Cobian Backup is a nice and simple utility for scheduling Windows backups. Cobian Backup is far superior than the default backup utility that comes bundled with Microsoft Windows.  Cobian Backup supports .ZIP compression and 256-bit encryption which make is very good for data archiving and long-term storage. You can also use it to schedule backups to shared network drives and have email notifications sent to alert you of the status of completed backups. Cobian Backup is currently free up to version 8.0 and the features in the free version have been listed below:

New in version 8

• The program uses new Unicode functions whenever it can. Using compression and FTP will use ANSI functions, of course because of limitations on those formats or the FTP protocol. If you don’t use compression or FTP, the program will always handle your file names as Unicode.
• The program uses now memory mapped files for inter-process communication. All the TCP communication used in older versions has been eliminated.
• A new method of encryption has been added: RSA-Rijndael, which uses a 256-bit Rijndael encryption with a random key that is itself encrypted used a 1024-bit RSA asymmetric key.
• Sensitive settings as passwords are now stored in the ini file using strong encryption
• The program is now a “green” application. All the files are stored in ini files. The only part that used the registry is the service, which, for obvious reasons must be installed using the registry. A green application, of course is not necessarily a good thing, but some people (often for “religious” reasons) seem to think that this is a good thing. Oh, well…
• A feature allows you now you execute individual tasks under different user accounts. The task will then try to impersonate the user and execute the task under that account.
• The 256 characters path limit is now GONE thanks to Unicode. The file and paths names can now be up to 32000 characters long.
• Now you can close programs using also their class names.
• Better SQX error handling.
• Full service control from the Option dialog.
• The mirroring effect that you got while compressing AND overwriting has been thankfully eliminated.
• LOTS of bugs fixed
• A better user interface.
• FTP transfers of larger files (> 2 GB are now supported)

dixlinx: EDUC.UMU.SE/~COBIAN/

Tags: archive, backup, compression, encrypted backups