The best system backup programs in Russian. Free backup programs

Special project with Acronis

We all sooner or later face the need for backup. And believe me: better early than late. Once upon a time, in 2009, I lost all my data. Back then I made backups on DVD-R/RW, which was not very convenient, so they were rarely made. Some of the data was sent by colleagues (it’s good that they kept it), but a lot of it was lost. It was from that time that I regularly make backups, and today we will talk about finding the ideal product for the family budget.

Where will we store backups?

Before choosing software, we need to decide where we will store the backup. You understand that DVD-R is of little use for backup. Firstly, it is small, secondly, it is slow, and thirdly, it is noisy. And since I switched to laptops a long time ago and don’t recognize stationary devices at all (although I have them on the farm), I had to buy several external drives. First 250 GB, then larger.

I did not consider the cloud for one simple reason - there is not enough space:

You understand that even 15 GB is not enough, especially if the minimum size of the external screw available on the farm is 250 GB. Extra space? You could, of course, pay $2 a month for 100 GB on Google Drive or $10 for an additional 1 TB, but 100 GB will not save me, and 1 TB is a little expensive. Ideally, 500 GB would be suitable for 2-3 dollars per month :)

Later, the family acquired two Android smartphones and one tablet, from which they also made backups to an external screw from time to time, the old fashioned way (after all, I was used to just such a process). Here one could safely use the cloud, but habit is a strong thing.

Search for backup software

Now we come to the most interesting part. How to make a backup?

In principle, you can use the free Clonezilla. The capabilities of this program, if not impressive, are at least quite good. Here are some of them that I consider the most important:

• support for Linux/macOS/Windows file systems: from ext2 to ext4, xfs, jfs, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, HFS (macOS);
• MBR and GPT support;
• support for data encryption (AES 256);
• the ability to deploy one image to several local devices;
• support for SSH, Samba, WebDAV and NFS.

If you need to make a backup of a server in a corporate environment, and even on a shared server, there is no better option. For cloning systems in the case of deploying one operating system on many machines with the same configuration, that’s it: they brought in a fleet of computers, installed an axis on one of them, configured everything, made an image of it and deployed it to other computers. An admin's dream!

I have also been familiar with Acronis products for a long time, but mainly with server versions. I won’t compare them with Clonezilla now, since we are talking about home backup: after all, you have one or two computers and several Android devices at home; you don’t need to constantly create images of all these devices. In general, CloneZilla is not suitable for home use. Once, I remember, I made a backup at home with it, when I changed the system disk to a larger disk and was too lazy to reinstall all the systems. Then this program, of course, saved me.

CloneZilla is a good program, but it’s 2016 and I want something more modern, but it’s stuck in the past. I want some kind of automation, management of backups from all devices, including mobile ones, I want to copy photos from my profile on social networks, I want to search inside the backup in order to find the file I need. I want a lot of things. Sometimes I even think about buying a NAS specifically for storing backups.

Actually, I started searching for the ideal software for myself. I came across the “File History” function in Windows 8/10. I somehow missed “Eight”, and “Ten” is installed on only one computer. Although “File History” was created in the image and likeness of Apple Time Machine and should be convenient, in practice it turned out to be not very convenient to use, moreover, it is not compatible with computers running the “Seven” and Android smartphones.

If anyone is interested, while I was looking for the necessary software, all this time I was making backups using Total Commander by simply copying files. But this is very inconvenient. Firstly, no automation: you need to go to each computer with an external screw and make a backup. Secondly, irrational use of space. I didn't use compression. Why? Yes, because I periodically need to search for information on a backup. Have you tried searching for something in an archive of several GB in size?

Quite by accident, I remembered Acronis True Image and discovered that version 2017 had been released. Let's see what it can do now:

It looks like the perfect backup software exists! However, it’s not very ideal, but I’ll talk about the shortcomings later, but for now I’ll boast about the capabilities: Acronis True Image 2017 is a completely modern backup program, and unlike ancient software like CloneZilla, it has everything a modern person might need. This is what I personally really liked...

Firstly, saving space on the screws that are used for backup. The backup is made in compressed form, but Acronis allows you to search inside the backup.

