Back Up Your PC the Right Way: AOMEI Backupper, Acronis or O&O DiskImage?
In this guide
A broken drive, ransomware, an update gone wrong or a stolen laptop: it only takes a moment to lose years of photos and documents. The only real insurance is a proper backup, meaning one that’s automatic and saved outside the PC. In this guide we look at what to back up, where, and with which program: AOMEI Backupper, Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office or O&O DiskImage.
The short version
- Make a system backup (to restore the PC as it was) and a file backup (photos, documents).
- Save it to an external drive and make it automatic.
- Lifetime licence and simple: AOMEI Backupper. With anti-ransomware and Mac support: Acronis. The cheapest: O&O DiskImage.
The 3-2-1 rule
It’s the rule professionals use too: 3 copies of your data, on 2 different types of storage, with 1 kept off-site. At home, in practice, this is enough:
- the files on your PC (copy 1);
- an automatic backup to an external drive (copy 2);
- your most important files also in the cloud, for example OneDrive or Google Drive (copy 3).
System backup or file backup?
- System backup (image): copies the whole C: drive, with Windows, programs and settings. If the PC won’t start any more, you can get it back to how it was in a few minutes.
- File backup: copies only the folders you choose (Documents, Pictures, Desktop). It’s lighter and you can do it more often.
Ideally you have both: a system image every week and a file backup every day.
The three programs compared
| AOMEI Backupper Pro | Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office | O&O DiskImage 19 Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence (in our store) | Lifetime, 2 PCs | 1 year, 1 PC | Lifetime, 1 PC |
| Systems | Windows | Windows and Mac | Windows |
| System, disk and file backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic and incremental backups | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cloning to SSD | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in anti-ransomware | No | Yes | No |
| Price (in our store) | €29.99 | €24.99 | €9.99 |
Our store prices at the time of publishing.
Guide: automatic backup with AOMEI Backupper
We show you how to create a system backup that repeats itself every week. The screens are simplified: names may differ slightly.
Open Backup → System Backup
Connect the external drive, open AOMEI Backupper (activated with the code you received by email) and go to the Backup section.
Click System Backup
Choose the external drive as the destination
The program selects the Windows partitions by itself. You only need to choose where to save the backup.
Click the destination and choose the external drive
Schedule the backup
In Schedule, choose how often to repeat the backup. Weekly is fine for the system; later backups only save the changes (incremental), so they’re quick.
Turn on scheduling and choose Weekly
Delete old backups automatically
With the Backup Scheme, the program keeps only the latest copies and deletes the oldest ones, so the external drive never fills up.
Turn on the scheme and keep the last 4 versions
Start the first backup
The first backup takes the longest (it depends on how much data you have). The following ones will be much faster.
Click Start Backup
Create the bootable media
If one day Windows won’t start, you’ll need a bootable USB stick to restore the backup. Create it now from Tools.
Open Tools → Create Bootable Media and choose the USB stick
Frequently asked questions
Isn’t the Windows backup enough?
Windows has File History for your personal files, but the old “System Image Backup” hasn’t been updated in years. A dedicated program is more reliable and easier to restore from.
Can I leave the external drive connected all the time?
Better not: ransomware could encrypt that too. Connect it for the backup and then disconnect it, or use the “when the USB drive is plugged in” option.
How much space do I need on the external drive?
At least twice the data used on your PC, so you can keep several versions. With 200 GB of data, a 1 TB external drive is ideal.
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