Geek Software of the Week: UrBackup!
Free, Open Source Backup available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It can back up a running machine and create an image backup that you can then use to do a bare metal restore!
“UrBackup is an easy to setup Open Source client/server backup system, that through a combination of image and file backups accomplishes both data safety and a fast restoration time.
File and image backups are made while the system is running without interrupting current processes.
UrBackup also continuously watches folders you want backed up in order to quickly find differences to previous backups. Because of that, incremental file backups are really fast.
Your files can be restored through the web interface, via the client or the Windows Explorer while the backups of drive volumes can be restored with a bootable CD or USB-Stick (bare metal restore).
A web interface makes setting up your own backup server really easy.
- Fast. The custom client makes fast file and image backups possible. The client, for example, continuously watches file changes, so that only few files have to be looked at during incremental file backups.
- Web interface. The backup server has an integrated web interface that shows the status of the clients, current activities and statistics. Existing file backups can be browsed and files from these backups can be extracted or restored.
- Easy to setup. The backup server can be configured via web interface. The client via a user interface. The client can be configured from the server, making the client user interface optional.
- Consistent backups while in use. UrBackup backups your computer while you use it. Open files, like Outlook .pst files, get backed up without problems. The image backups are done while the system is running and in use as well.
- Space efficient. If multiple clients have the same files the UrBackup server saves them only once, leading to reduced storage requirements.
- Backups via Internet. UrBackup can easily be configured to also backup clients via Internet. This enables backups of mobile devices wherever they currently are. You can also use UrBackup to only backup via Internet.
- Free Software. UrBackup is Free Open Source software licensed under the OSI certified AGPLv3+. As long as you adhere to the terms and conditions of the license you are allowed to use and redistribute UrBackup in a personal and commercial setting.
- Multi-platform. UrBackup server currently runs on Windows, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD and several Linux based NAS operating systems. The UrBackup client runs on Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux.
Here is my local UrBackup Web Management Screen:
