What is the best alternative to WinDataReflector File Synchronization and Backup?

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score 4 · Answer 1

FreeFileSync

Top Pro

Completely free

Source code releases are provided under GPLv2. See More

Top Con

Does not preserve folder timestamps when copying

Top Pro

It is quite performant

Top Con

Memory hog

It runs a little slow on computers who don't have much RAM available. See More

Top Pro

It supports realtime sync

It can be configured to constantly monitor two folders for changes and sync them instantly when a change is detected. See More

Top Con

Limited built in history

The program only remembers the latest set of folders you synced, so you have to save your syncs or create batch files. See More

Top Pro

It lets you program batch scripts

You can program your own jobs for execution as a script. See More

Top Con

A little intimidating for novices

If you never ran a file syncing software, this can be a little tricky to configure as your first one. See More

Top Pro

Portable version available

Top Con

No backup encryption

Top Pro

It supports case sensitive synchronization

For Unix-like systems. See More

Top Con

It doesn't run on older Linux systems

It's dependencies don't allow it to run on older systems. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

It runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS. See More

Top Con

It doesn't support syncing to the cloud.

Top Pro

It supports long file paths

It can copy files and folders with more than 260 characters in their paths. See More

Top Pro

It can copy locked files

It supports Volume Shadow Copy Service, meaning that it can copy files even if they are in use or otherwise locked. See More

Top Pro

It supports versioning

Versioning is keeping multiple instances of the modifications of your files. See More

Top Pro

It can sync both local disks and network shares

Top Pro

It supports multiple protocols

It will work with MTP, FTP, SFTP, FTPS, and more. See More

See All Experiences

4 1

score 27 · Answer 2

Seafile

Top Pro

Free and open source

Seafile community edition is licensed under GPLv2 with source code available on GitHub. See More

Top Con

Requires maintenance

You have to manually keep the server and clients up to date. See More

Top Pro

Client-side encryption

All files are transferred with AES 128 bit encryption. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android

API:yes

File sharing (w/ other users):yes

File versioning:yes

See All Specs

27 0

score 17 · Answer 3

duplicity

Top Pro

Encrypted locally before sending (using GnuPG)

Data is encrypted locally before being sent, and kept encrypted by a key that is never stored on the remote machine. So you might even store your data on a public space, people would still need your key or brute force it. See More

Top Con

You have to invest a few minutes in setup time

Top Pro

Bandwidth and space efficient

Duplicity uses the rsync algorithm so only the changed parts of files are sent to the archive when doing an incremental backup. For instance, if a long log file increases by just a few lines of text, a small diff will be sent to and saved in the archive. Other backup programs may save a complete copy of the file. See More

Top Pro

Versioning and incremental backup

You can retrieve older versions or files you recently deleted locally even after having updated your backup. See More

Top Pro

Free and open-source

Licensed under GNU GPL v2. See More

Top Pro

Works with scp/ssh, ftp, rsync, Amazon S3...

Duplicity does not make many demands on its archive server. As long as files can be saved to, read from, listed, and deleted from a location, that location can be used as a duplicity backend. Besides increasing choice for the user, it can make a server more secure, as clients only require minimal access. See More

Top Pro

Has a Dockerized image

Docker allows to run programs on any Linux without having to really install them, and allows to manage versions so it runs exactly the same on different machines. See More

See All Experiences

17 0

score 117 · Answer 4

Dropbox

Top Pro

Easy to use

You can use Dropbox via website, by installing a desktop client that creates a folder that you simply drag and drop files into, or with their mobile app. Everything synchronizes across all devices used and cloud storage. And Dropbox offers easy methods of sharing whatever is within it. See More

Top Con

Too little free space

There is just too little of free space available comparing to the competition. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform desktop and mobile

Dropbox is available on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows, OS X and Linux. By having a client for so many OS's pretty much anyone is covered no matter what kind of device or OS they are using. See More

Top Con

Not secure

They don't apply end-to-end encryption, files are visible to admins, governments, etc.. See More

