Cobian Reflector — The Complete Guide: Free Scheduled File Backup for Windows
Cobian Reflector is the successor to the long-standing Cobian Backup: a Windows program that runs file and folder backup tasks on a schedule, either as a Windows service or as a normal application. It is freeware — free for any use, office use included, with no registration; the author asks for donations. It needs .NET Framework 4.6 or newer.
Cobian Reflector
Luis Cobian (CobianSoft)
Scheduled file backup for Windows and successor to Cobian Backup: compression, encryption and local, network, FTP and SFTP destinations.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Three backup types — full, incremental or differential, per task.
- Compression and encryption — 7-Zip archives, split into fixed-size parts if needed.
- Destinations — another disk, a network folder, or an FTP or SFTP server.
- Runs as a service — backups happen even when no user is logged in.
- Remote client — manage the tasks of several machines from one place.
What to know first
It is excellent for nightly backups of project folders in a small office without a dedicated server. Limitations: files only, not disk images; no built-in cloud destinations; restore is manual from the archive; and it is developed by a single author who has said releases will come less often. If you turn on encryption, keep the password away from the machine being backed up.
Related tools
For folder sync and comparison on any operating system — FreeFileSync. For central backup of every office PC to a server — UrBackup. For encrypted backup to the cloud — Duplicati.
FreeFileSync
FreeFileSync
Folder sync and backup — compares folders and copies only what changed, for backing up projects to an external drive.
Get it from the vendor
UrBackup
UrBackup project (Martin Raiber)
Client-server backup for an office network: file and disk-image backups of every PC to one server while they keep running.
Get it from the vendor
Duplicati
Duplicati Inc. and community
Encrypted, incremental, scheduled folder backup to cloud storage, SFTP, a NAS or an external drive, with a friendly browser interface.
Get it from the vendorVeeam Agent for Microsoft Windows FREE
Veeam Software
Image backup of a whole Windows PC, single volumes or folders, with bootable recovery media and bare-metal restore.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
A mature, lightweight, no-cost tool for scheduled file backup on Windows. Pair it with a disk-imaging tool and an off-site copy and you are well protected.