Secondly, now I don't have to worry about data on mobile devices. Over the past two years, two microSD cards have failed: one on my wife’s phone, the other on her tablet. One photograph was at least partially saved, but the second was not, it “died” completely. Acronis True Image 2017 allows you to backup an unlimited number of Android/iOS mobile devices to your local computer.

Thirdly, you can (as I already noted) remotely control the backup on all home devices. Using the web panel, you can check the status of backups and configure data protection in real time.

Fourthly, there is support for copying Facebook profile content. A lot of information is now published on social networks: photos, videos, comments. A backup of this data will protect against page hacking or accidental deletion.

Finally, cloud orientation. I couldn’t even imagine that Acronis now has such powerful cloud support: by purchasing a subscription, you get 500 GB of cloud space! This volume is quite enough for me for home purposes (unless, of course, I upload entire hard drive images to the cloud, although Acronis allows this too).

About the disadvantages

Everything has its drawbacks. I hope the Acronis developers will listen to the criticism. Personally, I didn’t like two things about the program.

The first is the lack of Linux support. Data stored in Linux will have to be done the old fashioned way: either by copying, or using Clonezilla by creating an image of the partition with the data (fortunately, I have /home on a separate partition, out of habit).

The second is the lack of support for other social networks other than Facebook. I think, however, that over time it will appear. But whether Linux support will appear is a question. Of course, Acronis has a Linux Server product, but I don’t want to use it for several reasons: firstly, using the server version for home use is tantamount to shooting sparrows with a cannon, and secondly, I don’t want to pay for another product (and this is the minimum 792 rubles per month), and thirdly, I want everything to be managed from one product.

About the price

We all know that Acronis has never been free. However, the prices also pleasantly surprised me: on the official website there is a calculator that allows you to find out how much Acronis will cost you.

A one-time license for 1 computer (the number of mobile devices is unlimited) will cost 1,700 rubles (approximately $27 at the current exchange rate). But it’s more profitable to buy a subscription: in this case, you will get both the program itself and 500 GB of cloud storage. The cost of a subscription for a year will cost 1400 rubles. (~22$), for two years - only 2000 rubles (~32$), which is approximately 1.83$ or 1.33$ per month. For that kind of money you can only buy 100 GB of Google Drive! And here I got an excellent backup tool + 500 GB in the cloud.

If we calculate a more realistic configuration: 3 computers and 1 TB in the cloud, then a subscription for a year will cost 2400 rubles, and for 2 years - 3600 rubles. Only 150 rubles per month compared to 600 rubles for 1 TB on Google Drive! To me, the conclusion was obvious. 150 rubles is an amount quite affordable for a home user and will not put a strain on the family budget.

Everyone solves the problem of backing up data in their own way: some use an external HDD drive for this, others copy everything important to CDs and DVDs, some prefer to have an “extra” internal hard drive, where they dump files and folders from time to time. But, by and large, the problem of backup is not where to create a copy of important data, but rather remembering to do it. Every person who works at a computer has important files that are often changed and supplemented. These can be Excel tables, Word documents, files that store settings for various programs - from the disk cataloger database to user browser profiles. Such files are much more valuable than films, videos, music and other data that are downloaded from the Internet by the gigabytes and recorded on backup media. Burning a once downloaded movie to disk is a simple matter. But daily creation of copies of constantly changing work files is quite a troublesome task, and few people are so organized that they constantly remember the need for backup and make it. In today's review, we will look at programs that eliminate the need to remember to constantly save a copy of important data. Moreover, we will focus only on those of them that have free status.

In order for the program to perform backups, you need to create a profile. The step-by-step wizard will not let you get confused in the settings - first select the profile name, then indicate the folder from which you want to copy files. In this case, you can specify whether nested directories should be taken into account. After this, select the folder in which the backups will be stored. File Backup Watcher Free does not provide the ability to backup to a CD/DVD or to a network drive, so such a folder can only be located on one of the local drives. The USB drive connected to the computer is also not in the list of devices. The last step of the wizard is to configure the task scheduler. In order to see its settings, you need to select the automatic copying method. The planner is made very conveniently: each month, day of the week, day, hour and minute has its own button. By pressing the necessary buttons, you can specify the time at which files will be copied.

