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Dashboard

Here you will find a status overview of past backup operations, if available. Click on the three tiles on the right to navigate to the respective program areas.

Backup plans

This section lists existing plans along with their status. Click on a list entry to display the detailed view for the selected plan.

Click the magnifier icon to instantly access the backed up data.

To toggle the detailed view more quickly, you can click on a list entry again instead of clicking the "X".

Details view

1: Immediately performs a backup with the affected plan.
2: Switch to the explorer view, which allows you to view and individually restore the backed-up data.
3: Execute a Restore for the affected backup.
4: Allows you to adjust the Plan Settings.
5: Here you can modify the storage location for the plan or delete the plan.
6: Click on an entry to display the affected backup log. Click the "X" to delete the affected log.

Import backup plan

Here, you can import existing plans stored locally or in the cloud into the program. For locally stored plans, first select the relevant directory, and then choose the desired plan. For cloud-based plans, you may need to log in with your credentials depending on the type. The login is done via your standard web browser, except for WebDAV.

Afterward, you will reach the plan settings.

Create backup plan

In Ashampoo Backup Pro 28, backups are controlled by backup plans. A plan defines what is backed up, where it is backed up to and when. As long as no plan exists, the start page shows the "Create Backup Plan" button. Alternatively, use "Import Backup Plan" to take over an existing plan.

A wizard then guides you through the setup step by step. Click "Back" at any time to return to the previous step.

1. Select backup type

First, choose what you would like to back up:

Files: Backs up selected files and folders, e.g. your documents, pictures or the data of your email client.
Drives: Backs up entire drives or partitions, e.g. your Windows drive.

2. Select files and folders

Select the data you want to back up. Selected entries are marked with a check mark. The "Next" button becomes available as soon as at least one entry is selected.

You can combine smart and manual settings into a single plan.

Smart Selection

Click the desired tiles to back up your Windows libraries (Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Downloads) or the data of programs such as Outlook, Firefox, Thunderbird, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Ashampoo Backup Pro 28 determines the respective storage locations for you. Hover over the info icon of a tile to see which data will be backed up.

Manual File Selection

Use the buttons below to add the desired folders/files. For folders, you can also enter name patterns to include only specific files, such as DOCX files. Hover over the info icon for more details.

Exclusions

Here, you can exclude folders/files from the backup. For folders, you can also enter name patterns to exclude specific file types, like DOCX files. Hover over the info icon for more details.

2. Select drives

If you selected "Drives" in the first step, select the drives you wish to back up here.

3. Select backup destination

Choose where your backup should be stored:

To your PC: Stores the backup on a local drive, e.g. an external hard disk, or on your network.
To the Cloud: Stores the backup with an online storage service such as OneDrive or Dropbox. Your respective access credentials are required. The login is done through your standard web browser, except for WebDAV.

4. Select storage location on your PC

If you selected "To your PC", specify where the backup will be stored in three steps:

1: Select the drive: Select the drive the backup will be stored on. Each drive shows its total size and the remaining free space. Alternatively, click "Select network path" to specify a folder on your network.
2: Select a folder: Ashampoo Backup Pro 28 suggests the default folder "Ashampoo Backups". Click "Change folder" to select a different folder on the drive.
3: Check the resulting storage path: Shows the full path your backups will be stored in. A subfolder for the plan will be created automatically in this folder.

If you have just connected an external drive, click the arrow icon next to "Back" to refresh the list of drives.

Avoid storing your backups on the same drive as the original data. If that drive fails, your backups will be lost as well. Use an external hard disk or a network drive instead.

5. Backup settings

Here, you can set whether the data should be compressed and/or encrypted and determine the storage format.

Compress Backup: Reduces the size of the backed up data so it requires less storage space.
Encrypt Backup: Protects your data with a password.
Storage Format: Choose between "More Accessible" and "More Efficient". Hover over the info icon to display the differences.

Storage format: More accessible	Storage format: More efficient
- Files accessible through Windows Explorer	- Files only accessible through this program
- Requires more storage space	- Requires less storage space
- Ignores extended file attributes	- Includes extended file attributes (permissions, symlinks, etc.)

You cannot change these settings later, as they determine the backup format. Choose them carefully now.

6. Name your plan

Give your plan a meaningful name, e.g. "Documents on USB drive". Confirm the name with the check mark or the Enter key.

7. Review summary

Finally, Ashampoo Backup Pro 28 displays all settings of your new plan at a glance. Next to the plan name, the top right shows the selected storage format as well as the status of compression and encryption.

Storage Location: The storage path selected in step 4.
Source Files: The selected data. Click the gear icon to modify the selection.
Schedule: Defines when the backup runs automatically, e.g. daily at a specific time. Missed backups can be caught up.
Autostart: Starts the backup automatically, e.g. as soon as an external drive is connected, or backs up data immediately after any changes (Realtime Backup).
Reports: Defines how many reports are kept and how detailed they are.
Versioning: Defines how long older versions of your files are kept.
After Backup: Defines what happens once the backup has finished, e.g. shutting down your PC.
Power: Defines whether your PC may enter sleep mode during the backup.