Top Pro

Allows sharing a single file via link

Whether using desktop client or web interface, simply right click on the file you want to share and select Dropbox > Share link, then send the link to the people you want to share the file with. The recipient does not require a Dropbox account. See More

Top Con

Consumes a lot of CPU resources when syncing many files

Top Pro

Allows sharing a folder

Using a desktop client: right click on the folder you want to share and select Dropbox > Share This Folder, then enter the e-mail addressees of people you want to share the folder with. See More

Top Con

Restricted only to 3 devices for FREE accounts

Recently dropbox decreased the number of linked devices to 3, so you can't have more than 3 linked devices. This is problematic if you use Dropbox to sync between your computers. See More

Top Pro

Smart updates to big files

If a small portion of the file is changed it sends/receives only the differences (not the whole file), which is fast and bandwidth-efficient. See More

Top Con

All-or-nothing (non-selective) upload

Uploading generated contents (cache, compiled code, etc.) is prone to conflicts, wastes bandwidth and free space. See More

Top Pro

Lots of addons and integrations

There are official and third-party Dropbox add-ons that extend the functionality of the service and add ease of use of existing features. Additionally, Dropbox can be integrated with existing applications to bring its functionality to other apps. See More

Top Con

No privacy

Extensive collecting and distribution of user data to commercial third parties. See More

Top Pro

Folders can be downloaded compressed to save bandwidth

To save bandwidth and download speed you can choose to compress a folder into a zip archive for download. See More

Top Con

Low bandwidth

Top Pro

30-day version control

Dropbox keeps deleted and earlier versions of files for a month. See More

Top Con

Nocive development model

Takes a lot of decisions that usually damage community, from deleting features to making impossible to use with other filesystems than ext4 because they decided without a plausible reason (they said it was about xattrs, but all modern linux filesystems supports xattrs, so it's bs.)(they remove this later, but it's too late). See More

Top Pro

Reliable

Top Con

Does little more than storing files

Top Pro

Up to 18GB of free storage space

Dropbox personal accounts start out free, with 2GB of space, but users can get extra space by recommending the site to friends, or taking part in events like "Dropquest", where users can win extra space by solving puzzles. See More

Top Con

Dropbox keeps deleting features, chasing customers away

For instance, all photo albums got deleted. It used to be very easy to share a couple og photos, now it's PAINFUL and must be done file by file. See More

Top Pro

Instant disaster recovery

Your files always synced online means instant disaster recovery. When your hard drive becomes unbootable, pick up another laptop and just carry on with your life from where you last saved. See More

Top Con

Problems when synching between Linux and Windows devices (unconfirmed)

This summer I lost thousands of files due to this problem on older projects which subsequently needed revising and had to be rebuilt as tons of the source was gone. See More

Top Pro

Desktop client has no file size limit

As long as you have enough storage available, you can upload files of any size using Dropbox desktop client. See More

Top Con

Can unintentionally delete your files if you reinstall your OS without closing Dropbox

If you reinstall the operation system for your PC and you do not close Dropbox, it will delete all files. See More

Top Pro

Available free storage can be increased with referrals

You get extra free space for you and your friend if they sign up. See More

Top Pro

Adjustable bandwidth use

To not slow down the network or save traffic you can limit the upload and download speeds of Dropbox. See More

Top Pro

Linux support

Dropbox offers native Linux support, integrates with Nautilus file manager. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, OSX, Android, iOS, Windows Phone

Offline access:Yes

Versioning:Yes

See All Experiences

117 55

score 16 · Answer 5

Macrium Reflect

Top Pro

Can mount backups like a hard drive

You can mount backups, then browse them in explorer to search for files and copy them back. See More

Top Con

Bit complex for a new user - best if you're experienced with computers

Not ideal for really basic users. See More

Top Pro

Multiple backup methods

support full,differential, incremental See More

Top Con

incremental only for pro users

Top Pro

The only cloning/imaging software we could get to work with Intel SRT

Odd tech like RAID arrays and Intel SRT cause a lot of cloning or imaging software to just give up, but Macrium is dedicated to updating the Reflect package to actually work with everything See More