After the profile is created, its name is displayed on the first tab of the program. Even if the automatic copying method is selected for the profile, the task can be started manually using the button on the program toolbar or the F5 key. For more convenient management of profiles, the program provides the ability to organize them into folders. However, you cannot launch all profiles by clicking on the folder name - to do this you will have to open the folder and select all the profile names. If you have created tasks that File Backup Watcher Free should run on a schedule, the program can be placed in the tray, and it will silently run in the specified mode. When a program is active, its icon is grey-green. If you need to postpone completing tasks for a while, you can simply click on the icon and select the “Pause” command in the menu. The icon will turn gray and red and operation will be suspended. When performing a backup, File Backup Watcher Free places a copy of the original directory in the specified folder, adding the date and time of copying to its name. When copying again, the program simply creates a new folder with a different name. Thus, the task of deleting old backups falls on the user's shoulders - after a while there may be too many of them. You will have to manually burn saved copies to DVD or archive them. Both tabs - "CD/DVD recorder" and ZIP - have a file manager. On the archiver tab, it is single-panel - by selecting files, they can be zipped or unzipped using buttons on the toolbar or commands in the context menu.

On the disc burning tab, the file manager is presented in two panels - the first displays all the files on the hard drive, the second allows you to create the contents of the disk by dragging files and folders onto it using the mouse. It's important to note that File Backup Watcher Free can not only burn discs, but also create ISO files.

Overall, despite its limited functionality, File Backup Watcher Free is a fairly convenient and simple backup solution. It can be safely recommended to anyone who is used to storing copies of files on a second hard drive. If the main hard drive fails, you will certainly appreciate the program's performance.

As the program developers rightly note in the documentation, “there is no third step in setting up the program”; after the first two, it is ready to work. Simplicity, however, also has its downside. First, there can only be one folder for saving copies, and if you change it, it changes for all jobs. Secondly, backup cannot be started for only one task - all are executed at once. Back2zip has a task scheduler where you can select the interval for saving copies - from 20 minutes to 6 hours. In addition, you can limit the operating time of the program, say, allow it to make copies only at night.

It is worth paying attention to the settings for creating copies. Firstly, Back2zip can archive files in ZIP format, and the user can even choose the compression level.

Secondly, the program is able to save previous copies. In its settings, you can specify the time during which copies of files will be saved - from one day to two weeks. All copies older than the selected period will be automatically deleted. If you wish, you can disable the ability to save earlier copies, and then each time the old files will be replaced with new ones. Despite the fact that all tasks are saved in one folder, you cannot get confused in them. Back2zip works like this: in the directory selected for copying data, it creates a folder that is named exactly the same as the folder that is being copied. A directory is created in it, the name of which consists of the current date, and files are placed in it. If you choose to save previous copies in the settings, there are several folders with dates. In general, the program made a very good impression: the interface is simple and convenient, I was pleased with the possibilities for archiving files and automatically deleting old copies.

On the same tab, you need to specify the name of the archive in which copies of files will be saved, and the path to it on disk. The name can be created using a mask. *Y in the name means the year in the format of four digits, *y - the year in the format of the last two digits, *M - month, *D - day, etc. (all available masks and their meanings can be found in the help file). The archive name can include any combination of masks. For example, if a backup is performed on October 11, then the saved archive that uses the *D*M.zip mask will be named 1110.zip. The "Copies" tab is used to select folders to which you want to copy important files. You can select several folders (located on the hard drives of your computer or on the local network) and for each specify the frequency of saving. You can create copies daily or on specified days of the week. If you select Odd/Even, backups will be saved to different folders on odd and even days. On the "Additional copies" tab, you can specify the folders into which previously saved archives should be copied. Thus, we are dealing with double data storage - first the main files are copied to a safe place and placed in an archive, and then a copy is created for this archive. Such copies may be created at the end of each week, month, quarter or year. If desired, the original archive can be automatically deleted. On the Commands tab, you can set different actions to be performed before or after the backup. Teams can be external or internal. Internal ones include copying, moving, renaming and deleting files, and external ones include launching various applications. After completing work on a task, it is saved and then opened in the main module of The Copier. You only need to do this once - then the program remembers the path to the file and opens it automatically. It is worth noting that one data file can contain several tasks, each of which has its own parameters for the archive, folders in which saving is performed, etc. From the main program window, you can start a manual backup, view and print a report.

