MSP360 Backup is the free-to-use backup application for Windows, macOS and Linux devices from IT experts, MSP360 (formally known as Cloudberry Lab). A fully-functional application supporting both file and disk imaging backups on Windows, MSP360 Backup stands out thanks to the high degree of backup functionality on offer alongside strong integration support for various third-party cloud services including AWS S3, iDrive e2 and Backblaze B2 amongst other popular choices.
Whilst this software has been available for a while now (mainly under its former name of Cloudberry Backup), it is great to see MSP360 have not only kept a solid free-to-use edition available, but also continuously improve and add new features to it. Notable useful features added recently to the free edition include both secure encryption and object locking (storage immutability) which shows MSP360’s commitment to data protection and enhances an already strong set of free backup features.
Despite a strong set of features on the free edition, a Pro edition is also available which, alongside adding data compression, focuses mainly on improving support options and the removal of the 5TB storage limit on local storage (seen in the free edition) for a very reasonable fee of just $29.99 per year for Windows devices.
If you can work with the (admittedly generous) 5TB storage limit imposed on the free edition, MSP360 Backup offers a lot of advanced backup and data protection functionality to the average PC user for zero cost. Time to install this promising backup software for myself and check out how it handles a variety of backup scenarios on a Windows PC – Vamos.
Key Features
New & Enhanced Features:
- Secure Zero-Knowledge Encryption: Newly added to the free edition for 2026, secure AES 256-bit encryption ensures universal access to secure backup storage for both Free and Pro users alike.
- Secure Object Lock: Further enhancing the newly upgraded free edition, immutable storage configuration ensures free users also benefit from cloud storage immutability.
- Full Windows 11 Support: Support is provided for modern editions of the Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems.
Already Proven Features:
- Easy to Use Software: An easy-to-use desktop application and wizard-based approach helps make backing-up locally or to third-party cloud storage both simple and straightforward.
- Disk Image Backups: Support for making disk, partition and full system image backups is available in both the Free and Pro editions.
- Powerful Cloud Storage Support: Strong support for many popular cloud services including Microsoft Azure, AWS S3, Google Cloud plus virtually any S3 compatible service is available in both Free and Pro editions.
- Historic File Versioning: Good support for custom historic file versioning across both file and image-based backups ensures enhanced protection against data loss and malware-related issues.
- Multiple Backup Methodologies: Optimise backup run times and storage usage by choosing full, incremental, differential and synthetic full backups.
- Advanced Scheduling: Advanced backup scheduling technology including support for real-time operation ensures backups always happen at a suitable frequency.
- NAS & Shared Folder Support: Support is available for backing up both to and from shared drives and NAS systems.
- System Recovery Media: Built-in support for making bootable system recovery media (including full UEFI support) is included.
- Limited macOS and Linux Imaging: Disk imaging is currently only supported in the Windows edition of the software.
- Missing Consumer Cloud Support: Popular consumer-focused cloud services such as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox lack direct integration.
Licensing & Pricing:
- 100% Free-to-Use Edition: The Free edition brings a lot of useful functionality for zero cost.
- Subscription Options: An annual subscription unlocks full functionality on Windows devices for just $29.99 per year or $19.99 per year on Linux / macOS (per device).
- 15-Day Free Trial Available: A 15-Day free trial of MSP360 Backup Pro is available which can be activated from within the Free edition once installed.
MSP360 Backup Usability
In this first section I will be downloading and installing MSP360 Backup on my own Windows device before then testing out how well this software performs during a range of real-world backup scenarios. This begins by downloading and installing the free application from the official MSP360 website before moving on to trying out some of the many backup-related features.
Installing MSP360 Backup
Installing MSP360 Backup begins via the official MSP360 website where the installer for the free edition can be downloaded after entering some basic details including an active email address. Once downloaded and installed, a fully featured 15-day free trial of the Pro edition can optionally be activated from within the free edition if this is required.
