Digital storage systems have evolved significantly over the last few years but the fears of losing your important data are still valid and pressing. Whether it is to stay protected against an unexpected or accidental failure of a hard drive, PC getting corrupt, or to defend against any online infection such as WannaCry ransomware, backing up data to a safe trove makes sense. There is a variety of backup software for Windows PC that can help you safeguard your data. In this article, we have listed 12 best back up software for Windows that you can use on you PC in 2020.
Below, we’ve listed out the best backup software for Windows users, catering to different backup requirements. We’ve tried to incorporate the factor of ease of use since we understand that backup up data or restoring it isn’t the most entertaining task out there. You can click on the links below and move to the corresponding program. Also, you can learn how to choose a backup software from our explainer below.
- How to Choose a Backup Software?
The question that which backup software will be better for you depends on your use-case. If you want a backup solution for storing documents and important files then cloud storage options would be a better choice. And if you want to fully back up your PC and not just for once but at regular intervals then you should get a full-fledged backup application.
How to Choose a Backup Software?
How We Test?
We have tested these programs on our PC running Windows 10 and all of them work fine. In addition, we have used some of the software in the past for moving data from one PC to another and they have been quite reliable. In tandem, the programs mentioned below are authentic and you can use them without any issue.
Best Backup Software for PC
1. Acronis True Image 2020
Acronis True Image is one of the most versatile options – and deservedly on the top of the list. It allows users to take full images of disk drives along with the flexibility of scheduling backups and taking incremental or differential backups. Apart from the elaborate options to back up the entire PC, select drives, or just some folders and files, you can use dedicated options to create recovery disks.
Lastly, you also get an encrypted vault where you can store all your backups securely. If you’re looking for a holistic backup solution, Acronis True Image is genuinely worth the investment.
- Full PC image backup and restore
- Automatic scheduled backup
- Back up over the same hard drive and cloud backup
- Strong AES 256 encryption.
Pricing: 30-day free trial and $49.99/year after that.
Macrium Reflect is arguably one of the best backup software for Windows right now. It has an endless list of features to the point that you might feel overwhelmed. Yes, the software is a bit complex to use and designed primarily for professionals, but general users can also utilize this tool for creating a complete backup of their Windows PC.
In case you are unaware, there are three types of backup methods generally found on most backup tools: Full, Differential, and Incremental backup. Full backup means it will simply copy everything on your PC including the OS. It’s a time-consuming process and takes up huge disk space. You can use this backup method if you are moving to a new PC.
Key Features:
Pricing: Free, Premium versions start at $69.95
EaseUS Todo Backup is a versatile backup software for Windows which not only lets you back up your files, folders, or entire drives to a secure physical or network-based location but also upload these backups to popular drives such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. Apart from this, you can create disk images of drives or their partitions for a seamless recovery.
The backup software also comes with features to take incremental, differential, or full backups of drives as per schedule or with the addition of new data. Despite new increments, you can still choose to restore an older backup file.
- Cloud backup
- Options for creating clones of individual disks and full system
- Maintains password protection
- Supports scheduled backups.
Pricing: Free version with limited features and a Home version for a price of $29 for a lifetime.
O&O DiskImage is a rich suite of features and tools one needs in order to backup complete drives or certain files and folders selectively. The interface uses easy-to-interpret text along with some basic images to show you many of the available backup options.
O&O DiskImage also sports features like “One-click imaging” letting you take backups of all the connected physical drives with the default options selected with a – you guessed it – single click. But if you want, you can customize the options to suit your needs. Besides backing up drives, you can also back up files and even encrypt the backup files.
The software also allows you to use virtual and network-based storage drives and even lets you mount earlier backup images as local drives, so you can view them in the Windows Explorer, which we think, can come pretty handy if you just want a quick look through the backed up data.
Price: 30-day free trial with a lifetime license for $49.95 per PC and $69.95 for 5 PCs.
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Paragon Backup & Recovery is designed to let you back up certain partitions or entire hard disks in the form of virtual drives. These backups can either be utilized to restore Windows machines in case of failure or data loss or to restore virtual machines.
Additionally, you also get the option to create WinPE-based bootable media such as recovery drives or DVDs which will let you run recovery tools built into Windows in case your PC is corrupted. This will also allow you to replace the corrupt disk with a previously created image of the disk.
