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Ask HN: Your recommendations for Windows PC backup software solutions?
47 points by junto on Oct 27, 2014 | hide | past | favorite | 49 comments
I'm looking for a replacement for Windows PC Backup (Windows 7). Not VMs. Ideally it should offer a backup to USB/NAS locally, and also backup offsite to a cloud service.

If the cloud service offers client-side encryption then double bonus points! Also, Synology support is a triple bonus!

Spideroak, Tresorit, Crashplan, Acronis, Backblaze, Carbonite, Mozy, HiDrive? Any others?

Recommendations from people using these services are very welcome.

I'm looking for a proper incremental disk-wide backup solution that offers local USB backups too, so Dropbox, Onedrive and Google Drive don't qualify. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that assumption.



A few years ago I looked at about 30 different backup solutions and finally settled on CrashPlan for the following reasons:

1. Can send backups local drive, cloud, or P2P. 2. Encrypts files locally 3. Incremental/delta, e.g. a 5-byte change to a 10GB file doesn't resend the whole thing.

A lot of the named services from the OP are cloud only. Try backing up TBs of data. It'll take over a month, depending upon internet connection speed.

CrashPlan lets you backup to an attached hard drive and then send it to them in the mail (sneakernet). Then, when you want to restore the entire archive, they can send you a drive in the mail if you'd like.

The one place CrashPlan falls down is doing full-disk backups or images/snapshots. It's only good for backups of individual files.

I've got a copy of CrashPlan running on my DS212+ NAS (http://pcloadletter.co.uk/2012/01/30/crashplan-syno-package/) so it serves as a peer and I push to the cloud as well.


I second this. Crashplan is a great service with very generous pricing, considering that you get unlimited space and file versioning.

You can run it directly on the machine you're backing up, but I have mine on my Linux home server in a headless setup. All my computers back up to it via Bacula, which is then backed up via Crashplan.


I have a Synology DS 1813+ in SHR-2. It backs up to Crashplan automatically. My files are reasonably safe on the Synology, but in case of disaster I have the Crashplan backup as a last resort.

Uploading several TB is slow, but since the NAS is configured as a headless client it doesn't bother me. Plus, Crashplan is only $5 a month, so you can't go wrong there...

FYI, there's a fantastic tutorial for setting up Crashplan to work with your Synology:

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/UPDATED2014HowToSetupCrashPlan...


Funny. I was just reading this update from Scott. Crashplan can also backup your PC data to a USD drive as well right?

That would mean you have two local backups (USB and NAS) then one offsite held in the Cloud with Crashplan as well?

That's kind of what I'm looking for.


I've been using SyncBack Pro in various scenarios for a while: http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/sbpro.html

It's extremely configurable, supports many source/destination options, and pretty cheap. It's not hosted, SAAS, or cloud-based. But, just point it to an S3 bucket and you've got the same thing.

One scenario I have is a daily snapshot of files, copied locally to a YYYY-MM-DD folder, then zipped, and uploaded to an S3 bucket. Another scenario is twice daily rsync-style backup that copies changes on a large directory to a backup location.


+1 for SyncBack. With free version you can do NAS backup without problems. Not sure about the Amazon backup. But if you have Synology then you can set it up to do backups to Glacier from NAS instead of from your PC.


I had real problems with the Glacier backup on Synology. Always failed.


+1 for SyncBack. I use it for in-home backups to a NAS (Synology) as well as another PC on the network. Works perfectly, very configurable, and the Pro version has various cloud options.


I had a pretty good experience with Backblaze. I tried out Crashplan and Carbonite but they by default don't upload some of the file types and sizes I needed.


Can you elaborate of the file types issues?


http://support.code42.com/CrashPlan/Latest/Troubleshooting/W...

https://carbonite.service-now.com/carbonite/kb_view.do?corre...


My problem with backblaze is that it takes soooo long to backup everything. It's got a good version control setup and web interface, but seriously, it took like 2 or 3 months before it had at least 80% of my data on their servers.


Out of interest, how much data were you backing up? I ask since if I were to go for a cloud-backup, I'd be doing 3-4TB. Thanks.