In my own instance, installation was fairly straightforward and hands-off with the installer’s default settings well suited to the average Windows PC user. The software does ask for an email address (again) upon finishing the installation and the main desktop application becomes visible and ready for use straight after.
As can be seen above, once fully installed, the desktop application itself is well laid out with the ribbon interface at the top making it easy to access all main functionality and a welcome tab prompting new users to set up their first backup storage destination before continuing use (something I will get into very soon).
NB – Remember, MSP360 offer a full 15-day free trial of the Pro edition should you wish to try out the full functionality of this software for yourself, click to visit the official MSP360 website for full details.
Making Disk Image Backups
One of the stand-out features of MSP360 Backup is its support for making full disk, partition and full system image backups in both the Free and Pro editions. In this section I will be making extensive use of this free disk imaging functionality and exploring how MSP360 Backup can be utilised for effectively securing all data stored upon a device including the operating system, user settings and any installed applications as a core part of such a backup.
NB – Disk image backups work by producing an exact (1:1) copy of a disk (or multiple disks) which make up a PC. This means that all user data, installed applications, the operating system itself plus any system settings are automatically included in the backup set (making this the most thorough approach to backing up data).
Selecting the “Image Based” option from the application’s main ribbon menu is where we can start the disk imaging wizard running. This is a process which, after an initial welcome page is shown, asks for us to specify which storage location is to be used for storing data.
As can be seen above, we have a lot of storage choices built directly into MSP360 Backup including iDrive e2, Backblaze B2 plus virtually any S3 compatible service. For this section of my review, I will be utilising locally attached storage and focusing more on the cloud storage options later on when I look at file-level backups. With a local storage location configured and confirmed as the target for this backup, the next step involves specifying a name for this set before then selecting the partitions and disks to be included.
Selecting all disks and partitions required to backup an entire system is really easy here thanks to the preset configuration options (which can be seen above). We can also use this above page to manually include and exclude individual disks and partitions from the backup set as might be required.
NB – The “Keep BitLocker” option (see above) determines whether an image-based backup copies any BitLocker protected partitions as raw, fully encrypted blocks or decrypts the volume on-the-fly, meaning free space can be skipped and individual files can be restored at a later date (versus the entire encrypted disk as would otherwise be the case).
After specifying which disks and partitions are to be included in the backup set, the wizard will optionally allow for testing the storage location before also allowing for any specific exclusions to be specified. From here we can then specify specific files and folders to be excluded as well as making use of the manual text entry area for easily specifying other exclusions (for example, typing “*.iso” would exclude all ISO image files).
The next step in the configuration process involves optionally specifying that the backup is encrypted. As can be seen above, when choosing to utilise this zero-knowledge encryption we have the option to use up to AES 256-bit encryption technology which is widely considered the industry standard for securing such backups and great to see included and enabled for everyone in this free edition.
NB – While zero-knowledge encryption is enabled in both Free and Pro editions of MSP360 Backup, data compression is reserved only for the Pro edition.
The next step in the wizard is where we can optionally enable an automatic consistency check for ensuring the stored image file remains intact and less likely to cause any issues when attempting to recover data in the future. We also see an advanced option to make use of a “Restore Verification” feature which (for PCs with a Hyper-V environment configured) will see the software performing much more stringent restore verification tests by actually simulating real restore operations in the background.
Next, we have the option for setting a schedule for this backup set if one is required (else it can simply be run manually). The below scheduling tool allows for the setting of a schedule for making full backups plus a secondary (optional) independent schedule for incremental runs (meaning we can schedule incremental runs much more frequently than the full backup runs which are often slower and take up more disk storage space in the process).
After setting a schedule, the next page in the setup process allows for historic version retention of backups to be configured. MSP360 Backup makes this really easy to configure with the ability to simply set a fixed number of days, weeks or months as a fixed retention period or (for more advanced users) make use of a GFS (Grandfather, father, son) archiving system.
