You’re looking to safely back up your data, but you’re not sure what software to use. The decision is easy with a little bit of research, so here’s some information to get you started.
Firstly, there’s no single backup software that does it all. If a package is trying to be a jack-of-all-trades, unsurprisingly it winds up being a master of none. Unless you’re running Windows, Linux, MacOS and Chrome OS concurrently, you’re going to want to go with an OS-specific piece of backup software.
For Macs
Mac users, thankfully, get a great backup software product right out of the box. There’s no real reason to go further than Time Machine, since it’s reliable, effective, and doesn’t cost you a dime.
It falls a bit short when it comes to hard drive backup or drive cloning. If you want these things, you want to use Carbon Copy Cloner. It’s a little slow on file recovery, though, so you’ll probably want to keep Time Machine on hand. It’s about $40, so it’s not that expensive.
For Physical Windows Servers
When it comes to backing up a physical Windows Server, BackupAssist is a tried-and-true software solution. It has been ranked #1 in this category for the last few years. Recently, they added the CryptoSafeGuard feature which protects your backups from ransomware, an ever-increasing threat for SMBs.
The best part about BackupAssist is unlike other backup software solutions that throw every tool in the kit and then charge you a fortune, BA has a low cost for the base product and then offers add-ons for your backup and DR needs. After all, if you’re not running an SQL Server, why be charged extra for these features?
They offer a 30-day free trial with every feature included, so you can see what features you need and purchase accordingly.
For Virtual Windows Servers
For SMBs, the winner of this category is BackupAssist, though if you’ve got a lot of cash to spare – about $1500 to $2000 USD – Veeam is a decent Enterprise alternative. But while that’s the per socket price, BackupAssist charges around $786 per host – which means you can put an unlimited amount of guests on that host.
You can still perform Hyper-V backups with BackupAssist’s base software (Which is in the range of about $329), but you need the Hyper-V add-on if you want to perform granular VM recoveries.
For Linux
Since Linux is open sourced, there’s a plethora of different backup software options for you to choose from. Here’s 20 different options to get you started with everything from backups to DR.
For Android Devices
Helium is a decent choice for backing up your android devices. You can back up things like applications, data, contacts, SMS, and call logs.
It’s a freemium model, so you can get the free version or the paid version – the latter has cloud uploading of backups, no ads, and backup scheduling.
For iPhone, iPAD, iTouch Devices
This one’s a tie between Aiseesoft Fonelab or Dr.Fone. Unsurprisingly, the UI for this is very swish (pun intended). It’s got an easy to understand UI, and backs up whatever you want it to.
