what sync backup program is good for windows 10? do I need an external drive?

[Miguel2013]

I usually back up to flash drives portable ones or thumb drives 16 32 and 64gb drives. I heard having an external hard drive is best like for system backups tho what I'm concerned is individual file backups and I need incremental and syncronization apps for it. is google drive desktop app recommended or are there better ones? I also heard/read that windows 10 has its own back up features tho I can't find them.

basically what I'd like do is sync. I have some few copies of some folders on my c drive on external drives and whenever I update a file or add new files to that folder I'd like all folders on all drives to update with the most newer version "whenever I connect them" or when I tell them to do so. I may forgot which drive has what.

 

[Hockster]

Start -> Settings -> Update and Security -> Backup

You can select which folder to backup, how long to keep copies, and select a destination. An external drive would make this much easier and safer. Flash drives aren't exactly durable. It won't sync the way to want, I don't have any experience with any software that can do that.

 

[therealmeep]

Agreed, most of the backup software i've used at least in windows has been shit, never had an issue with the built in one, and flash memory tends to not be very durable so get an external hdd/ssd and use the built in windows tool.

 

[phill]

I've recently been shown SyncToy That seems to work pretty well and will do whatever you need to. Backups up anything that has changed since the last backup, also doesn't touch anything that's not changed, so saves time that way as well Very pleased and to top it off, it's free from Microsoft Worth a look

 

[John Naylor]

I initially set up my main box (CAD Station, home office and media server) data drives as a RAID 1 with twin SSHDs. (OS and programs are on twin SSDs). The RAID, like every other time I have delved in, was a PITA. So I broke the array and mirrored the drive with FBackup (Free version). That was 4 years ago, haven't touched it since. It mirrors the drives (new files only) twice aday ... and makes a 2nd mirror to a HD Docking Station where the mirrors are stored off site. Couldn't be happier.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I use this program by EASus.
https://www.easeus.com/backup-software/tb-free.html

it does system and files, separate or together, and in various forms including incremental. It is best to use any backup program to an external HDD.

 

[Miguel2013]

I think synctoy works well and is easy, but my impression was that it overwrites files not by content but by date and time which sometimes it doesn't matter cause the app/system overwrites that attribute unnecesarily. Like I have hundreds of files for blender that are a hour exactly diference from the original to an already backed up folder and both are the same yet is overwriting. I don't know why the hour diference. Other than that I think is awesome.

 

[Ruyki]

I've spent lots of time searching for the best backup and file sync software.
This is what I use currently:
FreeFileSync for syncing files - probably the best current file sync tool.
Duplicati for backups - I prefer this over others becuse it has block based deduplication.

 

[trparky]

I've been using Macrium Reflect for years. Not only can you do individual file backups but full disk images as well.

 

[erixx]

Allway Sync because of ease of use. (I had GeniebAckup for years but with Win10 I started having errors) You can create several sync pairs, like for job, personal, media, files.... SyncToy is also a favorite.