Disk ARchive (dar)
Command-line archiver and backup tool with compression, encryption and differential archives.
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About Disk ARchive (dar)
dar (Disk ARchive) is a command-line program for making backups and archives of directory trees. It supports compression, encryption, and full, differential or incremental archives. You can therefore take one full backup and then save only what has changed since.
Several branches are maintained in parallel under a documented release cycle. Version 2.7.21 was released in May 2026 and 2.8.6 in August 2026, and a 2.9 branch is in development. Source code and static binaries are published, together with a tutorial, FAQ and man pages. The backup engine is also available as the libdar library.
Strengths
- Differential and incremental backups alongside full archives
- Built-in compression and encryption
- Active, with maintained branches and releases in 2026
- Extensive documentation, tutorial and man pages
Limitations
- Command line only
- Several parallel branches can make choosing a version confusing
- More setup work than simple archivers
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree; source code and static binaries are published.
- License
- Open source, license not stated
- Platforms
- Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Scripted backups of Unix file systems with differential archives
- Categories
- Compression, Backup tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to Disk ARchive (dar)
Compare allSoftware that can replace Disk ARchive (dar) for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
BorgBackup
A deduplicating archiver for Linux, macOS and BSD that makes daily backups cost almost nothing beyond the day’s changes.
BorgBackup replaces differential archives with deduplicated, encrypted repositories reached over SSH, runs on Linux, macOS and BSD, and archives can be mounted with FUSE.
restic
A single-executable backup program that makes encrypted, deduplicated snapshots and can send them almost anywhere.
restic is a single binary for Windows, macOS and Linux that makes encrypted, deduplicated snapshots and sends them to local disks, SFTP or cloud storage.
Duplicity
Encrypted, bandwidth-efficient incremental backup to remote storage.
Duplicity keeps encrypted incremental backups but focuses on remote storage back ends, and long incremental chains make restores slow and require periodic full backups.
rdiff-backup
Reverse incremental backup that keeps the newest copy as a plain mirror.
rdiff-backup keeps the newest backup as a plain readable mirror with reverse deltas for history, runs on Windows too, but has no client-side encryption.
Kopia
An encrypted snapshot backup tool with both a command line and a proper desktop app, pointed at whatever storage you choose.
Kopia adds a desktop app alongside the command line, with encrypted, deduplicated snapshots to cloud, network or local storage, though it is still pre-1.0.
bup
Command-line backup system built on the git packfile format with deduplication and fast incremental saves.
bup uses the git packfile format for global deduplication and fast incremental saves, handling large files well, but it also stays command line only.
rsnapshot
Filesystem snapshot backups using rsync and hard links.
rsnapshot makes each snapshot a browsable directory using rsync and hard links, but it has no encryption or compression of its own.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
par2cmdline
The reference command-line tool for creating PAR2 recovery files and repairing damaged file sets.
FSArchiver
Command-line archiver that saves and restores whole Linux filesystems.
git-annex
A command-line tool that manages and syncs large files with git without storing their contents in git.
Amanda
Long-running network backup system for disk and tape.
Tarsnap
A command-line online backup service for Unix-like systems with client-side encryption and block-level deduplication.
