Making sure you've got a reliable backup solution is a must for any
user - and more so for an administrator. Why? Well, mostly because your
users probably aren't very good at remembering to back up their own
files. And so it falls to you to provide the right software for the job!
Backup software is a difficult category to tackle nowadays as the
distinction between backup and synchronization apps has become a little
blurred. Prices being what they are, my personal choice is to use
external or removable hard drives for my backup chores.
To make sure you've got
plenty of options to choose from, this list into three
different categories so that you can choose from the options that are
best suited to your environment.
Integrated Burning Comodo Backup [win]
They do make than a great firewall. Comodo Backup is an excellent free
solution. It has extremely flexible scheduling and notification
options, supports FTP destinations, can burn multisession DVDs, and has
a synchronization mode for quick realtime backups.
DFIncBackup [win]
As is the case with most backup applications, there's a free and paid
version. The free one still handles CD/DVD backups, and it also does
incremental .zip jobs as well - only backing up files that have changed
or weren't present in your previous job.
SE Backup [win]
Sports a very simple interface, does CD and DVD burning and
compression, and is available as a portable application. Scheduling
isn't built in, but it supports command line launching with parameters
which works very well with Windows' own Task Scheduler.
File Copy
Abakt [win]
Though
it's no longer developed, Abakt is still a great choice. It's got a
great file filtering system, supports 7zip and zip compression, file
splitting, password protection, and does differential and incremental
backups.
Areca [win]
Free, open source, and wicked powerful. Areca is loaded with features:
compression, encryption, simulation, merging, transaction
commit/rollback, filtering, and more. It's command line interface
provides excellent automation options and Areca also supports scripting
of post-job actions.
Bonkey [win] [mac]
The "Backup Monkey." If I was giving points for best mascot, this one would be a clear winner.
Bonkey runs on both Windows and Mac, and has a lot of great features.
It supports email, FTP, and Amazon S3, compression, encryption,
scheduling, and synchronization. It'll even back up MS SQL server
databases.
Cobian Backup [win]
Apart from being a great application, Cobian's developer has
an excellent tutorial
online to help you get started. Though it is no longer open source, you
may still download the last version that was (v8). There's also a
portable version.
One of my favorite features of Cobian is its ability to handle pre- and
post- job events. I use it to issue net stop and net start commands to
ensure safe backups of our horrible, horrible point-of-sale system.
Cobian also has the ability to control and monitor all its instances on
your network from your own workstation.
JaBack [win] [mac]
Allows backup to FTP and email (as well as any drive on your computer
or network), and sports a flexible scheduler. It also has a file
monitor function that will perform backup operations whenever changes
are detected.
Mathusalem [mac]
Offers FTP/SFTP, Amazon S3, WebDav, and SMB support for backups on OSX.
Mathusalem can compress to zip and dmg, will resume failed uploads, and
supports scheduling and command line launching. It's also open source.
Server-Based Bacula [win] [mac] [linux]
Bacula is an enterprise grade network backup solution that runs on just
about every platform imagineable. It's a much more complex system than
the other options I've mentioned, but is extremely powerful and
well-suited to a medium or large scale network.
BackupPC [win] [linux]
A Linux-based, client-free enterprise solution for backing up Windows
and Linux machines. BackupPC uses SMB, tar, and rsync to extract backup
data from client computers. It 's got a powerful web-based interface
for administrators and users, and will even email reminders to users
that have been remiss in performing backups.
It's a very flexible solution, and is open source.
NasBackup [win] [linux]
Uses a simple Windows GUI and rsync to perform backups from client
machines to a central server. It'll do incremental backups, scheduling,
compression, encryption, and the server offers useful per-client
controls like limiting the number of versions to store and expiration
dates. It also provides daily summaries via email.
Restore [win] [mac] [linux]
The self-proclaimed "reason backup was invented." It's definitely a
great product, and full of terrific features. Its web interface is very
easy to understand and use - and makes it easy for the mobile admin to
monitor and control Restore from anywhere.
Restore supports
FTP, WebDav, SSH/SFTP, and multiple revisions. It also provides
powerful admin tools, making it easy to create and control users,
groups, jobs, and scheduling.
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