With versioning set, MSP360 Backup also supports running actions (e.g. applications, scripts etc.) both before and after a backup set has completed. In fact, it goes one step further than a lot of competing backup tools in that these pre/post-backup actions can be set to run only if a backups set has completed successfully or not – especially useful if such scripts are designed to handle the cleaning up of data once a backup set has completed.
Finally, we can optionally also configure email notifications for when this backup set is run. Users can opt to use their own SMTP server (if required) else MSP360 very generously provides the email notification service to both Free and Pro users free of charge.
NB – MSP360 requires email addresses using this service be verified before the backup notifications will become active.
With the configuration complete, the backup can be set running straight away via the summary page (by clicking the checkbox) else it will become visible on the application homepage view where it can be run manually or will await its scheduled start time.
And with that, a full disk image backup set has been configured and run. Overall, the process for creating this type of backup was fairly straightforward thanks to the step-by-step wizard while still affording a strong set of configuration options including custom historic versioning, file exclusion and secure encryption settings.
NB – A common misconception found in some online reviews for MSP360 Backup (or Cloudberry Backup given its former name) is that it lacks full disk imaging and AES-256 encryption (and makes them available only behind its paid Pro subscription). Having thoroughly tested the latest 2026 build, I can confirm this is no longer the case: full disk imaging, bare-metal recovery, zero-knowledge encryption and Object Lock immutability are now all fully accessible within the Free Edition (subject to the standard 5TB storage limit).
Making File-Level Cloud Backups
While disk image-based backups undeniably provide some of the best levels of protection for a Windows device (by automatically including everything by default), file-level backups can provide a more focused approach to backing up specific files and folders. Configuring a more focused file-level backup set is not only more disk-space-efficient, but also usually runs much faster making this approach more suited to the use of a cloud storage service.
Before starting to configure the file-level backup set itself, I will first be configuring an S3 compatible cloud storage service for saving my data onto (iDrive’s excellent e2 service in this example, as be seen in situ above). With this new storage location configured, the new file-level backup set configuration can begin by selecting “Files > File backup” from the application’s main ribbon menu.
Before moving on it is important to note that MSP360 Backup is currently focused on the integration of more industry-focused cloud services including Microsoft Azure, AWS S3, Backblaze B2 and Google Cloud as opposed to popular consumer-focused alternatives such as Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox. Whilst not ideal for anyone wanting to make use of an existing (consumer-focused) cloud storage subscription, this approach does at least still provide good choice and there are some very cost-effective S3 compatible services available for consumers such as iDrive’s e2 service which I am using in my example.
With iDrive e2 chosen as my cloud provider for this cloud backup, one of the first steps in getting everything configured is to set the backup set’s storage target to this newly created S3 compatible bucket (a process which will inevitably involve copying target URLs and access keys as with any S3 compatible target). Having configured this storage target, we can next continue with some advanced settings for this backup set as can be seen below.
This advanced setting page allows for specifying multiple options including making use of synthetic backups, retaining NTFS file permissions, forcing use of the VSS service and utilising a fast NTFS scan which (at the expense of using more system memory) can help to speed up the backup process.
NB – A synthetic full backup creates a complete, easy-to-restore copy of your PC backup by merging any previous full backups with the most recent daily changes directly on your backup drive. An efficient process which saves both time and bandwidth usage versus copying all data from the source drive multiple times.
Next, selecting files to be included in the backup can easily be done via the wizard’s file-picking tool. This same tool also allows for network shared drives to be specified meaning they can also be included in the backup set when required. After specifying which files and folders are to be included, the next page allows for optionally specifying any items to be excluded.
As can be seen above, we can easily specify certain file types be excluded (or only certain file types be included) as is required. This page also allows for specifying other criteria for excluding files based upon their size and when they were last modified amongst other options.
