Best free backup software reviews

Scheduling is available to keep your backups up to date. There are in-program ads suggesting you upgrade to the paid-for Backup4all, but thankfully they are relatively unobtrusive so hopefully you'll be able to ignore them if you're not interested. The free version of the program lacks a few features, but these might be inconsequential, depending on your needs. If you can live without encryption, FTP backups, email notifications and incremental backups, Fbackup is well worth checking out.

Google Drive isn't a traditional backup tool by any means, it is cloud-based and just what you are able to back up will depend on how much online Google storage you have available. You're given a limited amount of space for free, and there are various ways to boost it without having to part with any money, but in reality Google Drive is going to be useful for backing up individual directories — not your whole system.

For backing up key files and folders, however, it's superb. You can easily specify any number of folders for the software to monitor, and any changes, additions or deletions are implemented near-instantaneously. As the name suggests, the software can be used to synchronize files between computers, and they are accessible through on any device via the Google Drive web app.

An excellent, if slightly limited, backup tool. Confusingly, Google Drive is also sometimes called Google One, and additionally to run Google Drive you need to download the app Google Backup and Sync in order to set it running.

Additionally, you will need to be alert that when files and folders are backed up that they have a green tick next to them - if not, it means your files are not being backed up, something that has previously caught users out when Google updated the service.

Cobian Backup is the most advanced free backup tool around, and might be overkill for new users, but if you know exactly how you want to configure your backups then you can be confident it'll give you the flexibility you need. Cobian Backup can be used to create and schedule multiple backup jobs, and files can be archived to another local hard drive, network location or, if you have access to one, an FTP server.

It can back up to multiple locations at the same time, so it's possible to run multiple backup jobs simultaneously. Backups can be compressed to save space, and there's optional encryption to keep your data secure. Cobian Backup loses when it comes time to restore data — there's no simple wizard to automate the process, so you're left on your own having to copy files back into place, decrypting and decompressing first if necessary. Still, for backing up your most valuable data, this is one of the most comprehensive tools out there.

A couple of other software applications you can consider are for cloud backup software. Although you install the application on your PC or other device, your files are backed up in the cloud.

This means not only do you have an easy way to recover those files if you PC or hardware fails, but you can also ensure that your backup is continuous, as well as accessible from any device through synchronization. Microsoft OneDrive is the backup and sync storage option bundled with Microsoft Office There is a free version that allows up to 10GB of storage and there are paid options to upgrade, but this can prove expensive over the long-term if you want to backup and sync a sizable hard drive.

Any backup program you use should allow you to retain several previous backups, or with file backup, previous versions of the file. The better software will retain and cull older backups according to criteria you establish. Optical support: Every backup program supports hard drives, but as obsolescent as they may seem, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs are great archive media. Online support: An offsite copy of your data is a hedge against physical disasters such as flood, fire, and power surges.

Online storage services are a great way to maintain an offsite copy of your data. Backup to Dropbox and the like is a nice feature to have. Real time: Real-time backup means that files are backed up whenever they change, usually upon creation or save.

Instead, scheduling should be used. Use continuous backup for rapidly changing data sets where transfer rates are too slow, or computing power is too precious for real-time backup. This is largely to test reliability and hardware compatibility, but we time two: an approximately GB system image two partitions , and a roughly 50GB image created from a set of smaller files and folders. We also test the USB boot drives created by the programs. Acronis True Image Make sure the service you sign up for supports all of your platforms.

Note: iDrive even supports Windows Phone. Do NOT lose it, as it is absolutely required to restore your data. Sadly, using your own key often limits the types of services e.

Reliability: Generally speaking, data centers are backed up to the hilt. Some of the larger ones even back up to different geographical locations. If there are too many outages in service, buy accordingly. Speed: Speed, in many cases, is far more dependent upon your broadband connection than that of the online service, though the geographical location of the storage and the equipment in between can make a significant difference.

Check the location of the data servers if speed is important to you. Or, just give the trial a whirl and see if you can live with it. Additionally, if you intend to back up to a newly purchased external hard drive, check out the software that ships with it. Seagate, WD, and others provide backup utilities that are adequate for the average user. Some programs automatically select the appropriate files if you use the Windows library folders Documents, Photos, Videos, etc.

Boot media: Should your system crash completely, you need an alternate way to boot and run the recovery software. Any backup program should be able to create a bootable optical disc or USB thumb drive. Some will also create a restore partition on your hard drive, which can be used instead if the hard drive is still operational. Any backup program worth its salt allows you to schedule backups. Any backup program you use should allow you to retain several previous backups, or with file backup, previous versions of the file.