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Backing up your important files, or perhaps your entire hard drive is one of the most valuable maintenance tasks you could possibly do on your computer. With your data backed up, a hard drive crash or accidental deletion won’t be nearly as painful.
Computer backup software makes backing up your data automatic — a must-have feature of any successful backup plan. Here is a list of some of the most popular commercial backup software titles available:
Be sure to look at this free backup software list before paying for any of the backup tools listed below. Better yet, check out this online backup services list for cloud backup solutions, an arguably better way to back up your important data.
We use the term commercial to indicate that the backup program costs something, not that it’s necessarily a better choice than free backup programs in a business setting.
Acronis True Image 2019
© Acronis International GmbH
Acronis True Image 2019, like the other popular backup software programs profiled here, is a complete backup solution for your home computer.
You’re able to back up the files of your choice or make a complete image backup of your whole PC, saving it to places like an FTP server or external hard drive.
There are three ways to get Acronis True Image 2019. One is with a one-time purchase and the the other two are with a one-year subscription. A few features are the same for each plan but the more expensive ones, of course, include some additional options.
You can get Acronis True Image 2019 Standard for a one-time price of $49.99 USD, which includes full image backup, active disk cloning, quick recovery, and ransomware protection.
Another option is the Advanced plan which is valid for a year at $49.99 /year USD and has the same features as Standard but also cloud backup, end-to-end encryption, and social media backup. You get 250 GB of online backup as part of that price or you can upgrade to 500 GB for another $20.
The final option is Acronis True Image 2019 Premium for $99.99 /year USD with the same features as the other two options, but also with 1 TB of online space, blockchain certification of files, and electronic signatures of files.
This backup software is available for all major Windows versions, including Windows 10 and Windows 8, as well as macOS.
Discounts are sometimes available, so be sure to check the Acronis website.
AOMEI Backupper Professional
© AOMEI Tech Co., Ltd.
AOMEI Backupper Professional is a full-featured backup program that can backup various types of data. Simple file/folder backup is supported as well as disk cloning, partition backup, and whole disk backup.
An easy restore wizard is included in AOMEI Backupper Professional, in addition to the ability to compress a backup, split a backup into smaller pieces, and even backup files that are currently being used, among other features.
There’s also a free version of this software called AOMEI Backupper Standard that can also be used in a commercial setting, though it lacks some of the features of the professional version.
At the time of writing, AOMEI Backupper Professional is priced at $39.95 and is compatible with Windows 10 down to Windows XP. For free lifetime upgrades, the cost goes up $10.
If you need to use AOMEI Backupper Professional with more than one computer, you have to pay for separate licenses. For example, three licenses raises the price to $83.90.
EaseUS Todo Backup Home
© EaseUS
EaseUS Todo Backup Home is a nice choice for a backup program. It not only backs up files and folders, like documents and mail, but also entire disks, partitions, and even Android devices.
It’s easy to use because of the built-in wizard that walks you through the steps of creating a backup job. It also supports standard features like compression and email notifications, among others, which aren’t included in the free version.
EaseUS Todo Backup Home is also great for migrating your OS to a new hard drive and cloning data between disks that use different sector sizes.
At the time of writing, EaseUS Todo Backup Home is priced at $29.00 USD for one computer and works with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP. Free lifetime upgrades are available for another $30.00.
The backup software for Mac is a similar price of $29.95 but it includes free lifetime upgrades.
Much like the other backup software from this list, a single EaseUS Todo Backup Home license only works to back up one computer. You have to pay for separate licenses to back up additional computers.
Genie Backup Manager Home 9
© Genie9 Corporation
Genie Backup Manager Home 9.0 is yet another excellent choice for your home backup needs. Like other backup programs, you can backup your entire system, certain files, and folders, or even certain types of files like music, pictures, etc. – whatever is important to you.
Backup and restore wizards make it easy to keep your data safe and restore it after an emergency. Compression capabilities, email notifications, online backup options, and preconfigured backup sets make Genie Backup Manager Home 9.0 an excellent value-priced choice for advanced users.
At the time of writing, Genie Backup Manager Home 9.0 is priced at $49.95 USD and works with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
Discounts are available if you buy more than one license at once, which permits backups from more than one computer.
O&O DiskImage 12 Professional
© O&O Software GmbH
O&O DiskImage 12 Professional makes it easy to backup everything from single files to whole hard drives, even the one that Windows is installed on.
Among other features is support for encryption, the ability to restore data to hardware that differs from the source, and an easy to use wizard that compacts the O&O DiskImage 12 Professional program window to allow for extremely simple backup and restore functions.
At the time of writing, O&O DiskImage 12 Professional costs $49.95 USD and can be installed to Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista.
The price goes up to $69.95 if you need to back up two to five computers. However, at that price, and for five computers, the price per device is around $14, which is a great deal compared to buying five separate one-PC licenses.
NovaBACKUP Professional
© NovaStor
Like some of these other backup programs, NovaBACKUP Professional can serve as disaster recovery software and backup hard drives, system partitions, and specific files and folders like movies and music.
A simple wizard is used to encrypt backups and choose the source/destination folder.
In addition to other features, NovaBACKUP Professional can enable virus scanning, send email notifications, and restore backup images to dissimilar hardware types and drive sizes.
At the time of writing, NovaBACKUP Professional is priced, per year, at $49.95 USD for backup from one computer. It works with all versions of Windows, from Windows 10 to XP.
There’s also an option to buy discounted versions of NovaBACKUP Professional that can be used on three or five computers. For example, the five computer option is $99.95 /year, which comes out to around $20 /computer /year (more than half of the one-device option).
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Ashampoo Backup Pro 12
© Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG
Ashampoo Backup Pro 12 (previously called Ocster Backup Pro) walks through a simple wizard to backup an entire hard drive, single files, and folders, email, or bookmarks to and from any local or network folder.
Among other features, file versioning and custom compression are supported, as well as encryption, email reports, restoring single files and folders, and automatic pausing if too many system resources are being taken up.
At the time of writing, the price for Ashampoo Backup Pro 12 is $30.00 USD. It works with Windows 10, 8, and 7.
A physical disc purchase and premium support can be had for several more dollars.
Veritas System Recovery
© Veritas Technologies LLC
Veritas System Recovery is a business-class disaster recovery tool but the price is competitive enough with other home-focused backup programs to be a solid choice.
If you want the complete backup package in one easy to use the program, Veritas System Recovery is an excellent choice.
Common features are supported, like AES encryption and offsite backup; and more advanced abilities are allowed as well, like restoring to dissimilar hardware and creating a backup image of an entire computer.
Veritas System Recovery is available for Windows and Linux.
