As one of the main and most reliable manufacturers of internal and external hard drives and other storage devices, Western Digital has always been concerned with everything related to data storage, security, and backup. To help their clients with this sensitive matter, all their drives come with WD Backup, a free software tool to back up and restore data reliably either on a WD drive or the client’s preferred cloud solution.
This simple and completely free tool barely offers its users a straightforward way of creating backups of their data, the option to restore them from a selected location, and the possibility of scheduling those backups at their convenience. Such simple features require an equally simple interface, and that is what WD Drives tries to deliver, though in a way that can become a bit confusing at times. Thus, the installer itself seems to incorporate a wizard to help you perform your first backup on the fly, which may be a bit odd for all of us who are used to run those tasks separately.
Therefore, the first thing you’ll see when launching the installation file is a welcome window prompting you to set up your first WD backup as if you knew already. It even offers you the possibility of restoring a previous backup... yes, during the installation process. You can then choose where you want to store that first backup, either on a WD disk installed on or connected to your PC or to a cloud storage service of your choice. After that, once the installation process has been completed, you’ll be offered to schedule your subsequent backups down to a specific time on a specific day of the week in a specific week of the month, or to schedule regular backups every hour, day, or month, or a combination of all these parameters.
WD Backup installs an icon on your desktop for you to open the program’s interface proper, where you can revise your backup plans, perform new backups, and restore existing ones. The way these well-known tasks are performed bears no surprise – they will follow the current backup plan (the one you set up during the installation process), and which you can modify whenever necessary from this very interface.
Except for a somehow awkward way of installing and presenting their product, Western Digital provides their clients with an excellent and reliable backup tool with support for your favorite cloud storage. WD Backup will work seamlessly with the entire range of WD products, such as the My Book family of external drives.
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