To change report parameters and make other changes, you need to go to the settings window. It defines the schedule according to which the copying is performed. Here you can select not only the frequency of creating file copies, but also the time of day. The scheduler settings are quite flexible - you can copy on all days except weekends, on selected days of the week or month, once a day when the program starts, etc. Here, in the settings, you can specify the parameters for creating an archive, such as the degree of compression, creating a self-extracting archive, saving empty directories, and encoding file names. If you plan to back up large amounts of data, it makes sense to specify a single volume size. It can be equal, for example, to the size of a CD. Also interesting is the ability to choose the behavior of the program after performing a backup. It can send a report by email, print it, close it, and even turn off the computer.

Among the disadvantages of The Copier, it is worth noting a slightly confusing work scheme (it would be more logical to organize it within one utility, rather than creating several) and the inability to download several data files at the same time. In other words, if you need to create several different backup jobs that need to run constantly, you need to put them in one data file, otherwise you will have to constantly load one DAT file after another into The Copier.

In addition to simple copying, Comodo BackUp offers file transfer (after which the original files will be unavailable in the old location), copying with subsequent deletion of old copies, transfer with deletion of old copies. In addition, there is an interesting synchronization mode in which the backup is created not according to a schedule, but in real time. As soon as the program commits changes to the source file, it immediately creates a copy of it. When using this mode, you do not need to use the scheduler; if you have chosen any other backup method, you will need it. The scheduler is very flexible and allows you to perform backups on specific days of the week, months, and days of the month. The copying start time is also indicated. In addition, it is possible to execute the task periodically, after a specified number of hours, when the program starts or when it is closed. Comodo BackUp can do more than just copy all files from a selected folder. In the project settings, you can specify whether subfolders should be taken into account, and if necessary, specify which subdirectories should be excluded from the task. It is also possible to exclude some files by selecting their type, specifying attributes, minimum or maximum size. You can do the opposite, that is, specify not exceptions, but masks for files that should be copied.

Backup copies of data can be saved not only on local or network drives, but also on a USB drive, FTP server, or recorded on a CD/DVD. When you choose to burn to a CD, the program can set a volume label and erase data that is already written to the disc.

On the Options tab, very important parameters are set that relate to saving copies of files. Comodo BackUp can operate in either full or incremental backup mode. In the first case, each time the job is executed, the data will be copied completely. In the case of an incremental backup, a complete copy of the data is created only the first time, and then only those files that have changed since the previous recording are copied.

When working with different data, it often happens that it is necessary to restore an old copy of a file because important information was accidentally overwritten, deleted or edited in the new one. Therefore, it makes sense to keep several backup copies. Their number is indicated in the Number of Version field. Files can be copied in their original form or packed into a ZIP archive. Comodo BackUp supports choosing the compression level, as well as adding a password to open the file. For convenience, variable data such as date and time can be used in the archive name. The same goes for the name of the folder in which the backups are saved. The execution of Comodo BackUp tasks can be linked to the launch of other applications. For example, you can select an application that should be launched before the backup is performed or immediately after it completes. To ensure that all backup settings are entered correctly, you can test the job on the Test tab. If some data is missing, for example, it is not indicated where to save copies, the program will display a corresponding message and you can correct the error.

Conclusion

Review of the best data backup programs. Download the best free and paid programs for data backup.

Everyone knows that it is necessary to constantly back up our data. Most often, we postpone this procedure “for later” and sometimes find ourselves in a situation where valuable photos and documents are impossible or extremely expensive to restore. I suggest you spend 5 minutes reading my article and another 10 minutes installing one of 5 backup programs to set up a backup of your data to an external hard drive or the cloud. You will never regret spending 15 minutes of your life, because such a short time will guarantee the safety of your photos and important data. Undoubtedly, you can manually save the necessary data to an external drive, but why not entrust this routine procedure to a program? Moreover, many of the backup programs mentioned in the review are absolutely free.

