SyncBack

I'm using SyncBack for years, and it has never failed on me. Maybe a little bit unknown, but it's real good software, even the freeware is adfree and perfectly usable. Highly recommended!

SyncBack Pro and SE are only available for Windows. SyncBack Touch is made for integration with Android, Linux and macOS (free with V11). Informations taken from their website.

https://www.2brightsparks.com/download-syncbackfree.html Syncback is fantastic when it's working right, but the interface is confusing to start. First point of Syncback confusion is likely the 3rd menu where the pull-down menus for Source & Destination don't let you choose a drive etc. It's basically just a choice between pc/network vs ftp. The "next" button won't work and you have to choose "done". THEN the main profile window opens. Despite the scary "Warning" for Mirror, you do get a chance to do an analyze run, but the program doesn't tell you that upfront. There are many settings that are easy to lose if you're the type to tinker. It's smart to export a profile when things are going well. There can be folder access denial issues, and it can be tough to know the cause. Syncback won't sync files that are open. The free versions are 32bit. The program FreeFileSync is less confusing and more workable from the context menu to delete/copy files etc on-the-fly, though it is tougher on the eyes for a beginner. Compare Advance is less intimidating for a novice, but synchronizing programs can standardly create large rapid changes, and it's always good to have backups. I consider 2 drive clones as not excessive.

It does what it claims to, very well, although configuring it can be complicated.

I honestly don't know how long I've been using Syncback, probably for a decade or more. I run a cron job/"Scheduled Task" overnight on my desktop PC, which uses Syncback to back up to a Samba backup location on my file server.

I've never had any problems with configuring it, but some people I've recommended it to have commented that they've found it complex. It will depend on what you're doing, I imagine. I'm just using it to do incremental backups of files to Samba; if you want to encrypt your backups, put them in a zip file, and backup remotely to cloud based Office 365 (all of which it can do), I suspect it could be more complicated.

Although advanced scripting is only in the premium version, you can build different configurations, and invoke them from the command line.

The reporting is particularly good. Syncback can generate text or HTML reports, and load them in a text editor or browser automatically. So when I check my PC in the morning, my browser is already showing the results of last night's backup - what was copied, what failed to verify, what timed out, what ran out of space, etc. If everything worked, it's a green "X files copied, Y files skipped", if there were any failures, there's a brief summary, that can be expanded on.

I set up the configuration about a decade ago, and have just been running it ever since. I install upgrades, but honestly, the only thing that's changed, really, has been the format of the reports. But since all it's supposed to do is backup A to B, and it does that well, there really isn't much to be added.

For quick, off the cuff backups, FreeFileSync is a lot more interactive, while SyncBack is more of a "set it and forget it" type program. Both are very good, and there's a lot of overlap between them.

For unattended, automated backups, I haven't found anything better than SyncBack, and I recommend it.

Why do I get the feeling "em4020" is a Duplicati fan-boy ?

As a home user I am trying to find a reasonable backer upper. Command-line leaves me cold and the Duplicati series2 is not full release. A long list of "Canary" releases ... beta, experimental. Canary ... as in a coal mine canary ?

30-Sep-2020

SyncBack pro is great for local network backups. It has a lot of sync types and is full featured. It will be a bit of learning to get the options and setup right — but once set, you rarely ever will change them. The Mac version is not a real app but just a complement for your Windows version. Wish they had a full featured mac version!