best file backup software??

hi guys,

all i want is a simple program that i can use to backup specific files and folders onto my external HDD. and then when i later decided to backup again it only adds new files or files that have changed since last back up (i will be basically backing up "my docs" photos and music, around 40gb at the min)

all the programs ive seen so far seem far too much for what i want, including virus removal etc. all i want is the backup function. cant see a program to do this being more than a few Mb??

anyway, just wondered what you guys would recommend for this??

cheers.

 

i use microsoft's free powertoy called synctoy. my desktop pc is set as my backup storage location, so i use synctoy to backup all my usb drives and my aao onto my desktop. you can customize how it backs up your files. the way i have mine setup is any change, addition, or deletion on my aao is mirrored on my desktop.

http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downl ... ybeta.aspx

aside from synctoy, if you want to geek it out to the max, you can write your own batch file and use the xcopy command to specify how and where you want to copy your files.

 

Try SyncBack. It's free. They have a paid version also but the free one does what you want. It can be setup very easily but it also has an expert mode where you can customize it in great detail.

I used to use the Microsoft synctoy but it has some bugs and is not reliable. SyncBack has worked for me without any problems.

Go here and go to the bottom of the page for the freeware version. http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html

 

I've been using Syncback on my main machine, and it's about the most intuitive of the full feature applications for linking external drives, DVD-RW data disk. Just wanting a simple link for the Acer, I found SyncToy had been upgraded as recently as last August, is easier, elegant even, and is working very well over the wi-fi.

 

If you're willing to pay a bit more, Acronis True Image Home is fantastic. I use it on both my main PC and my AAO. You can create full or incremental backups and you can also back up the entire drive so if your system fails completely (or you just want to reformat and try Linux for a while) you can boot from a CD/flash drive etc. and restore the entire system to a working state in about 20 minutes.

 

am backing up using that syncback right now and it looks like a top class program.
there was a user review on the cnet downloads site where i got it from and someone gave it 1 out of 5 as they thought it would only copy all sub-directries in a folder, but they must have been ultra dumb as selecting multiple sub-directories was pretty much the first option i saw!!! :lol:

cheers for the input anyway guys