I have been on the lookout for a good light weight backup solution. I currently use a crap load of batch scripts. I recently saw a mention of Fling on Lifehacker. And after reading about Fling FTP I decided to check it out.

I browsed on over to http://www.nchsoftware.com/fling/index.html to download the 241kb file.

After installing and running Fling I was greeted with this screen:

I choose the option To automate regular copy of files to USB drive. Check the checkbox if some of the files you are backing up already exist on your flash drive. This will skip them when the backup starts.

Then you will hit the select key and pick your USB drive like so:

I then select the directory I want to back up as you see below:

It will check the files it needs to back up and then return this screen:

You can schedule your backups, start them manually with the above options. I love my geeky options :) I choose to do it automatic (Whenever a change is detected) and started to roll"¦

Click OK and you will see the console

And that's it"¦ as you add new files they will automatically be copied over and what is there already is also copied over. This is a great plan to have in place. Especially with flash drives being as cheap as they are nowadays!

Here is the authors own words on the application:

Fling File Transfer Software allows you to setup one or more "Fling Folders" on your local computer. You can work in these folders like any other folder on your computer and when any file is added or changed Fling will upload the file to a remote ftp server or network folder. The operation can be automatic (upload as soon as the files are changed), at a preset interval (eg. every hour) or manually.

Typical Applications

• Automatically update websites as you complete a change.
• Edit and create documents that are stored on a network folder while still retaining the original as a backup on your own computer.
• Manage multiple file transfer destinations.
• Backup important files by setting them to be saved in a Fling Folder which transfers at a set interval.

Fling FTP is completely free

Do you use an automated backup solution? If so share them with us in the comments!