restic — The Complete Guide: Fast, Encrypted Backups of Project Folders for Free
restic is open-source command-line backup software that comes as a single executable and needs no server. It suits an engineering office with large project folders: after the first backup, each new backup transfers only the parts that changed, so it is fast and saves space.
restic
restic project
Fast, encrypted, deduplicated backups — project folders to disk, NAS or cloud storage.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Always encrypted — every backup is encrypted, even on a local disk.
- Deduplication — identical parts of files are stored only once.
- Many destinations — a local disk, an SFTP server and cloud services.
- Snapshots — go back to a folder as it was on a given date.
- Restore checks — verify that the backup can really be restored.
Getting started
Create a backup repository on the drive or server, back up the projects folder, and decide how many snapshots to keep — for example daily ones for the last month. There is no graphical interface, and scheduling is done through the operating system’s scheduler. You must keep the repository password somewhere safe, for example in KeePassXC — without it there is no way to restore.
Related tools
If you prefer a graphical interface — Kopia. To move files between cloud services — rclone. For a simple mirror copy to an external drive — FreeFileSync.
Kopia
Kopia project
Encrypted incremental backup with a GUI and scheduling — to local disks or the cloud storage of your choice.
Get it from the vendor
rclone
rclone project
Sync and copy files to 70+ cloud storage services from the command line, and mount cloud drives as local disks.
Get it from the vendorFreeFileSync
FreeFileSync
Folder sync and backup — compares folders and copies only what changed, for backing up projects to an external drive.
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KeePassXC
KeePassXC team
Local encrypted password manager — passwords for portals, software licences and equipment in one file you control.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
restic is serious, encrypted backup that is completely free, for anyone comfortable with the command line.