With software like these tools available, there’s no excuse for not backing up.
If you don’t backup your data, there’s a good chance that decision will come back to bite you. A ransomware demand may forever encrypt your precious files, your laptop could get lost or stolen, or your hard disk could fail – all do at some point.
For these reasons, backing up should be a high priority, but you need to do it right – particularly for business systems. We’ve previously published a guide to a building a malware-proof backup strategy, and it stands to reason that you shouldn’t scrimp on backup software to ensure you implement the best strategy for you.
We’ll be covering the best commercial backup software soon, but that said, there are some free backup tools that do a good job with individual or small-scale backups. Here are five of the better options.
Comodo Backup
Comodo Backup can be configured to automatically backup data from individual files to an entire drive. It can even backup individual email accounts and browser data.
It supports full backup, differential backup, incremental backup, as well as synchronised backup. Backups can be saved to a local drive, optical media like a CD/DVD/BD disc, network folder, external drive, FTP server, or sent to someone over email. Backups can be saved using the popular ZIP or ISO format as well as Comodo’s CBU proprietary format.
EaseUS Todo Backup Free
EaseUS Todo Backup Free offers step-by-step instructions to quickly backup and recover files and folders. It can back up everything from entire systems down to individual files. To save space, users can specify backing up only changes made since last back up. There is also a scheduler so backups can be timed to suit.
Data can be backed up to CD/DVD, local hard drive, external drive, iSCSI device or any network target.
Genie9 Timeline
Genie9 Timeline is an easy-to-install backup tool that only needs two steps to configure your backups. It also features an automatic purge function to save space. It has a protection level to indicate the health of any backups made.
It can backup documents, pictures, music, videos and more in addition to backing up new and modified files and detect changes. What's more, it also keeps versions to recover older or deleted files.
Google Backup and Sync
While not a normal backup application, Google Backup and Sync enables users to keep a copy of essential files and folders, depending on how much online storage you have with your Google account.
You can choose which folders and files you wish to backup, and the software does the rest. It will monitor and changes to folders and files. It will also sync data between different computers and files can be accessed via a web app.
Paragon Backup and Recovery 16 Free
Paragon Backup and Recovery 16 Free makes the job of copying your data a cinch. The wizard-based interface allows users to backup up entire systems, partitions, folders and files, down to location and file type.
There is also a data management toolset that includes a WinPE recovery medium to help create a rescue system on a USB stick. This enables users to access hard drives, even if Windows doesn’t boot.
Do you have a favourite free backup tool? Let us know in the comments below.
This comparison is based on an article that originally appeared at IT Pro.
