Free backup software

computer file format that can combine multiple files into a single file called "tarball"

rsync (remote sync) is a utility for transferring and synchronizing files between a computer and a storage drive and across networked computers by comparing the modification times and sizes of files. It is commonly found on Unix-like operating systems and is under the GPL-3.0-or-later license.

Clonezilla is an open-source suite of disk cloning, disk imaging and system deployment utilities. Clonezilla Server Edition uses multicast technologies to deploy a single image file to a group of computers on a local area network. Clonezilla was designed by Steven Shiau and developed by the NCHC Free Software Labs in Taiwan.

Syncthing is a peer-to-peer file synchronization utility, designed to sync files between devices on a local network or between remote devices over the Internet. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, *BSD and illumos. The software is free and open source, and its version 1.0 was released in 2019 after 5 years in beta.

open source software

Bacula is an open-source, enterprise-level computer backup system for heterogeneous networks. It is designed to automate backup tasks that had often required intervention from a systems administrator or computer operator.

cpio is a general file archiver utility and its associated file format. It is primarily installed on Unix-like computer operating systems. The software utility was originally intended as a tape archiving program as part of the Programmer's Workbench (PWB/UNIX), and has been a component of virtually every Unix operating system released thereafter. Its name is derived from the phrase copy in and out, in close description of the program's use of standard input and standard output in its operation.

remastersys is a free and open-source program for Debian, Ubuntu-based, Linux Mint or derivative software systems that can: Create a customized Live CD/Live USB (a remaster) of Debian and its derivatives. Back up an entire system, including user data, to an installable Live CD/DVD.

Unix command to back up file systems

BackupPC is a free disk-to-disk backup software suite with a web-based frontend. The cross-platform server will run on any Linux, Solaris, or UNIX-based server. No client is necessary, as the server is itself a client for several protocols that are handled by other services native to the client OS. In 2007, BackupPC was mentioned as one of the three most well known open-source backup software, even though it is one of the tools that are "so amazing, but unfortunately, if no one ever talks about them, many folks never hear of them".

K9Copy is a free and open-source DVD backup and DVD authoring program for Unix-like operating systems such as Linux and BSD. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License.

file synchronisation software

abandoned backup software for Windows

Partimage is a disk cloning utility for Linux/UNIX environments. Partimage can save partitions in many formats to a disk image. Utilities such as Partimage are useful in a number of situations which are commonly encountered by network administrators as well as advanced computer users who maintain their own systems. The last stable release was in 2010; since then, one of Partimage's authors has worked on FSArchiver, which has broader functionality than Partimage.

Rclone is an open source, multi threaded, command line computer program to manage or migrate content on cloud and other high latency storage. Its capabilities include sync, transfer, crypt, cache, union, compress and mount. The rclone website lists supported backends including S3 and Google Drive.

Duplicati is an open-source backup client that securely stores encrypted, incremental, compressed remote backups of local files on cloud storage services and remote file servers. Duplicati supports not only various online backup services like OneDrive, Amazon S3, Backblaze, Rackspace Cloud Files, Tahoe LAFS, and Google Drive, but also any servers that support SSH/SFTP, WebDAV, or FTP.

FreeFileSync is a program used for file synchronization. It is available on Windows, Linux and macOS. The project is backed by donations. Donors get access to a Donation Edition that contains a few additional features such as an auto-updater, parallel sync, portable version, and silent installation. FreeFileSync has received positive reviews. FreeFileSync is available free of charge for personal use; the official Windows installer requires the users to accept the terms of use, which state that for business use they are required to purchase a business edition version of the application.

Linux distribution for backup of virtual machines, containers, and physical hosts