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.

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xpd

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#2759499 13-Aug-2021 09:20

Veeam

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

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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.

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 .

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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.