I've found its typically limited by my upload speed (ADSL2+ at 100kb/s up), took me a few months for a couple of hundred GB.


~1.5TB

Like the other user said, it is limited by speed + there is a cap of amount you can backup per day


After asking a similar question here ages ago, one thing that was recommended was ShadowProtect [1]

Incremental backups take in the order of seconds to complete, thus running them every 15 or 30 minutes doesn't hurt at all. I have it set up to make such backups during my usual waking hours (to keep the number of snapshots a bit lower) and additionally rsync my backup volume from the NAS to a backup account in a datacenter.

Basically I wanted to have a full-machine backup with incremental snapshots. And since I don't use libraries because I don't use Explorer, File History was, although very nice, not adequate for my needs.

[1] http://www.storagecraft.com/products/shadowprotect-desktop-b...


Crashplan. I've used it for years and has never failed me. They have an option for a client side key too, so they can't even access your files.


Tried it few months ago and it chewed resources like there's no tomorrow. The installer was over 40MB, the UI was clunky and slow as molasses, but, yes, it was free for client-side backups, which was essentially its only plus. Couldn't uninstall it fast enough. It's pretty weird to see it recommended on HN of all places.


I also use Crashplan. The software is nice, although there are (Crashplan) ads if you aren't a paid subscriber.


Another happy Crashplan user. Restored 100+ gigs and saved my bacon a few times. Do it!


Fancy sharing any experiences of having to restore from Crashplan?


I had only one strange thing happening in ~3 years of using Crashplan. I'm using it for cloud backups but also for "friend" backups - with all the systems backing up to a NAS with Crashplan installed. A month ago my parents had a problem with some files in one folder (bad sectors on the HDD), and I had to recover them from the NAS (their system backs up on the NAS). Using Crashplan on their system, I could only restore about 30% of the files - the others were not listed at all. Recovering the full folder using their Crashplan resulted in ~1.5GB of files. Doing the same on my NAS, I could see all the files and I could successfully recover >4GB of files (all of them). Somehow their Crashplan could not see all the files it backed up, but the target Crashplan did.

No idea if this is expected (their account is a free one, where you cannot change many of the retention and backup settings) or it's a bug, but this made me check the cloud backup also and compare the files on the disk with the recovered ones. No problems so far, but I only managed 1TB (of 2.5TB backed up).


I second Crashplan. I use it to back up a directory of my office machine (2GB at the moment) where I keep all the current project stuff, including Outlook archives for the last 3-years of emails.

The whole directory is inside a Truecrypt disk, btw (but I am running Crashplan after mounting the Truecrypt volume, so for Crashplan the files are visible).

I did a few (say half a dozen in the last 3-years) restores of a specific file and I did a full restore of the whole directory to a completely different machine (a Mac) due to problems with my old laptop - they replaced the HD and I had to keep working for a couple of days before getting it back.

And another full restore when they finally replaced the laptop with a new one.

In all these cases it worked without a hitch.

I also played a bit with their "backup to a friend's computer" thing, but haven't tested it in depth. Never used their online version, though, so I can't say anything about that.


I restored (my Mac and another machine) from Crashplan several times when they failed and had no problems.

I was restoring them from Crashplan backups on my Synology though, the Crashplan servers can be kinda slow at times (in range of 10-30Mbit/s transfers).


I've restored over 100gb from cp without issue. The most important feature is multiple offsite backups with their free p2p system. My data is in my basement, across town at 3 different friends' houses, and another copy across the country. Nothing short of a meteor strike will cause data loss at this point. And it's free.


Another Crashplan user here. When I reinstalled Windows, I restored a whole account (user files, not system files) from a previous backup and it worked fine. It's not very fast on either direction, but I never had any issues with it.


I've currently backed up over 400gb but have only ever had to restore about 100gb. That experience was fine, with no issues. I guess I can't say I have ever done a full restore though.


http://www.duplicati.com/

Windows port of duply/duplicity. Client side encryption possible and you can use USB/NAS as target or S3 ...


I looked at a range of backup solutions - http://alicious.com/cloud-backup-solutions/ - for a simple one-folder backup from a work computer. I too settled on duplicati.

