Categories: Apps

Bvckup 2 | Simple fast backup

Full disclosure I haven’t tested this on my own machine yet, but it seems to be absolutely intent on only doing one thing really well. Backing up one directory to another.

In a past life we sold truckloads of backup software to business customers and its mostly not simple to install and use, mostly not inexpensive and mostly needing an external tape drive or library, but I can see this being replaced with arrays of cheap drives and a product like this being used.

Given some of the software solutions would run to 10s of $1000s, at $20 for a personal version and $40 for a professional license, this seems like a lot of bang for your buck.

This is not going to solve the offsite problem or provide you cloud backups, (though you potentially could back it to a Google Drive or Dropbox folder and have it sync afterwards) but you probably aren’t doing that properly either anyway as its almost impossible to get a business grade backup across DSL upload speeds.

What it will do is provide extremely fast differential backup from one directory/drive to another.

Select a pair of folders and Bvckup 2 will make sure that one stays an exact copy of the other. If you were to make one of the folders on disk array somewhere on the other end of the office, whilst this doesn’t negate having some form of offsite backup it does mitigate some of the risk.

I think the minimalist approach is a great selling point, they really have cut it down to a simplistic but highly effective app.

Real-time backups

Continuously monitor for changes and back them up as soon as they happen.

Scheduled and manual

Run backups at fixed time intervals or only when started manually.

Asynchronous I/O

Eliminate idling during data transfers by having multiple read and write requests running in parallel.

Delta copying

Reduce the amount of data being moved around by copying modified parts of files only. This speeds things up, in many cases
dramatically.

Multi-core processing

Speed things up by running computationally intensive tasks such as data hashing on all CPU cores, but scale back when computer is
under load.

Move/rename detection

Detect files and folders being moved at source and replicate this as a single quick
operation on the backup side.

Destination snapshots

Avoid re-scanning backup location on every run by scanning it once and saving its file index locally.

Device tracking

Pin a backup to a specific removable device so that it will be run only when this device is present.

Backup of locked files

Use Windows shadow copying to backup files that are locked for exclusive use by running programs such as web browser or email clients.

System service mode

Switch program to run as a system service to allow backups to continue running even when there’s no one logged in.

Archiving of deleted items

Move backup copies of deleted items into a special archive directory and delete them from there after a grace period.

Very large backups

Bvckup 2 has been tested with multi-million item backups and, while they naturally require more memory for processing, they can still be handled with ease.

Concurrent or serialized

The app can run backups one by one, forming a queue, or it can run them as soon as they are due, all at once. And, of course, a backup may also be started manually at any time.

Backup planner

When running a backup, Bvckup 2 always compiles a formal backup plan that can be inspected without being executed if a “dry
run” is required.

Native 64-bit support

Installation package includes both 32- and 64-bit versions of the program, selecting an appropriate one to install automatically.

Minimal dependencies

The app works with low-level Windows API and has no dependencies on WMI, COM or system services outside of shadow copying.
It also stores all its configuration on disk, in a single directory.

Software update reminders

In addition to being able to check for updates automatically, Bvckup 2 has an option to remind you to check for updates
by hand.

The website sold me, if their product is anything as simple and effective I think they will sell a busload. You can get it here bvckup2.com

Mike88

Mike Nicholls Australian Inventor + Entrepreneur working with a small team of engineers building prototypes from Inventions including two medical devices. Publishes Startup88.com and has assessed/reviewed +500 inventions and +200 startups in the last 3 years. Mentors Sydney Startups via Incubate and other incubators and helps members of the Australian Startup Community via the Startup88.com website with free publicity and advertising. Experience in numerous industries including Digital Publishing, Cloud Computing, Apps, Hardware, Aviation, Real Estate & Finance and Health/Medical Devices.