Hey Guys

I have been using Nova Backup for a good few years but with Windows 11 I am thinking its time I looked at what else is out there as the version I have is quite old now and and a few things have stopped working.

Most backup software results always seem to be imaging software which is not what I am looking for I have that covered, I am looking for a local file and folder backup which allows me to select the folders and files I want not a predetermined set of files like Videos, Documents, Images etc.

Something like the image attached which is Nova Backup.

What are you guys using.

Thanks

 

Reliable, Made in Germany, Can do everything...!
Ashampoo® - Backup Pro 27 --> https://www.ashampoo.com/en-us/backup

 

Hey PulseWave

Appreciate the reply as always.

Does this software allow me to manually pick the files and folders I want like my screenshot, the screenshot on the website only shows smart collections, although I do see a manual tab.

 

When i had Windows i used Veeam Agent for Windows.
It´s free and Veeam is very reliable.
I think you can also save Folders.
but i used it for complete incremental Backups

 

For my backup, i'm using FreeFileSync. It's free and quite easy to use.

https://freefilesync.org/

 

Spoiler: Here's a short excerpt from the manual; since the program is in German, I've copied the text:

Here's a short excerpt from the manual; since the program is in German, I've copied the text:

Now select the files/file types you want to back up. The settings for all categories are summarized at the end.

Default Folders
Here you'll find the standard Windows folders for Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, and Downloads.

Internet, Email, and Organizer
This section covers all common browsers and email applications. It backs up the data created by each application.

Files by Type
If you want to back up specific data types, such as text documents, you can select them here.
Note that the selection in this section refers exclusively to the system drive.

Manual File and Folder Selection
The most flexible selection options are found here.

Manual File and Folder Selection: Add Folder

Adds a folder, including all its files and subfolders, to the selection.
Manual File and Folder Selection: Add Folder with Filter
Adds a folder, including all its files and subfolders, with additional settings to the selection. For example, you can exclude subfolders or filter files by file extension.

Manual File and Folder Selection: Add File
Adds one or more files to the selection.

Manual File and Folder Selection: Edit
Edits the settings for the currently selected entry.

Manual File and Folder Selection: Remove
Removes the selected entry from the selection.

Exclusions
Here you will find folders/files that will not be included in a backup.

Exclusions: Exclude Folder

Excludes a single directory, including its subdirectories, from the backup.

Exclusions: Exclude Folder with Filter

Excludes a single directory, including its subdirectories, from the backup with additional settings. For example, you can exclude subfolders.

 

No win11 here just win10 and below. Been using Acronis Backup/TrueImage for years. Use it to backup servers and workstations. Never use cloud backup or backup junk that runs concurrent to the OS. Only use a bootable iso that runs WinPE and image off entire systems locally storing backup images on large HDDs. All backup images are verified at the time of creation and crc'ed for storage.

TrueImage 21 is verified by acronis as being compatible with win11 though I dont have personal experience with it on win11 because I don't run 11 at all....TrueImage allows individual file backups as well and entire system images, as all proper backup imagers should be able to do...

 

Last edited: Nov 18, 2025 at 9:21 PM

Disk Genius. Free.
Backup to image file
Clones
Winpe usb boot to restore.
https://www.diskgenius.com/free.php

 

Last edited: Nov 18, 2025 at 10:12 PM

ViceVersa PRO
FreeFileSync
GoodSync

 

Clonezilla. Free but can be difficult for beginners.
https://clonezilla.org/

 

Please bear in mind that while you can create backups with almost any of the software mentioned here, not all of them completely restore your data. Sometimes the program simply freezes during the backup process, leaving you wondering what happened and forcing you to reinstall everything despite having a backup.

 

I been using TruImage 2021 (for win7/10) for a while. No subscriptions. Still use Acronis Backup 11/10 for some jobs (server 2003/2008). Don't most of these other tools (I know Acronis DOES) have verify modes to verify the backup is proper after it is made? Been using Acronis for years and ALWAYS verify the backup right after it is made. NEVER (knocking on wood) had an issue with a restore. I also CRC the images before and after placing them to the storage media which helps.

I don't get all the "restore failures"? That's why verify there, to make certain the backup will restore correctly. I know there are a few caveats with these tools - like for Acronis, if you make a backup with a given name, that name (or the names of any satellite files) MUST NEVER BE CHANGED, or it trashes the backup. Also, even after verifying the backup, you MUST use a CRC tool to ensure that wherever that backup file is placed for archiving, that it is a pristine copy of the original.

I will add this as well. Many moons ago I tried those "backup agent" things that run concurrently with the OS. Those things are complete trash. With all the file locking (with windows at least) happening with a running OS those things can't possibly backup stuff up correctly and most of them don't. Which is why a long time ago I switched to a bootable WinPE ISO tool to do backups with the OS offline. Never had an issue since.

If I ever do any Win11 builds (most likely never) I'll probably use Macrium Reflect on those, but still only using a bootable WinPE iso to backup the system offline.

 

Last edited: Nov 20, 2025 at 10:34 PM

Each person has to do what works for them. I have had 100% backup and restore success rate with AOMEI Backupper, which also has incremental and differential options like any half decent backup software should and system cloning is another option. I mainly use if for folders spread out on different drives I really do not want to have days of reinstallation on failure.
That said, if I want to do a guaranteed 100% restoration only on a system disk clone, I use Paragon disk manager because it reads every single sector on load. While it loads slower because it reads and counts the sectors, its backup on SSD's is ridiculously fast as is the restoration.

 

Macrium Reflect- saved my a** once already!

 

So I have been on a mission installing different applications on a test VM over the last couple of days.

Quite a few of the suggestions are full disk imaging software which is not what I am looking for as I already use Acronis True Image, for master build images. I wanted a more of day to day file and folder backup to a local disk with a GUI that shows me a file explorer type window where I tick which folders and files I want in the backup, but thank you so much for taking the time to reply with suggestions, it’s been a fun couple of days testing things.

A couple of people made the absolute great comment about restoring the backup which is the issue I have started getting with my existing backup software since the latest Windows 11 update, but it did get me thinking about those apps which archive to their own single file proprietary system and the absolute risks with that especially with encryption and the backup file only being good in the backup software it was created with.

Some backup solutions were just single folder mirroring, again not what I wanted and I have lots of folders and files I want to backup and want one backup job to cover them all..

Some had awful GUIs way to busy and messy

Some just seemed so overly complicated or dated.

But I did find a pretty good and simple solution called BackUp Maker Professional by ASCOMP Software. This allows me to select my files and folders, it creates a ZIP file without any compression (you can add it but I don’t want to be tied to the software on restore) so I can just open this compressed file and get access to the files and folders with any compression software, it retains the folder hierarchy, I can then add this to a 7ZIP and add a long AES256 encryption password as well as encrypting the folders and file names. This gives me my backup it’s not reliant of any backup application, I can extract with any major player compression software and it protects the archived file from being accessed. I’ll just copy this to my 3 backup drives as well as my mobile phone and iPad for extra redundancy and keep it all up to date once a week or so.

thank you everyone

 

Take a look at Gs Richcopy 360 and GoodSync, the lightweight and easy tools that works in all windows platforms with no hassles

 

AOMEI Backupper PRO