At work we use Veeam, and it’s been great for our environment. One of the main reasons we chose it is because it handles server backup software workloads really well. We also use it for virtual machine backup, and it has solid database backup solutions, which was important for us since several of our internal systems depend on SQL databases. That said, I don’t think I’d recommend it to someone who just wants to protect a home PC. It’s powerful, but probably more than you need.

Have you considered something much simpler? For a lot of people, regular manual backups are enough. Just buy a decent external HDD or SSD and copy your important files to it every couple of weeks. It’s not as fancy as dedicated backup and restore software, but it’s easy to understand and much better than having no backup at all. The most important thing is choosing a reliable storage device - here’s a pretty good video about this - https://youtu.be/7ExvtSeyHL0

I’m not entirely sure what you’re actually looking for based on your post. Other than wanting beginner-friendly backup software, you didn’t really describe the goal. For example, do you want real-time backup that automatically protects your files whenever something changes? Or are you mainly trying to protect against hard drive failure and avoid losing your documents if Windows suddenly dies again?

If it’s the first case, I’d start with a list like this one that compares several best backup and recovery software side by side. It’ll give you a better idea of what features are available and which tools fit your budget.

If it’s the second case, then the built-in Windows backup software may already be enough. File History works as a file-level backup solution, while Backup and Restore can create a full system backup that you can use later. I’d also create bootable recovery media and keep it somewhere safe (guide). If Windows becomes unbootable again, you’ll be glad you have it.

To be honest, I don’t personally know many people who use third-party backup and restore software just to protect a regular home computer. Most either rely on the Windows tools or simply keep copies of important files on an external drive.

I’ve never used any dedicated backup scheduling tools, but at the same time I’ve never had a situation where I permanently lost data, no matter what happened to the device.

1) For everything stored on my PC, I use File History (just configured the way I like it) and Microsoft 365 backup (link)  for my documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other files stored in OneDrive. Between those two, most of my day-to-day data is covered.

2) For data that lives on external storage devices, I use Disk Drill (link)  and its byte-to-byte disk imaging feature. If an SD card, USB drive, or external HDD starts acting strangely, I create an image first and work with the copy instead of the original device.

With that setup, I’ve always managed to recover lost files whenever something went wrong. Maybe you should consider something similar as well?

Quote from bryan on June 23, 2026, 9:08 pm

I’ve never used any dedicated backup scheduling tools, but at the same time I’ve never had a situation where I permanently lost data, no matter what happened to the device.

1) For everything stored on my PC, I use File History (just configured the way I like it) and Microsoft 365 backup (link)  for my documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other files stored in OneDrive. Between those two, most of my day-to-day data is covered.

2) For data that lives on external storage devices, I use Disk Drill (link)  and its byte-to-byte disk imaging feature. If an SD card, USB drive, or external HDD starts acting strangely, I create an image first and work with the copy instead of the original device.

With that setup, I’ve always managed to recover lost files whenever something went wrong. Maybe you should consider something similar as well?

That actually sounds interesting. Has this setup genuinely helped you in real situations? And how exactly does Disk Drill work in your case that it allows you to restore deleted files from external storage devices?

I’ve never used any data recovery software before, so I’m not really familiar with the whole byte-to-byte disk imaging thing. Does it somehow make recovery easier if the drive starts failing?

Quote from non_tech_ghost on June 24, 2026, 1:34 am

That actually sounds interesting. Has this setup genuinely helped you in real situations? And how exactly does Disk Drill work in your case that it allows you to restore deleted files from external storage devices?

I’ve never used any data recovery software before, so I’m not really familiar with the whole byte-to-byte disk imaging thing. Does it somehow make recovery easier if the drive starts failing?

Of course it helped. I wouldn’t be recommending it if it hadn’t. File History keeps backups of my files on an external hard drive. So if my laptop dies tomorrow, I can reinstall Windows, connect that drive, and restore everything from the backup. 

As for Disk Drill, it’s one of those professional data recovery tools that a beginner can actually figure out without spending days reading documentation. When it comes to deleted files, recovery software works because the data usually remains on the storage device until it’s overwritten by new data. If that hasn’t happened yet, there’s a good chance you can restore deleted files. For situations where something is wrong with the storage device itself, the idea is a bit different. I deal with corrupted SD cards fairly often. In those cases the files are usually still there, they’re just inaccessible through normal means. By creating a byte-to-byte disk image of the card first, I can safely work with the copy and often recover all the photos from it.

If this sounds interesting, here are a few resources worth reading:

• What data overwriting is and why it matters for recovery - https://glossary.7datarecovery.com/what-is-overwrite/ 
• An example of how to recover files from an SD card - https://help.7datarecovery.com/recover-sd-card-without-formatting/ 
• A guide to setting up File History in Windows - https://youtu.be/DpEHO9he-Rw 

Find some time and go through them.

There have already been a lot of good suggestions in this thread, but I haven’t seen anyone mention the number of backups you should keep. Шf you have one backup, you have zero backups.

It doesn’t really matter which direction you choose going forward (whether that’s dedicated data backup solutions/manual copying/ built-in Windows features + data recovery software/something else entirely),  if your only backup lives on a single external drive, you’re still one hardware failure away from losing everything and you should keep another copy somewhere else, ideally in the cloud.

