Free disc backup software

You can only choose one folder to back up at a time. Any additional folders need to be created as their own backup job. Something we don't like is that there are no options for easily restoring backed up files. To access files that have been backed up is to simply browse through the backup folder, whether it be on an FTP server or a different drive.

Everyday Auto Backup is really easy to use. It can back up folders to and from a local disk or network location in just a few clicks. Scheduling can be set for more than one job at a time and supports hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or manual backups. There are no password options or encryption settings.

While that's unfortunate, it also means you can use the backed up data as real files; you can open, edit, and view them normally.

The minimum requirement is that you're using one of these operating systems: Windows 8, 7, Vista, or XP. It should also work in newer versions, like Windows 11 and The MiniTool ShadowMaker free backup program is packed full of some really great features.

It backs up not only files and folders, but entire hard drives. You can back up disks, partitions, and files and folders to any local, external, or networked drive. Backups can run on a set schedule daily, weekly, or monthly, but only incremental backup is supported not full or differential. It's also your choice if you want to back up every sector or only the used ones. With this program, you can set a custom file size for the backup so that it fits on CDs, etc.

Custom compression, email alerts, hibernation file exclusion, password protection, and backup verification are supported, too. You'd think the features would end by now, but MiniTool ShadowMaker also has a tool you can utilize to restore a backup even if your computer won't start.

Some features are excluded in the free version and only available if you pay. However, what you get with the free edition is still much better than what some free backup tools supply. This software was built to run on all edition of Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.

Iperius Backup backs up files from a local folder to a network or local drive. The program interface looks really nice, is clean, and isn't at all hard to use. The menus are displayed side by side in separate tabs, so it's simple to move through the settings. Files can be added to a backup job one at a time or in bulk through a folder, and a backup job can be saved locally or on a network, using one of three backup types.

You can also choose the number of backups to store. Aside from ZIP compression, email notifications, and password protection, Iperius Backup has some other custom options as well. You can include hidden files and system files in the backup, shut down the computer after completing the backup, favor compression speed over high compression, and run backups on a schedule. When building a backup job, you can also exclude files, particular folders, all subfolders, and particular extensions from the backup.

You can even include or exclude files that are less than, equal to, or greater than a specific file size to ensure you're backing up exactly what you want. Several of the options in this free version actually only work in the paid, full version of Iperius Backup, such as backing up to Google Drive.

You'll be told which features aren't usable when you try to use them. Mutual Backup is an interesting backup solution because instead of storing the data on a flash drive or other device attached to your computer, this one copies everything over the network.

The program lets you store copies of your files on a friend's computer, no matter where it's at. It's a bit like an online backup service, but instead of paying for storage space on a server somewhere, you and a friend can exchange free space on your own hard drives to store the other person's backups.

This also works on your own network, so if you want to keep your videos backed up to the computer downstairs, you can do that, too. All files are encrypted and compressed before transport, so someone on the other computer can't see what you're backing up. File and folder filtering are supported. Restoring is as easy as choosing which files you want to download back to your computer, and you can, at any time, delete the remote backup from your own computer. If you're connecting with a friend outside your network, they'll have to set up port forwarding , and you'll need to know their public IP address.

This app runs on any Java platform, so it works on Windows, Linux, and other operating systems. The great thing about this tool is that you can back up the primary hard drive you're using as you use it. This means you don't need to boot to a disc or avoid backing up your primary hard drive.

Also, only the used space is backed up, meaning a 40 GB drive with 2 GB of used space will only produce a 2 GB backup file. If backing up the drive you're currently using, ensure "Use Volume Shadow Copy" is enabled so Disk2vhd can copy files that are currently being used.

It's ideal to save the backup image to a drive other than the one you're backing up to avoid performance degradation. There's also support for creating a backup file using the command line. If any larger, other virtualization software might be more suitable.

It's really easy to add more than one file or folder to GFI Backup to be included in a backup job. The folder structure looks just like it does in Explorer, letting you place a check next to anything you want to be included.