Having specified any excluded files, the wizard will then allow for optionally setting encryption (always recommended when utilising cloud storage) and performing a consistency check on this backup set in the same way as was seen for the imaging-based set made earlier on. After this, we can then specify the schedule for which this new backup set will be run.
As can be seen above, while we could make use of a more advanced GFS (grandfather, father, son) approach, the file-level configuration also supports using the “Simple” (forever-forward) incremental approach (see above). This synthetic approach sees one initial full backup made which is followed by only backing up daily changes, automatically merging the oldest changed files into the main backup in the cloud making this a fast and efficient approach to making cloud backups.
After setting the scheduling, the next page (again) allows for specifying a set number of days, weeks or months for keeping old versions of the backup. This historic versioning page is also where we can make use of MSP360’s advanced intelligent retention technology which will see backups only kept for as long as is required while attempting to prevent early deletion penalties potentially imposed by cloud providers such as AWS S3.
Having set historic versioning retention rules for this new backup set, we can also specify pre/post-backup tasks and email notifications. Both of these are configured in the exact same way as was seen when making the disk image-based backup set earlier on meaning configuration of this file-level set is now complete and the backup can be set running.
As before, this new file-level backup set will be visible from the application’s main dashboard where it can also be set running on demand. When utilising cloud storage such as AWS S3 (or a S3-compatible service) it is always important to be aware of how much storage is being used as this will (usually) be billed for on a “per GB” basis.
The “Backup Storage” tab in the desktop application is a great way to easily monitor all storage locations configured within MSP360 Backup and ideal for quickly checking in on the amount of storage any particular backup set is consuming.
Restoring Data
Restoring data is a key consideration when choosing any form of backup software. Not only must the restore process itself be reliable and effective in operation, but it must also be easy-to-use and straightforward to recover the correct version of any backed up files.
Restore operations can take two distinct forms within MSP360 Backup. We have the option to run a single (one-off) restoration (on demand) as required or, alternatively, create a restore plan which can be saved on the device and more easily accessed when performing a similar restoration at a later date. To start this section off, I am going to be performing a single (one-off) restoration of some photos stored in my iDrive e2 account using the file-level backup set created earlier on.
Upon starting the data recovery wizard, we will be asked to first choose the type of restoration (a one-off recovery in this particular case) before then selecting the target storage location to be used. The next step, if applicable, is then to specify the correct version of the backup to be used (as can be seen just above). Having chosen the correct version, we can then use the file picking tool to specify anything from a single file to the entire backup set (all files and folders) to be recovered.
Next, MSP360 Backup provides some good options for where these files are to be recovered to. Set to the original location by default, we can easily specify a different location alongside other options which include overwriting existing files when applicable and restoring NTFS file permissions as might be required.
Entering the backup encryption password (if one is set), we can also then also configure post/pre-restoration actions and email notifications during the recovery operation in much the same style as was seen during backup set creation.
Moving on past file-level restoration and when restoring from a disk image backup we have even more options available. The default option to recover an entire disk image onto a new or existing disk is available as are other options including recovering to a virtual disk (e.g. VHD / VHDX format) or other formats for specific virtual machines including VMWare, AWS EC2 and Proxmox.
This flexibility in being able to recover an image backup to an entire physical disk or one of many popular virtual disk formats means disk image-based backups made within MSP360 Backup are highly versatile. We also have access to a recovery media building tool which, when combined with a disk image-based backup set, can be used for booting into on an otherwise unbootable PC and recovering a disk image directly onto said device.
As can be seen above, we have a recovery media building tool built into the desktop application itself which is capable of building a bootable USB flash drive or an ISO image file which can then be burned onto optical media. Once created and used for booting the device to be recovered, we will see the live recovery environment which provides both tools and access to a “Live CD” version of the MSP360 Backup software.
Alongside access to the desktop application, we can easily perform a “bare metal” recovery by selecting these options from the recovery menu and then specifying the disk image to be recovered from – ideal for times when the device in question won’t boot up or a failed hard disk is being replaced (swapped) with a new disk or upgraded SSD drive.
