diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 863655e..df27f90 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,10 +1,12 @@ # Duplicacy: A new generation cloud backup tool -This repository contains only binary releases and documentation for Duplicacy. It also serves as an issue tracker for user-developer communication during the beta testing phase. +Duplicacy is a new generation cross-platform cloud backup tool based on the idea of [Lock-Free Dedeuplication]([design document](https://github.com/gilbertchen/duplicacy-beta/blob/master/DESIGN.md)). Duplicacy is the only backup tool capable of cross-computer deduplication which allows multiple computers to back up to the same storage simultaneously without using any locks (thus readily amenable to various cloud storage services). -## Overview +The repository hosts design documents as well as binary releases of the command line version. There is also a Duplicacy GUI frontend built for Windows and Mac OS X downloadable from https://duplicacy.com. The source code of the command line version is available to the commerical users of the Duplicacy GUI version upon request. -Duplicacy supports major cloud storage providers (Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure, Dropbox, and Backblaze) and offers all essential features of a modern backup tool: +## Features + +Duplicacy currently supports major cloud storage providers (Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure, Dropbox, and Backblaze) and offers all essential features of a modern backup tool: * Incremental backup: only back up what has been changed * Full snapshot : although each backup is incremental, it must behave like a full snapshot for easy restore and deletion @@ -14,7 +16,7 @@ Duplicacy supports major cloud storage providers (Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storag * Concurrent access: multiple clients can back up to the same storage at the same time * Snapshot migration: all or selected snapshots can be migrated from one storage to another -The key idea behind Duplicacy is a concept called **Lock-Free Deduplication**, which can be summarized as follows: +The key idea of **Lock-Free Deduplication** can be summarized as follows: * Use variable-size chunking algorithm to split files into chunks * Store each chunk in the storage using a file name derived from its hash, and rely on the file system API to manage chunks without using a centralized indexing database @@ -198,3 +200,7 @@ The following table compares the feature lists of all these backup tools: | Cloud Support | Extensive | No | No | No | S3 only | **S3, GCS, Azure, Dropbox, Backblaze**| | Snapshot Migration | No | No | No | No | No | **Yes** | + +##License + +Duplicacy is free for personal use but any commercial use must be accompanied by a valid [subscription](https://duplicacy.com/buy.html). This rule applis to both the CLI and GUI versions.