Looking for free backup software

ShinyRedKnight

Hello, my brother needs a free backup software that doesn't encrypt or change the files in anyway. Basically, something that just copies and pastes on schedule.

The reason is that his current backup software, BounceBack, is rather old and keeps crashing when verifying the files after they've been backed up.

However, he is not looking for online options. Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks!

Foomy

Is it always just the same folder(s) to be copied to another drive at set times? Or do you need more functionality like a separate version of the file each time it's backed up?

if it is just a simple copy you need then a batch file and windows task scheduler could do it.
just open up notepad, type in the copy command with how you need it setup and save it as a .bat. then go into task scheduler and set it to run that file every day/week/whenever

xcopy would be the way to go if he's still on XP: documentation
robocopy on win7: documentation

hsu

Windows 7 has a built in backup utility called "Backup And Restore". Most people only use it to backup their system data, but it can be used to backup any data.

Personally, I went the raid 1 / "previous versions" route. The Windows 7 OS automatically includes software raid 1 support and "previous versions" support (which is automatic backups, typically one day old, one week old, and one month old, for any file/directory that changes on a hard drive). This covers the two most common reasons for backups: hard drive failure and accidental deletions/overwrites.

verbel

I like to use Driveimage XML, its free for home use and I find it works really well.

Apothe0sis

If you're backing up to something else, http://www.duplicati.com/ is quite well regarded.