Simple Backup, Think Areca Backup

If you ever find yourself looking for a backup tool that’s easy to use without all the nonsense of buying into proprietary hardware then you might want to try Areca Backup by aventin a try. For an average, everyday user it’s a very simplistic program to learn, and with just a few clicks, you can set individual files or multiple directories to be backed-up.

I’ve found this program on sourceforge.net, an open-source community where developers post their software for others to use/rate.

Essentially, Areca Backup is a file backup software that supports incremental, image and delta backup on local drives or FTP servers. Areca-Backup also allows you to browse your backups and navigate among different version of the files contained in your archives.

For evaluation purposes I will be using Philip Johnson’s Three Prime Directives of Java-based Open Source Software Engineering.

Prime Directive 1: I believe that this program does accomplish a useful task. However, it’s sort of a hit-miss type of deal. Today, most external storage devices come with their own type of back-up software making Areca Backup seem useless. But, as the functionality of the computer grows, so does the base hard drive. A brand-new computer with a 160 GB hard drive has lots of room to spare and normally wouldn’t come with backup software, only a recovery disc. So those that already have a large hard drive will benefit from the usefulness of this software.

Prime Directive 2: The very simple user interface of Areca Backup makes this software very attractive to use. The software itself is only 5 MBs, making download and installation very fast. The online tutorial was very helpful as it included written steps as well as screen shots. Those two facts alone more than satisfy prime directive 2. The types of backups range from basic backups, to server caliber FTP backups.

Prime Directive 3: Looking through the Areca Backup’s Documentation, it does have an API for custom plug-ins for a custom storage policy as well as a DTD template found on their website, but both somewhat vague. Also through sourceforge.net, they have a forum which developers can go to, to ask questions about modifying storage policies. For developers looking to modify this program, it’s very possible to do so, there are many resources you can check; the forums, documentation, and Areca’s homepage.

Overall, the software is very intuitive and easy to use, otherwise there’s a very helpful tutorial to point you in the right direction. It’s simplistic design and advanced features make it attractive to an average user that want to back up a few important files, or an experienced user managing multiple drives.