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

I have a MyCloud device which hasn’t worked seamlessly since the day that I purchased it a few years ago. So I bought a Seagate EHD and have been using their Toolkit until their hardware EHD failed. I tried using Toolkit with my WD devices and found that it’s only good with Seagate.


So I purchased a WD EasyStore EHD and am trying to use the WD Discovery software. The installation protocol asks if I have a MyCloud device. Great! now I’ve found a WD program to couple MyCloud with EasyStore. On progressing with the installation, I get the message that my MyCloud is no longer supported.


So what software do I need to backup/restore my computer?? I have Macrium free but it apparently doesn't support individual file sync/restore with the free version.

Are there other free (or nominally expensive) programs to protect my data?


I’ll be happy to supply screenshots or other information as needed.

lbeck said:

Are there other free (or nominally expensive) programs to protect my data?

There's a bunch of free ones.

I used Free File Sync for several years. It worked OK, but I eventually frowned at the interface.

I've been using SyncBackFree for the last 4 or 5 years.

They all work pretty much the same way but the interfaces differ. Some interfaces are unnecessarily complex. The terminology can differ from one to another.

You should be able to include or exclude by file, folder, or file extension. They usually have schedulers to automate the process or you can simply run them on demand.

You might want to set up multiple "profiles" (as they might be called). One to backup all personal files and run it daily, perhaps terabytes.

Maybe another to back up bookmarks or email, probably megabytes.

Maybe another to back up only your most critical personal data, maybe gigabytes. Maybe to a thumb drive.

You can direct the backups to an internal, an external, or a thumb drive.

A key decision is whether or not you want to delete a file from the backup if you have previously deleted it from the original location. That is often called "mirroring". I do want to do that, but some don't.

My "all data" profile usually takes about 100 seconds to run--currently at 90,000 files and 817 gigabytes of data. 10 seconds to scan the source on SSD and 90 more seconds to compare that to the most recent backup on an HDD.

Thanks. I do have a paid version of Acronis 2012 and may revisit to see if this is useful. I also have FreeFileSync but it sounds like that is not Utopia.

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.

Has anyone reading this used Seagate Toolkit? I've been using it for a few months and it appears to be adequate if you only want an image, regular backups, and a mechanism to retrieve lost files. MR does this also and maybe some additional utilities but I'm leaning towards Toolkit because it's free and may be all that I need.

I haven't used it, but would be interested in your review of it as I am always looking for new backup tools.

If you've been using it for months, you are likely the resident expert. I'd frankly never even heard of it.

I'd particularly need to know about the granularity of the configuration---how much control you have over what to include, what to exclude--and what learning curve is involved.

I took a quick look at a Youtube vid from the Seagate site, but it wasn't very revealing about the finer points.

I wouldn't be interested if the choices were limited to merely mirroring one drive to another, with little control over what, when, etc.

Can you set up 2 routines--for instance, one to backup up "everything" on a data drive, and another to backup, say, bookmarks only from a totally different drive? Both going to the same destination drive.

lbeck said:

I have a MyCloud device which hasn’t worked seamlessly since the day that I purchased it a few years ago. So I bought a Seagate EHD and have been using their Toolkit until their hardware EHD failed. I tried using Toolkit with my WD devices and found that it’s only good with Seagate.


So I purchased a WD EasyStore EHD and am trying to use the WD Discovery software. The installation protocol asks if I have a MyCloud device. Great! now I’ve found a WD program to couple MyCloud with EasyStore. On progressing with the installation, I get the message that my MyCloud is no longer supported.


So what software do I need to backup/restore my computer?? I have Macrium free but it apparently doesn't support individual file sync/restore with the free version.

Are there other free (or nominally expensive) programs to protect my data?


I’ll be happy to supply screenshots or other information as needed.

Free stuff for backing up is one thing, but since you now have an external backup drive, I use both Macrium and Windows File history. In this environment, Macrium is used for major catastrophic issues and sometimes at the file level. M.R. backups are generated on a weekly basis. For realtime backup file copies, I use Windows File history (WFH). However I've selected only critical directories that change daily for WFH (Either by me or remote applications). If I destroyed a file that is not included in WFH, then my recourse is to Mount my latest Macrium Backup and retrieve the desired file. Its been working for a year on my productions machine with no issues. I have only once had to use WFH to retrieve a file and it was successful. The only down side is that you have to have enough, extra Constant Online space to maintain WFH. That's the reason I do not try to use WFH for all files. I couldn't afford all of the extra space.

Hope this helps you making a decision.

lbeck said:

I have Macrium free but it apparently doesn't support individual file sync/restore with the free version.

Reflect free does allow you to mount any partition from a disk image as a virtual drive and copy any files / folders you wish. Beware WD bundled software may be by Acronis which I try to avoid since in my experience Acronis backup software is poorly engineered and supported.

lbeck said:

Thanks. I do have a paid version of Acronis 2012 and may revisit to see if this is useful. I also have FreeFileSync but it sounds like that is not Utopia.

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 once used an old version of Acronis backup and it was pain to uninstall due to poor software engineering