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Archive 2015 · Incremental backup

  
 
bvphotos
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Incremental backup


I know it's not a new or unique problem, but I've been very frustrated by an effective way to do automatic back up of my files. The programs I've found either don't meet my requirements or are so unintuitive to use that I give up on them. The requirements are, I hope, very simple:

1. Backup to a NAS or another machine that I specify
2. Do incremental backup (i.e., move only files that are changed after the initial sync)
3. Two way sync would be great (i.e., if I change the file in either location, the other gets updated)
4. Additionally support backing up/syncing to an offsite NAS/machine
5. All this has to happen seamlessly once configured
6. Free or reasonably priced.
7. Should work with Mac, Linux and Windows.

I recently came across BTSync, Bit Torrent's sync product. I haven't fully tested it, but it looks promising. Any other suggestions?



Dec 29, 2015 at 05:08 PM
dgdg
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Incremental backup


StorageCraft Shadow Protect (incremental local backups) with ShadowStream add on (offiste streaming to your own drive over WAN) comes close to your needs.

Comments -
3, does not do #3 AFAIK
6. I find it reasonably priced for what it does, you may find it too expensive.
7. right now I think it is only windows and linux.
It's a wonderful program that is fast and checks md5 sums on your backups to ensure data integrity.
Compared to other backup programs I have used, the technical support is absolutely amazing. Probably the best support for any software I have ever owned.

David



Dec 29, 2015 at 07:23 PM
newhaven
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Incremental backup


I also use StorageCraft ShadowProtect Desktop to backup my system. It's a great product, but I'm not sure if it meets all of your requirements.


Dec 29, 2015 at 08:25 PM
adamx12m
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Incremental backup


1. If you use Windows 10 there is a Mac time machine like feature now available to backup files. I didn't realize this existed but turned off by default. Alot of backup apps that can handle complete disk images or file based backups. Backup is easy, restore is difficult so don't assume. I've tried alot of apps but find Macrium Reflect to be super powerful and flexible for all backups. I use this today backing up to a Synology NAS that does a backup to a secondary Synology NAS.

2. See #1, configure backups on a schedule like every 4 hours if paranoid.

3. I use btsync between three computers, works extremely well. Synology NAS can actually run it as an application. What I'm concerned about on a NAS is the amount of memory it can consume, but otherwise it's solid. Prior to that I was using Allway Sync which can sync both ways.

4. Many NAS's have applications that can backup to Crashplan, Amazon Glacier and others. Most have sync to dropbox, google drive, and onedrive. All comes down to how much backup storage you need.

6. I don't anything really free from what I mentioned, I just know that file loss or hdw failure costs way more time and effort than all of this done right in the first place.

7. Put it all on a NAS




Dec 29, 2015 at 11:31 PM
rdcny
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Incremental backup


a small program called EverySync 3.0 made by Ease US


Dec 30, 2015 at 03:40 AM
15Bit
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Incremental backup


rsync - spend an hour to read some internet howto's and you'll be able to do almost any level of backup.

Remember that incremented backups only offer "full" data protection if you take new copies of files that have changed rather than writing over the old ones. If you don't set it up this way, then accidental deletions, changes and data corruption in the original file-set will propagate through your backups too.



Dec 30, 2015 at 03:51 AM
dgdg
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Incremental backup


A free and easy way to sync windows files over LAN or local windows pc is with windows synctoy.
It's a great little program that syncs and can be scheduled.
There are different options to consider. If one simply mirrors the source drive, it's really not a back up but improves availability, just like Raid 1.



Dec 30, 2015 at 08:48 AM
diverhank
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Incremental backup


For Windows, I use the built-in DOS-based Robocopy command to accomplish this. No need to download software. In Windows, you only need to write a little *.bat file using a text editor - see example below. The command gives you many options such as mirroring (synchronize) or just incrementally add the changed or new files (default). It is as sophisticated as any backup programs available out there. Works with Windows 7, 8 and 10.

For a complete list of options, google robocopy. Here are a couple of links:
http://ss64.com/nt/robocopy.html
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733145.aspx

It can be this simple to incrementally add all new and changed files, including subfolders (the /S option). To mirror, just add /MIR at the end. I don't like using the /MIR because in some cases I accidentally delete a directory and it will be gone also on the backup after you run it.

Example: Use the text editor, type this in and save it as "F to H.bat". Double click on the file to do the backup. It's that simple.

REM This backs up pictures from F: to portable hard drive H:
robocopy "F:\My Pictures" "H:\My Pictures" /S /DCOPY:T
pause




Dec 31, 2015 at 05:05 PM





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