Pricing: Community Edition for Free; Paid version for $49.95 with lifetime access for 1 PC.
6. Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows
Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows is a fairly long name for what was originally released a couple of years ago as Veeam Endpoint Backup Free. Unlike most of the other utilities on this list that are meant for the home user, Veeam is mostly known for its enterprise solutions.
Pricing: Free, Premium version pricing available on request
AOMEI Backupper is a decent backup software with both free and paid options. You can create a backup of Windows and all its settings to revert to it when required, and you get full control over what to backup. You can back up individual files/folders, partitions, and disks. A backup schedule can be created along with full backup sync to ensure all your files are properly backed up.
While creating a backup the software will not mess with any of the processes and you can keep using all the apps and the system without worrying. The data can be backed on external storage devices or PC’s own hard drive and you can also save it to NAS (Network-Attached Storage).
Pricing: Free version with limited features and a Professional version for a price of $49.95 for a lifetime for 2 PCs.
Compatibility: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, XP
Above, we have listed some of the most useful backup software which you can install on your PC. But with the growing demand for online storages, the list would be incomplete without some useful and feature-rich cloud storage options. Most of these options offer limited storage for free with some paid plans to expand it. Besides giving you freedom from carrying physical backup drives with you, cloud storages also give you the liberty of accessing your files from any computer or mobile device.
Google Drive is one of the best cloud storage services you can find. It comes with your Google Account which most of the people already have and it integrates well with other Google services.
Aside from letting you access your Google Drive files from your browser, you can download a desktop client called Backup and Sync to manage your Google Drive files directly from your desktop.
- 15 GB free storage
- Simple and easy to use
- Integration with Google services
Pricing: Free 15 GB and paid plans starting at $1.99/month for 100 GB
Dropbox is a simple to use cloud storage service with powerful features and compatibility. You can easily move files to the Dropbox folder in your PC and they will be uploaded and synced over every device. You get free storage of just 2 GB that can be increased to up to 18 GB by referring other people to Dropbox.
It covers a wide range of platforms, which makes sure you get to access your data from almost everywhere. If the free space is not enough, you can get 2 TB space for $9.99 per month with options of unlimited storage which may cost you $20 each month.
Pricing: 2GB for free and paid plans starting at $9.99/month for 2TB
10. Microsoft OneDrive
Just like Google Drive integrates with Google products, OneDrive integrates with Microsoft products. It is built into Windows 8, 8.1, and Windows 10, and you can save all your office online documents into it.
- Integrates with Microsoft products
- Cheap pricing
- 15 GB of free space
Pricing: Free 5 GB space and paid storage costing $1.99/month for 100 GB, $3.99/month for 200 GB and $6.99/month for 1 TB space.
You will get 10 GB of free space with your Box account and you can get 100 GB of space for $6/month. For individuals, it might be a bit pricey, but for businesses, it offers unlimited storage for up to 3 users just for $17/month. If you want to backup your data and also want to collaborate on it, then Box is the way to go.
Pricing: Free 10 GB space and $10/month for 100 GB. Business plans start at $5 per user per month offering 100GB of storage and to make use of the plan you need at least 3 users.
12. iDrive
iDrive is an online storage solution which has a striking balance of value for money, feature-rich client applications, and an easy to use interface. The free plan allows you up to 5GB of space and you can use iDrive with an unlimited number of devices.
Key Features:
Pricing: Free storage up to 5GB and paid plans starting at $52.12 per year
Q. Which is The Best Backup Software for Windows 10?
Acronis True Image and Macrium Reflect are my personal favorite and they are considered to be the best backup software for Windows 10. However, if you want a free solution then Macrium Reflect would be a better pick.
Q. How Do I Back Up My PC Software?
Most backup programs do make a copy of installed software while cloning the PC. However, while restoring the programs, the installed applications are not seamlessly moved due to license and registry issues. So I would recommend you to back up the setup image of software located on your PC.
Windows 10 has a built-in backup utility called File History. You can use it from Windows Settings -> Update and Security -> Backup tab. You can learn the steps from our article on how to create a backup using Windows 10’s backup utility.
So, here are some options for the best local and cloud-based backup software and services which you can use to secure your data. Certain services such as O&O AutoBackup, CrashPlan, CloudBerry, and iDrive also support encryption of data for improved protection of data.