Top Con

installation Need restart

Top Pro

automatic schedule password protection

Top Con

incremental only for pro users

Top Pro

Support Live CD

Top Con

Has some odd behaviours around cloning

For example, you can resize partitions when resizing but you need to drag each partition from the top area to the bottom yourself instead of allowing it to auto populate the field. See More

Top Pro

Recovery boot menu

The recovery boot menu enables directly booting to the recovery environment from the Windows OS selection menu, without the need to burn a recovery disk or USB flash drive. See More

Top Pro

Nifty scheduler

Top Pro

Incremental backup

During the free trial or in the paid versions. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

See All Experiences

16 0

score 3 · Answer 6

FTP Synchronizer

Top Pro

Very secure

Supports syncing over FTPS and SFTP. See More

Top Pro

Can sync multiple files across multiple websites in parallel

With FTP Synchronizer you can synchronize multiple files and multiple sites simultaneously. See More

Top Pro

Can schedule syncs

You can schedule when you want to synchronize a particular document for a particular website. See More

Top Pro

Does not waste time by copying every file over

When syncing a folder, FTP Synchronizer intelligently finds out which files have been changed and copies only them. See More

3 0

score 8 · Answer 7

EaseUS Todo Backup

Top Pro

Comprehensive free version

The free version of the software allows backing up and recovering files, disks, partitions as well as system files. It supports incremental and differential backups, allows scheduling, can backup to a cloud and clone disks. See More

Top Con

Need system restart for reinstall

Top Pro

Integrates well with Windows

Clicking on todo files will be treated as part of the OS and will open their own window, making for an easy way to use the files to then recover files as one sees fit. See More

Top Con

Restore files are very slow

Top Con

Frequent popups when using free version

If using the free version, expect frequent popups suggesting that you upgrade to Pro. See More

8 1

score 2 · Answer 8

DriveImage XML

Top Pro

Hot images

Can backup while the drive is in use. See More

Top Con

UI looks dated

The user interface looks dated. See More

Top Pro

Run from CD

Can run from a live CD, useful when your system disk has crashed. See More

Top Pro

Copy drive to drive

Top Pro

Compact

Less than 2 Mb in size. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

2 0

score 2 · Answer 9

FTPbox

Top Pro

Very secure

Uses both SFTP and FTPS protocols to sync files. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

FTPBox is a completely free and open source application. See More

Top Pro

Available in multiple languages

FTPBox is available in multiple languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Greek, etc. See More

2 0

score 49 · Answer 10

rsync

Top Pro

Fast and bandwidth efficient

Only the changed parts of files are synced. For instance, if a long log file increases by just a few lines of text, a small diff will be sent to and saved in the archive. Rsync also compresses data in transit. See More

Top Con

No official GUI

To use rsync, you have to know your way around the command line. See More

Top Pro

Works over SSH

SSH support allows sending files securely over the network by encrypting all communcation. See More

Top Con

Complicated, and you can accidentally overwrite the wrong files

Top Pro

Pre-installed on OSX and most Linux distributions

Many *nix systems bundle rsync so there's nothing to install. All you need to do is open up the terminal and start using rsync. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

Licensed under GNU. See More

49 7

score 6 · Answer 11

Sync

Top Pro

5GB of free storage

250% more space than Dropbox basic plan. See More

Top Pro

Privacy conscious

Terms and conditions favor user privacy. See More

Top Pro

Encryption

Data is fully encrypted on the client-side, both in-transit and at-rest. See More

Top Pro

Two-factor authentication

Even free accounts offer 2FA. See More

6 1

score 11 · Answer 12

Box

Top Pro

Cross-platform desktop and mobile

Box is available for Windows, OS X, iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phones. Which mean access to ones files no matter the device or platform used. See More

Top Con

Log in on every use

Any time the app is opened the user's log-in needs to be typed in, which can become annoying. While it is a nice privacy feature, an option to turn it off would be nice. See More

