Best Free Second Copy Alternative - AOMEI Backupper

Second Copy Software Overview

Second Copy is an automatic backup software for Windows users (includes Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, 2012), which is developed by Centered Systems LLP. The newest version is Second Copy 9. You could use it to automatically copy files from one directory to another destination, like local hard drive, network hard drive, floppy disk, CD, etc.

With the help of Second Copy, you could do the following operations to your files and folders:

• Simple Copy: Copy source to destination.

• Exact Copy: Copy source to destination, delete obsolete files from destination.

• Move: move source to destination.

• Compress: compress source into a ZIP file.

• Exact Compress: compress source into a ZIP file, delete obsolete files from ZIP.

• Synchronization: sync source and destination to match exactly, also called two way sync.

• Scheduled copy: It enables you to copy files to destination via 6 modes: Manual, Every few minutes, Every few hours, Once a day, Every few days, When files change.

• Encrypt and compress the backup.

• Email notification.

• command line options, and more.

Second Copy Limitations

However, you may be frustrated with the Second Copy problems. Such as:

• You may get Second Copy out of memory error while copying files, showing copied files 0 error 1, you have to contact the Second Copy support team for help.

• The log file did not update while copying files under a certain environment.

• The Second Copy run as a service did not run the scheduled profiles in Windows 7, 8 or 10. This problem does not be solved until now.

• Unicode characters did not display properly in the log file or the include/exclude specifications.

• It only states the Second Copy supports Windows 10, 8, 8.1, 7, not including Windows 11.

Second Copy Issues

In fact, the Second Copy itself has many limitations, you can check them in the previous paragraph. If it can't copy files, it's even worse. Not anxious now! I'll introduce you to the Second Copy backup software alternative, which works for Windows 11 definitely. 

The Best Free Second Copy Alternative

The best free Second Copy alternative - AOMEI Backupper Standard could be your best choice. It’s highly recommended by millions of users due to its reliable performance and intuitive interface. The supported OS includes Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1,10, and 11 (all editions, 32-bit & 64-bit).

Why AOMEI Backupper Standard is the best free Second Copy alternative, you will get the answer from the below chart.

	Second Copy 9	AOMEI Backupper Standard
Cost	$29.95	Free
Operating System	Windows 7/8/8.1/10/server 2012	Windows Vista/XP/7/8/8.1/10/11
Copy/Sync File	√	√
Automatic/Full/Incremental/Schedule Backup	√	√
Differential Backup	-	√
Disk/Partition Clone	-	√
Restore	√	√
Command Line	√	-
Email Notification	√	√
Compress/Encrypt Backup Image	√	√
Create Bootable Media	-	√

Tip: √: Supported; -: Unsupported.

You can identify the difference between the two backup tools:

• AOMEI Backupper Standard is freeware while Second Copy software is a paid backup image tool.

• Functionally, these two backup utilities are basically the same.

Thus, AOMEI Backupper Standard is the best free alternative to Second Copy in a way. Just choose the right one to backup your data according to your needs.

How to Use Second Copy free alternative in Windows 11 

Since the Second Copy is commonly used to copy files from one location to another automatically, so I'll show you how to achieve the same effect with AOMEI Backupper Standard effortlessness.

Just refer to the below instructions. To get started, please download the free Second Copy backup alternative - AOMEI Backupper Standard, install and run this installer. 

(PS: The free version only supports Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, XP, Vista. For server users, try AOMEI Backupper Server!)

1. To copy files and folders, select Sync, and then choose Basic Sync.

2. Click + Add Folder to choose the files or folders that you would like to backup, and edit the Task Name if required.

3. Select the destination to save files and folders. And depending on the path you need to choose different options below.

• Select a local path: Click it and select This PC to find the local drive, external disk (HDD or SSD), USB, etc. You need to connect it before selecting, 
• Add Share or NAS Devices: It requires you to type network path and then select one of the shared folders on it. 
• Select a cloud drive:  It allows you to sync local folder with Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox. You only need to download and install them.

4. Click Schedule Sync and enable it, select Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. You can also comment on the sync task, enable email or SMS notification after finished, or run specified program or script before or after the sync task with Options. And then click Start Sync to sync files or folders automatically with the best free second copy alternative.

After a while, all the files and folders will be synced to the destination, and the program will automatically sync the changed part to the destination at the specified time. 

👍 More advanced features on the professional version or higher:
✔ Event trigger: It allows you to sync files at specific events, such as, system shutdown, system startup, etc.
✔ USB plug in: It is to automatically copy files to USB drive when connected. Thus, you don't need to connect USB drive manually before the task start or keep it always connected.
✔ Filter setting: It helps you sync files with certain file extensions, thereby saving time and space.
✔ Different sync methods: Except for Basic Sync, you still can use Real-Time Sync, Mirror Sync, Two-Way Sync, depending on the sync direction, frequency, or synced files in the destination. 

Summing It Up

As the best Second Copy alternative freeware - AOMEI Backupper Standard, not only a file synchronization software but also free backup software for all Windows PCs. So you can use it to sync or backup files automatically, even create a cloud backup. The previous one focues on the usb portability while later one are more concerned about data security and disk usage.

It not only alleviate disk space automatically with normal compression, automatic splitting, incremental backup etc, but also provides users with advanced features, such as, differential backup, automatic backup cleanup, etc. Among them, the last one breaks the limitations of only increasing but not decreasing and deletes old backups automatically. All in all, it's worth trying software to protect data!