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Your PC storage drives won’t last forever — which is why a backup strategy is so crucial for keeping your data safe. The best Windows backup software is your cover if/when your primary drive fails.

While Apple’s Time Machine provides users with an effective, set-it-and-forget-it recovery system, Microsoft users aren’t so lucky. Instead, users are stuck deciding the best way to keep their data safe with a patchwork system of restore points, recovery discs, and file backups. Thankfully, there are a number of great third-party backup options for Windows.

Why you should trust us: It’s in our name: PCWorld. Our reviewers have been testing PC hardware, software, and services for decades. Our backup evaluations are thorough and rigorous, testing the promises and limitations of every product — from performance to the practicalities of regular use. As PC users ourselves, we know what makes a product stand out. Only the best backup software makes this list. For more about our testing process, scroll to the bottom of this article.

Other Windows backup software reviews

• Iperius Backup: There’s power aplenty in this backup program, but the learning curve and interface might occasionally flummox less-experienced users.
• Handy Backup 8.5 Professional: This backup program with top-notch features might’ve garnered an Editors’ Choice award had it been entirely glitch-free and a bit easier to learn.
• MiniTool ShadowMaker Pro 4.6: There’s a lot to like about this backup program, particularly its unique ability to interface with all computers on a network. Its free version is also worthwhile.
• BackUp Maker Pro: It’s a bit pricey for its genre, but Ascomp’s BackUp Maker Professional has myriad advanced and automation features.
• DriveImage XML: This venerable program is a viable free backup solution, albeit only for MBR disks.
• Ashampoo Backup Pro 26: Overarching support for myriad backup chores with easy-to-understand wizards, but no backup from the recovery disc or option for “differential” backups.
• Zinstall FullBack: This software is unique among backup programs by offering full migration of backed up data and apps to a new OS installation — for a relatively steep price.
• Macrium Reflect Home: If not for its higher price, Macrium could make our favorite backup software, R-Drive Image, nervous about its top standing. Seriously, Macrium has an exceptional program that offers all the features we want from backup software — full drive/folder backup, ease of use, reliability, etc.
• Wondershare UBackit: A simple, easy-to-use backup program that’s marred somewhat by its lack of a perpetual license and boot disc disaster recovery.
• Aomei Backupper Pro: Like our two top picks above, Aomei now integrates cloud storage with its local backup offerings, making it a complete backup solution capable of preserving your important data both locally and remotely, as any good backup strategy should do.
• NTI Backup Pro 7: NTI offers the full array of backup functions, such as file/folder, image, continuous, and cloud backup, making it a very tempting option, if not for the pricey cloud storage and some annoying glitches.

How we test

We run each program through the various types of backups it’s capable of. This is largely to test reliability and hardware compatibility, but we time two: an approximately 115GB system image (two partitions), and a roughly 50GB image created from a set of smaller files and folders. We then mount the images and test their integrity via the program’s restore functions. We also test the USB boot drives created by the programs.

How to pick a backup software

As with most things—don’t over-buy. Features you don’t need add complexity and may slow down your system. 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.

File backup: If you want to back up only your data (operating systems and programs can be reinstalled, though it’s mildly time- and effort-consuming), a program that backs up just the files you select is a major time-saver. Some programs automatically select the appropriate files if you use the Windows library folders (Documents, Photos, Videos, etc.).

Image backup/imaging: Images are byte-for-byte snapshots of your entire hard drive (normally without the empty sectors) or partition, and can be used to restore both the operating system and data. Imaging is the most convenient to restore in case of a system crash, and also ensures you don’t miss anything important.

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.

Scheduling: If you’re going to back up effectively, you need to do it on a regular basis. Any backup program worth its salt allows you to schedule backups.

Versioning: If you’re overwriting previous files, that’s not backup, it’s one-way syncing or mirroring. 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 obsolete as they may seem, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs are great archive media. If you’re worried about optical media’s reliability, M-Disc claims its discs are reliable for a thousand years, claims that are backed up by Department of Defense testing.

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.

FTP and SMB/AFP: Backing up to other computers or NAS boxes on your network or in remote locations (say, your parent’s house) is another way of physically safeguarding your data with an offsite, or at least physically discrete copy. FTP can be used for offsite, while SMB (Windows and most OS’s) and AFP (Apple) are good for other PCs or NAS on your local network.

Real time: Real-time backup means that files are backed up whenever they change, usually upon creation or save. It’s also called mirroring and is handy for keeping an immediately available copy of rapidly changing data sets. For less volatile data sets, the payoff doesn’t compensate for the drain on system resources. Instead, scheduling should be used.

Continuous backup: In this case, ‘continuous’ simply means backing up on a tight schedule, generally every 5 to 15 minutes, instead of every day or weekly. Use continuous backup for rapidly changing data sets where transfer rates are too slow, or computing power is too precious for real-time backup.

Performance: Most backups proceed in the background or during dead time, so performance isn’t a huge issue in the consumer space. However, if you’re backing up multiple machines or to multiple destinations, or dealing with very large data sets, speed is a consideration.

Further reading: Check out PCWorld’s roundup of best external drives for recommendations on reliable storage options — an important component in a comprehensive backup strategy.