Duplicati

It is always a good idea to back up important data. From viruses to hardware failure, anything can happen and it may result in data loss. Copying files from one place to another, on your hard drive, may not be enough to ensure that your files are safe. You can have a hundred backups, but if the hard drive is damaged, it can be hard to recover your data. This is why Duplicati is capable of more than just backing up files. First, it encrypts them, using powerful algorithms, then it stores the data online, on various servers. It works with various services, such as Google Docs, Windows Live SkyDrive, Rackspace Cloud Files and more.

The software is free and it does not take long to install it on a Windows or Linux powered computer. If you have .NET Framework 2.0 or higher, you will not have to install anything else. After a swift setup process, you can run the software and use its capabilities without any complications.

Duplicati works like a wizard which takes you through different steps, depending on what you select on its start screen. It gives you the possibility of creating a new backup task, restoring data, running, editing or removing existing backup tasks. When creating a new task, you can include one or more folders from your library, files on your desktop and the application's settings or you can target folders manually, with separate browsing options.

Creating a task also requires typing a new password, selecting an encryption method and choosing a storage service, like Amazon S3, CloudFiles, Google Docs or others. It is also possible to select a FTP server, a location on your hard drive or a removable memory device. After establishing a destination, you will be able to choose what stages to go through by clicking one or more check boxes. You may go through different sets of options to configure when and how often should the backup task run, choose when to remove old backups, define limits for volume size or bandwidth or set up filters, to include or exclude certain files. Alternatively, you may not select any of these stages and proceed directly to the software's end page, where you will find a summary for your new task.

Once a backup task is created, the software's interface will close automatically. If you want to run or schedule a new task, you will have to run Duplicati again. To restore your files, you just need to select this action on the wizard's start page, select a backup task and proceed to the next step. The recovery process will start immediately and it will not take long to complete.