NB – Remember, MSP360 Backup provides the use of a recovery media building tool, disk imaging backups and bare metal restoration on both the free and Pro editions. A free 15-Day trial of the Pro edition is available via the official MSP360 website should you wish to try the full set of features out for yourself.
Other Features of MSP360 Backup
Outside of the core backup, restoration and recovery media building functionality, MSP360 Backup does not offer anything else in terms of secondary utilities (for instance, there are no dedicated disk cloning tools or folder synchronisation modules). Despite this, it does offer some small additional utilities and the application itself does provide a high degree of configurability, much more than is typically seen within Windows backup software.
I have already mentioned this briefly, but one powerful feature of MSP360 Backup seldom found in comparable backup tools is support for recovering onto multiple types of virtual disks. Some competing tools will sometimes allow for restoration to a Microsoft standard VHD/VHDX virtual drive, but MSP360 Backup takes this functionality much further by offering the ability to restore images directly onto cloud services such as Microsoft’s Azure, Google Cloud and Amazon’s EC2 virtual machine service.
Also available are a comprehensive set of core configuration options for the desktop software itself. This includes the ability to set maximum memory usage for the app, disk space and bandwidth limits for managing resources more effectively alongside the ability to change to or from the built-in MSP360 email notification service (or use a custom SMTP service) as required.
Finally, the Pro edition of MSP360 Backup also supports making backups of Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server which could be relevant to system administrators, business users and advanced Windows power users.
MSP360 Backup Security
One of the most notable additions to MSP360 Backup Free as of August 2026 is the inclusion of secure AES 256-bit encryption across both file-level and disk image backups, something previously reserved only for the Pro edition. In fact, MSP360 has also included options for utilising both AES 128-bit and AES 192-bit encryption alongside this AES 256-bit option allowing users to opt for faster backups or higher levels of security via stronger encryption as required.
Secure, zero-knowledge encryption remains one of the most secure and effective means of protecting any backed-up data. This is especially the case when storing data on any of the third-party cloud storage services supported by MSP360 Backup including any S3 compatible service which might not necessarily include encryption by default.
NB – When using secure, zero-knowledge encryption, as is the case here with MSP360 Backup, there is no way of recovering the encryption password if it is forgotten. If this happens then MSP360 will have no ability to reset this password and the backup set will become inaccessible.
MSP360 Support
MSP360 Backup Free edition is offered with community-level support only. The Pro edition, alongside some other enhancements, sees this support raised to email-only meaning premium users can contact the US-based MSP360 support team should they ever get stuck.
Beyond direct support, MSP360 also provides a useful support portal and resources section on their website. Between these users of MSP360 Backup can access user guides, help articles, FAQ pages, specialist blog posts covering specific use cases with the software and access the user forum for more advanced help.
MSP360 Backup Pricing
MSP360 Backup Free is 100% free for personal, non-commercial usage.
A 5TB total storage cap is imposed on the free edition of MSP360 Backup applying to both local and cloud storage. Upgrading to the Pro edition (at $29.99 per year) removes this limit for local storage.
Upgrading to Pro also brings some other useful benefits including data compression which can help make better use of target storage allocations, support for backing up Microsoft SQL Server and Exchange databases, plus enhanced email support from MSP360 themselves (versus community-based support which is available for the free edition).
NB – The Linux and macOS editions of MSP360 Backup lack disk imaging support (this is a Windows-only feature) and are priced slightly lower at $19.99 per year each.
MSP360 Backup FAQs
Yes, MSP360 Backup Free edition is 100% free-to-use for personal (non-commercial) usage. A Pro edition also exists which removes the limitations of this free edition, adding additional functionality for just $29.99 per year (per device) on Windows or $19.99 per year on Linux and macOS.