A backup can be encrypted with a password, compressed, split into small chunks, and even built into a self-extracting archive. You can choose to restore certain files or select entire folders at once to be copied back to the original backup location or saved elsewhere. GFI Backup also includes a sync feature, detailed scheduled tasks, and incremental and differential backups. It should be able to run on all versions of Windows, including Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.

Free Easis Drive Cloning is extremely easy to use. You'll walk through a wizard with any option you choose. The first will ask you to choose the drive you wish to back up and where to save the IMG file. The Restore Image option is just the opposite of the first, and the last selection lets you clone a drive to another without having to first create an image. The bad thing about Free Easis Drive Cloning is that it backs up everything , even the unused, free space of the drive.

We tested it in Windows 10 and Windows 8 without running into any problems. Ocster Backup permits backing up files and folders to any local or external hard drive. When adding content to back up, you must browse for each file and folder you want to be added.

While you are able to select multiple files at once, you can't quickly add numerous folders like some of the other backup programs from this list are able to do. You can encrypt a backup with Ocster Backup, set up a daily or weekly schedule, and exclude content by name, extension, or folder. Also, another plus is that the original directory structure is still present when you restore the files, which makes it rather simple to navigate through them.

Ocster Backup is limited in that it doesn't support backing up to a network drive, and restoring files is an all or nothing deal where you must restore everything at once. Ashampoo's backup programs have replaced Ocster Backup, but you can still get the last released version through the link above. You can optionally save to more than one location if you want multiple places to store your files. Backups can be compressed using one of three modes: password-protected, encrypted, and set up to use a schedule.

The log files made with AceBackup can optionally be emailed on the event of an error or chosen to be sent even on successful backups. Something we don't like is that some of the options in this program aren't described, which can leave you wondering what certain settings will do when they are enabled.

We successfully used AceBackup in Windows 10, but it should work just as well in Windows 11, Windows 8, and Windows 7. FBackup allows the backup of individual files and whole folders even from your Google Drive or Dropbox account to be saved to a local, external, or network folder, as well as to those same online file storage services.

An easy to use wizard guides you through the backup process and includes preset locations you can choose to back up, like the Documents and Pictures folder, Microsoft Outlook, and Google Chrome settings. In addition, FBackup lets you add your own files and folders to a backup job. You can exclude certain data from a job by specifying a word in the folder or file name, as well as the type of file extension. Two backup types are supported in the free edition: Full and Mirror.

A full backup compresses every file into ZIP folders, while a mirror creates an exact replica of the files in non-compressed form. Both allow encryption. Backup jobs are created using a built-in interface that corresponds with the Task Scheduler service in Windows to run a backup at times like once, weekly, at logon, or when idle. Once a job completes, FBackup can be set to hibernate, sleep, shutdown, or log off Windows.

A backup can be restored using a simple restore utility that comes built-in, which lets you restore everything or individual files to their original location or a new one.

You also have the option to restore only the latest version of the files, or to run filters to restore specific file types. While testing FBackup, we found that it downloaded quickly but took a bit longer than usual to install. It can also be installed on Windows Server , , , , and HDClone Free Edition can back up an entire disk or a select partition, to an image file.

Using the Setup for Windows download will let the program run inside Windows. You're also able to back up one disk or partition to another, but it will overwrite the data on the destination drive.

Some features, like choosing a compression level and encrypting a backup, appear to be supported but are unfortunately only available in the paid version. With Macrium Reflect, partitions can be backed up to an image file or copied directly to another drive. This file can be saved to a local drive, network share, external drive, or burned directly to a disc. You can even add more than one backup location to build a fail-safe in the event that a destination becomes invalid.

You can schedule a full backup on a schedule so every day, week, month, or year, a backup will be made of any drive, including the one with Windows installed.

A backup job can also be scheduled to run at startup or log on. To restore a backed up image to a drive with Windows installed, you must use the Macrium Reflect program to build a Windows or Linux rescue disc, both of which can restore an MRIMG file.

