Which file backup solution on Windows 8?

Hello, I have used Acronis True Image as a backup suite before. I didn't experience too many problems with it. But with fresh install on Windows 8 I decided to abandon it and go with a little bit more lightweight solution. For live disk imaging I installed Terabyte Image for Windows and I'm liking it very much so far But I'm now on search for file-based backup software to take place of Acronis Non-stop backup.

I don't have too specific needs, it should work similarly to how Acronis did (incremental backups - versions, automatic daily consolidation, good compression). Simply put I just need some reliable application to continuously keep backing up documents, appdata/program settings and saves for games or other smaller files.

Can you recommend me any?

EDIT: I also took a look at File history built-in Windows 8, but it seems it does not allow for manually selecting which folders to back up. Otherwise I believe it would've done the job.

Thank you!

 

Hi retolx

It sounds to me you have a clear idea of your needs. May I suggest in addition to IFW, Macrium Reflect, Keriver Image or possibly Cobian backup.

All will perform file backups, with Macrium and Keriver also offering solid imaging, disk or partition. Cobian has a fairly solid history for file only backups and has been quite reliable as far as I have read over the years, but Cobian does not offer imaging.

Macrium has both free and paid versions, and Keriver Image is paid only, they do have a free version called 1 click restore free, but it does not handle file/folder backup. For a free version, I suggest Macrium Reflect free for your needs.

Of course there are others, some very good, some invasive, I just wanted to suggest a few for you to take a look at that offer either imaging and file/folder backup, or simply file/folder backup such as Cobian.

I am sure others will have suggestions, but also please take the time to search the forums under backup and disk management as there are numerous threads that may also assist you in finding just the right solution

I hope the above helps in some way. I do recommend no matter what solution you decide upon, to consider making a regular partition image as you see fit just as another layer of recovery option in addition to your daily file/folder backup. Of course IFW, Macrium or Keriver will handle this quite effectively. Also, it is worth your time to look into AXTM AX 64 time machine being offered by Isso and he has his own thread for those testing it. https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=339999 This solution has simplicity and in the future, as issues are worked out, I think it is worth a look into its capabilities. It is unique and you may find it worth a try. Just a thought

Have a good weekend
Jim

 

retolx,

It's likely you will get a hundred answers.

I use Second Copy 8. A good free alternative is Robocopy as you already have it in Win8.

 

Thank you for your answers so far.

Jim, thanks for your suggestions. Macrium sounds like a decent choice, though looking at the feature table, the Free version does not offer file backup, nor differential/incremental. As for Cobian it looks like is depreciated, couldn't find any mention about Windows 8 support, and author is trying to sell the source code.

AX64 looks really sweet. I was checking out that thread few weeks ago, and it looks like it will be exactly the kind of software I wanted. I don't know about the state of it right now and if it's reliable...They mention SSDs are not yet supported, which is probably primary reason why I'm not using it yet

Brian: No mention on Win8 support on Second Copy webpage. Otherwise it looks like a decent choice (also, can you consolidate versions to save space?). As for Robocopy, can you really do incremental/differential backups? To my understanding it just copies delta to "update" the file. Can you do backups with it and choose which versions to restore?

 

So sorry retolx regarding my suggestions about Macrium free. I should have known about free not handling file backup. I also did not know Cobian was trying to be sold. I posted a few ideas, but obviously did not verify a few details. I think over time, I have lost track of all the offerings LOL. I have tried so many over the years, a few always stand out, and a few have lost their focus.

I apologize my friend, did not mean to mislead you. Indeed AXTM looks like it will be a great offering real soon

Jim

 

Retolx, as an ALPHA tester of the AXTM product I can tell you it's very solid, even in ALPHA, when it comes to SSDs. The last SSD issue should be gone when it hits BETA in a few days from now. This is probably the best ALPHA release of any piece of software I've ever tested... Isso and the boys are doing a stupendous job with the product.

I don't know how long the BETA period will be but as solid as the ALPHA product is, I expect to see it released by mid-April at the latest.

Keep it in mind...

 

Well said TRF Indeed, for alpha release, it is solid and reveals the efforts of Isso and his team. It is great to see how it is unfolding for them.

Have a good weekend

Jim

 

No, there isn't, but it works fine in Win8. I have a data partition containing about 400 GB of data. I just mirror it to another HD a few times a day. It take 2 to 3 minutes.

 

Google seems to suggest you can exclude folders from Windows 8 File History (I appreciate excluding isn't quite the same thing as including though).

