Ashampoo Backup FREE Review

Key Features

• (New) Full Support for Windows 11!
• (New) Improved user interface and home screen
• Very useful free backup software
• Well designed, easy to use and reliable
• Support for disk image and file-level backup options
• Unlimited historic file versioning (disk space dependant)
• Free version is missing encryption and compression options
• Also missing pre-made backup plans and cloud backup integration
• Good set of scheduling options available
• Any backups made are compatible with Pro version
• Built-in system recovery tools
• 100% free to use! (a free Ashampoo account is required)
• Upgrade to Ashampoo Backup Pro 17 for just $17!

Backup FREE Usability

In this section of my review I will be looking at some of the usability aspects of Ashampoo Backup FREE, this begins with a look at at what is included in this free version and how this functionality compares to that of the premium version (again, this is Ashampoo Backup Pro 17).

Ashampoo Backup FREE vs Backup Pro 17

Before starting to make use of this free to use backup solution from Ashampoo, I want to compare it to the premium counterpart upon which it is based, this is Ashampoo Backup Pro 17!

Backup FREE and Backup Pro 17 are essentially the same piece of software, albeit the free version has (understandably) had some of the functionality removed by Ashampoo so as to be able to offer it to their customer at zero cost. What we are left with in this free version, after this removal of certain features, is a piece of backup software which is still more than capable of providing a good basic file or even full disk image backup within a trusted, safe and easy to configure application.

Here is a brief (non exhaustive) list of some of the key features missing form the free version:

• No cloud integration (Backup FREE only supports local and network storage)
• No compression or encryption options
• No power saving settings
• No automatic backup verification options
• Limited scheduling options
• No pre-made backup plans (backups must be configured manually)

One of the key features which is missing, as far as I am concerned, is the cloud storage integration which sees integration of big cloud storage provides (including Google Drive and Dropbox) directly into the software itself. This means that Backup FREE is essentially designed for use when backing up to either locally attached hard drives (including external hard drives) or locally accessible NAS drives / network shares.

NB – This is an important difference here, if you do feel like you might need off-site, cloud-based storage for your backups then this product might not be right for you (and I would recommend looking at Backup Pro 17 in such cases)!

Other missing features (which could be important for some users) include only a limited set of scheduling options being available (including automatic daily and weekly runs), compression and encryption being removed entirely as are the pre-made backup plans which are one of my favourite features from the premium version (given how easy they make getting a properly configured backup into action).

NB – One important feature which is retained between both the free and professional versions of is the interoperability of the backups themselves. This means, for example, if you do create a backup se within Backup FREE and then decide to upgrade to backup Pro 17 the backup set can simply be imported into the higher version!

Finally, and this is important to stress, what is left is a solid and reliable backup tool which is ideal for making locally stored backups without any licencing costs involved whatsoever! If you feel you might need features such as cloud storage integration, file compression, encryption and pre-made backup plans (amongst other premium features) then I would definitely recommend you check out the premium version of this software (again, this is Backup Pro 17 and it does have a 30 day free trial via the official Ashampoo website).

For simply making a basic but reliable backup to locally available storage (for free) then Backup FREE is looking like a good option so far!

Installing Backup FREE

Installing Backup FREE, as with all Ashampoo software, was a very quick and stress free process, a process which begins over at the official Ashampoo website where Backup FREE can be downloaded directly. In my particular case, this download was a very reasonable 102MB in total size and I had the installer fully downloaded and running on my PC just a few moments later.

The Installation process itself is very quick, straightforward and was complete in just a few seconds during my own running of the installer, although do be aware that before completing the installation the software must be activated with a (free to register) Ashampoo account if you don’t already have one.

With the software now installed and registered, we can move on to the configuration of a new backup set before looking at restoring data and then some of the other useful features found within Backup FREE a little later on in the review.

Backing-up using Backup FREE

Creating our initial backup set within the Backup FREE software beings on the main application homepage where we can find the main “Create backup Plan” button. Once clicked, this will start the new backup set wizard, one of the first things the application will ask is for us to specify the storage location which will be used for saving data to.

A can be seen in the screenshot above, when specifying the storage to be used, we only have the option for saving to either a locally attached hard drive or a network drive (NAS drive). Interestingly, Ashampoo have decided to leave in all of the other options which are only available within the pro version of this product, these options are (understandably) disabled and clearly marked out with a “PRO” label, doing so means that users of this free version can still get a good idea of the additional functionality which will become available when upgrading.

Moving on and the next page in the wizard is where we can select the locally attached hard drive or NAS device to be used for storing any backed-up data, after choosing this location we can then specify whether we want to create a new backup set or (if applicable) import an existing backup set if one already exists.

NB – Any backup sets created in Backup FREE can be imported into Backup Pro 17 if upgrading at a later date!

In my case I will be creating a new backup set, although it is very useful to know that an existing backup set (with all of its settings included) can be imported into the software if required (especially useful if, for example, you are migrating to a new device and want to bring a pre-configured backup set with you).

Moving on and the next screen seen in the set-up process (after skipping the pre-made plans which are of no use in this free version) is where we can choose to make either a file-level or full disk image backup. Thankfully, as is found in the professional version of this software, Backup FREE also allows for both file-by-file backups in addition to full system image backups (which capture the entire system including all settings and installed applications) to be taken.