The Free edition is remarkably generous, offering full file and disk-image backups, AES-256 encryption, bespoke recovery media creation plus Object Lock support up to a 5TB local storage limit. Upgrading to the Pro edition (priced at $29.99 per year on Windows) removes this 5TB local storage cap, adds data compression, enables Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server backups and also includes direct email support from the MSP360 support team (versus community only support with the free edition).
Yes. Contrary to information which might be published in some third-party reviews, the 2026 Free Edition of MSP360 Backup now includes full system disk imaging, bare-metal restore media creation and AES 256-bit zero-knowledge encryption for Windows devices at zero cost (up to a 5TB storage cap which can be removed for local storage mediums in the Pro edition priced at $29.99 per year).
NB – MSP360 Backup for Linux and macOS (personal) does not include disk imaging functionality.
Yes, MSP360 Backup is suitable both for backing up data to external hard drives as well as including such storage within backup sets stored elsewhere (including to one of the many third-party S3 compatible cloud providers integrated into the software).
Newly upgraded, both the Free and Pro editions of MSP360 Backup now support the use of strong, zero-knowledge AES 256-bit encryption across both disk-image and file-level backups.
No, MSP360 Backup does not feature a direct disk-to-disk cloning tool. However, because both Free and Pro editions support full disk image backups and bare-metal recovery via bootable media, you can achieve the exact same outcome by creating an image file and restoring it onto a new target drive.
WinOptimizer 27 Alternatives
In this section of my review, I will be looking at some alternatives for MSP360 Backup. This will be focused on backup software providing a highly versatile approach to backing up a PC including support for both file-level and disk image-based backups alongside the option to apply strong encryption and make use of system recovery media also.
Remember, any ratings and opinions given below reflect my own opinions and should be treated only as a guide. When purchasing any kind of backup software, always be sure to check the details of the offering for yourself and always try to make use of any free trials, whenever possible, to help ensure the solution is suitable before committing to a purchase.
1) EaseUS ToDo Backup Free
Available in both free-to-use and premium editions, EaseUS ToDo Backup forms a highly versatile alternative to MSP360 Backup supporting both file-level and disk image-based backups to complement these other useful backup and system maintenance related tools.
Being able to create both full disk image and file-level backups across both free and premium editions of ToDo Backup is one of the key reasons it remains a top backup software option. Other key functionality including automatic backup scheduling, the EaseUS SMART backup mode, the ability to mount disk image backups as virtual drives within Windows plus support for strong zero-knowledge AES 256-bit encryption help reaffirm this as a top Windows backup choice.
EaseUS also provides good built-in third-party cloud support which is slightly more consumer-focused than that provided by MSP360 Backup extending to mainstream consumer cloud services providers including Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox. EaseUS also provides ToDo Backup users with the option of integrated cloud storage provided directly from EaseUS themselves to complement these third-party integrations.
Other useful features available within ToDo Backup include a WinPE-based recovery media builder, dedicated disk cloning and system migration modules (with 4K sector alignment support for SSD devices), use of the EaseUS Secure Zone for enhanced malware protection plus support for migrating disk image backups to dissimilar hardware amongst other features.
- Disk Image backups
- Easy to use software
- Secure cloud backups
- AES 256-bit encryption
- Disk cloning tools
- Dissimilar HW support
- 30-Day free trial
- From $39.95 / year
EaseUS ToDo Backup is available in a limited free edition alongside a fully-functional “Home” edition priced from $39.95 per year (or $59.95 with 1TB of cloud storage included). Other purchase options include a perpetual edition from $59.95 which is available with free lifetime upgrades for $79.95. More information on ToDo Backup and the 30-day free trial can be found via the official EaseUS website.
2) AOMEI Backupper
Available in both free-to-use and premium editions, Backupper has become well-known as a highly functional yet still easy-to-use Windows backup application from software experts, AOMEI.
