Is “AOMEI Backupper” safe?

[JeremyC]

I’m working mostly in UNIX/Linux environments, however I have few clients where Windows is mandatory.
Starting with Vista MS introduced disk imaging, but this feature is deprecated in Windows 10. At one point MS did recommend
use “AOMEI Backupper”, free of charge solution.

“AOMEI Backupper” is working exactly as described and in the last few years saved me a lot of hours when the hard drive crashed (I use disk imaging option).
But… this software is from China, and if I don’t modify the init/config files it’s frequently calling home… even when I modify it,
it’s still trying to contact the vendor. I use NAV 360 and I disabled this app to access the Internet… well, this app is not the only one,
it spreads also in few different locations including exec file.

In summary, I’m wondering if anybody else has done extended resource about safety of using “AOMEI Backupper”?
Is it safe?

[Messtechniker]

No. Never expect any Windows prog ever to be safe in the sense of not communicating data to the program vendor.
All you can do is limit such activities to some extent. But remember there is no total solution.

My efforts in this direction:

1.) I use "Windows 10 firewall control" (silly name because it works with W11...) to detect which progs want to connect to the internet.
2.) Then I take the paths as indicated by "Windows 10 firewall control" and enter these in "Windows Defender Firewall" "Outgoing rules" to make blocking more permanent.
You can copy the firewall settings from PC to PC so you will not have to go though this routine for each PC.
3.) I use "WhatInStartup" to stop any unwanted progs from starting.

In the case of AOMEI Backupper there are intially 5 progs trying to move data via the internet. See pic. Usually more follow later as you go along. So keep "Windows 10 firewall control" active.

[Infraviolet]

M$ removed system imaging in 10? My hell that's stupid, being able to roll a system back to a state you set it in (not just a reinstall of OS state, but a state where you'd reinstalled all your pgorams and settings too) was just about the only good thing M$ has done that wasn't already available in XP. My, I am glad I'm on linux where taking a system image is possible with tools from repos I know can be trusted.


P.S. Even on Windows one never needs special software for backing up user files and folders, just copy and paste to an external drive, but system images are for a whole separate purpose so i can see this can't be entirely manually replicated without a tool from somewhere.

[JeremyC]

M$ removed system imaging in 10? My hell that's stupid, being able to roll a system back to a state you set it in (not just a reinstall of OS state, but a state where you'd reinstalled all your pgorams and settings too) was just about the only good thing M$ has done that wasn't already available in XP. My, I am glad I'm on linux where taking a system image is possible with tools from repos I know can be trusted.


P.S. Even on Windows one never needs special software for backing up user files and folders, just copy and paste to an external drive, but system images are for a whole separate purpose so i can see this can't be entirely manually replicated without a tool from somewhere.

They didn't remove it, but they deprecated. MS is giving a warning that at one point it may stop working.

Yes, it's possible to backup any disk using "dd" when booted from Linux/UNIX, but it's pain and time consuming ... I used this technique in 1990's.
When I'm done with my day, I don't want to spend much time to backing up my work, but at the same time I don't want to loose my work:) and AOMEI comes handy.
Once in a while I want to check what has been change for instance 3 months ago, and it's not a problem.
Paragon backup is another choice, but it's not free and the vendor is little bit difficult to deal with...

[50ShadesOfDirt]

It's nice that such programs have a free entry point, but the downside is the constant comms back to the mothership. I try to avoid them wherever possible. If your sites don't have a hosts file, dns sink, pi hole, or other scheme to block the comms (and shouldn't this be a standard these days?), then it's time to investigate other free backup tools.

At one point, Macrium Reflect has/had a free version, in their 7.0 and 8.0 releases ... you can probably still find these. The paid version can be had inexpensively during BlackFriday sales & such. If doing support, then perhaps their initial inexpensive cost can be justified, under any kind of MSP scheme ...

I use reflect extensively, paid and free versions ... add to the paid pool whenever a sale comes up. Not all of my machines or vm's need a paid feature set.

Hope this helps ...

[Messtechniker]

I use reflect extensively, paid and free versions ... add to the paid pool whenever a sale comes up. Not all of my machines or vm's need a paid feature set.

Exactly the same here. Used on 13 mostly over 6 to 12 year old PCs/Notebooks running XP, 7, 10 or 11.