NB – For more information on file-by-file and system image backups, the differences between them and which one might be most suitable for your own backup needs, please click here to read our comprehensive guide on the subject!

Moving on and, having chosen to make a full system image backup in my example, the next screen in the set-up wizard will ask us to specify which drives will make up the system which is to be backed-up. If for any reason any drives are not to be included then they can be removed at this point (which might include the drive being used to save the backup upon).

Next, as can be seen above, after selecting any drives which are to be included within the backup set, the following two screens are where encryption and compression would have normally have been set had we been using the premium version of the software. Ashampoo have obviously decided to leave these screens visible in the set-up process (even though they cant be used) which might seem counter-intuitive in some respects however, it does help reaffirm that this is a free version of a premium product and will help users easily visualise what is on offer if they do decide to upgrade.

After the encryption and compression screens have been skipped over, the next useful screen we come to is where the versioning details can be specified.

As can be seen above, the screen used for configuring the file versioning is where we can specify how many full backups should be saved and the number of incremental backups to make in-between each full backup. This essentially allows us to specify how far back we would like to save copies of files for recovery purposes (e.g. if we make daily incremental backups and then a weekly full backup and decide to save 4 full backups, we could then go back to any given day’s files within the last four weeks or so under such a system.

Moving on and the next screen (seen above) is where we can set an automatic schedule for our new backup set to run upon (should we want to). Given this is the free version of the software we are limited to running either daily or weekly automated backups with the advanced scheduling options only available in the premium version of the app.

Next, after specifying a schedule, we can then specify what is to happen should a scheduled backup be missed and following this, we will then see the power saving options screen which will show us (had we been using the premium version) how the software could handle events such as the PC wanting to go to sleep whilst a backup is running.

Finally, after seeing three more screens we cant make use of in the free version (for setting up automatic verification, backup reports and email warnings) we get to the final backup summary screen which tells us what we are about to configure.

Clicking finish on this summary screen (as seen above) will take us back to the main application homepage, once back in this main part of the application we can then navigate over to the “Backup Plans” page to see all of our current backup plans and, should we need to, manually set any of them running on demand.

Once a backup is set running from this page, we will also be able to see its progress just above the backup set’s entry on the page as well. Once any backup set is finished running we can manually verify the set in question by selecting “Verify Backup” from the “Actions” menu shown for each listed backup set:

NB – Automatic and scheduled verification of backups is only available in the premium version of this tool, in this free version the verification process must be run manually!

And with this, the process of creating a new backup set and running it are complete! I will be looking at the restore options available in the next section but, before getting there, I wanted to quickly point out that I performed a system image backup in this section and that a file level backup is still available in this free version should you require it.

NB – When making a system image backup (which is supported by Ashampoo backup FREE, as is seen above) we will, by default, backup everything on the system including all data, applications and the operating system itself.

As can be seen above, if we choose to select a file-level backup, we can later on in the configuration process easily select individual files, folders, file-types or pre-selected groupings of files to be included in the backup (e.g. all videos as seen above). This is a very helpful screen and makes the process of ensuring we only get the files (or types of files) we require very easy and straightforward.

Restoring Data using Backup FREE

At this point we have seen how Ashampoo Backup FREE can be used both for making both file-level and system image backups and, despite having a limited set of features compared to the premium version, still retain a good amount of very useful backup functionality. In this section of the review I will be looking at some of the options available to us when it comes to restoring data and how useful this tool is when it comes to the critical task of restoring data from a backup!

As can be seen above, the restore process can be started on the “Backup Plans” page via the drop-down menu (when selecting the “Restore” option), this will then open up the restore wizard. Once in the restore process, given that I made use of an image backup in the previous section, the first thing to decide is between restoring an entire disk, partition or simply selecting individual files and folders to restore:

Having selected the option to recover individual files, the next page in the restore process allows for providing a date to recover form (i.e. the version to recover). Once this date is selected, we can then open up a virtually mounted drive within Windows itself for browsing any files within this particular version of the backup:

With the virtual drive now available within Windows, any individual files and folders can simply be copied across to the device as applicable. It is really important to note here (as the warning above implies) that any changes made to files within this virtual drive will not be saved!

Finally, with any files now recovered, the “Remove All Created Virtual Drives” button found towards the bottom of the page can be used to close the virtual recovery drive down.

Other Features of Backup FREE

With the core backup and restore functionality aside, there is little else by the way of additional functionality found within Ashampoo Backup FREE. One notable addition which is included is the recovery media builder which, once configured, allows for a Windows PE based bootable disc or USB drive to be created.

Once created, this bootable media allows a PC to be booted into the live CD version of Ashampoo Backup FREE and the device recovered from a suitable disk image backup which has been made using the product. This functionality is Ideal for a PC which is un-bootable or when recovering from a broken or otherwise new hard drive which has been replaced.

NB – Remember, this is the free version of Ashampoo Backup Pro 17, a premium backup solution which contains many additional functions including disk checking tools, automatic backup verification and advanced reporting tools amongst many others!