What is a backup version?

“Is there a backup tool that will make incremental backups (i.e. new and changed files), which keeps the older file versions as whole files?”

“I'm looking to take monthly backups of some files and would like them to be incremental and have versioning. Ideally I would like to say keep any versions of files less than 1-year-old and if its older than 1 year old just keep the latest version. I want any encryption for these backups as I will handle that at a file level for the very few things I have that need it.”

There are many users who have the same needs as in the case above and are looking for a good versioning backup software for their file data. So, what is a backup version? Backup version means all version histories of a file you have edited in the backup destination, which can help you to manage your files better. Once you want to return to a previous version of a file, backup with versioning can save you much time to look for it. When your file gets lost or corrupted, you can restore it to any version easily.

How to choose the best versioning backup software?

Since versioning software can bring lots of convenience to users, how to choose the best backup software with versioning? Here we list some points you can refer to:

• Backup version: Various backup version option is easy to use.
• Security: Great encryption is important in backup software.
• Price: Flexible subscription plans are user-friendly. It will be better if the software provides a free version.
• Speed: Good backup software always helps users perform backups at a high speed.

You don’t need to worry too much about making a decision. We have listed all the advantages and disadvantages of the 6 top backup software with versioning. Please keep reading to get them.

6 best versioning backup software

In this part, you can compare different backup software from all aspects and then make a decision to choose the best one.

CBackup

CBackup, a professional backup software with versioning, its website app is available on Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone, etc. for free. CBackup is based on OAuth, a standard authorization framework that enables third-party apps to connect to cloud services without your password so it is quite safe for your files.

CBackup provides 10GB of free cloud storage space for free. If you need more, you can pay for different subscription plans according to your needs: $4.99/month for 1TB of cloud storage space and 2TB of data traffic, or $14.99/month for 5TB of cloud storage space and unlimited data traffic.

And you do not need to worry about your data security. CBackup uses a 256-bit AES Encryption technique to ensure your data security while transferring. Besides, CBackup has no limitation on transfer speed and it depends on the state of your network connection.

CBackup provides 3 different types of file versioning: Keep all versions, Keep only X Recent version, Keep the version within the last X days.

• Keep all versions: This type of version management method will backup and keep all the versions of your files.
• Keep only X Recent versions: You can set the X as any number. When the backup version in CBackup is more than X, it will delete the oldest file version automatically, which can save you much storage space.
• Keep the version within the last X days: You can set the X as any number. When the backup version exceeds X days, CBackup will delete the versions before.

In addition to the file version, CBackup provides many powerful features to protect your files better.

You can restore a file of any version history from CBackup once you create a backup of them.

CBackup provides 10GB of free cloud storage for each new account. You can set PC to cloud backup with it.

It is also available to sync or back up your files to public clouds like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive for free.

You can even transfer files between two different cloud drive accounts like transfer Google Drive to OneDrive, or transfer files between two accounts from the same cloud drive platform.

To enjoy more free storage space, the Combine Cloud Storage feature allows you to merge unlimited cloud drive accounts to a combined cloud with larger cloud storage space.

Carbonite

Carbonite is also a backup software supporting versioning backup for Windows. It supports 3 version control. The first version will be kept for 7 days, the second version for 3 weeks, and the third version for 2 months. Deleted files will be kept for 30 days.

Carbonite provides only 15 day free-trial for test and all the subscription plans are charged annually: $71.99 for Basic plan, $111.99 for Plus plan, $149.99 for Prime plan.

It provides 128-bit/256-bit AES encryption at rest, two-factor authentication, and private encryption. But the transfer speed is not high, which means you need to spend more time backing up your files.

Backblaze

Backblaze performs well in versioning backup for its long version management: 30 days to 1 year. If you want to use 1-year version history, you need to pay $2/month. If you want an unlimited backup, you need to pay $5/month per computer. Or, you can choose to pay for a year or two years and you will get a $10 or $25 discount.

Backblaze provides AES 128-bit encryption at rest, and SSL encryption, private encryption, and two-factor authentication in transit so you do not need to worry about your file security.

Backblaze does not have limitations on upload speed, so the transfer speed is only influenced by the distance to the servers in California.

Since its subscription plan is charged by the number of devices, if you have multiple devices that need versioning backup, this option is not recommended.

CrashPlan

CrashPlan allows you to keep version history at 15-minute increments indefinitely. Then you can view latest version or old version by date and time, instead of a single file. CrashPlan charges $10/month and provides unlimited cloud backup, and external hard drive backup. You can stop it at any time.

CrashPlan also provides AES 256-bit encryption at rest, AES 128-bit encryption in transit, private encryption key, and two-factor authentication.

But compared with other backup software like Backblaze, the transfer speed of CrashPlan is quite low.

Besides, you can find some other useful features in CrashPlan like automatic backup, external hard drive backup, block-level copying, mobile backup, and so on.

pCloud

pCloud is easy-to-use backup software with versioning. It provides 30-day file version management and if you pay a little extra to extend it to 1 year. pCloud backup is a new feature so there are not many backup features but it is quite easy to use so you can consider it.

There is no limitation on file size to upload in pCloud and it supports multiple devices. Each new user will get 10GB of free cloud storage and you can pay for 2TB as well.

pCloud provides private encryption for your file security but it costs extra so you have to pay more for your files in it.

Acronis True Image

Acronis can keep your files for up to 3 years and the maximum number of version history is 99. Once you use it to create a backup, it will send you a report to tell you the state of your backup. But Acronis True Image costs more than other backup software. It charges $21.66/month for 5TB space and the Standard plan only supports local backup.

Acronis supplies AES 256-bit encryption, and TLS/SSL protocol in transit but it does not provide two-factor authentication.

The transfer speed in Acronis is high. It just costs 15 minutes to backup a 1GB folder with it.

Wrapping things up

That’s all about the 6 best versioning backup software. File version management is an important feature in backup software. Besides, you can consider some other factors and then make your decision. If you just want a free versioning backup software, CBackup can be your best choice. You do not need to pay extra and can enjoy the online backup unlimited versioning for free.