Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What is the best Windows software to use to backup a PC?
- Thread starter hajime
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Hmm this is a cloud based backup. Do you know of any trustworthy companies that make locally backed up software to USB HDD's?I use Backblaze on two of my Mac’s, but looks like they’ve got a Windows version, too. They’re a reliable company for sure. Not sure how well the Windows app works, though.
Windows Backup Software: Easy, Secure Online Backup
Award winning unlimited online backup for Windows. Backblaze automatically backs up your data to the cloud.www.backblaze.com
Time Machine really is amazing... I really do miss it when I use Windows... 😥
I use MEGA to back up my documents. This synchronises the folder on my computer with a folder in the cloud. It's free for up to 20 GBytes. If I set it up on another computer, it can synchronise the folder on the second computer with the cloud version and hence the first computer. It works with Mac, Windows and Linux.
It means that I can have two local copies and one off-site copy.
The company is now owned and overseen by the New Zealand Government, so is pretty trustworthy.
I don't usually backup the whole computer, as I don't think it is worth it. It generally takes longer to recover the whole computer, after having worked out which backup to restore, than it is to just re-install Windows with fresh installation media. That gives me a fresh, clean installation. Then I just restore my documents.
Archived documents, such as photographs, scans, all the letters you sent to your kid's primary school, are all backed up locally on two separate drives. They get re-written to new drives every 5 years or so.
It means that I can have two local copies and one off-site copy.
The company is now owned and overseen by the New Zealand Government, so is pretty trustworthy.
I don't usually backup the whole computer, as I don't think it is worth it. It generally takes longer to recover the whole computer, after having worked out which backup to restore, than it is to just re-install Windows with fresh installation media. That gives me a fresh, clean installation. Then I just restore my documents.
Archived documents, such as photographs, scans, all the letters you sent to your kid's primary school, are all backed up locally on two separate drives. They get re-written to new drives every 5 years or so.
I have used disk genius free to make a bootable windows 11 clone onto an external drive. Doesn't support incremental backups to the clone like CCC though.
It can also perform backup to image file and restore back to disk.
www.diskgenius.com
It can also perform backup to image file and restore back to disk.
DiskGenius: Data Recovery, Partition Manager, Backup & Disk Utilities
DiskGenius provides an all-in-one solution for data recovery, disk partition management and backup & restore for Windows PCs, Servers and workstations.
Last edited:
Thank you for your reply DaveFromCampbelltown.
Mega looks great as a cloud backup option, but I'm exclusively looking for something that can backup to a USB HDD.
I believe that Windows 7 Backup (still present in Win 10 & 11) can write its backups to an external drive.
Thank you for your reply DaveFromCampbelltown.
From the reviews I've looked at it seems like this isn't recommended... 😢
😢
I guess an open source backup solution would be best?