Duplicati is a free open source project for Windows and Linux to back up your data encrypted on the cloud, a USB device or a network drive. The software has a user friendly interface where you can configure and monitor your backup jobs, the best feature is probably its built-in support to backup data on the cloud, Duplicati can use FTP, Webdav and SSH to send your data to a remote server, you can use one of the supported services, Amazon S3, Cloudfare (Rackspace) and Tahoe-LAFS (open source P2P decentralized system), or rent a cheap VPS (Virtual Private Server) and use it for your own backups keeping control of everything with no third party reliance.
A wizard will guide you through the process of creating your first backup job, you can choose one of the folder suggestions given (My Documents, My Music, etc) or select custom folders you would like backed up, the screen will show how much free hard disk space you need for the job, the data is all encrypted using AES256 by default or you can use Gnu Privacy Guard with PGP keys to encrypt it, everything is digitally signed so that nobody can tamper with the data.
Duplicati data backup with encryption
Duplicati main features
- Data encrypted and digitally signed
- Built-in support for backing up data on cloud services
- Support for differential backups
- Real time backup error notifications
Restoring a backup job is as easy as choosing “View contents” from the backup logs and launch the wizard, you will be asked if you want to schedule, edit, remove or restore files, after choosing restore files you are then offered different dates and the option to change the default location where to save the content.
Duplicati doesn’t have a fancy interface like other free backup software but it is easy to use and the encryption and SSH options make this program one of the best for backing up sensitive data. If you are worried that the files you store on the cloud can be leaked, subpoenaed, etc, or worried about your cloud storage provider so called encryption having a backdoor (like Dropbox), use Duplicati, do not give the authority to others to look after something as important as your encryption keys, data leakage liability will be yours not theirs, this backup software encryption has no backdoor, you can even use your own PGP encryption keys (created using GNU Privacy Guard) for peace of mind.