Guide
Free backup software for Windows: most of the advice you'll find is out of date
The program recommended in nearly every article on this — Macrium Reflect Free — was retired, and what you download under that name now expires into restore-only mode. Windows' own disk imaging has been deprecated since 2017. So here is what actually works today, split by the two different jobs people mean when they say “backup” — plus the two things that matter more than whichever program you pick.
Short answer
Whole machine, so you can rebuild after a dead drive? Veeam Agent for Windows FREE. Just your files, versioned, to a drive or the cloud? Kopia. And whichever you choose, the backup has to live somewhere that isn't permanently attached to the computer.
Why the usual recommendations no longer apply
Backup guides age badly, and this one has aged worse than most. Three things changed and most of the articles ranking for this question have not caught up.
Macrium Reflect Free is gone. For roughly a decade it was the answer to this question, and it is still the answer in countless articles and forum posts. It was retired, with security patches ending on 1 January 2024. What you download under that name today is a 30-day trial that then reverts to restore-only mode — you can restore backups you already made, but you cannot make new ones. That is a particularly unkind failure mode for backup software, because nothing appears wrong until you need it.
Windows' own disk imaging is deprecated. System Image Backup has been formally deprecated since September 2017. It is still in Windows and it still works, but it receives no development and Microsoft says it may change or disappear. Building a strategy on it is building on something explicitly marked as leaving.
And what Microsoft steers you to instead is not backup. Windows Backup and OneDrive folder backup protect selected folders and your settings, which is genuinely useful. But OneDrive is sync: delete a file and the deletion syncs; encrypt your files with ransomware and the encrypted versions sync. Versioning gives you some recovery, but it is not the same as a separate copy, and it will not rebuild a machine that won't boot.
The part nobody writes about: backups fail silently. In April 2026 a Windows security update (KB5083769) added a vulnerable kernel driver to Microsoft's blocklist, which broke the Volume Shadow Copy Service that most Windows backup software depends on. Macrium, Acronis, UrBackup and NinjaOne all started failing on Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, with errors about VSS timing out during snapshot creation. Plenty of people found out weeks later.
Which is the real lesson of this whole category, and it matters more than any software choice on this page: a backup you have never restored from is not a backup, it is an assumption. Restore one file, deliberately, once a quarter. It takes two minutes and it is the only thing that actually tells you the system works.
What actually works now
Split by the two jobs. Most people want the first one and end up with the second, or the other way round, which is why so much backup software feels wrong.
Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows FREE
Whole-disk imageBest for: being able to rebuild the entire machine after a dead drive
The practical replacement for Macrium Reflect Free, and genuinely good: image-based backup of the whole PC, volume-level or file-level if you prefer, to an external drive or a NAS — with bare-metal restore, so a completely dead machine can be rebuilt onto new hardware from the image.
Free for personal and commercial use, which is unusual. The two limits: one backup job per computer, and you may not use it to provide backup services to other people. Neither matters for protecting your own machine.
Kopia
File backupBest for: versioned backups of your documents to a drive, NAS or cloud
Modern, fast, open source, and unusually approachable for this category because it ships a real graphical interface as well as a command line. Deduplicates and encrypts before anything leaves your machine, and writes to a local drive, a NAS, or almost any cloud storage you already pay for.
If you want versioned file history without trusting a company with your data, this is the pick. It will not rebuild a non-booting Windows install — that is what the disk image is for.
restic
File backup · command lineBest for: people comfortable in a terminal who want the most reliable option
A single self-contained binary with no dependencies, which is exactly what you want from the program responsible for getting your data back. Encrypted, deduplicated, and it writes to local disk, SFTP, S3 and most object storage.
No graphical interface at all, so it is a genuine step up in effort. In exchange it has the strongest reliability reputation of the open-source options and is the usual default for people who do this professionally.
File History
Built into WindowsBest for: something better than nothing, set up in two minutes
Already on your computer. Point it at an external drive and it keeps versioned copies of your libraries, so you can roll a document back to last Tuesday. No installation, no account, no cost.
Microsoft has deprioritised it in favour of OneDrive and it only covers your user folders rather than the whole system — but a working File History beats a perfect backup plan you never set up.
Things that look like backup and aren't
This is the category where the gap between what a tool appears to do and what it actually protects you from does the most damage. Five to know about:
- Macrium Reflect Free — retired, and the download is a trap. Still recommended everywhere. Security patches ended on 1 January 2024, and installing “Macrium Reflect Free” today gives you a 30-day trial that drops to restore-only afterwards. You can recover old backups; you cannot make new ones. If an article recommends it without mentioning this, that article has not been checked since 2023.
