In this article we return to talk about backup procedures, an argument too often underestimated and ignored by many, especially because it is a very long and tedious process.
However, today’s computers connected to the Internet are subjected to a bombardment of data, both incoming and outgoing, which significantly increases the risk of damaging the integrity of a PC and the stability of its operating system.
We see here the best free programs that allow you to perform backups automatically and incrementally.
Not only backups in the sense of saving the entire disk but also in the sense of saving some types of files or the contents of selected folders.
The typical questions of a backup program that guide the process are:
Where to make the copy (the destination)?
What, or which files or folders to replicate (sources)?
What kind of backup do you do, if compressed or if you make a real copy (mirror)?
When to schedule the automatic backup procedure (Scheduling)?
For this type of needs and to make a backup of files and folders you can use the 13 best free backup programs are:
1) AOMEI Backupper is a great program that allows you to back up all data with just one click, quickly and easily, including system files and installed programs without interrupting work on your computer.
A super-flexible program that can perform backups automatically, at regular intervals, every day or on certain days of the week.
You can backup your hard disk, MBR, external disk, USB stick and other storage devices recognized by Windows.
If you prefer, you can only backup a partition or volume and not the entire disk.
The program is also multifunctional, allows you to migrate Windows to another disk, to create backup image files, to restore files deleted from viruses or accidentally.
2) Easus Backup is one of the most popular backup software in the world, free for personal use in all its professional functions.
It can fully protect your system from system crashes and recover deleted or corrupted files after a problem.
Among the most important extras, there is the intelligent backup system that checks the specified folders and backs up what has changed, encrypting backups and saving Google Drive, Microsoft Onedrive or Dropbox archives.
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3) Macrium Reflect, free version, is the third best program (equal) for Windows backups, easy to use, with many tools for experts such as differential imaging, compression, scheduler, conversion to VHD, Windows PE disk restore.
4) Duplicati is a very modern free and open source backup program, one of the best in 2017, with automatic and incremental backup functions, which can also work by saving backups in cloud space.
Backups can be scheduled and organized at certain time intervals and then automatically executed on the computer, even incrementally, ie saving only what has been added or modified.
5) MiniTool ShadowMaker is a complete backup program that allows you to back up the entire system or a particular drive at a time and restore the backup when required.
Backups can be scheduled and automatic, can be incremental, and disk cloning can also be performed or a WinPE boot disk can be created for emergencies.
6) Veeam Endpoint Backup is a great backup program for free and automatic, very easy to use, to save all data on your PC, laptop or server in an external disk or NAS drive.
In the event of a breakdown of the main disk or of problems of any kind, the automatic reset allows you to return everything as before without having to make any configuration or reinstallation.
7) Iperius Backup is a great program that you can also download in the free version, with basic functionality that should suffice for most users.
Supports incremental, scheduled and periodically scheduled backup of selected folders and files, to save compressed copies even on external disks in automatic mode.
8) Fbackup, a very simple software to create a protected copy of your files.
FBackup can backup your copy on any media, USB, CD, DVD or on a network resource such as an external server or an online remote storage service.
The backup can be compressed or the exact copying of files can be done without any compression.
The interface is very simple to understand and use and guides you to create your own personalized backup process.
9) Paragon Backup is a Windows-based PC disaster recovery tool that combines all backup and recovery techniques to meet the needs of the most demanding users.
It can be considered the most powerful free backup tool available today.
10) Cobian Backup allows you to set an automatic backup, also incremental, (time of day, week, etc.) of some folders of your choice, which, if desired, can be combined into a single file compacted zip.
Cobian Backup automatically creates backup copies of all data considered important, avoiding the long repetitive operations typical of backup operations.
After downloading and installing it will take some time to make a full backup of the hard disk.
After this operation it will be possible to set a time interval within which Cobian will make an incremental backup, that is, it will make an automatic copy of only the files that have been modified or added in that period of time.
11) Dfinc backup is a freeware backup program designed to make differential and incremental files directly on archives compressed in zip files.
12) Syncbackis another freeware program for backing up and restoring files in Windows that can also synchronize files and schedule scheduled backups.
13) GFI Backup is a free program, which requires only an insertion of the email before downloading.
Although the software is free, it shows a very nice and very functional graphical interface that makes it to the level of professional programs.
Thanks to a wizard, ie a wizard, using it is easy and every feature of the program can be set and configured in a personalized way with the usual questions related to this kind of programs.