Featuring support for both file and disk image-based backups, Backupper is capable of securing all important data on a typical Windows device. The optional application of automatic backup scheduling, strong AES 192-bit encryption plus email notifications and pre/post-backup tasks help to make this a well-rounded backup application.
Storage options available include support for locally attached drives and shared folders / NAS devices whilst also incorporating various third-party cloud choices via the use of the “CBackup” plugin which facilitates cloud integration.
Other notable features found within Backupper include dedicated tools for disk cloning and system migrations (including 4K SSD sector alignment support plus provisions for migrating to dissimilar hardware in the Pro edition), real-time folder synchronisation plus a highly functional recovery media builder supporting both Linux and Windows WinPE-based media.
Note that while data disk cloning is supported in the free edition of AOMEI Backupper, full system cloning and OS migrations do require upgrading to Pro.
- Disk image backups
- Secure cloud storage
- AES 192-bit encryption
- Multi-set scheduling
- Disk cloning tools
- Real-time file sync
- Secure data erasure
- Free edition available
- 30-Day Pro trial
- Pro from $39.95 / year
AOMEI Backupper is available in a free Standard edition alongside paid premium options. Pricing for the Professional edition starts at $39.95 per year, $69.95 for a perpetual licence with free lifetime upgrades or $89.95 for a 5-PC lifetime licence. A 90-day money-back guarantee is also offered on all premium editions via the official AOMEI website.
3) Hasleo Backup Suite Free
Developing a strong reputation amongst PC enthusiasts, Hasleo Backup Suite Free is a 100% free Windows backup and recovery solution offering a surprisingly comprehensive set of features without forcing users to upgrade to a paid tier.
Supporting both file-level and full disk image-based backups, Hasleo allows Windows PC users to back up files, individual partitions, or entire system drives with ease. Full, incremental, and differential backup modes are available alongside flexible automatic scheduling options, historic version retention policy management plus support for secure AES 256-bit encryption.
While Hasleo Backup Suite Free is primarily designed around local, external and network (NAS/SMB) storage targets, it focuses heavily on providing raw speed and reliability for core image creation and system restores rather than complex third-party cloud integrations.
What truly sets Hasleo apart from many other free alternatives is its generous feature set regarding disk cloning and system image-based data recovery. Unlike competitors that lock system disk cloning behind paid editions, Hasleo supports full system cloning, disk cloning and partition cloning completely free of charge. This includes 4K SSD sector alignment, delta restore capability for faster rollbacks, universal restore support for migrating to dissimilar hardware, plus a WinPE-based emergency bootable media builder.
- Disk image backups
- Disk cloning tools
- AES 256-bit Encryption
- Bootable recovery media
- MBR to GPT conversion
- Virtual drive mounting
- Secure data erasure
- 100% Free to use
Hasleo Backup Suite Free is available completely free of charge for both personal and non-commercial use. More information on the software can be found via the official Hasleo website.
MSP360 Backup Review Summary
Overall, I have been really impressed during my time testing out this latest version of MSP360 Backup. The software itself is highly configurable yet remains easy-to-use thanks to its wizard-first approach for creating new backup sets and applying important settings such as historic version retention. The software also supports making both file-level and disk image backups alongside several popular (S3 compatible) third-party cloud integrations which remain very valuable in a free-to-use backup tool.
Newly added to the Free edition as of my testing in 2026, zero-knowledge AES 256-bit encryption plus support for utilising immutable storage (with compatible storage) for additional data protection means MSP360 Backup now finds itself sitting alongside some of the most security-focused free backup software titles. It is also great to see a powerful set of disk imaging options in a free-to-use backup utility, although be aware that such imaging functionality is currently only available in the Windows edition (sorry Linux / macOS users). Also be aware that certain elements including data compression, removal of the 5TB local storage cap and direct email-based support are still reserved for users of the Pro edition, currently priced at $29.99 per year on Windows.
A great free backup solution which is surprisingly powerful, security-focused and highly configurable given its free-to-use status. Keep up the great work MSP360.