- OneDrive is sync, not backup. Delete a file and the deletion syncs. Ransomware encrypts your files and the encrypted copies sync. Version history buys you some recovery, but a second copy of a file that changes when the first one changes is not protection against the thing you are actually afraid of.
- Windows System Image Backup — deprecated since 2017. Still present, still functional, receiving no development, and Microsoft says it may change or be removed. Fine as a one-off; not something to rely on going forward.
- Duplicati — the friendliest interface, the weakest record. It is the open-source backup tool most often recommended to non-technical people because its web interface is genuinely the nicest here. It also has the poorest reliability reputation of the group, and is the one people most often abandon after a restore fails. We would rather point you at Kopia, which is nearly as approachable.
- An external drive that is always plugged in. Not a software problem, but the most common real-world failure. Ransomware encrypts every drive it can write to, including your backup disk. A power surge takes both. Unplug it between backups, or keep a second copy somewhere else entirely.
None of this requires spending money. It requires the copy being somewhere the original problem can't reach, and knowing the restore works.
Side by side
The first row is the one that decides which of these you need. A file backup cannot rebuild a machine, and a disk image is clumsy for “get me last week's spreadsheet”.
| Veeam Agent FREE | Kopia | File History | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rebuilds a dead machine | YesBare-metal restore | NoFiles only | No |
| Versioned file history | PartlyPer backup job | YesIts main purpose | YesUser folders only |
| Backs up to cloud storage | NoLocal drive or NAS | YesS3 and most providers | No |
| Encrypted before it leaves the PC | Yes | Yes | No |
| Graphical interface | Yes | YesGUI and CLI | YesBuilt into Settings |
| Open source | NoFree, not open | YesApache-2.0 | No |
| Free for commercial use | YesWith limits | Yes | Yes |
| Anything to install | Yes | Yes | NoAlready there |
Questions people actually ask
Isn't Macrium Reflect Free still the standard recommendation?
It was, for about a decade, and that is exactly the problem — the recommendation outlived the product.
The free edition was retired, with security patches ending on 1 January 2024. If you download “Macrium Reflect Free” now you get a 30-day trial, after which it reverts to restore-only mode: existing backups can be restored, but no new ones can be created.
For whole-disk imaging, Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows FREE does the same job — including bare-metal restore — and is free for personal and commercial use.
What's the difference between a file backup and a disk image?
They protect against different disasters, which is why picking the wrong one feels so unsatisfying.
A file backup keeps versioned copies of your documents. It is what you want when you delete something, overwrite something, or need last month's version. It is small, quick, and cannot rebuild Windows.
A disk image is a snapshot of the entire drive — Windows, programs, settings, everything. It is what you want when the drive dies or the machine won't boot: you restore the image to a new disk and carry on. It is large and clumsy for retrieving one file.
Most people are best served by both, and both can be free.
Is OneDrive enough on its own?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding in the category. OneDrive is synchronisation: it makes the cloud copy match your PC.
That means deletions propagate, and if ransomware encrypts your documents, the encrypted versions sync too. OneDrive's version history and its ransomware detection give you a real chance of recovery, so it is far better than nothing — but a copy that automatically changes whenever the original changes is not a backup in the sense that matters.
Keep OneDrive if you like it, and add something that writes to a drive you can unplug.
Do I really need to test the restore?
Yes, and it is the single highest-value thing on this page.
Backup software fails quietly. In April 2026 a Windows security update added a vulnerable driver to Microsoft's blocklist and broke the Volume Shadow Copy Service that most Windows backup tools rely on — Macrium, Acronis, UrBackup and NinjaOne all began failing on Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, and many people did not notice for weeks.
You do not need a fire drill. Once a quarter, restore one file to your desktop and open it. If that works, the chain works.
Where should the backup actually live?
Somewhere the original problem cannot reach, which usually means not permanently plugged into the computer.
Ransomware encrypts every drive it can write to, including the external one sitting on your desk. A power surge or a burst pipe takes everything in the room. The habit worth building is: back up, unplug, put it away.
If you want one rule, the old one still holds — two copies on different media, one of them somewhere else. Cloud storage counts as the somewhere else, provided the backup tool encrypts before uploading, which both Kopia and restic do.
Is Veeam Agent free really free?
Yes, and unusually it is free for business use too, which most “free” backup tools are not.
Two limits worth knowing. It allows one backup job per computer — fine for “image this PC to that drive”, restrictive if you wanted several different schedules and destinations. And you may not use the free edition to provide backup services to other people, so it is not a foundation for an IT support business.
For protecting your own machines, neither limit will come up.