Best Backup Software

EaseuS Todo Backup Free

Acronis True Image

Acronis products are extremely famous in our country. The program is good in everything, perhaps, except for the somewhat high price. In all other respects, it is an excellent program for careful backup of your data or operating system.

• Full backup of a disk or selected area.
• Universal Restore— the ability to restore a copy of the operating system even to a computer with a different configuration.
• Incredibly fast backup and recovery.
• You can restore the entire image or specific folders or files

Price: 1 device - 1700 rub.

R-Drive Image

R-Drive Image is a small but feature-rich program for on-the-fly disk backup. The program can restore both entire disks and individual files. You can also easily clone disks using R-Drive Image. In general, the program has many small but successful functions, but its price for the Russian market is somewhat frightening, given the dollar exchange rate.

Price: 1 device – $44.95

CrashPlan

Quite often, free backup programs have limited functionality, but not in this case. The free version of CrashPlan has everything you need to regularly create backups to a variety of media, including a unique feature that backs up your data to a specific computer on your network (for example, a friend's computer).

• Available for Windows, Mac and Linux
• Saving backups to other computers
• Saving a backup to an external drive
• Automatic daily backups
• 448-bit file encryption

Overall, a very interesting backup program that deserves attention.

Aomei Backupper

AOMEI Backupper Standard is a free data backup and recovery program that is functional and easy to use. The program contains all the necessary tools for backing up and restoring the system, disks, partitions and disk cloning. Thanks to the support of VSS technology, AOMEI Backupper can make a complete backup of your system and any data even while the OS is running, without interfering with running processes in any way.
Even though this program is at the end of the list, I recommend paying close attention to it. The program is really good, and I can’t count how many times the Universal restore function has helped me out.

P.S. Universal restore - allows you to restore and run a copy of the system on a computer with different characteristics.

Action Backup

The last place (but not in quality) in our selection is occupied by the development of domestic programmers -. The program is actively developing and has several of its own features that distinguish this product from foreign competitors. Before purchasing, you can download a 15-day trial version of the program.

Here are the main features of Action Backup:

• Easy to set up and use: the program is extremely easy to understand, especially since there are instructions in Russian on the website. After the initial setup, the utility will backup the necessary data on a schedule, relieving you of worries about data safety.
• Rich functionality: Action Backup really does a lot - it can make backups to a remote FTP server and network drives, to external hard drives, “cut” data onto optical drives, create “shadow copies”, work as a service 24/7 365 and much more!
• Unpretentious: Action Backup consumes extremely few system resources and can work even on weak machines. This is especially true for budget organizations, many of which cannot boast of a modern fleet of equipment.
• Excellent compatibility: Action Backup works perfectly on any modern version of Windows: 7, 8, 10, Server and supports 32 and 64 bit editions.

Price: from 560 to 960 rub. depending on the number of licenses purchased. You can use the program completely free for 15 days!

So, today we got acquainted with the best data recovery programs. Yes, there are only 5 of them, but why make the top 10, 20, 30 - after all, the functions of all these programs are almost similar. I recommend you the free AOMEI Backupper Standard program. If you are confused by the lack of Russian language in this program, pay attention to Acronis True Image. All the best, I hope my article helped you choose a data recovery program.

• The program is free for personal and commercial use.

  FBackup is a backup program that is free for use at home and in the office. This means you save money instead of paying for another data backup program.

• Automatic reservation.

  You create a backup profile, set it to run automatically, and you'll never remember about it again. FBackup will automatically create copies of data at the appointed time, which gives you not only confidence in the safety of your files, but also additional free time.

• zip packaging of backup copies.

  When backing up the full type, the source files are archived using the standard zip algorithm. FBackup uses ZIP64 compression, which allows you to create archives larger than 2GB. Moreover, you can protect archives with a password, which will be requested when extracting data from them.

• Perform actions before/after backup.

  For each backup profile, you can specify an action to be performed before or after. For example, you specify a "Cleanup" action before starting a backup, which will delete all previously archived files before creating new ones. As an action after backup, you can set the system to shut down, log out the user profile, put the system into sleep mode - any such action will be performed at your discretion after the successful completion of the file backup operation.

