Backup similar to Winrar+Archive bit

Question

I've been using WinRAR with the setting to archive only files with the NTFS Archive bit set and clear the bit afterwards. This lets me do incremental backups, and I can still access the individual files if I ever need them by simply browsing the archive with WinRAR Is there a backup solution that can do something similar to this, but automated, or better in any way?

Answer 1

Save your archive settings as a "profile" in WinRAR. Then run rar.exe with that profile. (Windows has Task Scheduler.) I used to do that for backups myself.

Answer 2

Is there a backup solution that can do something similar to this, but automated

Have a look at OCB for WinRAR:

The program acts as an easy-to-use backup shell for WinRAR archiver thus providing higher compression and safety of your documents in comparison with ordinary ZIP backups. OCB supports three backup formats for different needs. Firstly, RAR format that introduces 'recovery record' technology allowing you to restore all files even from a physically damaged archive, for instance if your backup CD was scratched. Secondly, ZIP format to be used when ZIP compatibility is of great importance. And finally, EXE format that provides the highest level of compatibility because such archives don't require any software at all to extract your documents.

OCB gives you full access to all key features of WinRAR - compression levels, volumes, password protection, recovery record, etc. You can easily run backup tasks manually or using the backup scheduler. In the latter case OCB can hide itself and create backup archives with a low process priority to let you proceed with your daily work without any inconvenience. Besides standard scheduler features, OCB can also trace the changes in selected folders and create backups as soon as files in these folders are created or modified.

OCB for WinRAR is freeware.

Of course you can use a batch file with Windows Task Scheduler. When using the command line utility RAR.EXE, the switch -ao will add files with Archive attribute set.

Answer 3

CobianBackup support compression (zip & 7zip), full / differential / incremental backup, scheduled backup (as service or not). And more: encryption, shadow copy, FTP backup, remote management,... And it's free