Microsoft Windows now ships with an integrated free backup software which can be accessed by clicking , , , and . Most Unix systems come with a plethora of backup software options, including dd, cpio, tar, and dump. If the free and basic backup software included with your OS does not meet your needs, you may want to look at some of these more comprehensive free backup software packages. Free Backup Software for Microsoft Windows Cobian Backup Cobian Backup is a multi-threaded program that can be used to schedule and backup your files and directories from their original location to other directories/drives in the same computer or other computer in your network. FTP backup is also supported in both directions (upload and download). Cobian Backup exists in two different versions: application and service. The program uses very few resources and can be running on the background on your system, checking your backup schedule and executing your backups when necessary. Cobian Backup is not an usual backup application: it only copies your files and folders in original or compressed mode to other destination, creating a security copy as a result. So Cobian Backup can be better described as a "Scheduler for security copies". Cobian Backup supports several methods of compression and strong encryption. Freebyte Backup Freebyte Backup is a freeware backup program for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP. Freebyte Backup allows one to easily copy (and filter) a large number of files and directories from various sources into one backup directory. It is possible to backup all files found in the specified set of input directories, or to have only certain file types copied. Files can be filtered according to file-extensions. E.g. you can specify that you want to backup all .doc, .rtf, .jpg, .bmp files, but none of the .exe, .dll and .txt files. You can very easily define new file extensions yourself to be added to the filter. SyncBack Freeware SyncBack Freeware is a freeware program that helps you easily backup and synchronize your files to: the same drive; a different drive or medium (CDRW, CompactFlash, etc); an FTP server; a Network; or a Zip archive. Free Backup Software for Unix and Microsoft Windows AMANDA AMANDA, the Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver, is a backup system that allows the administrator of a LAN to set up a single master backup server to back up multiple hosts to a single large capacity tape drive. AMANDA uses native dump and/or GNU tar facilities and can back up a large number of workstations running multiple versions of Unix. AMANDA can also use SAMBA to back up hosts running Microsoft Windows. Bacula Bacula is a set of computer programs that permit you (or the system administrator) to manage backup, recovery, and verification of computer data across a network of computers of different kinds. In technical terms, Bacula is a network based backup program. Bacula is relatively easy to use and efficient, while offering many advanced storage management features that make it easy to find and recover lost or damaged files. afbackup afbackup is a client-server backup system allowing many workstations to backup to a central server (simultaneously or serially). Backups can be started remotely from the server or via cron jobs on the clients. afbackup has been tested on Linux, FreeBSD, AIX, IRIX, Digital Unix (OSF1), Solaris and HP-UX. The afbackup client has also been tested on SunOS and OpenBSD.
Why do you need backup software? The answer is because computer failures and crashes are a matter of 'when' and not 'if'. So when the next crash happens you should be ready. Even you use the computer for home; you should know that it is important for you to protect your personal data by making backups of all your hard drives. With it, you can be sure that you are completely protected from data loss.
First off all, you need to remember that backing up your private data is a very important thing that you should always do. It is something that you should make a routine in order to protect your data from data loss.
Today anyone is able to do secure backups with absolutely no specific skills or knowledge of the high-tech industry thanks to the new generation of backup tools. Backup software makes creating data backups much easier than even copying a file or watching video DVD.
When you are choosing solutions for backing up your critical computer files, there are two main ways you have. One is storing the backup files on CDs, DVDs or USB drives and the other is an online or remote backup service.
The fact that DVD and CD discs are much more stable than hard drives, you have to consider that backing up your files in DVDs or CDs is safer and will provide you with much more convenience. There is free backup software that you can download over the internet and install it in your computer. For example: Free Backup Mill.
Basically, there are many free online backup services. Although it doesn't really say that it is an online backup service, you can consider it to be so. You can try using your email account as your backup service as you can attach some important files and send it in your own email. This means that you will be able to have a copy of your files in the email.
Another good and recommended method to backup your important data is remote backups. As the name suggests, remote backup is backup store that you create in a remote computer.
The concept of remote backup is just the same as online backup. However, it is important that you should not refer to it as the same. Remote backup is not online backup but is a part of it. It is where you save your file to another computer in real time.
And the last advise. When you are looking for backup software or service pay attention to five main features:
The first feature is that it will be able to backup and restore your entire machine. The second is that it will be able to backup and restore your Outlook emails. The third is that it will be able to backup your application settings. The fourth is that it will let you backup and restore your music, pictures, documents, videos and other files. The fifth backup feature is that it will enable you to backup and restore your data online.
So, if you want to better protect your important and critical data, you might want to back it up using the any free backup software or free backup services.
Both Robert D. Thomson & Dennis Kindahl are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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