Free tool for Backup or Mirroring of Windows Folders

[bubusam13]

Hi, I have Lightroom folder in an external HDD. Kindly suggest me some freeware to keep automatic backups or create a mirror copy of that folder in another external Hard Drive.
Current I am using Seagate toolkit which works pretty well for backup of Internal Drives to external, but it doesnot work external to external drive.

 

[omega44-xt]

Backup using File History - feature present in Win10/11. Just search backup in Windows search bar.

I use it to run daily backup of specified folders from internal HDD to ext HDD. If the drive's letter is always same (basically keep it always connected), I see no reason to think that ext HDD to ext HDD won't work.

 

[bubusam13]

Where do I select the source Folder ?

 

[omega44-xt]

Where do I select the source Folder ?

View attachment 22437

I said - search in Windows search bar, it is the one present in taskbar (i did mention Win10/11). I haven't configured it via legacy control panel, but surely there will be guides online to do it. Just google it.

 

[bubusam13]

I think this option is not available in windows 11. All it beings me to OneDrive sync.

 

[bubusam13]

I need either a third party tool or some way to revert back to windows 10 keeping my apps and settings in place.

 

[omega44-xt]

I need either a third party tool or some way to revert back to windows 10 keeping my apps and settings in place.

Apparently what I showed you is one of the features that MS removed from Win11 vs Win10. This is the reason I am not upgrading, now found another reason to stick to Win10. I like the aesthetics of Win11, at least MS is trying to improve, but they have made a lot of stupid decisions.

makeuseof.com/windows-11-file-history-guide/

I think it changes folder location to C:\Users\user\xxx. If that's the case, then it is kind of useless.

Try out softwares like AOMEI Backupper Standard, EaseUS to do backup, Veeam Agent, etc, their free versions. Do update on what worked well for you. Maybe it will come in handy to me as well when I eventually might have to jump to Win11 because of DirectStorage.

There are rumours of Win12 as well, time will tell if they bring back features like File History back.

 

[bubusam13]

I am choosing perfect-backup.
Reason: I dont know yet. I feel it is light weight tool. Only 4.5 MB. And is freeware.


Which will be best, a differential or Incremental backup for complete PC backup ?

 

[omega44-xt]

I am choosing perfect-backup.
Reason: I dont know yet. I feel it is light weight tool. Only 4.5 MB. And is freeware.


Which will be best, a differential or Incremental backup for complete PC backup ?

I never learned the theory of such stuff

 

[bubusam13]

Now its becoming frustrating. Once MS removed Backup, seems there is no freeware now.
EaseUS is just for 30 days
AOMEI only backs up to images. It does not save backups as file.
PB works but does not show any status. Becomes confusing if its working or not.
Veeam Agent is also trial.
In past, many such softwares were available for free

 

[omega44-xt]

Now its becoming frustrating. Once MS removed Backup, seems there is no freeware now.
EaseUS is just for 30 days
AOMEI only backs up to images. It does not save backups as file.
PB works but does not show any status. Becomes confusing if its working or not.
Veeam Agent is also trial.
In past, many such softwares were available for free

I still see a free edition when installing it. For basic backup, it might suffice.I just tried it & don't see my ext HDD on it, maybe its a paywalled feature.

These are some other free ones I could find on reddit: FreeFileSync, SyncBackFree & Cobian. IMO search in google "free backup software win11 reddit", read through threads.

Do let me know what works for you.

 

[bubusam13]

I installed it. After installation it shows 30 days trial remaining. Also I tried other tools. They give full backup, differential(save changes after last full backup) and incremental(files that have changed since the most recently completed incremental backup) are available in paid.
To summarize, seagate toolkit is the only free option for me. The tool is good and smartly excludes folders like System Volume Information, Windows etc. But it has no option to override those. And it does not detect another External Seagate drive as source. It assumes all External Seagate drives are for backup and displays them in destination.
EaseUS is giving me more option. So now I am using EaseUS by another means.

 

[TheSloth]

Did you try the robocopy command? I have never tried it so I don't know how good it is but it has mirror option

 

[bubusam13]

Yes I use robocopy extensively for copying data to and from Azure blobs as MS recommends it. Not fond of it though. I want some agent to carry out these tasks on schedule.
EaseUS Todo Backup 2023 is damn slow. This thing is running since yesterday 3:30 PM and only 83% is done.

 

[omega44-xt]

Yes I use robocopy extensively for copying data to and from Azure blobs as MS recommends it. Not fond of it though. I want some agent to carry out these tasks on schedule.
EaseUS Todo Backup 2023 is damn slow. This thing is running since yesterday 3:30 PM and only 83% is done.

How many GB of data are you copying?

 

[bubusam13]

2 TB, of which 650 GB approx will be in SSD

 

[invisiblebond]

How about @bubusam13

*www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3iAiAqMtvg

 

[bubusam13]

I checked that. Once the full backup is done, will the next backups be full or incremental. Will it backup a file if I make any changes to it ?

I got my answer. Even though MS says it does, in reality it does not.

*answers.microsoft.com/en-us/window...indows-7/4073471a-3bce-4f03-845d-928c3e59243b