Choosing the most suitable Windows backup solution to protect the operating system as well as your priceless data.
For computer users, backup should be a very important thing. There are so many reasons that would lead to data loss on the computer, such as system crash, computer failed, laptop stolen, unexpected deletion, and so on. Once the data is lost, you may get into a disaster.
Imagine that your system crashed and you did not create a system backup image, you may get into very big trouble of losing data and you may need to take a lot of time to reinstall system and applications. But if you had backed them up, you can just restore computer to earlier date instead of reinstallation. Fortunately, here will introduce the best backup solutions for Windows 11/10/8/7 to you.
Windows includes its own backup tools that you can use to backup your PC for free. However, they have many limitations that always annoy you:
For hassle-free backups, you should make use of a third party program. How to choose a third party program? The following criteria can help you find the best computer backup solution.
Originally, you need to backup system files and applications on your computer so that you can use the backup image to restore your computer in case of system crash. For some people, they may want to backup the entire hard drive, or one particular partition; and some people only want to backup a few files or folders on the computer.
Each computer backup device has its advantages and disadvantages. You may want to use different storage devices in different situations.
Data is edited and added every day, so you would like to backup them regularly. A professional backup tool should offer multiple schedules to meet different users' needs.
Backup images may be very large, so you need a program capable of compressing and splitting image files.
Here I'll introduce three reliable Windows backup programs in detail: AOMEI Backupper Standard, Cobian Backup and Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office.
🏆 Comparison of Windows backup utilities
Backup Software |
Platform |
Backup Contents |
Backup Locations |
Price |
AOMEI Backupper Standard |
Windows |
System, disk, partition and file/folder |
Local disk, external hard drive, NAS device and AOMEI Cloud, etc. |
Free |
Cobian Backup |
Windows |
File/folder |
Local/network location and FTP server |
Free |
Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office |
Windows, macOS, Android, iOS |
System, disk, partition and file/folder |
Local disk, external hard drive, NAS device and Acronis Cloud, etc. |
From $49.99 per year |
AOMEI Backupper Standard is the best free backup software designed for Windows 11/10/8/7. It offers System/Disk/Partition/File/Cloud Backup to meet your different needs. And it is embedded with flexible backup options.
🌟 Key Takeaways √ Backup all kinds of data on your PC √ A wide range of backup locations √ Daily/weekly/monthly backup √ Compress and split backup images × Some features are locked in the free edition
Cobian Backup is a free file-backup program for Windows PC and Server systems. It can be run as a service or as a regular application. You can use it to create automatic backups for your directories and files. Backup compression and encryption are also supported.
🌟 Key Takeaways √ Support a dummy backup √ Support backing up to an FTP server √ Industry-standard encryptions such as AES 128, 192, and 256 × Cannot create a system image or disk image
Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office (used to be Acronis True Image) provides all-in-one protection for Windows PC. Besides powerful backup and recovery solutions, it is integrated with anti-malware features to secure your critical data, apps, and systems against cutting-edge cyberthreats.
🌟 Key Takeaways √ Backup all kinds of data on your PC √ A wide range of backup locations √ Anti-ransomware and cryptojacking protection × Not free
This page offers 3 best backup solutions for home and commercial use. If you need powerful yet free Windows backup software, AOMEI Backupper Standard is the best choice. If you need a file backup solution, choose Cobian Backup. If you need the best backup software integrated with anti-malware features, you may pick Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office.