Autosave Essentials backup software

Autosave Essentials is a dedicated backup and restore tool that’ll help you create copies of data in real time or to a schedule.

It takes a straightforward approach that uses multiple ‘backup plans’ to make it easier to manage the frequency of backups depending on the importance of the files.

These are created using a simple wizard to select specific types of file, such as videos, music or documents, and there is a web settings option that backs up email and bookmarks.

A range of possible backup destinations includes network hard disks, internet servers, removable storage and CD and DVD drives along with local hard disks. Backups can be performed to a schedule, when the computer starts up, manually or continuously.

The latter is particularly useful and tells the software to monitor a specific range of files for changes. If a change is detected, the updated file will be added to the backup set automatically, and in the case of often-changed files there’s an option to keep up to 10 previous backups in the history, so you can revert to an earlier version if you want to. Folder structure is kept intact and backups can be restored either as an entire set or by retrieving a single file.

The software offers a few other handy features to make life easier. If you choose to back up to optical disc (CD or DVD) it’ll request another disc should the first run out of room. If removable storage is detached before a backup is completed, Autosave remembers how far it got and simply resumes when it’s plugged back in. Notebook users will also find that the same happens if the battery runs out – it just resumes when the computer does.

We were very impressed by how well the backup plans worked. Each offers a nice degree of control and can be temporarily disabled or restarted with a single click. Autosave Essentials does lack some useful features though, such as the ability to encrypt data, so while it is a suitable product for home users’ peace of mind anyone who needs secure backups must look elsewhere.