• Exact copies of files.

  If you do not want to store files in a single archive, FBackup can create exact copies of the original objects. Because FBackup correctly handles empty folders, you can use this type of backup to create a “mirror” copy of the original files in a specified location.

• Ease of use.

  The two main functions of a backup program are data backup and recovery. FBackup makes it easy for you by offering the use of friendly wizards. When you start working with the wizard for creating a new backup profile, you specify where, how and how often to create copies - and that’s it, the profile is ready to launch. If you want to restore files, open the recovery wizard, which will only ask where you want to restore the backup files.

• Automatic updates.

  FBackup automatically checks for updates once a week, allowing you to stay up to date with new versions. The option to check for updates can be disabled, but this is not recommended to ensure that your version of FBackup is up to date.

• Multiple reservation assignments.

  By default, the location of future backup copies is the operating system partition. To ensure the security of your backups, you will need to place them in other destinations supported by FBackup (such as external USB/Firewire drives, or a mounted network drive). In this case, if a hardware failure occurs, your data will be safe and sound on an external independent storage device.

• Plugins.

• Archiving open files.

  If a file is being used by another program while a backup is in progress, FBackup will still be able to back up the file using the Volume Shadow Copies service provided by Windows. Thus, if you are using Windows 10, 8/8.1, 7, Vista, XP, 2016/2012/2008/2003 Server (32/64-bit), FBackup will archive these open files. For example, you can make a backup copy of your Outlook mail database and settings without closing it.

• Multilingual

  Select the user interface language from the currently supported ones (

A simple, convenient and long-proven program for backing up files and synchronizing folders on a schedule. Russian developer. The program has a simple, intuitive interface, but at the same time it has wide capabilities and flexible settings. Allows you to copy all or only new/changed files between local, network, removable drives, FTP/SFTP, NAS servers.

The program has 3 editions:

• Exiland Backup Free (free, basic features, Windows application)
• Exiland Backup Standard (paid, advanced functionality, Windows application)
• Exiland Backup Professional (paid, maximum capabilities, Windows service)

Key features of the program:

• 4 types of file copying: Full, Differential, Incremental, Synchronization.
• Flexible configuration of task launch schedules
• Compression to standard ZIP format, AES-256 encryption, archive separation, integrity check
• The program works as a service (Windows service)
• Copying files from multiple PCs on a local network
• Fast copying of files to multiple threads (in parallel)
• Supports FTP, SFTP (SSH) protocols, copying files from Linux systems
• Maintaining a detailed log
• Notification of results by E-mail, SMS
• View backup and restore files if they are lost
• Launching external applications, command line (before and after completing tasks)
• Grouping tasks

Built-in scheduler

You can use the built-in scheduler, launch tasks using a button in the program, or assign tasks to the Windows scheduler (Task Manager) - in this case, you do not have to keep the program running all the time. Windows Scheduler will launch the program, which will complete the task and the program will be unloaded from memory.

Duplicate backups

To be safe, you can store backups in several places. The program allows you to specify an unlimited number of places to store backups.

Safety

To prevent access to ZIP archives, set a password, specify the AES-256 encryption algorithm, and save backup copies in a network folder to which access is restricted (the Exiland Backup program allows you to specify a login/password to access the network folder). All settings and passwords in the program are stored in encrypted form. Access to program settings can be restricted by setting a password to enter the program.

Reliability

The program has been in existence since 2005 and over the years of service has shown its reliability and resistance to emergency situations, such as communication interruption (network failure) during backup, incorrect file names, disk problems, etc. If the connection is lost, the program will wait for a connection to appear within the specified time and will continue copying when a connection to a network drive or the Internet appears. The user (system administrator) will receive an SMS or e-mail notification about all problematic files and emergency situations.

Create a task

Creating a task is very simple. To do this, click the Create -> New task button located on the top panel. Next, specify the name of the task, for example, “Working Documents”, select the type of copying, folders and files to be copied, compression/encryption, select a folder to save backups and specify a launch schedule.

Now you can minimize it to the Notification Area on the System Tray and wait for it to launch as scheduled. You can also run the task by button on the top panel.