Can anyone recommend a usable piece of back up software I can use for my photos and other files? Currently I use WD Smartware and it is quirky, and frankly a pain to use the way I have my backup system setup. I'll explain what I have and how I go about my backup strategy as I would like the software to be able to handle this without hassle. I am a Windows user. And I have absolutely no interest in cloud storage of any kind. I am not a pro and cannot justify spending big bucks on some fancy set-up. A couple of 100 dollars for a robust software package that does what I need I can handle
Back-up MediaI currently own 4 WD Mybook Drives which I use for back-up - USB3 connections
2 x 4 TB
2 x 2 TB
PhotosMy original files are saved using a Mediasonic ProRaid 4-Bay enclosure, populated with 2 x 4 TB HDDs. Configured as RAID 1, E-Sata connection to the PC. Saved as a single drive partition
The 4 TB Mybooks are used for back-up
Other FilesComprised of work documents, excel spreadsheets, stuff like that. These are saved on SSD drives within the PC on a few different drive partitions (D:, E:, etc.)
The 2 TB Mybooks are used for back-up
My Back-up StrategyBasically, at any one time, I have one of each sized MyBook connected to the PC and these are supposed to be set to continuously back-up (in background) my Photos Drive as changes are made (onto the 4 TB) and other personal files (onto the 2 TB). The other two drives i keep stored at my place of employment off-site. In theory, on a "monthly" basis, I swap the drives, bringing the most-up-to date back up drives from home out to the office and bringing the drives from the office home to connect to the PC. The goal thus being that I simply reconnect these drives to the PC and that the software automatically recognizes that they are not 100% backed-up compared to the original drives, and thus automatically begins to update the Mybook drives in the background with no user direction.
The WD software ("Smartware") basically cannot handle this as it seems to need for the Mybook S/N to match up which defeats my purpose, and thus I find I have to clear out the drive when I bring it home, and then begin backing up everything from scratch. So as a resuylt, I am going through this exercise every 6 months or longer as it is a pain. Plus I am not too confident in the WD's ability to even handle backing up files from the D & E drives to the 2 TB unit and from the X-drive (photos) to the 4 TB unit in parallel.
So is there a suite of Windows based back-up software that can:
- back-up files from different directories AND drive partitions onto different external drives (e.g., my 2 TB and 4 TB drives;
- be able to handle that these back-up drives will be swapped with an equivalent drive on a monthly basis and be able to update the slightly out of date drive without hassle; and,
- save the files on the back-up drives in the exact same format as on the original drives? i.e., such that I can view them in a file manger as I woudl on any drive, vs., some form of proprietary compressed format that you need the back-up software to retrieve
Thanks