Backup to another computer over the Internet
Backing up data is essential not only for businesses but also for home users. Many users back up their files onto external USB drives or a different home computer. However, it is essential to backup files to a remote location over the Internet. This remote location could be either an office machine, another machine at your friend's house, or a family member.
Benefits Of Remote Backup
Although an onsite backup does protect users from accidental corruption or deletion, having a remote backup provides additional protection for your important files. Here are some benefits that you could only get from a remote backup:
- Protection against natural disasters and fire.
- Protection against viruses and ransomware that could potentially harm every connected device and/or mapped drives.
- Ability to access backed-up files from anywhere, anytime, and on any device, such as a mobile phone.
How to Backup Your Computer To Another Machine For Free
The Personal Edition of Syncrify is the best tool to backup up to 5 computers to a remote machine across the Internet. The best part: it is totally free.
Here is how it works:
- Designate one machine as the destination. Let's call this machine a "server". This server will hold backed-up files from other machines. This is the machine where you will need to install Syncrify Server.
- Machines that you want to backup are called "clients". These are the machine where you will have to install Syncrify Client.
- You have to configure the firewall where the server is running so it allows clients to connect over a TCP/IP port.
- Designate folders you want to backup using the client's GUI along with a schedule to run these backups.
Downloading Syncrify
Here are step-by-step instructions on how to use the Syncrify server and client.
- You have to start with the server, which can be downloaded from here.
- Create at least one user. You will have to use the credentials of this user to run a backup job from the clients.
- Once installed, configure the network firewall so clients can connect from the Internet. Read this page for instructions on how to configure a network firewall.
- Then, open a web browser on the client's machine and try accessing the server.
- Click the Download Client button to download binaries for the client.
- Install the client and configure it to connect to the remote server. Refer to this page for instructions on how to install and configure a client.