Click an entry to display the respective options. For more details, see Plan settings. Click "Complete" to create the plan.

8. Finish

Your backup plan has been created successfully. You now have the following options:

Start Backup: Immediately runs the first backup with the new plan.
Back to all plans: Switches to the list of your backup plans.
Back to Dashboard: Switches to the start page.

As long as the new plan has not been executed yet, the dashboard displays "Attention required!". The status will be updated after the first successful backup.

Plan settings

1: Enter the desired name for a new plan or rename existing plans here.
2: Shows the status of data compression. Grayed out means the data is not compressed.
3: Shows the status of password protection. Grayed out means the data is not password-protected.
4: Use the gear or arrow icon to display the respective options for the settings.
5: Displays the delete options for the plan.

You can now find the option to create a backup from an external storage device as soon as it is connected under "Autostart." There, you can also decide whether data should be backed up immediately after any changes (Realtime Backup).

You can now find the option to shut down your PC after completing a backup under "After Backup."

Password protection is only active when you try to access the data through Windows Explorer. You can always use the built-in file browser to access the data without having to input your password.

Backup and Shutdown

This section allows you to instantly run one or more backup plans and have your PC shut down after completion.

Restore backup

Files

Click a folder name to open it.

1: Returns to the previous folder.
2: Selects the entry for recovery.
3: Restores the affected file/folder.
4: Restores all files/folders irrespective of the current selection.

Click "Next" to restore the selected entries.

Partitions

Drag the partitions to restore from "Backup Content" onto the existing partitions. The existing partitions will be overwritten with the backed up data during data recovery.

Click "Open Disk Management" to launch the Windows Disk Management utility.

Disks

Drag the drives to restore from "Backup Content" onto the existing disks. The existing disks will be overwritten with the backed up data during data recovery.

Click "Open Disk Management" to launch the Windows Disk Management utility.

Create rescue system

The rescue system allows you to create a bootable USB stick or disc with which you can start your computer. This is useful e.g. when your Windows doesn't boot properly any more or in the event of serious malware infections. Although the rescue medium will be tailored to the needs of your system, it should work with most other computers.

If you use a flash drive that is bigger than 32 GB, the program will shrink the primary partition down to 32 GB. The drive will then appear as a 32 GB drive in your Windows environment.

1. Select medium type

First, you need to specify whether you'd like to create a bootable USB stick or a CD/DVD along with the affected drive.

If your system requires special drivers you can use "Driver Import Settings" to include them with the rescue system. Ordinarily, this is not needed.

2. Create rescue medium

The program will then begin creating the rescue medium with the help of the Windows Assessment Deployment Kit (ADK) which will automatically be downloaded and installed in case it's not already installed on your machine.

Existing but outdated components may cause errors during creation. In these instances, remove "Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit" and "Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit Windows Preinstallation Environment Add-Ons" via Windows > Settings > Apps > Installed Apps and try again.

For the installation of the ADK, you may keep the pre-selected settings. Once the ADK is installed, creation of the rescue medium will continue. If you already have the ADK, the program will simply skip this step.

If your Internet connection is slow, you may also download the ADK manually on another machine with a faster connection. You will find the setup here:

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/windows-assessment-deployment-kit

3. Using the rescue system

Simply boot the affected machine with the medium you created. The user interface and procedure is highly similar to the one described under "Restore backup". Aside from the rescue medium, you will also need a previous backup created with this program that will be used to restore your system to that previous state. This will ideally be a full drive or partition backup.

Check disks

You can check the health status of your drives and find/repair errors here.

Reports

The "Reports" section gives you an overview of which data is covered by your backup plans, when the next backups are scheduled and what the backup service has done recently. Click one of the three tiles to open the respective report. Click "Back" to return to the selection.

Backup Coverage

This report answers the question "What is covered by your backup plans?". For each backed up folder, you can see which backup plans it is backed up by.

If a folder is backed up by multiple plans, all affected plans are listed under "backed up by". This lets you quickly spot duplicate backups or folders that are not yet covered by any plan.

Planned Backups

Here, you can see when each backup plan is next scheduled to run. The entries are grouped by date and show the time and the name of the plan.

Use "Timespan" to define how far into the future the preview reaches, e.g. "One Week".

To change the schedule of a plan, go to "Schedule" in the plan settings.

Service Log

The service log shows the history of the backup service's actions, e.g. when a backup was started manually, started and finished. The entries are grouped by date and show the time, the event and the affected plan.

Use "Timespan" to define how far back the history reaches, e.g. "Half a Year".

The service log is particularly useful for checking whether scheduled backups have actually been executed.