Welcome to O&O AutoBackup
Thank you for choosing O&O AutoBackup. We appreciate your trust in our product and want to help you keep the files that are important to you safe.
Protect what matters
Family photos preserve memories. Personal documents, schoolwork, financial records, and creative projects may represent years of work. Many of these files cannot simply be replaced after they are lost.
O&O AutoBackup protects these files by copying the folders you choose to a separate destination and keeping earlier versions. If an original is deleted, damaged, or overwritten, you can return to a copy from before the problem occurred. Unencrypted backups remain ordinary files and folders, so accessing them does not depend on a proprietary archive format.
Why you need a backup
Data can be lost even when a PC appears to be working normally. The most common risks include:
- User error — a file or folder can be deleted accidentally, saved under the wrong name, or replaced with an unwanted version.
- System or hardware failure — a defective drive, failed Windows update, file-system error, or damaged PC can make otherwise intact files inaccessible.
- Malware attacks — ransomware and other malicious software can encrypt, alter, or delete large numbers of files in a very short time. A backup stored on a disconnected drive provides important separation from the affected PC.
- Cloud synchronization — OneDrive and similar services synchronize changes between devices. That is useful, but an accidental deletion, damaged file, or malicious change may also be synchronized.
A cloud drive is not automatically an independent backup. Its data is stored on infrastructure operated by another company, and access depends on the provider, your account, and the recovery options available at that moment. Even when a cloud service offers a recycle bin or version history, it cannot guarantee that every file and every required version can always be recovered. A separate offline copy of your OneDrive folder gives you another recovery path that is under your control.
Protection without backup expertise
O&O AutoBackup is designed so that you do not need previous backup experience. It is particularly well suited to a family PC, where important files are created by several people and backup should not depend on everyone remembering a technical routine.
A practical setup uses an external USB drive and the option to run the backup when that drive is connected:
- Choose the folders that contain your photos, documents, and other important files.
- Select the external drive as the destination and enable automatic backup when the drive is connected.
- Connect the drive regularly. O&O AutoBackup recognizes it, copies new and changed files, and updates the version history automatically.
- After the backup has completed, disconnect the drive and keep it in a safe place. This also makes it harder for malware on the PC to reach the backup.
Once this is configured, connecting the backup drive is the only regular action required. O&O AutoBackup handles the file comparison, copying, and version management. This simple routine helps ensure that a failed PC, an accidental deletion, or a malware attack does not take irreplaceable family memories and important documents with it.
What O&O AutoBackup does
- Automatic file protection — O&O AutoBackup can run continuously, every 15 minutes, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever the backup drive is connected.
- Version history — earlier copies remain available according to the retention settings, while outdated versions are removed automatically.
- Destinations you control — backups can be stored on another internal disk, USB storage, a network share, WebDAV, or S3-compatible storage.
- Optional encryption — file contents and, if required, file and folder names can be protected with authenticated encryption and a recovery key.
- Several recovery paths — browse a point in time, search across backups, or launch the recovery app stored beside the backup.
- Backup and synchronization — create protected backups with version history or keep two folders in step.
The basic idea for first-time users
A backup needs two sides:
- The source is where the original files live now.
- The destination is independent storage that receives the protected copies.
If source and destination are on the same physical disk, a failure of that disk can destroy both. A USB drive, another physical disk, a NAS, or separately controlled remote storage is therefore a more meaningful destination.
The first backup copies the current data. Later runs detect what is new or changed, so they are usually much faster. Earlier versions remain available according to the retention policy. If a destination is temporarily missing, O&O AutoBackup waits and catches up when it becomes available again.
License and access to backup files
O&O AutoBackup is a commercial product. You can try it during the trial period; continued use requires a valid license.
The license controls the right to use the software; it does not restrict access to unencrypted backup files. A portable recovery app can also be stored with a backup. See Licensing and updates.
Build protection in layers
O&O AutoBackup protects files; O&O DiskImage protects a complete Windows system; OneDrive synchronizes a current working set. None of those jobs makes the others unnecessary. A practical plan often combines hourly file backup, periodic system images, and cloud synchronization. See O&O AutoBackup, O&O DiskImage, and OneDrive.
Choose your next step
If backup terminology is new, start with Feature overview, then follow Your first backup. If you need a file now, go directly to Restore files.
O&O AutoBackup protects files and folders. It does not create a bootable image of Windows, installed applications, or disk partitions. For whole-PC recovery, use an imaging product such as O&O DiskImage in addition to file backup.