[Yogesh Sarkar]

I am looking for good and reliable backup software which would automatically backup new/modified files to the secondary hard disk and wouldn’t delete the file if it is deleted from the primary folder. Also I would like a software which doesn't encrypts the data.

Any recommendations?

[anupmathur]

I am looking for good and reliable backup software which would automatically backup new/modified files to the secondary hard disk and wouldn’t delete the file if it is deleted from the primary folder. Also I would like a software which doesn't encrypts the data.

Not deleting a file from backup location if file is removed from primary location: This is a feature that all such software has and YOU CHOOSE what you want it to do.
Basically there are three modes plus a few other options: Differential, Incremental or Full backup. Incremental is what we are looking for, in general.

For your stated requirements, I'd recommend Novosoft's Handy Backup.
I'm currently using version 5.4.
BTW I've been using Handy Backup for the last 6 years. Works as expected and does NOT spring surprises.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Looks good, any other recommendations?

[anupmathur]

Looks good, any other recommendations?

I've tried many, but found myself coming back to Handy Backup.
One of the main advantages is that there is no encription and it behaves like a simple cumulative backup.

If you use Nero or Acronis, have you tried their backup features?
Somehow, not for me.

[tsk1979]

This is the Nuclear bomb of backup softwares.
Best part? Its GPL
So no need of buying a license or pirating it.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bacula/
If it sounds overkill try http://sourceforge.net/projects/areca/
This is platform independent
In case you are using 2HDDs, I suggest getting identily HDDs, and using them in a RAID config.
Even if one disk suffers Hardware failure, you can retrieve data from the other.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Sir encryption bit is what scares me with a few backup softwares. Will try out Nero as it is installed on the system.

Tanveer can’t use raid because the primary hdd’s partition which is used to store date is bigger than the secondary hdd, 110GB with around ~97GB data vs. 80GB capacity of the secondary hdd. I only need backup for 41GB of essential data, rest I don’t care much about.

Hopefully by the end of this year I’ll have two 500GB drives in raid1 config.

[tsk1979]

Don't worry about encryption if you are using open source stuff. Popular softwares will always remain supported and you don't have to worry about companies folding up

[Yogesh Sarkar]

I am worried what would happen if the key is misplaced by, then I would be locked out of my own data!

[tsk1979]

BTW if all you want to backup is photos.
I would suggest either Smugmug(my fav), Flickr(community oriented) or zenfolio(most bang for the buck) paid accounts.
I presume the cheapest one is 24$/year and you get a nice gallery + you can store all your pics safely without worrying about hardware issues

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Personally if I want to backup all my photographs, I would like to do it at a place which doesn't have a public interface. Most probably will be going in for a proper online backup provider soon since I need to backup my sites on a regular basis as well.

Ps. tried out nero, takes ages to make initial backup point and couldn't backup dvd image.