Although we understand backing up our data is essential, finding the right backup tool isn’t easy at all. Many are just too complicated, designed to offer every possible option to suit advanced users. Problem is, most people who need a backup tool just need to get things backed up, swiftly.

You could turn to the cloud yourself, and simply use the storage to keep your files secure, but this isn’t the right solution if you want a backup of your system drive. If you suffer from a ransomware attack or a system meltdown, you’d still need to go through the slow process of re-installing Windows and your applications. With this in mind, we recommend making a system backup rather than individual files and folders.

Ashampoo Backup 14 is now available and enables you to backup either an entire drive or individual files. And, best of all, it’s easy to understand, too, transitioning the end-user through wizard-driven user-interface. This works superbly in our experience. Just create a type of backup (drive or files & folders), location, whether it should be manual, automated or scheduled and Backup 14 will do the rest.

What’s new in v14? First and foremost there’s ‘significantly improved cloud support’ which amounts to support for all common service providers (OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox), but adding Deutsche Telekom, Strato, 1&1, Nextcloud and many other smaller cloud services.

In addition to backup, the latest version adds hard drive verification and disk health monitoring, keeping your drives error-free. Last thing you want is a flaky drive on its last legs when you urgently need to restore important data. Other highlights include improved post-backup verification and complex encryption for better privacy.

We’re impressed with Ashampoo Backup 14. It’s designed well, easy to understand, packs all the important backup functionality required for novice through to advanced users and is priced competitively, too. If we were nitpicking for minor faults, the user-interface is an odd fusion of both dark and light mode (yes, in a single UI) and sometimes it’s too easy to work through creating a backup, only to click on a menu item and to lose your progress.

Available for $49.99, but currently priced at $25 at a launch special offer, go download the trial version of Ashampoo Backup 14 and try it for yourself.