Open Source (and free!) Backup softwares

Here's a list of various open-source backup software options along with brief descriptions of each. Please note that the availability and features of these tools may have evolved since the date of this post, so it's a good idea to check the respective project websites for the latest information.

1. Amanda (The Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver):

   • Description: Amanda is an open-source backup solution designed to allow IT administrators to set up a single master backup server to back up multiple hosts to a tape or disk storage. It supports features like encryption, compression, and scheduling.

2. Bacula:

   • Description: Bacula is a set of programs that allows you to manage backup, recovery, and verification of data across a network. It supports various backup methods, including full, incremental, and differential backups.

3. Duplicity:

   • Description: Duplicity is a simple backup tool that uses the rsync algorithm. It supports encryption and bandwidth-efficient backup. It works well for backing up to various remote storage services.

4. rsync:

   • Description: While not a dedicated backup tool, rsync is a powerful utility for efficiently copying and syncing files locally or remotely. It can be used in combination with other tools to create effective backup solutions.

5. Rclone:

   • Description: Rclone is a command-line program to manage files on cloud storage. While its primary function is sync, it can be used to perform backups to and from various cloud storage providers.

6. BackupPC:

   • Description: BackupPC is a high-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up Linux, Windows, and macOS PCs and laptops to a server's disk. It features a web-based interface for easy management.

7. Bareos:

   • Description: Bareos is an open-source fork of Bacula. It offers comprehensive backup, restore, and disaster recovery solutions. It supports various backup storage, including tapes and disks.

8. UrBackup:

   • Description: UrBackup is an easy-to-set-up open-source client/server backup system. It supports image and file backups and provides a web-based interface for management.

9. DAR (Disk ARchive):

   • Description: DAR is a command-line backup tool that creates backup archives of directories or files, which can be split into multiple files or stored as a single file. It supports encryption and incremental backups.

10. Rsnapshot:

    • Description: Rsnapshot is a filesystem snapshot utility based on rsync. It allows users to create scheduled backups with hard links to the previous backups, minimizing disk space usage.

11. Syncthing:

    • Description: While more of a file synchronization tool, Syncthing can be configured to serve as a backup solution by keeping files synchronized across multiple devices securely and efficiently.

12. Clonezilla:

    • Description: Clonezilla is an open-source partition and disk imaging/cloning program. It can be used for system deployment, bare-metal backup, and recovery.

13. FreeFileSync:

    • Description: FreeFileSync is a folder comparison and synchronization software. While not a traditional backup tool, it can be used to synchronize files between source and target locations.

14. Deltacopy:

    • Description: Deltacopy is an open-source incremental backup program that uses the rsync algorithm. It's designed for Windows systems and supports encryption.

15. BorgBackup:

    • Description: BorgBackup is a deduplicating backup program that supports compression and encryption. It's efficient in terms of both storage space and backup speed.

16. Attic:

    • Description: Attic is a deduplicating backup program that uses the same storage format as BorgBackup. It provides efficient storage and secure encryption.

17. Bare Metal Restore (BMR):

    • Description: BMR is an open-source backup and recovery solution that focuses on bare-metal restore capabilities. It supports both physical and virtual environments.

18. Areca Backup:

    • Description: Areca Backup is a personal backup solution that allows you to select a set of files or directories to back up, archive, and compress them.

19. Veeam Agent for Linux:

    • Description: Veeam provides a free edition of its backup agent for Linux systems. It offers features like volume-level snapshots, file-level restores, and scheduling.

20. GNU Tar:

    • Description: While not a dedicated backup tool, GNU Tar is a widely used utility for archiving files. It can be used as part of a backup strategy, particularly when combined with other tools.

These open-source backup solutions cater to various needs, from simple file synchronization to full-scale enterprise backup systems. The choice of a particular tool depends on factors such as the scale of the backup, the type of data, and specific features required. Always ensure that you check the documentation and community support for each tool to understand its capabilities and limitations.

Source: Some or all of the content was generated using an AI language model