Cobian Backup

Pros

Almost every option Ive wanted from other backup software this thing has already.!
Easy enough to setup.
It works .!! (yeah some backup software doesnt work)
obviously a programmer with attention to detail made this.
The functions help make it more reliable, like the taskbar icon is a different color and flashes if the backup had any errors, options to set cpu priority, options to run as another user so you dont need to see any notifications if you want.
Small memory usage, 9.6mb on my system.

Cons

none so far.

Summary

I cant say enough, its the best free backup software Ive seen. After using 5 and testing about 10

Pros

Easy to setup, free, very solid and works every time.
I had another free program that also has a paid version, but it kept missing backups for some unknown reason, so I looked for another free programs and found this one, I had it for some time now and it never missed a beat, I had it backup on Sundays only and let the other program do my daily backup, but after a while, I discovered to my horror that the other program was not backing up properly, that was when I needed one backed up file and was no were to be found, luckily it was on this backup, so I have now dumped the other program and is using this one full time. It also does shadow copy which is very important in my case.

Cons

None so far, its been rock solid.

Summary

This is a highly recommended backup program that has many features other paid backups don't have, its free and does the job well.

Pros

None - appears to be a virus.

Cons

BitDefender attempts to block access to the page as a reported attack page, and when attempting to download the setup file for submission to VirusTotal Firefox also attempted to block it as containing a virus. I overrode both blocks to download the file and upload to VirusTotal but have not attempted to run it. I will delete the file after writing this review.

Summary

I cannot recommend this based upon my experience outlined in the "Cons".

Download CNET staff - please check this file and download location ASAP. Thank you.

Read replies (2)

Pros

Easy to install, configure and use. Absolutely reliable. Can't believe it's free.

Cons

There are no cons.

Summary

Worth every penny and more...wait...it's free. This is a program that I've used for years.

Pros

Many options to configure backups with.
Quick and Easy.

Cons

There aren't any.

Summary

I wanted to set up automatic backups of my data. It took me about 10 minutes to install and do so. Not only that, but there were added features of keeping more than one copy. And it even automatically named the root directory of my backups with a timestamp.

Pros

backs up large 3tb drives which WHS 2011 does not
very easy to use just add tasks for each backup you want
allows you to selected the type of backup you want ie: full, differential etc..

Cons

none its free what more do you want?

Summary

great solution for WHS

Pros

The latest version, 11.2.x, provides full, incremental, and differential backups, and can even use the volume shadow copy so you can backup while your actively working in Outlook, Word, etc.

In windows 7, it's as easy as selecting the folders you want to back up, pointing the program to the right disk/folder where you want the files stored, and starting the process. You can backup to an different internal drive on a PC, an external, or as I'm told, a NAS drive, though I haven't tried the later myself.

The program is fast, copying at least 100GB per hour when doing a full backup to an external USB 3.0 drive.

Cons

The documentation isn't always clear, and you may have to consult the online forum if you have questions, but I've been able to resolve all questions successfully - so far.

A caveat I'd offer is that you need to make sure that you - as owner of the original files and destination files/folders - have the security set properly. You must have read/write authority if you want to do incremental backups without the software trying to copy everything again. The documentation is not always clear, and the UI could be modernized, but it's a great program and has never failed me.

Summary

For those that want a magic program that knows what to do without being told, I'm not sure where you're going to find that, but Cobian backup is a very solid program that does just what I want a program to do; namely, it creates an exact duplicate of the original file(s) without using a proprietary format, or enforced compression. Of course you can use compression, but I don't.

The last thing you want to find is that you can't restore from a proprietary backup file, so I like to leave files in the native format even if it takes more space - meaning the exact same amount of space the original file required on your hard drive.

As to one (or two?) reviewer's comment about it taking up extra space, I'm not sure what he/she (or they did) but I don't believe they understand what's happening, how to use the program, or manage backups. A real backup will ADD files; if you move file A from location 1 to location 2, it won't delete the file in location 1, but it will add it in location 2. Moving or adding files will increase the size of the backup folder over time.

If you simply modify file A and leave it in the same location, you can have the software over write the file if you choose. There are lots of possibilities, and you should understand what you're doing if you want the security of a real backup.

To get you started, here's a very basic incremental backup strategy that COPIES files. I'm not saying this is the best way, and it does take some work, but if your files are valuable, I would suggest you work out a some kind of strategy that suits you.

1) create a backup folder (e.g., on an external drive)with a name of your choosing. Call it MyBackup, or something you'll easily recognize. However, before doing a backup, check the properties/security of the new folder and make sure you have ownership/read/write capabilities.

2)Create a baseline - Select all the folders on your PC that you want to backup, point Cobian to your new backup folder on the external drive, and do either an incremental* or full backup. I've started with a full backup, but I think incremental might be a better way to go and eliminate possible redundant copying.

3) perform incremental backups (daily/weekly) the frequency is your choice, but you must do this regularly, and the more frequently you do it, the better your recovery options are and the faster the backup will go. With regular incremental backups, Cobian can/does sift through hundreds of GBs of data quickly, and will copy just the new/modified files extremely quickly. It is fast..

NOTE: the size of the baseline backup folder will grow as you add new things. You would have to physically delete files from this folder if you no longer want them, but then it wouldn't be a real "backup", would it?


4) Optional. Assuming you've done incremental backups - as opposed to differential, if/when your baseline has grown too large, you can manage it. You can start over with a new baseline and delete the old one(assuming there's nothing there you might want), or to be a little safer, you could create a new baseline, and then use a compare/duplicate file finder to remove dupes and identify the files that are different. This adds more work, but you can safely assume you won't lose anything.

The software is not really confusing, hard to use, and works flawlessly on a Windows 7 PC. A little understanding can go a long way toward creating a backup strategy and protecting your data.

Pros

easier to use than most others

Cons

You need many external hard drives as this software runs out of space on external. I now have 3 external to back up my 500gb laptop. I have approximately 300 gb of my photos and a 1TB (latest one) of space. Been using Cobian since Jan 2013 and ran out of space on it July 2013.

Summary

Costly way to backup. How many external hard drives can you afford to keep buying? I did a full backup in Jan 2013 and since then just differential backups but ran out of space after using for 7 months. I started using this as I needed a place to move my photos from my laptop as it was completely filled. Did the full backup before I deleted my photos and just differential since then. This is 2nd harddrive I have used to backup my laptop and hopefully nothing happens as I have no idea on what I am doing or how to restore if I ever have to. There is no support that I have found for Cobian so you are at their mercy and just hope it will do the job. No instructions or tutorials that help either.
Wish I could find another backup that would be easy to use for when i get another external.
If they only had support that would tell you exactly how to use this and explain in easy to read English for newbies.
One of their links for support is in a foreign language, so what good is that?

Read reply (1)

Pros

Has many features.

Cons

It wasn't immediately obvious how to use the program. There are many options and parts of the interface that were difficult to understand because they weren't clearly explained in the tutorial or the documentation.
When I ran my backup, it ran out of space because for some reason the size of the backup is 1.4 times larger than the size of my hard drive, even though I unchecked the options for symbolic links. I Googled this and found no solution.
It comes with a "Deleter" for which I could not determine a purpose other than it deletes files.

Summary

I wouldn't recommend this program to anyone who doesn't already understand the jargon associated with backup software. I would also mention that it may have a serious bug that causes backups to take up more space than they should.