Reliable file backup for Windows
FreeThe backup is actually there when you need it
Point it at the folders that matter, tell it where the copies go, and let it run overnight. It checks every file it writes, it can copy databases while they’re still open, and it only moves what changed, so most nights it’s done in minutes.
Version 2.1.0 · Windows 10 & 11 (64-bit) · No charge, no account
What Better AutoBackup does
Every file gets checked
It compares what landed on the destination against what it read, file by file. A copy that came up short is an error, and one error is enough to mark the whole run FAILED rather than let it pass.
Handles files that are open
Databases and files still in use are copied from a Windows shadow snapshot, so you get one consistent moment in time instead of a file that was half-written while it copied.
Copies to more than one place
Up to five folders, local or on a network share, plus an external drive that gets its own folder for each day of the week. One bad drive does not take the backup with it.
Only copies what changed
It keeps a record of every file it has already copied. The next run compares that against what is on disk and skips anything untouched, so a nightly backup of a folder that barely moved takes minutes.
Where backups usually go wrong
Backups rarely fail with a bang. They fail quietly, keep writing “completed successfully” every night, and you find out on the one morning it mattered. Each of these is a way that happens, and each one is checked on every run.
It checks the copy landed
After every file it compares the size on the destination against the size it read. If a network share drops halfway through and leaves a truncated file, that is an error, and an error fails the run.
It stops before it fills a drive
It adds up what it is about to copy and checks the destination has room for it, with headroom to spare. Not enough space is a clear failure. Filling the drive instead is how a backup takes a machine down with it.
It will not back up into itself
Point a destination at a folder inside the source and it refuses that destination instead of copying the backup into the backup, over and over, until the disk is gone.
It will not chase its own tail
A shortcut that points back at a folder higher up sends a scan around in circles, and that ends with the program dying on the spot and nothing in any log. It skips those, and it stops at a sane folder depth either way.
Stop means stop, not success
Hit Stop and the run is marked FAILED, because it is. Whatever copied before you stopped is still there, and nothing that runs after a good backup gets to run.
Two runs can not overlap
If a backup is still going when the next one is due, the second one steps aside rather than both writing to the same folders. A day is only recorded as done when the run actually succeeded.
None of that is theoretical. Every one of those checks was tested against a real data set of more than 1.5 million files, and we went back through the results by hand to confirm that what landed on the drive was what we meant to copy.
More than one copy, in more than one place
There’s an old line in IT that one backup is none and two is one. It sounds like a slogan right up until the drive you were counting on is the drive that died. Give this a few places to write and the same nightly run fills all of them.
Up to five destinations
A second internal drive, the NAS in the closet, a folder on the server, or all of them. Anything Windows can reach by a path or a network share works, and each one keeps its own record of what it already has.
An external drive, by weekday
The drive you rotate off site gets a folder per day: MONDAY, TUESDAY, and so on. You end up with a week of copies on it instead of one, and Wednesday’s mistake doesn’t overwrite Tuesday’s good data.
Skip what you don’t need
Name folders to leave alone, or match files by pattern the same way you would in Explorer. Cache folders and regenerated report piles are usually most of what makes a backup slow and none of what makes it worth having.
Files that are still open
Copying a database while something is writing to it gets you a file that looks fine and isn’t. Better AutoBackup asks Windows for a shadow snapshot first and copies from that, so everything comes from the same instant.
- Uses Volume Shadow Copy when it runs with admin rights
- Falls back to copying live if it cannot, and says so on the window and in the log
- Retries a file another program has locked, rather than giving up on the first try
- Database files are recopied every run, because they change without changing size
- Checks the file that landed matches the file it read
The installer sets the nightly run up with the rights it needs, so this part is on by default and you don’t have to think about it. A file it still can’t read fails the run, unless it’s the kind of scratch file you already said was fine to miss.
Something to run afterwards
Plenty of software wants to be told a backup happened. You can have it write a value into a settings file, or start a program of your own, and choose whether that happens on every run, only the good ones, or only the bad ones.
- Write a key into an INI file, dated automatically
- Or launch a program with whatever arguments you want
- Fill in the date, time, weekday, source folder, or the result
- Runs on success, on failure, or every time, your call
It starts the program you name and nothing else. It won’t hand a command line to Windows to interpret, which is the pattern antivirus reacts to and the one that turns a typo into something you didn’t mean.
Somebody already worked out what to back up
A profile is a recipe for one kind of machine. What to copy, what to leave, which files can never be trusted to the changed-since-last-time check, and what to do once the run finishes. Point it at a folder and it recognizes what’s in there.
- Computer-Rx pharmacies. Copies the databases and the prescription images, skips the report folder WinRx rebuilds daily and the drug-image set you can just redownload, and stamps the backup date into winrx.ini once the run has actually succeeded.
