The Best Free Data Backup Software: Linux OS

While Linux is still growing as a desktop operating system, it has proven itself as a server operating system for years now. File/disk backups are a very important function of any OS, and more so for one that is used on servers. Linux has had some of the best backup solutions available for everything, right from those needed for a single desktop or a small home office to a mega-enterprise running server clusters and storing terabytes of data. And with the growth in the desktop area, many of these tools have frontends available which make it easy for even relative newbies to create and store backups like a seasoned network administrator. All this comes with the same level of stability and security that is expected from Linux. The software we profile in this article use tried and tested backend applications like rsync to do their bidding. So what you get is a great combination of Linux stability with newbie-friendly graphical interfaces and web interfaces. We will take a look at a few of them here.

Flyback: Inspired by Apple's Time Machine, the guys at Flyback have used Linux technology and software to build an alternative. Although the software is quite new, the premise is solid and development is fast. Flyback allows you to take snapshots of your backup source and allows you to navigate through them while letting you recover and work with different versions of the same files. Although the software is created by one man, the level of polish is impressive, and it is an easy application that can allow you to store backups in a systematic format. Flyback should be included in your distribution's package manager and installing it should be simple. If your distribution does not offer flyback, you can get it from here.

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Running it is as simple as launching it from the Applications -> System Tools Menu.