Download DAR – Disk ARchive Backup and Archiving Tool

DAR (Disk ARchive) is a free, open-source command-line backup and archiving tool for Unix-like systems and Windows. It is designed as a modern, feature-rich replacement for the classic tar tool, adding support for differential/incremental backups, encryption, compression, file splitting across multiple volumes, and built-in data integrity checking.

Unlike tar, DAR stores file metadata and directory structure in a catalog at the end of the archive, enabling fast random access to individual files without extracting the entire archive. This makes restoration of single files from large backups extremely efficient. DAR also supports strong encryption (AES, Blowfish, Twofish) for securing sensitive backup data at rest.

DAR is widely used by system administrators and power users who need a reliable, scriptable backup solution with more flexibility than standard archive tools. A graphical frontend called DAR Manager (DarGUI) is also available for users who prefer a point-and-click interface.

Key Features

• Full, differential, and incremental backup modes for efficient storage usage
• Strong encryption support (AES-256, Blowfish, Twofish) for secure backups
• Multi-volume archive support — split large archives across multiple discs or files
• Fast random file access via end-of-archive catalog without full extraction
• Data integrity verification with built-in CRC checking
• Compression support (gzip, bzip2, lzo, xz, zstd) with per-file algorithm selection
• Cross-platform — available for Linux, macOS, BSD, and Windows

How to Install

1. Click the download button below to get the DAR binary or source package for your platform.
2. On Linux, install via package manager: sudo apt install dar
3. On macOS, install via Homebrew: brew install dar
4. On Windows, download the precompiled binary and add it to your PATH.
5. Create your first backup: dar -c archive_name -R /path/to/backup and restore with dar -x archive_name