
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Looks good. Right now I'm using Free File Sync (open source) https://freefilesync.org/
https://microlxc.net/
That's great. They've been adding new features with every new version. I used the free version for a long time until I decided buying a license just to support them. The free version covers most of the basic backup needs.
Yeah, I used the free version in the past and remembered that I was very happy with them.
That made it easier for me to just pull the trigger now
Props to them for offering such a good free version, though. They even include Technical Support in the free version which others often won't do.
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For those using AOMEI Backupper: it seems that it doesn't have a "native" support for cloud drives (need the cloud drive software to be installed as well). How's your experience with using it for cloud drives? Does it play well when using encryption for backups?
@beagle
@Ympker
I just bought it and haven't used it in a while, so I can't really comment on this. With Koofr you can sync specific directories that are mapped to your PC. I assume, if you make it the Aomei Backup Path, your Aomei Backups would get synced to Koofr Cloud.
You would need Koofr software, though. Although, you might also be able to use rclone, since Koofr supports that.
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Macrium works if you want to make an image. So all the fine-tuned stuff you used gets back to how it was.
As years go buy, I prefer to tune as little as possible and be able to run a fresh install when needed ASAP, to creating images, updating them...
I.e. Macrium is not as practical for data/file backup as it is for backing up your "C partition" if you know what I mean.
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Gotcha. I also agree that I prefer to backing up the few important folders/files to the cloud/external drives/NAS as needed and for the rest of the system just to be able to run a fresh install without much worries. Makes things a lot easier
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At the moment I don't know of any that I don't hate. I mostly just use rsync and have vague thoughts about writing something myself, but don't have a really clear idea of what I'd want it to do.
I wish there were better backup hardware (tape drives) available and affordable.
I run time machine for local backups on my Macs and Arq (https://www.arqbackup.com/) for remote encrypted backups. Arq has a Windows client now.
They discount it ~50% every so often, I think I got mine on sale during world backup day but they might have a black friday offer as well.
🦍🍌
Indeed, according to their documentation you need the cloud desktop client installed: https://www.ubackup.com/help/how-to-backup-to-nas.html#toc.0.3449390086479136
Their newest version has an icon to Cloud Backup, but it seems it's a separate product:
https://www.cbackup.com/partners/aomei-backupper-users.html
My current setup:
a. Macbook Pro - 500 GB Disk - full backup to Seagate 1.5 TB (external HDD) + pCloud (Mac APP) + Inception Phoenix (rclone)
b. Wife's Laptop: - Till last week: on 250 GB Drive: full backup to Koofr (Windows App)
--> will move to pCloud because Koofe plan has 250 GB (using pCloud Windows App)
Full backup to local on external HDD
Never used cloning program till recently, when...
Macrium (actually Macrium licensed by Hynix)* came to my rescue recently. Wife’s Dell got an upgrade by yours truly - stock 256 GB SATA M.2 to a TB of NVMe.
She wanted an exact replica of her Windows disk and she got just that. Plus extra speed and space.
c. Audio editing station (New Setup) - 250 GB + 480 GB, both M2 Sata
Full Backup to Hosthatch 2 TB, 2x a week, rclone
d. Phones (Images + Videos+ Contact) -- iDrive App (Android, iOs) + transfer to Mac every 2 months, sorted and backup up as (a) above.
If all else fails there’s always rm -rf
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Tips below
*If you have / buy a NVMe or Sata SSD, almost every major player offers some form of cloning/backup software. No need to buy one. Provided atleast one of the drives is from that vendor.
e.g the Hynix licensed version of Macroum: the “clone from” disk was Hynix, “clone to “ was Seagate. The latter offers a similar software- possibly white labelled Acronis.
I have a few other USB drives lying around- they will all get used up in the Audio rig (refurbished Lenovo Thinkcentre M900 i5/6th Gen)
Used to have Zoolz for backup of Mac. Till they shafted the Long term users. Got rid of them completely.
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blog | exploring visually |
Literally set up a new storage box at BuyVM last week (1TB) for this purpose.
Ended up using rest-server at BuyVM: https://github.com/restic/rest-server
Really easy setup.
Once done, I installed the following (Windows only script): https://github.com/kmwoley/restic-windows-backup
Should work even better on Mac, but haven't had time to try it yet.
I use Restic for all my Linux servers for backup, super fast and easy setup and you can easily restore files.
restic → b2, scaleway. (there's Kopia; maturing quite fast)
Vorta (borg) → rsync.net, borgbase.com.
Tarnsap → Tarsnap (aws) - just a ~2GB set (costlier than other sinks)
Synching → external hard disk, a pen drive, and phone storage. (mirrors rather; not backups; this setup needs improvement)
This is on Mac but these are all essentially cross platform tools (this was another draw for me).
All tools are FOSS except Tarsnap which is OSS but not FOSS. restic and borg has magical de-dup when it can do it.
(My backup set isn't small, it's tiny from 2021 standards. I don't backup everything. So it doesn't cost me much. Might not work for folks with a huge backup set. But this does give you full control on your data, backup, and backup/retention/etc rules)
I use Borgbackup on all my servers.
On my Windows PCs, all the important stuff is in either Seafile or Dropbox, or is just open-source on my GitHub, so I don't actually have any backup software on the Windows PC. I've been meaning to look into it. I've used duplicity on Windows Server before and it worked well, but I haven't tried it on Windows 10, and I don't think its algorithms are as good as Borgbackup (I think it's just incremental backup, rather than blocks that are deduplicated).
Note that the "F" in "FOSS" refers to "freedom", not "free of charge". That is, you're free to modify and/or distribute the software. Software can cost money and still be FOSS.
In any case, Tarsnap is not open-source; it's just source-visible. https://www.tarsnap.com/open-source.html
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Has any of you used Cloudberry Backup? I remember that it was the gold standard before for pushing desktop backups into Amazon S3 before. I wonder if they are still good now?
All my important files on laptop or phones are in either Seafile or Dropbox sync'ed folders.
Seafile server has daily rclone backup to storage server.
Photos and push-up videos are in an HDD attached to home router.
It also has daily rclone backup to storage server.
HostBrr aff best VPS; VirmAche aff worst VPS.
Unable to push-up due to shoulder injury 😣
https://duplicacy.com/
Restic
I'm sorry, but I'm quite confused: which one is the better one -- Duplicati, Duplicacy, or Duplicity?