Tom's Guide: Backup Your PC With These Free Programs

Backing up your data isn't exactly a thrilling task, but it's definitely a necessary one. Though boring, protecting your data from harm is actually very easy, and there is a wealth of programs that will help you do it. Heck, some of them you just need to input a few settings and it'll run itself. Still, it can be hard to know which program is right for you. After all, the casual user and power user have very different needs. Check out Tom's Guide's 'Save Your Data: Backup with These Free Programs,' for a full round-up of the best backup tools.

Keeping a backup of your data can often feel like an unnecessary chore...until disaster strikes and you lose years of work, pictures, or media due to hardware failure or a system crash. your precious data need not be overly complex or expensive, and you certainly won't begrudge the effort if disaster strikes. Here are 11 great and free tools for safeguarding your electronic treasures. Whether you're a power-user that needs to protect your data or a casual surfer looking for some extra peace of mind, there's a program in here to suit your needs.Save Your Data: Backup with These Free Programs

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  • bison88
    Backing up is easy, restoring can often be a PITA. Make a plan to test the backup every X amount of backups otherwise they are useless.
    Reply
  • weierstrass
    rsync, do we need more?
    Reply
  • egilbe
    I periodically use windows backup to create an image of my drive. It sees to work, although it's slow.
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    robocopy -- its built into windows (just not XP) just make a batch telling it what to include/skip

    even has features like inter-packet gap to stop network/internet lag and a lot more

    try it some time
    Reply
  • digiex
    Build a NAS with RAID10.
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    digiexBuild a NAS with RAID10.
    this is about SOFTWARE to backup TO devices, not the devices themselves
    Reply
  • egilbe
    9425854 said:
    Build a NAS with RAID10.

    I hope you were joking. Raid 0 is not backup and it's more prone to drive failure.
    Reply
  • _Cosmin_
    apache_livesthis is about SOFTWARE to backup TO devices, not the devices themselves
    FreeNAS is a software.... i know, i use it !
    Reply
  • _Cosmin_
    egilbeI hope you were joking. Raid 0 is not backup and it's more prone to drive failure.
    RAID10 is not RAID0... read again !
    Reply
  • _Cosmin_
    So, the news on tomshardware is that on tomsguide there is a new post... REALLY ?
    STOP DOING THAT - JANE !
    Reply