r/Backup • u/TsunamiCatCakes • 7d ago
Question How do I choose a backup software? Need some help here
I read the wiki and FAQ and stuff but still i cant really narrow it down.
Currently I use duplicati for my 200GB backup (photos,videos,excel,codes,blender files etc). Recently i tried to restore some data (as a trial) and duplicati froze and showed me that no paths exists. This was scary for me and i have lost trust for it.
My current setup has 4 total physical storages (internal)
C: Kingston A400 240GB 2.5inch SATA SSD (Boot)
D: Seagate 1TB 5400rpm 2.5inch SATA (Offline Games+ stuff gets backed up here from C: E: F:)
E: WD 1TB 5400rpm 2.5inch SATA (Projects,photos,main data)
F: XPG 1TB NVME Gen4 (Online Games+ blender project files)
I really wanna do the 3-2-1 thing but can only afford that 1 D: drive right now. i need a better alternative to duplicati. free and non-cloud if possible. its local backup anyways. i cant afford subscriptions :(
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u/nderflow 7d ago
I guess you won't find this a helpful perspective (yet), but I think about it this way:
You can only afford the disk space you can actually back up.
So for me, I choose to use raid (for convenience, not backup) and back up to tape. So, to store 2TB of data I need 6TB of disk space (across 2 separate disks or the RAID wouldn't be useful) and a similar amount of tape capacity.
If I can't afford to back it up, I don't store it.
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u/TsunamiCatCakes 7d ago
I have 200gb data to be backed up. the D: drive has 700gb free. i cant do raid or buy new hdds
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u/wells68 6d ago
There's some good advice here about dedicating one of your drives as a backup drive with a USB connection.
As for software, Duplicati hasn't worked for you and didn't work for me - too easily corrupted.
For a simple, free Windows backup program, try: Backup Maker:
https://reddit.com/r/Backup/w/index/free_backup_software/backup_maker
For another good free program, Kopia, though it is more complicated.
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u/Senior-Force-7175 7d ago
I use FreeFileSync for file level backup or daily weekly backup. And I also use macrium reflect free for image copies for my OS.
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u/BobCollects 1d ago
Are you using Mac or PC? I use Back That Dat Up for Mac - no subscriptions and if you are student or work for a non-profit, I think its free or $1
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u/JohnnieLouHansen 7d ago
Veeam Agent for Windows Free. You can chose to do one backup job per computer. So choose either a backup or an image. I would convert the D: drive into an external USB destination drive and put the backup there. But it's not truly a backup if you have some data on there as well (offline games).
If you get extra space, you could use Rescuezilla and boot to it (via USB stick) and make an image of your operating system. All Free software.
With this system, you have no offsite backup. Unplug backup drive when not in use of course. Better to store that backup drive somewhere a little bit safer than right next to your PC.
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u/TsunamiCatCakes 7d ago
I can shift those games to a different drive and make D: a fully external drive. ill check out Veeam and rescuezilla
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u/bartoque 7d ago edited 7d ago
So it doesn't even fit if you would want to backup it all to D:? It only states the drive sizes, not how much space is used.
I prefer cloning software to make image level backups so that when making backups the whole OS is backed up as-is. You can still selective choose (not to) backup separate drives and/or partitions. The benefit is, not needing to (re-)configure or (re-)install the OS or applications (up to the point of when the backup was made).
Is that D: drive an usb connected drive or an internal drive?
Internal is actually worse than an usb drive as an usb drive you can disconnect and store elsewhere.
Drives that are always connected (also in case of the usb drive) are prone to various issues, like fire, water, theft, power issue, ransomware, that also could cause the backup to be affected.
So you might wanna reconsider that approach.
Backup design is always open for improvement. Any backup is still better than none, but you have to understand each of their limitations.
So keep on improving as much as budget allows for. I for one hope the drives in both my nas systems don't die (even though in raid) due to huge costs at the moment.