AOMEI Cyber Backup vs HDClone

AOMEI Cyber Backup centralizes backup and recovery for VMware ESXi and Hyper-V virtual machines, Microsoft SQL Server databases, and physical Windows PCs and servers. Its web console supports automatic and scheduled jobs, with full, incremental, and differential backups, instant and point-in-time recovery, and restores to another location. Destinations include hard drives, NAS drives, network shares, and cloud storage such as AWS S3. The maker describes immutable backups to guard against ransomware changes and encryption to protect backup data. Task monitoring reports backup status, and email notifications can flag successful jobs or issues. A free edition covers basic enterprise backup and recovery; the listed customized VM plan is $99 a year, while unlimited VM coverage is $999 a year. On Linux, the product currently backs up virtual machines only. Platforms listed include Linux, web, and Windows, with support available by email.

HDClone creates physical or logical copies and file images of hard disks and other mass-storage media. It works independently of partitioning schemes, file systems, and operating systems, including proprietary formats that might otherwise be inaccessible. For defective media, SafeRescue first skips damaged areas and then carries out the rescue operation. HDClone can make differential images containing changes to an original image, typically resulting in smaller files. Images can be optionally encrypted with AES and compressed, or saved in VMDK, VHD, VHDX, and VDI formats. Miray Virtual Disk can mount images, including VHDX and VDI, as Windows drives with read-only or writable access. HDClone supports Windows from XP through Windows 11, and an AppImage is available for Linux distributions. The self-booting package supports SecureBoot and includes boot-media creation setup for USB or CD/DVD. The free edition is for private use, supports up to 4 TB, and lists speeds up to 70 MB/s. Paid editions start at €19.90 once for Basic Edition.