 

I tried bunch of software on my virtual machine and so far none have satisfy me enough. I'll probably stick with Acronis, provided there will be no issues running it on Windows 8. On the side note, should I expect some issues when I'll have both IFW and Acronis installed on the same machine? Or is it better to first uninstall IFW?

 

Retolx, IFW does install 1-driver in the same area that Acronis installs one of its many Windows injections. I don't think there is a conflict but to be safe, if you're not gonna use IFW, take it off the machine before you install Acronis (which is a difficult program to completely uninstall if you decided later to abandon it).

 

What driver are you talking about? The PhyLOCK one? I only installed IFW main application, IFL (to create bootable recovery environment usb), TibMounter. I chose not to install PhyLock as I prefer MS VSS.

 

Then you're fine if no phylock...

 

There is a continuous file backup solution which is very promising, "bvckup". The developer is fine tuning the next version since quite a long time, but the current available version works nicely.

http://www.bvckup.com/

It's free for the moment. The next version will not be I think.

 

This application, as well as Second Copy, or SyncBack and others are very nice, but they are lacking one feature that I need. Correct me if I'm wrong but although they delta copy (incremental/only changes) they do not offer versioning. I need to be able to restore a file from specific point of time. Automatic consolidation (merge versions older than x) is a bonus, but is not really required due to the overall size of my backup (it's only about 500MB-1GB of data at any point of time, but it's often changing small files so it'll grow over time). Something like Shadow Copy/Previous versions that Microsoft depreciated in Windows 8.

 

Syncback does support versioning. Has for quite some time. Its under the COPY/DELETE > VERSIONING tab in Expert setup mode.

I really like Syncback.

 

This from SoftPedia's description of the "Second Copy" application...

"Advanced options include PKZIP compatible compression, password protection, AES encryption, two-way directory synchronization and background thread priority control. You can also include or exclude specific file or sets of files from the copy and keep up to 25 old versions of files."

Edit: This from the "Second Copy" HELP file...

Keeping old versions of files...

• When you use Simple Copy, Exact Copy, Move or Synchronize you can also choose to keep old versions of files in an archive directory. You can set how many older versions of files you would like to keep. Whenever you update a source file, Second Copy will copy the file to the destination and it will move the file in the destination to the archive folder.

• Older versions of files will be kept in the archive folder. For English version of Second Copy, the older versions of file X.TXT will be named X.TXT, ( 2nd last version of) X.TXT, ( 3rd last version of) X.TXT and so on. For non-English version of Second Copy, the older versions of files are named as: X.TXT, X (-02).TXT, X (-03).TXT, and so on.

• This option is not available for compressed files.

 

Fwiw, I tried this (same beta version) earlier this year and it had some serious issues. It can't deal with open files, and it seemed that whenever it tried to backup a file that was open it would crash.

Cruise

 

retoix,

You might checkout Genie Timeline Free. It also comes in two paid 'flavors' and here is how they compare (all support versioning).

Cruise

 

I've tried so many backup apps over the years. I refresh myself about every 6 months or so.

IMO, if you want free use Cobain and just be OK with the fact it offers no automated restore options. Cobian is backup and not so much file sync.

For paid, I really like Syncback Pro/SE or KLS Backup Pro. Both have proved to be solid for me with no corruption, memory leaks, bloating, etc. Neither have failed me yet. And both are fast.

One advantage to KLS is that it can run as a service and also has plugins to create VHD images of Windows, backup profiles for various applications, all which can be helpful if you have more serious corruption. KLS has a very good sync tool built-in but it does not have all the granular settings of Syncback.

Syncback is a king of filesync IMO.

This does not mean there's no other good products out there, but I've settled on these because they've proven themselves in my experiences in the real world and over time.

One other one you may want to trial is Oops Backup from www.altaro.com. I had pretty good luck with it previously but its kind of a niche product for people who like the Time Machine type of approach to backup/sync.

 

Then you may want to have a look at AJC Backup which is done exactly for versioning. I have been using it since quite some time and it has saved me many times, to recover previous version of Office documents mainly.

 

I use Windows 8 built-in file copy called FileHistory. When you start it, you can choose when (hourly, daily, etc.)and where to backup your files. I have my files copied on a separate internal disk.

SourMilk out

 

I already tried File History. I made one library, where I included all files/folders that I want to back up and excluded all other libraries from back up. It wouldn't even run though, always threw error "Unable to scan user libraries for changes and perform backup of modified files for configuration C:\Users\retolx\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\Configuration\Config"