Originally I was using it with Microsoft's online cloud storage (skydrive I think they were calling it, it's changed now due to TM action) but that stopped working and now I use gdrive instead (or whatever that is now, gapps storage or something).


This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but I I swear by Backup for Workgroups: http://www.backup-for-workgroups.com/

It contains two pieces, a server and a client. You have to setup the server yourself. This server can be local within your network, on the same machine, or remote over the Internet.

I use it for full machine backup; and the two times I have had hard drives die on me; I was up and working [with all programs, files, etc.. ] in under a day. That included purchasing a new hard drive.

It backs up on schedule, so I don't have to think about it. It can send email notifications of any problems, with your running out of space on the repository, or when a backup is complete.

My backup server is on-site; I've never had the bandwidth to mirror the repository off-site; although you could do so in theory.

My offsite backup plan was to send a hard drive to Amazon S3 so they could pre-load the data to a bucket; then use a S3 to Disk Drive mapping program--such as JungleDisk--and set that as a sync drive within Backup for Workgroups. But, I haven't gotten around to setting that up.

http://www.backup-for-workgroups.com/faqs/faqs-mirroring-dat...

I backup five different machines; and my repo is about a half a terabyte.


I use Macrium Reflect for imaging. They offer a good completely free Home version to try. This, after Acronis TrueImage served me well for a couple of years but got too bloated with the shovelware. Reflect has both imaging and file backup. Had to use Symantec Ghost only 3 years ago only to find Symantec has done jack squat to improve the PowerQuest DriveImage they bought. It had terrible network drivers and antiquated Win95-era boot drivers and special workarounds for ancient network cards like 3Com.


I tried a lot of the popular Backup solutions (like Acronis and others I don't remember now), but none of them really worked for me.

I'm using HardlinkBackup for incremental, local USB backups (periodically creates a new folder with a full snapshot of the entire disk but de-duplicates across snapshots with NTFS hard links).

http://www.lupinho.net/hardlinkbackup/

For Cloud Backups I'm a happy Backblaze customer.


I've been using https://bvckup2.com/ to backup large files to a USB drive. Hasn't failed me yet.


This is a phenomenally well-done software and I am too using it for daily backups, but it's likely not what OP wants with his "disk-wide" conditional. He needs something that does full-system backups, e.g. http://ax64.com


Isn't this just file sync, and not incremental backups?

I.e. if I accidentally delete a file on my PC, the synced version disappears as well? No recovery possible.


From the homepage:

"Archiving of deleted items Move backup copies of deleted items into a special archive directory and delete them from there after a grace period."


I would check out NovaBACKUP for Windows PC backup software. It supports Windows 7, will allow you to backup to USB or to a local NAS device (including Synology) and offers cloud backup options. It also offers full, incremental and differential backups. Hope this helps: http://www.novastor.com/en/software/windows-backup


Check this. Ugly, but feature-rich: http://allwaysync.com


There's also Hubic - by the guys behind OVH.

They're the cheapest ones around with plans starting from EUR 1 / month for 100GB. https://hubic.com/en/offers/

They have data centers in France, so that's one more barrier against governmental snooping.


One I haven't seen mentioned yet is http://www.evault.com. Industrial grade and very feature rich. Can't really compare to other products as I haven't really used any myself, I just used to work there.


Spideroak for photos, docs etc. (and Bitorrent Sync so my laptop and desktop are always in sync). Robocopy and an external USB drive for a monthly backup of large media.

I've been using Spideroak for ~3 years now and its been faultless.


+1 Robocopy script with external drive.


AltDrive because it is fast, robust, has a private security key option, unobtrusive, open/locked file support, and easy to use. It does not do local backup though. Works on MAc, Windows and Linux.


I use QtdSync (which uses rsync under the hood) for about 2-3 years, and I'm satisfied with it. I've also set up some scheduled backup tasks as well.

You should try it and see for yourself.


Using KLS backup in the last years with no issues: http://www.kls-soft.com/klsbackup/


We use Veeam for our backups. Very easy to setup and offers incremental backups.


Is this for Windows desktops, or VMs?


Microsoft Azure cloud has both HyperV recovery and separate data backup tools.


CrashPlan - I love it.




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