At a look

Expert’s Rating

Pros

• Familiar and straightforward interface
• Friendlier information choice than Windows File History
• Backs as much as native media, community places, and on-line companies
• Logging, notifications, FTP help, and plenty of different choices

Cons

• No picture backups
• Must be loaded for scheduled backups

Our Verdict

If you’re in search of simpler and extra versatile backup than Windows File History, Perfect Backup offers it. Fast and competent, it’s additionally free—for any use.

Price When Reviewed

Free

Best Prices Today: Perfect Backup

Though Windows offers its personal file backup services in Windows File Backup, the OS has regularly made them much less apparent and fewer intuitive to make use of. Why, is anybody’s guess. There are loads of alternate options, however they are often arduous to search out and/or simply as troublesome to make use of. Enter Perfect Backup.

It’s free and, whereas simply shy of “perfect,” Perfect Backup does seize the brass ring for being probably the most simple and user-friendly interface. Add to that secure efficiency and a cornucopia of choices, in addition to community, FTP, and on-line companies help, and also you’ve obtained a winner.

Note: This overview is a part of our ongoing roundup of the best backup software for Windows. Go there to be taught extra about competing merchandise, what to search for in backup software program, and shopping for suggestions.

Perfect Backup: Features

Perfect Backup is file backup—i.e., it doesn’t picture total partitions like our favourite R-Drive Image does. Instead it merely copies information and folder to a brand new location. Truth be identified, with Windows really easy to put in and restore as of late, that’s all most customers want.

But there are alternatives. A bunch of them, as a matter of truth. You can specify the variety of variations to maintain, the variety of incremental backups that can transpire earlier than a brand new full backup is created, and even compress the information to straightforward Zip format.

There’s additionally very granular scheduling, logging of outcomes, reporting through e mail, throttling (CPU utilization), and nearly all the things else you’d count on from a contemporary backup program.

My favourite function, nevertheless, is the power to again as much as widespread on-line companies: Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, and Box to be particular. Now if this system solely supported a number of locations for a similar job, I’d be ecstatic. You can in fact duplicate a job and alter the vacation spot, however that’s at all times appeared like lots of hassle to me.

Perfect Backup

Perfect Backup can even again as much as community places, and even FTP websites. You can even again up from community places, however provided that they’re mapped as native drives beneath Windows.

Currently, you could have Perfect Backup begin with Windows for it to carry out scheduled jobs. More elegant could be utilizing the the Windows Task Scheduler so this system isn’t at all times within the background utilizing sources. That stated, with fashionable computing energy, this isn’t almost the difficulty it as soon as was.

Perfect Backup: Interface

What I actually get pleasure from concerning the Perfect Backup interface will not be a lot its logical structure or hand-holding wizard, that are each glorious, however the labels and language. Where so many interfaces are terse, or assume data of terminology, Perfect Backup labels and explains issues as regular people consider them.

Mostly. I wasn’t in love with calling the vacation spot listing for the restore operate the “output” listing. You would possibly really feel in a different way.

Generally, nevertheless, the interface’s language helps new customers really feel much less intimidated and extra positive of their actions. They gained’t need to waste a lot time sussing out ideas and metaphors.

One different factor I didn’t like was the consumer’s information being HTML on-line with out a downloadable PDF model. Maybe I’m simply old-school, however I want native documentation. I is likely to be backing up a machine offline when a query pops into my head.

Perfect Backup: Performance

Perfect Backup carried out, properly, completely throughout my checks. At least on a traditional PC. I did have some network-related points beneath Parallels/Windows 11 on the Mac, however that’s commonplace and never many customers will likely be using that combo.

I attempted each Zipped and plain file backups, and the previous didn’t appear to considerably throttle what turned out to be very efficiency. Restores had been additionally fast and straightforward, although once more, I’d want the time period vacation spot slightly than output listing. Both are appropriate, the previous is extra frequent.

Perfect Backup being so helpful and well-realized prompted me to succeed in out to the corporate to ask why it’s free. They knowledgeable that that it’ll stay that approach for at the least two years, and people who use it now can preserve utilizing it totally free past that. The concept is to get free publicity for this system and finally garner revenue from licensing. Fine by me.

Final ideas

Perfect Backup exceeded my expectations. It’s secure and simpler than many of the file backup applications on the market, and there’s no arguing the worth. If it created pictures for catastrophe restoration, it might be vying for prime canine. As it’s, it’s extremely helpful and worthy of advice.