Sometimes, you don’t want a complicated full system backup, or a cloud service storing your files where someone else might be able to access them. If you just have a couple of folders of important files that you want to regularly and safely duplicate, then Bvckup 2 is the piece of software that you need, with no unnecessary frills.
I’m a huge fan of simple, lightweight software — Malwarebytes’ antivirus comes to mind, as does Ninite. And what stands out most about Bvckup 2 is what it doesn’t do. It doesn’t do Time Machine backups, it won’t connect to a cloud service, it doesn’t create bulky versioned files; it just backs up.
With Bvckup 2, you simply set a source folder and a target folder, give it a description, set the files you want to back up and any exceptions (like particular file types) that you don’t, set a schedule — real time, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly — and click ‘Create’. Your backup schedule set, the first backup will take a while — especially if you’re copying to a different location on the same disk (not recommended) or an external drive (the best option).
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But after the first time, it’s incredibly quick. Delta copying means that Bvckup 2 only transfers the parts of files that have changed since the last copy, and you can switch to full file copying and over-writing if you want to be especially cautious. If you don’t need a full system backup — and, really, most of us don’t, since we only have a couple of folders of personal photos, music files, home videos, documents and the like that we really need — then Bvckup 2 does everything you need.
Of course, backing up your files isn’t quite as simple as that, since you should of course be saving those high priority files with the 3-2-1 method — three different copies, two local copies on different mediums and one offsite. But Bvckup 2 makes the ‘2’ part simple, especially if you’re just running a daily schedule to sync a folder or two to an external hard drive. That way, when if your PC dies, you’re not completely screwed.
That name, by the way, makes it incredibly quick to start on Windows 10 — just hit the Windows key to pop up the Start menu and search box, tap ‘bvc’ (they’re all next to each other!) and voila. [Bvckup 2]