Software for backing up photo files

[Andprayforrain]

Time for me to start backing up my digital photos. Can anyone recommend a good easy-to-use program for creating a local backup that can use two or more portable hard drives?

(I'm not looking for an online solution.)

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

I keep photo work on an external hard drive, and use Carbon Copy Cloner (probably Mac only) to back up.

At any point in time, I have my active ext hard disk, one backup in the safe deposit box, and one backup in my file cabinet. Rotate the backups every 2-4 weeks.

Tim Grey recommends "GoodSync"

 

[halfaninchawater]

Answers will vary based on operating systems. On a my Mac, SuperDuper or ChronoSync work very well for local back up. I use both; SuperDuper for entire system and all files back up and ChronoSync for specific folder back up. I don't us a PC so I don't have any recommendations for that OS. The most important thing for me is automation. I have my system set to back up automatically every night. The most data I will ever loose is yesterday's work. I never have to remember to do it, it, I don't habe to think about it, it just happens automatically. And. If I feel like I can't loose what I just saved, I can always initiate a back up anytime. Best back up advice "3-2-1" 3 copies, 2 local, one on the computer and one on the back up and a third off site.
Hope it helps.
Dave

 

[Andprayforrain]

Thanks for the answers so far. I use Windows 11.

 

[Shac]

I use Karen's Replicator - not sure if it works on Windows 11, but does on Windows 10.
It is easy to use and only backs new or changed files/images. It's also free. I've used it for years with zero problems.

https://karens-replicator.en.uptodown.com/windows

 

[boojum]

I am working at the simpleton level in Linux. I copy over data (files) from the SD into the appropriate directory on an external HD with the Linux file manager. When the data being copied finds a copy already present in the target directory it asks if I want to skip, replace or duplicate the file. That works for me and I guess it does what the backup apps do.

 

[Archiver]

I'm going to assume that a proper backup program compares whatever is the source drive and duplicates the arrangement to the target drive. I'm on Windows 10 and am thinking this would be really helpful, given that I've got a 8TB drive that has just developed I/O errors, and won't read properly. There are about 3 years of photos on that drive that I haven't backed up, and now I feel pretty daft. Normally, I copy across a few drives, but the last couple of years have seen me lazy, and I just let it go. Ugh.

 

[Dguebey]

For many years I use plain text batch script, improved in the long time. On win10 don't forget ROBOCOPY command, much more efficient than XCOPY. No burden to compare input and output drive.