Is there any free software to backup/restore OS or Files?

Hi there
If you could stomach using a Linux OS for this function then an easy Linux solution (create a distro on a usb stick or external ssd) is to use GRSYNC which is a real beauty of a program. Can recurse directories, supports long file names, can skip backing up of files if file being backed up is older than the one on the backup device etc etc. It's the GUI front end for rsync.

I believe filezilla can also do what you want -- and possibly using a windows solution try any of the FTP programs out there. FTP is a bit of a dog but there's no reason why you shouldn't use that type of program for sending files to another device.

Main problem with FTP though is I don't think there's any built in functionality to stop overwriting newer versions of a file if you re-do a backup with an older of the file version in it.

You can google for various FTP programs.

here's GRSYNC Backing up latest audio files from a NAS server to external USB drive.



(BTW if you have NAS systems whether Windows, Linux or proprietary OS on them you should also back those up at times too -- it's easy to forget these boxes at times especially if you have them on running headless 24/7).

Cheers
jimbo

ShadowMaker is impressive in file/os backup. I used it last year.

I have downloaded the free trial of Macrium. Maybe I just need to be such a cheapskate and pay the $70 if the 30-day trial works okay. I'm just tired of being burned by the MyCloud hardware, WD Discovery, Toolkit, and other hardware/software that isn't working as hoped.

I continue to be a cheapskate. But I'm also a bargain-hunter. Macrium is offer a 20% discount for the home edition for only a few more hours (through Nov 7, 2019) so I'm going to buy it. It does appear to be the industry standard.

I'll continue to monitor this thread, but for now I've decided to fork over the ~$55 and consider later whether I've wasted the investment.

SoFine409 said:

Macrium just works ever time.

Unless you have a bad stick of RAM. Everything on my computer seemed to work OK, until I tried to verify or restore a Macrium image. It would error out every time. By removing pairs of RAM in different combinations, I figured out that it was actually 1 stick of RAM causing the problem.

Andrew129260 said:

I use aomei backupper. Macrium never worked for me. It complains constantly unless everything is perfect just the way it wants. It would fail when trying to restore a backup or fail to allow me to do a backup because the drive was failing. Which is kinda the whole point of making a backup in the first place.

Aomei backupper did it anyway and worked just fine, so thats what I use. It's free.

I just switched to Aomei and use a 1TB for restore for the 250gb SSD. I did have minitool and when I tried to relicense after having to clean install 10, minitool would not and would come back stating that I had already used that license. Sad thing is that Minitool has poor support options in fixing. Had the same issue with jumping through hurdles with Nuance.

I used backup software once. ShadowMaker worked well for me. It can not only back up system, but also ordinary data to another storage device. What's more, it is free.