Definitive Best Backup Software 2011

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

An updated "Best Backup Software" poll for 2011. Please use this as a reference when researching backup utilities. As time goes on, the poll can be updated to add further options.

Please choose one app or N/A per category when voting.

Happy Voting!

[Vettetech]

Where is Paragon? I am using Paragon Home and Recovery Free. I have mounted several images and they all are a success.

[ozyborn]

Carbonite for business use...

[notta]

People always mention Acronis when asked about best app for file backup. Acronis is more of an imaging/disaster and recovery product in my opinion. Very expensive and bloated just for backup purposes. I think of apps like Super Flexible File Synchronizer and SyncBack for personal data backup applications.

[farmeunit]

Cobian Backup I use at home and at work. We will be using PHD Virtual as we move to VMs.

[Vettetech]

Acronis was good. But now its bloatware. It adds unnecessary processes and services.

[Wodin]

Arcserve for work, Cobian (it's free, too :woot: ) for home

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

I primarily use a program called SaftBackup.

• It handles versions better than any other backup software I've tried.
  
• It stores files in SQLite databases. I prefer this because it reduces the number of files created, and is much faster when you have to backup thousands of tiny files.
  
• Backups can be encrypted and compressed.
  
• Utilizes volume shadow copy for backing up locked / in use files.
  
• It has a built-in file browser for extracting files. It's not great, but it works.
  
• Technically doesn't need to be installed. I extracted the files from the installer, and I can run it from a BartPE CD if needed.
  

There's one thing I hate about this program: When deleting old versions, it vacuums the databases to free up space which takes forever.

[Lee G. Veteran]

Acronis TrueImage is my favourite.

[Salty Wagyu]

I'm guessing this thread is for backups of Operating Systems rather than file/data backups, which are of the Synctoy, Robocopy, Syncback, Rsync variety? It's two different things.

[dezzo]

I'd vote for SyncBackPro by a company called 2BrightSparks.

It appears to have every conceivable option and setting you could desire.

I found it very complex, and I loved it because I had total control. The help file also explained everything so that I could understand how all the options worked before deciding how or if I'd like to use them.

It also backed up many gigabytes of files very quickly. More quickly than Windows 7 would have copied them, so I was impressed with the speed.

It's also not bloated at all.

I liked it so much that I bought a license very soon after trying it.

[ManMountain]

Windows Backup and Restore does the job well enough for me :)

[sbrads]

Windows Backup and Restore does the job well enough for me :)

It didn't do the job for me....

1. No compressed image so backups are twice the size they need to be.

2. If you use Win7 libraries referring to data on drives other than C:, then the image of C: INCLUDES this data so it can be absolutely HUGE. If I want C: backed up then that's all I want!

I use Acronis True Image 2010 for now until I find something better (interface is a bit naff and illogical). It compresses and can do incremental image backups as well.

[kawasabi]

R-Drive Image works for me.

Never had any problems with it and its small in size and easy to use.

Free alternative is EASEUS Todo Backup Home.

[cork1958]

You mean there's another backup other than Acronis?!

I've never tried the Windows version of it, but I've heard it's pretty good.

[ajua]

For imaging HDD's Acronis True Image is the absolute best.

To make regular backups, I use Second Copy, a little program with tons of features and different types of backups and sync settings.

I keep my daily backups scheduled with it and also I use it to update/sync personal info and my USB stick with my portable apps.

Totally recommended. It's worth every penny.

[drugo]

paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Suite

[Dmitry G]

Use Acronis at home and Symantec BESR at work.

[Esfirius]

Easeus Todo Backup. Compared to Acronis & Norton - no bells and whistles, and veeery solid backuping. Plus it's free!

[ootput]

Shadow Protect works perfectly fine for me, more so than Acronis TI

[Guest]

Can anyone suggest any software that allows for incremental backups as files are changed? I've seen a few options but they all work based on intervals rather than on change.

Also, I really want something that could do this from my server so I don't have to have an extra piece of software running in the background on my workstation. Ideas?

[inactive]

for drive imaging i prefer 'Macrium Reflect' (it's FREE) and works well. that's pretty much all you need if you just want to do a simple image of a partition and then can restore it from a bootable disc which the program can create for you. it's pretty easy to use and straight forward.

download here (from official site)... http://goo.gl/urZO (also shows screenshots if you scroll down page)

the problem with 'Acronis True Image' is that it's not free.

p.s. for partition resizing i recommend the free EASEUS Partition Master... http://goo.gl/rIkv (i used that a while ago to resize my C partition as it was getting a little low on space so i took the space from D and added more to C (my C and D are on a single 250GB hard drive). i have Windows 7 x64.)

[nabz0r Veteran]

Norton Ghost was good but now the dominant is in my opinion and it seems other's opinion is Acronis Image.

And my both votes went to Acronis.

[TEX4S]

Carbonite for business use...

LOL maybe a very small business - :rolleyes:

[MrDoritos]

Was using GFI Backup Freeware until a few days ago have now switched to Easeus to do backup.

One of the cons of Easeus is that it doesn't use VSS.

One of the main pro's I like is you can just double click the backup file and it mounts and you can see the contents in explorer.

[Shadrack]

Are there any backup solutions that:

* Can be setup to backup an entire drive

* Can be setup to automatically backup periodically (daily for instance)

* Incremental backup support

* Ability to restore previous versions of files (if there is a backup of them)

* Automatically manages the space on an external drive by deleting old backup files and doesn't hassle me about this

Basically, I'm looking for Time Machine (Mac OS X backup utility) for Windows. Hate to say it, but I've yet to find anything close to Time Machine for Windows. Sure, it lacks options... but it just works and I like how it doesn't bother me about disk space issues on my external backup drive. On top of that, you can boot from the external drive and restore files...its really top notch for a consumer oriented backup utility.

I've tried the default Windows 7 Backup & Restore. Blah, I don't want to delete my backup file every time I want to make a new backup. What if my new backup sucks? Am I suppose to have a stack of external drives in order to use Windows 7's backup utility efficiently?

Thanks for your input.