Backup Software Review Notes

I tried to find the best inexpensive backup solution.

Cobian Backup 10

Where I heard about it: It's the on the top of the best free backup programs reviewed by ghack.net (4/2009).
Cost: Free
Notes:
- Can only do mirroring on local drives (cannot mirror with FTP, for example).
- Program seems stable. Has not crashed.
- Can do full, differential, incremental backups.
- Backup can go to network drive, FTP, and internet (not tried this).
- Backup creates files and path just like the source. No use of proprietary backup set file format.

Super Flexible

Where I heard about it: wikipedia's list of file synchronization software
Cost: Trial version for 30 days free. Each license costs $50. Can install on multiple PCs, but only one may run at a time.
Notes:
- Program seems stable.

Best Sync FTP

Notes:
- Program crashed one time. UI is pretty but not stable.

Verdict: Forget about all the others and just use Cobian Backup. It is free, and it is simply the best!

Super Flexible File Synchronizer - Most Versatile Backup Solution Final Pick

I was finally sick of DeltaCopy to sync files. Even with all the updates and hacks I was still not able to get it to run smoothly. So I started the journey again seeking the best software to backup my personal files. The solution that I'm looking for must satisfy the following:

• Local backup, not some free on-line backup service on the cloud that takes weeks to create the initial dump.
• Support Unicode file names.
• Backup to another networked computer, not just to a local drive or a USB drive.
• Transfer files through protocols other than the native file-sharing.
• Runs on Windows 7.
• Allow scheduling, and can run even without user logged in.
• Delete file from the backup when the source file is deleted.

These are just the most important features that are useful to me. It turned out that I was looking for a "file synchronization" software, and not a "backup" software. Almost all of the backup software combines all of the source files into very few "package" files. This resembles the old tape technology. Each "package" file is like a tape. You cannot view the files in each tape easily with something like the Windows Explorer. You must perform a lengthy "restore" operation which searches linearly for the file you need. If your file is at the end of the tape then you are out of luck. The files that are backed up by a "file synchronization" software, on the other hand, are the same as the files at the source. It creates a carbon-copy of your file for redundancy. It is KISS.

OK. So I finally gotten to the point. This is a good list of file synchronization programs. I downloaded and tried a free one (OneSync), and two commercial ones (Best Sync FTP and Super Flexible) which seem to have the most features. Then I conclude the free ones are just not stable (OneSync didn't even run on my Windows 7 VM) enough for serious jobs. Both of the commercial ones satisfy all of my requirements above. However, Best Sync FTP is more expensive (about $100 for the Ultimate version on 3 computers) and it requires on-line activation. On-line activation sucks, what if I retire my server and get a new one. Does that count as 2 licenses? Super Flexible costs only about $60, and you can install it to all your computers. You only need multiple licenses when you want to run it on multiple computer simultaneously! This is the most generous software offer that I've ever seen. It is truly an amazing product.

Using DeltaCopy to backup files with Unicode file names and long file names

DeltaCopy is an open source (free) program for backup files in Windows. I have seen it working on XP, Vista, and Windows 7, and I also believe it will run on all Windows server versions. Its most important feature is that it performs incremental backup: only the changed part of a large file will be backed up. DeltaCopy uses a client-server model so you can backup files to another computer as well as backup files to another hard disk drive on the same computer (a single computer acting as both the client and the server).

While on-line backup is gaining popularity, the main reason that you should stay away from it is the slowness of the data transfer speed over the internet. If you only want to protect your data in the case of a disk failure, and you don't need to:

1. backup the data to another part of the world, and
2. share the backup data over the internet

then you should stay away from on-line backup. You can easily use DeltaCopy to setup a good backup strategy on your home network.

DeltaCopy's website gives you two install options: you can download a Windows installer setup file, or you can download a zip-compressed file of the whole program. Since all of the necessary files are located in the DeltaCopy's folder, and there is no registry update and other additional processing to the setup I like to get the zip.

There are two limitations of the out-of-the-box DeltaCopy program:

1. It cannot handle Unicode file names
2. It cannot handle long file names (files which has more than 255 characters in its path from the root of the backup folder)

If you only have problem with the Unicode file names

One limitation of the out-of-the-box DeltaCopy is that it does not properly backup file names with Unicode characters. This is important to you if you have file names in foreign language, for example. The solution to this problem is posted on UTF-8 Cygwin. Simply put: replace cygwin1.dll in your DeltaCopy folder with one that is Unicode-enabled. Follow the link on UTF-8 Cygwin to get the file.

If you have both the Unicode file names problem and the long file names problem

I got the solution from reading this post and I'm really glad that it worked. Many of the files that are included in the DeltaCopy download are out of date. You can get the more up-to-date files by installing cygwin. You will need to get the following files:

chmod.exe - get the latest version
rsync.exe - get version 3.0.6 (version 3.0.7 does not work)
ssh.exe - get from the latest version of openSSH
cygwin1.dll - part of cygwin
cyggcc_s-1.dll - get the latest version

Next, copy these files into the DeltaCopy folder to replace the old files. You need to do this for both the client and the server.

Finally, add the following to the deltacd.conf:

uid = 0
gid = 0

That's all.

Keep drive letters unchange for USB devices on Windows

Why not turn used computers into home network servers?

File Server - fs

A file server is a central place for home data. It has the following responsibilities:
1. Maintain data integrity (minimize data lose)
2. Backup
3. Allow data sharing and access control

External USB hard-disks are getting cheaper and are easier to maintain than internal ones. A handy tool for USB hard-disks is USBDLM - USB Drive Letter Manager for Windows. It allows a permanent drive letter to be assigned to a USB hard-disk by its permanent device-ID (and many other criteria). With this, it is now possible to use the same hard-disk for multiple computers (say if you have a desktop PC and a notebook) while be assured that the same drive letter can be used on every computer. In addition, now you can sign up for one online backup account (IDrive, MozyHome) and use it on multiple computers to backup the data from the same USB hard-disk.

Here is a sample minimum USBDLM configuration file to reserve drive letter F for my USB hard-disk:

[ExcludedLetters]
Letter1=F

[DriveLetters1]
DeviceID1=USBSTOR\DISK&VAN_WD&PRDXTERNAL&RE_V5.00\444333385654776334321212&0
Letter1=F

Media Center Server - mcs