Backups are essential if you want to protect the files on your computer. Cloud backup software uses online storage to save backups, protecting you from loss. EaseUS and AOMEI apps on test.
Online backup solutions for Windows PC mean that no matter what happens to your computer, your files are safe. The building could burn down, your computer could be submerged in flood water, or it could be stolen. It would not affect the files you rely on because they are safely backed up online.
There are advantages to storing backups on a USB drive on the desk next to your computer, such as speed, storage capacity, and control of your files. However, the backup drive is susceptible to the same fire, flood and theft risks as your computer. An off-site backup has the advantage that no matter what happens in your office or at home, your files are safe.
These days, you can work with online drives such as Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box and others. Files are synced from your computer to your online drive, which means that if your PC suffers a disaster, your files are safe online.
However, these are sync services, not backups. Although online drives contain a copy of your files, they are not backups. Delete a file on your computer in the OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive folder and it is deleted everywhere. It may be in the Windows recycle bin, the online drive’s trash folder, or maybe nowhere. Even if it is in the recycle bin, it may be deleted in 30 days.
Another difference between syncing with online drives and backups to online drives is that backups store multiple versions of files. You can restore the version from last week, last month or even last year, if you keep backups that long.
Here I take a look at free backup software for Windows: EaseUS Todo Backup Free and AOMEI Backupper Standard. I am only looking at the cloud backup features. Both apps have extensive support for offline backups of disks, partitions and files on various devices and network locations, but here I back up to the cloud only.
Cloud backup with EaseUS Todo Backup
There are two versions of EaseUS Todo Backup and there is a free version and a Home edition. I tried EaseUS Todo Backup Free and this includes 250 GB of cloud storage for your backups for free. Free software, free cloud storage for backups, what more could you want?
Before you get too excited, the 250 GB of EaseUS cloud storage is only a free trial. The website is not clear on this, but when the software is installed, it says you only have a 30-day trial. If you want to continue using EaseUS cloud storage for backups after this, you need to buy EaseUS Todo Backup Home, which costs $39.95 a year last time I checked, and that includes 1 TB of cloud storage.
However, the EaseUS Todo Backup Free app is able to use other cloud storage services and you don’t need to pay for EaseUS cloud storage. You can link the free backup software to Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. If you are already paying for storage on these cloud drive services, you can use them with Todo Backup Free.
When you create a backup task with Todo Backup Free, you select what you want to back up, such as folders on the PC’s disk that contain valuable files, like Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos.
When the destination is selected for the backups, Cloud Device is an option in the list. Click Add Cloud storage device and select the online drive to use. You must go through several steps to grant permission for software to access your online drive, but this only happens once and for subsequent backups you just select the cloud storage as the destination.
After selecting the source folders to back up and the destination cloud storage to store them, Todo Backup gets on with the task. The backup can be scheduled to occur in the background daily, weekly or monthly.
Restoring files from the cloud backup is straightforward. Select the backup in the tiles on the left, select the backup in the History Version list, then select the folders or files to recover. They can be written back to the original location or a different one. They can save as new files or replace existing ones.
EaseUS Todo Backup is a great backup app that is free, easy to use and works well. Cloud storage for your backups is not free and you must pay someone, but it can be EaseUS, Google, Microsoft or Dropbox. Todo Backup is also great for offline backups to your own USB drive.
Cloud backup with Backupper Standard
Backupper Standard Edition is free cloud backup software for Windows PC and what caught my attention was the offer of 1 TB of cloud storage for your backups, all for free, it says on the website. As with EaseUS Todo Backup, there is a catch, and the free cloud backup is only free for 15 days. It is a free trial. It says it clearly in the software when you run it, but it is not obvious on the website.
Backupper Professional Edition costs $49.95 a year last time I checked, and this includes 1 TB of cloud storage for your backups.
The Backupper Standard software is free forever for backing up to USB drives plugged into your Windows computer, but I tried it with the free cloud storage trial, which provides 1 TB of space online.
Select Cloud Backup in Backupper and you are prompted to sign up or log in to AOMEI Cloud. Create an AOMEI account at the website and 1 TB of cloud storage appears in the Backupper app when you log in.
You can then add the folders on the local drive to back up to your cloud storage. Obvious ones are Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos. Click Start Backup and Backupper uploads the folders and files to your AOMEI cloud storage. It is very easy and it worked perfectly. The speed of the backup is determined by the speed of your internet connection. Fast internet is required for fast backups.
Restoring files is just as easy and you select the backup version, then browse the folders and files, and select the ones you need. They can be restored to the original location or a new location as you prefer.
Unlike EaseUS ToDo Backup, AOMEI Backupper can only back up to AOMEI cloud or local drives. However, it has partnered with CBackup, which enables you to back up to online drives like Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox, provided you have the storage space available.
- Read my article: Backup your PC to online storage for free with CBackup
There is a free CBackup account, but it is limited to 50 GB data traffic a month. Paid accounts offering unlimited data and up to 5 TB of online storage are available, but if you are going to pay for online storage, you may as well pay for AOMEI Cloud and use Backupper.
Conclusion
I tried the free versions of EaseUS Todo Backup and AOMEI Backupper and both are great for making offline backups on external drives. You can create whole disk backups, partition backups, Windows C: drive backups, and file backups.
I also backed up files to the cloud using Todo Backup and Backupper. You can try the cloud backup software for free, but after the trial you need to pay for EaseUS or AOMEI cloud storage.
Todo Backup has an advantage and you can use Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox to store your backups. If you already pay for storage with one of these, you can select it as the backup destination. Backupper cannot do this, but CBackup, an AOMEI partner, can.
I like both backup apps, but I think Todo Backup is just a little bit better, but you should try both. After all, they are free.
