10 Best Free Backup Software for Windows 7

By Partho, Gaea News Network
Monday, November 9, 2009

windows73Who on earth needs to afford a backup software for Windows 7, when it already carries an integrated backup solution. Well, Windows 7 does feature a backup software that you can find in its Control Panel, but this is not the one-stop-shop solution that could meet all your requirements. You might be ruffled to go for another Windows 7 backup software when your already have one. But, you need to know that some of the backup and restore features are exclusively restricted to the Windows 7 expensive flagship editions. Especially, those upgrading from Windows Vista or XP to Windows 7 will miss these features. What’s the big deal, when you have several reliable backup solutions that can offer you all those features for free. It’s always great to have a free backup solution that stock your all critical files, documents, photos, music, movies and such stuffs. More so, as you are planning to switch over to Windows 7, you must be looking for a consistent backup utility to back up your data. We assorted a list of top 10 windows 7 backup software to make things easier for you.

1. Comodo Backup 2.0

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Comodo Backup 2.0 is the ace when it comes to online storage. Comodo free backup software seems to outplay Windows 7 integrated backup in most respects. With Comodo you can back up and restore from network locations with a few mouse clicks. It features a scheduler that allows you to run backups at your suitable time. You can send E-mail notifications to team members about the status of a backup job. The backup software allows synchronized backups that means as soon as you save a file, it gets copied instantly.  To add to the party, with Comodo you can have a one click backup of important items like email accounts and Windows registry. It’s security features include data encryption and password protection.

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2. FBackup

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It’s one of the top backup software that has been successfully tested for on 32 and 64-bit Windows 7 RC. The main features are ad-hoc as well as automatic backups, ZIP compression backups, 1:1 backups, multi-language support and saving open files through volume shadow services. Additionally, this free backup software allows back up support for multiple backup destinations and various plugins for the applications.

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3. GFI Backup

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This is easy-to-use and free backup solution for Windows 7. GFI Backup offers an intuitive wizard-driven interface to back up all your documents and files. It can restore your data using common ZIP format. It is the local and external disk drives, LAN, CD/DVD, removable devices, remote FTP servers, etc.

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4. Drive Backup Free Edition

This backup solution is based on storing backup images. Disk backup not only saves the on disk information but also the system service structures. This is a great software to make a backup image of an entire hard disk or system partitions to ensure the system’s working ability. It keeps the system, applications and data protected, and allows recovery whenever needed. The regular use of Drive Backup ensures that your system and data are safe. Drive Backup’s outstanding features include the differential backup to a sector image to only archive changes, since the last full sector-based image. This saves a considerable amount of backup storage space. In order to restore the backup you need one of its differentials and a full image.

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5. AceBackup

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With several volumes and different target locations, AceBackup software offers simultaneous backup on remote FTP servers and on local storage devices such as hard disks; floppies; ZIP, JAZZ or MO drives; folders in local network or other writable units. It allows different compression levels. You can store and restore files as in the Windows Explorer. It has an automatic backup option accompanied by an integrated scheduler. AceBackup has a filter option that can be used to eliminate certain file name extensions or store files with requested file extension. Further you can specify the external applications that should be executed before or after processing the back up. It’s a feature packed free backup software for Windows 7 that can be configured individually.

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6. TrueSafe Personal edition

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This free backup solution for Windows 7, widely popular for its simplicity and intuitiveness. TrueSafe is a hassle free backup system that can be automatically used and run in the background. With TrueSafe you can backup your data to drives, networks or portable storage like USB devices. Some of its highlighted features include comprehensive backup scheduling, suspend/resume support, compressed archives and email notification that allows you know when a backup gets completed.

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7. JaBack Backup Software

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It is a powerful and free backup software for Windows 7. JaBack automatically backs up important files and folders in ZIP format. This allows flexibility in restoring the data using zip software. The backup can be easily transferred to a remote location via FTP or Email to the mail server. The backup software allows copying of files and directories using wildcards on schedule. You can append the date/time to the file name for better access. It provides email notification based on the task exit code. Additionally, JaBack comes with a local directory monitor that allows you to backup data when file or folder change is detected.

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8. Karen’s Replicator

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This free backup software for Windows 7 automatically backs up files, directories, even entire drives. The software copies selected files from one drive/folder and keeps a backup on any other destination folder anywhere on your network. It offers the options for copying files at short intervals, which can be even a few minutes or over an extended period that can stretch upto several months. it can be configured to copy only those files that have been changed and allows replication of folders and deletion of files. With the addition of latest features you can specify the files that should not be copied, and the days on which a file should be skipped.

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9. Cobian Backup 9

This free backup software for Windows 7 is a multi-threaded program that allows you schedule and backup files and directories from one drive to another, or to some other computer in the network. It supports FTP backup in both directions (download and upload). Cobian backup supports several methods of compression and strong encryption. One of remarkable features of the software is that it hogs less resources. Further, it can run on the background of your system without disturbing your work. You can schedule the backup depending upon your requirements. However, it is not same as the typical backup application and it can copy your files and folders in original or compressed mode to other description.

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10.  Windows 7 Backup and Restore Center

All the Windows 7 editions carry an integrated backup and restore software. To know more about Windows 7 backup and restore in depth Backup and Restore in Windows 7.

Discussion
June 24, 2010: 8:06 am

I have given up on Windows 7 backup. It worked fine for several months then stopped working with an error on the shadow volume. I went through various routines to find the error but couldn’t so effectively it is useless. It is a common complaint and even microsoft admit that there are ‘issues’ with the W7 backup. I am suggesting to my customers to stay away from it for the time being. I am looking for suitable alternative now as I have to have reliable backups

March 11, 2010: 5:50 pm

I have been using the Built in Windows 7.0 Backup tool with great success. It is a great tool for Simple End users.


mhenry1384
February 26, 2010: 10:26 am

@Dan Morse
You are confusing “differential” and “incremental”. The article says it does a differential backup.


Dan Morse
February 10, 2010: 10:06 pm

WRONG RE: “4. Drive Backup Free Edition”
“This saves a considerable amount of backup storage space. In order to restore the backup you need one of its differentials and a full image.”
The above statement is completely wrong. When a file is backed up, the archive bit in the file control block is reset to 0. It isn’t possible to tell WHEN the file was backed up. Recovery requires a full backup and every incremental backup since the full backup was made. The full backup must be restored first and then each incremental backup must be restored in the order in which the backups were created. Any thing else is disaster.


elfman2
December 25, 2009: 11:54 am

That’s helpful. Thanks


Jack
November 30, 2009: 6:39 am

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to do this comparison - it’s just excellent!

I have created an image a few days ago within Windows 7 backup tool. In addition, I have used the restore function as well to test it, using the boot disc created by the application, and the restore has worked out very well without any problems! However, it seems to be impossible to create another image afterwards without destroying the first one! Also, Backup Image is causing the computer to run so slowly that the computer totally is unusable.. currently, I prefer to use backup & recovery free edition.

By the way, in the list #4 – you mean Paragon backup & recovery free edition, right? As far as I see the link is the same: https://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/ ?


Darryll Bagg
November 18, 2009: 11:28 am

Microsoft makes me puke. Will all their talk about Windows 7 being so secure etc. etc., why is it that the most important aspect of any work you do on a computer is not backed up as part of EVERY version of Windows 7. This is just greed, pure and simple. Upgrading to the higher version is simply a price gouge to make you pay to activate software that is already on your hard drive.

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