Top Pro

Extendable via plugins

There are plug-ins for applications that allow interactions with Box. See More

Top Con

No Linux client

They are not willing to listen to Linux community. They've also deleted a bunch of messages from Linux users on their forum See More

Top Pro

Salesforce and NetSuite support

Top Con

Missing collaborative apps

Not being able to easily back up office works through an integrated office suite can be a set back when comparing to backup apps like Drive. While you can set certain apps to save their files to the Box folder, it is not as easy as using something like Google Docs, which not only saves while you are working but as soon as you are done, with no extra steps. See More

Top Pro

Sharing and privacy features built for business and IT users

Such as advanced sharing options, task assignment, notifications. Making an easy way to stay up to date on assigned tasks. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; Android; iOS; Windows Phone; BlackBerry

See All Experiences

11 2

score 87 · Answer 13

pCloud

Top Pro

No file size limits

Allows you to store your HD videos, FLAC music files, and large documents. See More

Top Con

Low bandwith

Top Pro

Lifetime options for storage space

Top Con

Not a well known company

Top Pro

Desktop app doesn't take space on hard disk

Computers see it as a network drive. See More

Top Pro

Other users can upload files to your storage

Have others upload files directly to your account from any browser using "Upload links". See More

Top Pro

Very reliable

Top Pro

No synchronization speed limits

Sync files as fast as your internet plan allows you to. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Backup and use your files from any device with Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, or iOS. See More

Top Pro

Free 20gb of storage

Higher than all the other cloud services except Mega. See More

Top Pro

2tb storage and 2tb bandwidth

Unlike all the other clouds this makes it great for sharing large files. To lots of people. See More

Top Pro

Free bandwidth with ads

This is nice if you don't care about what is people see on the page when you share the file and you have large files to send. See More

Top Pro

WebDAV access

Files can be accessed using WebDAV (although there is a limitation at the moment that prevents access via WebDAV if two-factor authentication is set up.. hopefully to be resolved in the near future) See More

Top Pro

Linux client

Support for all file systems and distributions. See More

Top Pro

Branding of Download links

Cool branding feature possible for the videos and pictures :) See More

Top Pro

Easy Sharing

A lot of sharing options between accounts and other non-pCloud-users. See More

Top Pro

Rewind option for FREE

Rewind option is possible for free up to 15 days back in time, 30 days back with Premium plans and you can pay for a whole year of file versioning only 39 EUR! See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux

87 13

score 1 · Answer 14

Handy Backup

Top Pro

Backup for ODBC Databases

The Professional edition is capable to backup and restore database tables with the help of ODBC drivers See More

Top Pro

Backup to all popular clouds

The Professional edition is capable to save copies of data to all popular clouds such as Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive, OneDrive and OneDrive. See More

Top Pro

System backup and recovery

The Professional edition can save an image of any drive as a VHD file. Users can restore this image later, or attach this VHD file as a virtual drive and browse its content, or even run it as a complete image of a VirtualBox machine. See More

Top Pro

Reliable

Reliability, one of the essential qualities of a backup tool. See More

1 0

score 1 · Answer 15

WinToHDD

Top Pro

Free version

Free version available (supports only Windows Home versions). See More

Top Con

Limited free version

Top Pro

Encryption

Features Bitlocker encryption. See More

Top Pro

Reinstall

Allows to easily reinstall Windows. See More

1 0

score 63 · Answer 16

MEGA

Top Pro

Cross platform

Linux, Windows and Mac. See More

Top Con

Higher than normal chance of a forced service shutdown

Mega has a higher than normal chance of having legal troubles due its founders past, thus there's a higher than normal chance that the service may be shut down with all your files in it and no way to retrieve them. See More

Top Pro

Client-side encryption

All files uploaded to Mega are first encrypted on the users side. To access files a decryption key must be supplied. For ease of use, the decryption key can be appended to the URL you share. See More

Top Con

No account recovery

The only way to access your account is with a password and there is no way to recover it if you lose it. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

Just drag and drop files in the browser window, then create a link for sharing. You will need an account to create a link. To streamline the process for new users you can start uploading as soon as you access the website and create an account while it's uploading. See More

