Free (or low cost) backup software?
 

Can someone perhaps recommend a low-cost (or better still, free) software for backing up my computer to an external drive?

I use a simple batch file using xcopy, with a line for each main subdirectory
Like xcopy c:\D\*.* e:\bakupT\D\*.* /s /m /y /r for files in subdirectory D
I only backup data files & email and not program files
You need to be disciplined on where files go on your hard disk

I think carpediem may be looking for a less technical method.

Agreed, bit its simple and not the technical (DOS based)

I'm reasonably computer literate for a non-IT guy, and used to use DOS, and it sounds pretty complex to me. I wouldn't know exactly which files needed to be backed up, etc., especially based on obscure file names. It would require a pretty good knowledge of DOS syntax, etc.

Don't both Windows and OSX have built in backup software?

I use crashplan and have had no issues backing up or restoring from external drives (though I now back up to my home server using crashplan).

Crashplan is free to use for backing up to either a friend running Crashplan or to a network drive. The built-in Windows Backup works fine too.

Same here - Crashplan free for local, plus paid at their site.

I have been using SyncBackFree on my Windows box for a while.

Can you tell us what you want backing up, and what flavour of operating system you use? This should help us choose what might suit you. For example, if you have a Windows 10 laptop or a Mac desktop we might offer different solutions.

Do you want the drive to be a physical external hard drive plugged into your computer, or an external "cloud" solution?

To give you an idea of what I am on about, I have a Macbook Air laptop and a Mac desktop. They are regularly automatically backed up using a Mac backup system to a 2TB storage device plugged into my home network. But all the important files are also stored "off-site" in the "cloud" solution that comes with my Office 365 subscription. If the house was burgled or burnt down and the computer and 2TB backup store was lost, I could get access to the essentials pretty quick, and use them on my Windows desktop in another location until I bought a replacement device. Belt and braces!

Or do you just want something to copy your hard disk to an external hard disk of the same size or larger?

I use DirSyncPro to back up specific directories.

I use DriveImageXML

You don't tell us what OS you are using. I personally use robocopy a tool that comes with every release of windows.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...(v=ws.11).aspx

I use SynbackSE having paid for the software after using the free version for a number of years and felt I owed a little to the developers. This creates local copies of my data on a NAS.

I also have Crashplan running for all the machines in the house - I've just renewed after a 4 year deal. Not happy to find that it's now a yearly sub only, though good value for the volume of stuff I have backed-up and versions. 2Tb+

Finally, I also run a weekly Macrium Reflect Image of my two main drives. The downside of the free version is that you need to check the logs to make sure all has worked well. I missed this and had a HDD failure this year, only to find the Image had failed as the disc had been failing for weeks. Luckily, the Synback copies were good and Crashplan filled in the gaps of a couple of new files.

You can never have too much back-up.

Don't rely just on local/external drives - always put your photos and key docs into some kind of cloud service.