Duplicati

UPDATE 03/2025: Most problems are solved now. There is now a TrayIcon, the folder access problem did not occur again and the WebInterface is still the same, but you just use it only in the beginning to setup the config or test the recovery. After that you don't really have to deal with it again.

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I was using Duplicati on endeavourOS (ArchLinux) for quite a Year and while it was working it did it's job as expected - but it seems you have to be lucky, because "Never worry about your backups again", as they state on their website, is definitely not the case - at least for me.

Often times there are errors accessing local folders. You have to give the software root-access - just to backup my personal files? Suspicious, but i have done so and then it seemed to work for a while, but then after some time it loses access again.

And that's the worst: If you not regularly take a look in the WebInterface you do not even notice that your BACKUPS AREN'T RUNNING properly (In my case because of the access-error the software thinking backing up ZERO Files is a good value and just outputs a warning in the WebInterface.)

For non-techies like me there are NO DESKTOP-NOTIFICATIONS (TrayIcon etc.) enabled by default and in the settings menu there is nothing about it. (Yes, obviously there is an API for all kinds of notifications, but no, that's not how an desktop-application should work by default).

Speaking of desktop application: There is none. You have to do everything in the Browser. Of course if you want to support Win+Mac+Linux this is easier to develop, but for the user the look-and-feel (UI/UX) doesnt't match with anything, it just feels not right. The WebInterface looks more like a workaround than a application.

Overall: I think the 700 open Issues on GitHub are speaking for itself.

After more than a year of using Duplicati for remote and local backups in multiple computers I found Duplicati to be a very bad option for backups. My main concern being low performance.

The excluding filters are confusing and sometimes seem to not work at all. This is the first time I've had problems with such a feature.

Although is nice having a web interface is absurdly slow and takes a lot of resources.

Backing up should be something that happens in the background. When backups started I often had to stop doing something because of it.

I chose Duplicati because of it's scheduling and copy retention options, and the deduplication, I've since found alternatives that satisfy my requirements and have moved on from Duplicati.

The reason I am giving two stars instead of one is because despite its defects, it has helped me recover files, so at least it does its job.

I can understand how people who want encryption and small file transfers to cloud might like this. Otherwise, it's a big bunch of compressed files. These chunks are readable individually, but only by system processing, and there needs to be a good backup "version". If a library chunk is corrupted, creating no good version, the chunks can't be read. I seemed to have had error junk in my Temp folder and in trying to clean up some, I apparently lost one of the data files and now theres ongoing error messages, and no good version, so I'm tossing and uninstalling.