It basically allows you to select a set of files / directories to back-up, choose where and how (as a simple file copy, as a zip archive, ...) they will be stored, and configure post-backup actions (like sending backup reports by email or launching custom shell scripts)
It has been designed to:
- Be as simple as possible to set up : No complex configuration files to edit - Your backup configuration (stored as an XML file) can be edited with Areca's graphical user interface.
- Be as versatile as possible : Areca can use advanced backup modes (like "delta backup") or simply produce a basic copy of your source files as a standard directory or zip archive (readable by WinZip or other archivers).
- Allow you to interact with your archives : Browse your archives, track and recover a specific version of a file, merge a set of archives into a single one, etc.
Features :
- Archives compression (Zip & Zip64 format)
- Archives encryption (AES128 & AES256 encryption algorithms)
- Storage on local hard drive, network drive, USB key, FTP, FTPs (with implicit and explicit SSL / TLS) or SFTP server
- Source file filters (by extension, subdirectory, regular expression, size, date, status, with AND/OR/NOT logical operators)
- Incremental, differential and full backup support
- Support for delta backup (store only modified parts of your files)
- Archives merges : You can merge contiguous archives into one single archive to save storage space.
- As of date recovery : Areca allows you to recover your archives (or single files) as of a specific date.
- Transaction mechanism : All critical processes (such as backups or merges) are transactional. This guarantees your backups' integrity.
- Backup reports : Areca generates backup reports that can be stored on your disk or sent by email.
- Post backup scripts : Areca can launch shell scripts after backup.
- Files permissions, symbolic links and named pipes can be stored and recovered. (Linux only)