Top Pro

50GB free

50 GB trial for new accounts after registering for a month, then 15 GB. There's also three upgrade plans, starting at 500GB and $110/yr. See More

Top Pro

Open source client

Top Pro

Functional web interface

Top Pro

Respects Personal Privacy

They will never look through your files unless they ask for permission See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; Android; iOS; Mac OS X; Chrome OS; Linux

63 14

score 30 · Answer 17

SpiderOak

Top Pro

Available for many platforms

The Spideroak client is available for Linux, MacOS, Windows, Android and iOS. See More

Top Pro

Zero knowledge

Data is locally encrypted before uploading to Spideroak. They cannot recover your data even if they wanted to since it is stored in encrypted state on their servers. See More

Top Pro

Unintrusive

Top Pro

Incrementals

SpiderOak updates only that part of the file that has changed, saving bandwidth and time. See More

Top Pro

Combines cloud syncing, storage service and backup client

Thus you have a single service for all of the things. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; Linux; OSX; Android; iOS

30 8

score 23 · Answer 18

OwnCloud

Top Pro

Open source software

Top Con

Not plug and play as Dropbox etc

You may need some help installing it on your web space, though some providers offer free install server. See More

Top Pro

Allows selective sync

Desktop clients offer sync almost as versatile as dropbox. See More

Top Pro

You have full control with your data

Only chose a provider or host it on your soho-server. See More

23 7

score 17 · Answer 19

Tresorit

Top Pro

Client-side encryption

Encryption is performed before content gets uploaded to the cloud. See More

Top Con

No Telephone Support

Top Pro

Cross-platform

With clients for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Blackberry. See More

Top Con

Proprietary

Because the software is proprietary, there's no way to review the security practices or really know how the software operates under the hood. As such it can be considered as not safe for sensitive information. See More

Top Pro

Free storage space (get additional space through bonuses)

5 GB, up to 16 GB with bonuses. See More

Top Con

Significantly more expensive than just about everything else

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows Phone

Mobile App:Yes

End-to-end encryption:Yes

Offline access:Yes

See All Specs

See All Experiences

17 7

score 24 · Answer 20

Microsoft OneDrive

Top Pro

Integrates with Microsoft Office software

It integrates with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc as if you were using OneDrive locally. See More

Top Con

Recycle bin doesn't support replace

Imagine you have 100 folders to be restored, and they cannot be restored because existing folder is already in your main folder and you intend to overwrite them but they don't support it. See More

Top Pro

Share files and folders easily

You can choose what files and folders to share with other people then send them a link. See More

Top Con

Online OneDrive are slow

Compared to other cloud storage, the web interface of Onedrive is slow. It got a slight delay on every action like opening a folder, delete, etc. See More

Top Pro

Unlimited storage for Office 365 users

Top Con

Time limit for inactivity

Based on OneDrive's terms of service, no account login within one year will be automatically terminated. See More

Top Pro

No setup for Windows 8/8.1/10

If you use Windows 8 or later, OneDrive is already built in your system and can be accessed via file explorer. See More

Top Con

Strictest code of conduct

Terms of Service forbid any kind of nudity, or that incites, advocates, or expresses pornography or racism among other things. See More

Top Pro

Collaboration via Office 365

If you use Office 365 with OneDrive, you can share a file to edit collaboratively in real time. See More

Top Con

No client for Linux

No client for Linux. See More

Top Pro

Offers 15GB of storage for free

Top Con

Old versions and deleted files aren't available online, just on one computer.

On some other services you can see previous versions and deleted files for a time, but with OneDrive, these are only available on the computer the edit was made. So if someone who has write permission on your shared folder deletes your stuff you just have to ask them to go in their recycle bin (and hope they didn't empty it!), which makes it less useful for teams. See More

Top Pro

Photos taken with a smartphone can be set to automatically upload to OneDrive

When Android, iOS and Windows Phone users take a photo with their phone it can be set to automatically upload to OneDrive via app. See More

Specs

24 10