We recommend backup software with a CHOICE Expert Rating of 80% (very good) or higher.

The CHOICE Expert Rating consists of backup score (30%), restore score (30%), ease of use score (30%) and support score (10%).

Backup performance is the average time taken to perform a disk image using the default settings for compression and backup type. This score makes up 30% of the CHOICE Expert Rating.

Restore performance is the average time taken to restore our disk image using the rescue disk environment. This score makes up 30% of the CHOICE Expert Rating.

This score is weighted at 35% for backup ease of use, 33% for restore ease of use, and 32% for rescue media ease of use. The ease of use score makes up 30% of the CHOICE Expert Rating.

This score makes up 10% of the CHOICE Expert Rating.

Recommended retail price as of September 2021 in Australian dollars. Some prices may differ depending on the exchange rate.

The number of PCs that the software can be installed on simultaneously.

Whether the purchase of a subscription is required to use the software.

Whether there is a totally free version of the software available. Note that free versions will lack the full functionality of the paid version.

Whether the software comes with the offer of a free trial.

Upgrade policy/eligibility.

Additional backup schemes offered, if any, apart from the standard incremental, differential, continuous, full and image, clone and network backup options.

This will duplicate all of the files and folders on your computer. A full backup is time consuming, but it's the required first step, even if subsequent backups only add the new or different files added to the hard drive since the full backup (see incremental backup and differential backup).

This backs up files that have changed or been added since the previous backup, while leaving unchanged files untouched. It requires less time and space than doing a full backup each time, and also gives you the option to roll back to earlier versions of files, but takes longer to do a full restore than with a differential backup.

This duplicates all files since the full backup, with the differential backup file growing each time. It takes longer than an incremental backup but a full restore only requires the full backup plus the differential backup file.

Also called real-time backup, this saves every change made to your files as they happen, keeping the backup files continuously up to date.

The software can synchronise data in two separate folders, making sure that the contents are identical.

This will duplicate all of the files and folders on your computer to to an exact replica 'image' file.

This will duplicate all of the files and folders on a disk partition to an exact replica 'image' file.

This will create a copy of the system drive in one click, saving it to an exact replica 'image' file.

This lets you create an exact replica – or 'clone' – of one drive to another drive, without the need for a disk image.

Protects the backup set by encrypting it and using a password.

Whether the encryption provides industry standard strong AES-256 encoding.

The various types of pre-set backup schedules offered.

Creating a bootable USB stick for restoring backup images.

Creating a bootable optical disc for restoring backup images. For Genie9, the built-in rescue media creation utility did not work; Genie support sent us a link to another program with which we were able to make a rescue DVD.

Saving the backup set to a network location such as a NAS (network attached storage) drive.

Restoring a previously-created exact duplicate (image) of a disk partition.

Restoring a previously-created exact duplicate (image) of the whole disk.

Restoring individual nominated files and/or folders.

Can mount image of a disk partition. This is useful for examining imaged files for comparison with existing files before restoring them.

Can restore a backup set to a different computer configuration than the one it was created from.

Restoring a backup image to a new or blank hard drive.

Only backs up disk sectors that contain data.

Backs up all sectors on a disk, whether they contain data or not.

The amount of internet-based 'cloud' storage available.

Whether the program offers a searchable knowledge base for online assistance.

Whether an email is sent when a backup is complete or fails to complete.

Whether the program offers live chat online for user help and assistance.

Whether the program offers an FAQ (frequently asked questions) section for user support.

Whether the program offers an online forum for getting help and assistance from other users.

Whether the program offers tutorials to help learn how to use it.

Whether the program has a built-in manual or help files for user assistance.