Incremental backup software for external HDD

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SunTiger

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#289115 13-Aug-2021 09:12

Does anyone have any recommendations for incremental backup software to be used with an external HDD? I'll be plugging the external HDD into the desktop once a week to do incremental backups. Previously I used Shadowprotect which was good but that was a few years ago, what is everyone using these days?

CYaBro

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#2759497 13-Aug-2021 09:20

Veeam Endpoint Backup free version.

You can set that to backup automatically when the external drive is plugged in and it can "Eject" it once it has finished as well.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

xpd

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#2759499 13-Aug-2021 09:20

Veeam

https://www.veeam.com/windows-endpoint-server-backup-free.html

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

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#2759500 13-Aug-2021 09:22

If you are confident with a Windows command line, consider Robocopy.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/robocopy

robocopy c:\users\myname\Documents x:\Backup\Documents /e

Note it is tempting to use the /mir option, but this means if you delete something in the source folder it gets deleted in the destination folder as well. If you accidentally deleted the file a few days ago, kiss it goodbye after you use /mir.

Note2 Robocpy would not give you a version history of files (e.g. let you roll back to the revious version of Word document you recently updated.

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Gordy7

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#2759503 13-Aug-2021 09:35

I use Free File Sync

https://freefilesync.org/

Gordy

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Yoban

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#2759508 13-Aug-2021 09:46

I am a fan of using Duplicati https://www.duplicati.com/ - free and open source.

I have also used Easus Todo Back up https://www.easeus.com/backup-software/tb-free.html but was getting back up failures sporadically from missing logs or file permissions which I never got to the bottom of.

SumnerBoy

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#2759513 13-Aug-2021 09:54

If you don't mind CLI then restic is pretty good IMO.

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1101

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#2759584 13-Aug-2021 10:44

Macrium Free is very good .
Is the free version differential rather than incremental ?
Some freebees arnt as free as they claim

Whatever you choose
If more than 1 backup HD , make sure its designed to be used with rotating USB HD's (some backup programs arnt)
incremental/differential option : some you need to pay to get that .

Preferably, have more than 1 backup drive & some sort of rotation .
if some files are somehow corrupted/overwritten , then that corrupted file will overwrite the good backed up file.
So take that into account & consider how far back you can actually recover from (perhaps a separate monthly/yearly backup)

ALLWAYS do a test recovery . Dont assume it works .

If you dont need a image , robocopy can do a good job (but you generally only get the one backup, cant go to older backups )
Be VERY carefull if using the /mir switch .

MadEngineer

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#2759598 13-Aug-2021 11:26

I use the built in backup provided with windows (*File History) which has versioning to an external USB hdd but also use a NAS drive that pulls data off my pc using a backup user, which also has versioning

Versioning/grandfathering or bust.

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linw

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#2759605 13-Aug-2021 11:44

Confirm Macrium free is differential, only.