Ashampoo Backup Pro 11

Backup software is boring—until you need it

- Ian Evenden

Windows’ Built-in File History is fine, but what PCs need, and it pains us to say this, is something like Apple’s Time Machine. An app that grinds away in the background, incrementally backing up your files, and which can be accessed to drop a particular version of a particular file on to your desktop, should you need to recover it.

In these days of cloud storage, you may question the value of a backup app. With all your documents mirrored on Google or Dropbox’s servers, why bother backing up to a local disk? Anyone who’s had to use System Restore to recover from a ransomware attack, or struggled to find a file that someone else has deleted from a shared folder, will appreciate an easily accessed local repository of your data. Crazy-named German developer Ashampoo thinks it’s got a solution with Backup Pro, which can back up entire drives, including hidden and UEFI partitions, to local drives, network locations, or even the cloud. Individual files and folders can be backed up, too, according to a manifest you create.