You can also mount the backup as a virtual drive that mimics a local one, allowing you to browse through the backed up files and folders and copy out anything you want. The program should work on all versions of Windows. It also enables you to scan a hard drive to identify and recover files lost to a security breach or power outage.

The Pro version also comes with a bootable media builder so you can create a bootable CD or flash drive to fix boot issues. MiniTool Partition Wizard is worth taking a look at for enterprises and home users alike. It is only available on Windows. You can download and try the freeware version. EaseUS Todo Backup is a free disk imaging solution for Windows that can clone full disks or partitions.

Restoring data can be done in a matter of seconds without the need to reinstall. EaseUS Todo Backup is a good solution for individuals looking for a low-cost disk imaging tool.

You can download the freeware version. Iperius Backup is a backup software that can copy drive images. With Iperius Backup you can create a copy of complete disk images. The platform is also compatible with ESXi and Hyper-V so you can conduct incremental and differential backups for each system.

When backing up your data you can choose to automatically send your backups to a cloud service like Google Drive, OneDrive, Amazon S3, Azure Storage, Dropbox, and more. If you have Iperius Console then you can measure the backup status of systems through the Iperius console. The Iperius console is available through the desktop application or via a web portal, and allows you to monitor the results of backups and set backup schedules remotely.

Iperius Backup is great for organizations that require a user-friendly disk imaging solution with centralized management capabilities. It is only available for Windows. You can download the free trial. Clonezilla is a disk imaging software that allows you to back up systems and restore systems.

With Clonezilla, you can conduct bare-metal recovery to restore entire systems and partitions promptly. Clonezilla Live covers backup and restore for a single machine , and Clonezilla Lite server or Clonezilla SE can clone over 40 computers at once. Custom boot parameters allow you to tweak the imaging process to your requirements. You can also use another free tool called drbl-winroll to automatically change the hostname, group, and SID of cloned Windows machines.

Clonezilla is recommended for enterprises looking for a free and open-source disk imaging solution. It is available on Linux. You can download the software for free. Paragon Hard Disk Manager is recovery software that can back up devices with incremental and differential backups. With the server version, you can also back up Hyper-V machines.

A partition manager allows you to create, move, merge, split, and convert partitions to provide more efficient storage usage.

You can regularly update backups automatically on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. Use AES encryption to protect the backups you create to ensure private information stays protected. When starting up a new system you can copy disk images without rebooting. Paragon Hard Disk Manager is a robust backup solution for Windows users. Active Disk Image is a free disk imaging software you can use to clone disk images and create backups.

Scheduled backups enable you to regularly update your storage. The user interface is very easy to use, with wizards that take you through the process of creating backups.

For example, the Disk to Image Wizard takes you through the process of selecting individual partitions you want to include in disk image copies. If you want to conduct incremental and differential backups then you have to upgrade to the Standard version. All versions feature image compression so you can optimize storage usage. There are also log reports that detail a list of actions performed during a backup. Reports come in XML, plain text, and Windows event logs.

Active Disk Image is a safe bet for enterprises that require a free disk imaging solution. You can download the freeware. Using disk imaging software can help avoid the pitfall of losing access to data when a device fails.

Tools like Acronis Cyber Project , Acronis Cyber Backup, and Macrium Reflect provide a comprehensive, but the cost-effective solution for creating backups and disk images. Features like continuous backups and scheduled backups make it easier to conduct regular backups so that your data is always up-to-date. Before committing to a purchase we recommend conducting your own research to evaluate which solution is right for your environment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.

Learn how your comment data is processed. This free drive backup software supports all disk brands backup like Western Digital and Seagate, as well as external hard drive and network drive backup. Smart and auto backup strategy plus easy-to-use user interface, definitely worth your trying. To learn more about it, please go to the Overview page.

Step 2. Click on Add Disk to add the source disk, and then specify the destination path, supporting external drive, NAS, cloud, and flash drive. If you want to know more about the backup and restoration functions of AOMEI Backupper, please refer to following documents and videos:. You may click on the link below to learn more of the detailed instructions with step-by-step guide.