I know that’s not always easy to organize, especially if you have thousands of files, but at the very least, your most important documents, photos, and personal files should exist in more than one place. On Windows, you can enable OneDrive synchronization and let it automatically keep a cloud copy of selected folders. Another option is to manually upload important files to Google Drive every now and then.

Your question is a bit too broad, so I’m not really sure what to recommend. If I were you, I’d start by looking at the options that get recommended most often on Reddit. A few names that come up regularly are Macrium Reflect, Veeam Agent, Acronis True Image, Duplicati, and Backblaze. Read through a few reviews, see which features sound useful to you, and then narrow the list down from there.

I don’t think you’ve fully figured out what you want yet or maybe you just didn’t explain it in enough detail. The word “backup” is much broader than most people realize. Different data backup solutions are designed to solve different problems.

For example:

• File backup software focuses on protecting individual files and folders. Think documents, photos, videos, school assignments, or work projects. If you accidentally delete a folder or your SSD dies, you restore only the files you need. Examples include File History, OneDrive, Google Drive, and similar tools.
• System backup tools go a step further. They back up Windows itself, your settings, installed programs, and your files. Imagine spending a weekend installing Windows, drivers, Steam, Discord, Office, and all your other software. A system backup lets you restore everything at once instead of starting from scratch. Windows Backup and Macrium Reflect are common examples.
• Disk image backup creates a complete image of an entire drive or partition. If your 1 TB SSD contains Windows, games, applications, and personal files, a disk image backup copies the whole thing. If the SSD fails, you can restore the image to a new drive and continue working as if nothing happened.

Also, backups themselves come in different forms. A full backup copies everything every time, while a differential backup only saves the changes made since the last full backup. 

I would also like to point out that backup software and recovery software are not the same thing.

• Backup software (File History, OneDrive, Macrium, Acronis, etc.) is something you set up before anything goes wrong, so you have a copy to restore from.
• Recovery software (Disk Drill and similar tools) is what you reach for after something has already gone wrong and you don’t have a backup. It scans the drive and tries to recover data that is still physically there. 

Ideally, you want both: backups so you rarely need recovery software, and a recovery tool installed in advance so you’re not scrambling to download one onto a possibly failing drive.

Quote from DataRecoverExpert on June 24, 2026, 1:32 pm

I don’t think you’ve fully figured out what you want yet or maybe you just didn’t explain it in enough detail. The word “backup” is much broader than most people realize. Different data backup solutions are designed to solve different problems.

For example:

• File backup software focuses on protecting individual files and folders. Think documents, photos, videos, school assignments, or work projects. If you accidentally delete a folder or your SSD dies, you restore only the files you need. Examples include File History, OneDrive, Google Drive, and similar tools.
• System backup tools go a step further. They back up Windows itself, your settings, installed programs, and your files. Imagine spending a weekend installing Windows, drivers, Steam, Discord, Office, and all your other software. A system backup lets you restore everything at once instead of starting from scratch. Windows Backup and Macrium Reflect are common examples.
• Disk image backup creates a complete image of an entire drive or partition. If your 1 TB SSD contains Windows, games, applications, and personal files, a disk image backup copies the whole thing. If the SSD fails, you can restore the image to a new drive and continue working as if nothing happened.

Also, backups themselves come in different forms. A full backup copies everything every time, while a differential backup only saves the changes made since the last full backup. 

I would also like to point out that backup software and recovery software are not the same thing.

• Backup software (File History, OneDrive, Macrium, Acronis, etc.) is something you set up before anything goes wrong, so you have a copy to restore from.
• Recovery software (Disk Drill and similar tools) is what you reach for after something has already gone wrong and you don’t have a backup. It scans the drive and tries to recover data that is still physically there. 

Ideally, you want both: backups so you rarely need recovery software, and a recovery tool installed in advance so you’re not scrambling to download one onto a possibly failing drive.

If after reading all of this you decide that you really do want backup and restore software, I’d start with one of the popular options from this comparison. 

If, on the other hand, what interests you most is creating exact copies of drives so you can quickly recover from hardware failures or migrate to a new SSD, then you’ll probably find this disk cloning software list more useful.

I wouldn’t spend too much time comparing every product on the market right now. Pick a few that look beginner-friendly, read through the reviews, and see which one matches your needs.

For home use, I’d look at Macrium Reflect. I switched to it a few years ago after a Windows update broke my system, and it’s been pretty much set-and-forget ever since. I use it for full system backup once a month and keep my important files on a separate external drive.

There are more advanced backup and recovery software options out there, but for a regular home PC I think Macrium strikes a good balance between features and ease of use.

I may be in the minority here, but I keep almost everything in the cloud these days. My important documents are synced through OneDrive, my photos are backed up to Google Photos, and I still keep occasional local copies on an external SSD. It’s not the most sophisticated setup in the world, but it gives me secure data storage in more than one location.

It seems I really did jump the gun a bit when I created this thread without fully understanding what I was actually looking for.

The technician told me to find some backup software, so I came here asking about backup software but I had no idea there were different types of backups, different recovery scenarios, and all the other things people explained in this thread.

After reading through all the replies and going through the links you shared, I decided to start with the basics, similar to what User 3 suggested. I’ve already set up File History and I’m going to use it for secure data storage on an external hard drive. I also downloaded Disk Drill so I have something available if I run into problems with data on my USB drives.

For now, that’s probably the most I can realistically handle. I’m pretty clueless when it comes to this stuff, but I figure it’s a lot better than having no backup strategy at all. Thanks everyone for the advice and explanations!