- Design and video studios. Copies the project files and skips the Premiere and After Effects cache and preview folders, which are large, constantly rewritten, and rebuilt on their own anyway.
- Everyday Windows machines. Eleven more come in the box: a whole user folder or just its documents and pictures, Office files and PDFs wherever they sit, photos and video, a shared drive, QuickBooks Desktop, Outlook mail files, browser bookmarks and settings, application settings, database files, and code projects.
- Or your own. Set one machine up the way you want it, save that as a profile, and hand it to the next one instead of doing it again from memory.
Applying a profile copies its settings into your configuration and then forgets where they came from. Nothing about tonight’s backup depends on a profile still being reachable, and nobody can change what your machine does by editing a list somewhere else.
File and folder replication, not disaster recovery
What this does is replicate files and folders. It copies what you point it at to drives you own, in your building, and that covers the drive that dies and the folder somebody deleted. Those are most of the bad days, and they’re the ones it’s built for. It is not a disaster recovery solution. It doesn’t cover the fire, and it doesn’t cover ransomware that reaches every drive on your network.
There’s also no restore button. Your backup is plain files and folders where you told it to put them, so you copy back what you need in File Explorer. We’d rather say that up front than have you go looking for a button at the worst possible moment, and it does mean getting your data back never depends on our software, or on us, still being around.
If offsite and versioned is what you actually need, give us a call and we’ll talk about what that looks like. You can still run this in the meantime, and plenty of people do.
Better AutoBackup for Windows
Version 2.1.0 · Windows 10 & 11 (64-bit) · Free
Download Installer
No charge, no trial, no account. Take it and use it.
By installing, you agree to the End User License Agreement.
Windows won’t warn you about this one
The installer is code-signed, so the prompts say Clinic Networking, LLC instead of showing you that unknown-publisher warning.
Runs on
- Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Windows 11 (64-bit)
- Any folder Windows can reach, including network shares
To install it
- Administrator rights, so it can install for the whole machine
- Sets up the nightly run with the access a shadow snapshot needs
- Adds the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime if the machine does not have it
Questions we get asked
Is it really free?
Yes. No charge, no trial period, no license key, no account to make, nothing that expires. We wrote it because we needed it, it works, and handing it to people is easier than explaining what we would charge for it. If you want us to set it up for you, that is a support call, and we would talk about that separately.
Do we need an administrator to install it?
Yes, and that is a real difference from our other apps. It installs for the whole machine and it sets up a scheduled task that runs as the system account, because copying a database that is open needs that level of access. Whoever installs it needs to be able to click through a normal Windows admin prompt.
How does it restore?
It does not. There is no restore button, and we would rather say that plainly than have you find out at the worst possible moment. Your backup is ordinary files and folders sitting where you told it to put them, so you copy back what you need with File Explorer. That is also the point: nothing about getting your data back depends on our software still existing.
What happens to a file we delete?
It stays in the backup. It only ever adds and updates, it never deletes anything on the destination, so deleting a file at the source does not wipe it out of your copy. That is deliberate. Something that faithfully repeats a deletion is not much help the week you needed that file back.
Will it slow the machine down while it runs?
It copies a few files at a time and you can turn that number down in Settings. Most people schedule it for the middle of the night and never notice it. The first run is the slow one because everything is new; after that it is only whatever changed that day.
Does it send our data anywhere?
Your data, no. It runs on your machine, reads your folders, and writes to the destinations you typed in. There is no cloud service behind it and nothing about your business or your patients leaves the machine. It does reach out for two things about itself: its own updates, and, only if you fill in the address for one, a shared list of backup profiles. Leave that address blank and it makes no outbound request at all.
Will Windows warn us about the installer?
No. It is code-signed, so you will see Clinic Networking, LLC as the publisher rather than that unknown-publisher warning.
How do we know it ran last night?
Open it and the first thing across the top tells you: whether the last run succeeded, when it was, how long ago that was, and what moved. It also writes a results file with SUCCESS or FAILED and a line for anything that went wrong, and keeps daily logs for a month. There is a checkbox to print the result after every run if you want it on paper at the counter. It does not email you, and it will not pop anything up on the screen.
How does it update?
By itself. It checks for a new signed build and installs it quietly, so the machine in the back room does not sit on a version from two years ago because nobody thought to look. You can turn that off in Settings if you would rather decide when it changes, but then keeping it current is on you.
Does it replace a real backup plan?
No, and we would not sell it to you as one. It copies files to drives you own, in one building. That covers the drive that dies and the folder somebody deleted. It does not cover the fire, the flood, or the ransomware that reaches every drive on the network. If you need offsite and versioned, call us and we will talk about what that actually looks like.
Want us to set it up?
The app is free either way. But picking the right folders, sizing the drive, and actually testing that a file comes back is the part people skip, and it’s the part that decides whether any of this helped. That’s a short phone call.
Already a client? support@clinicnetworking.com