Your files, copied to a drive you can hold.

A PC running Windows 11, and a drive to back up to – a USB hard drive, SSD, or memory stick with more free space than the folders you choose. CopyHaven shows how much space your folders need before you start.

Yes. Windows shows that warning for programs it hasn't yet seen many people install – which is true of any new program from a small developer – not because it found anything wrong. Click More info, then Run anyway. The warning goes away by itself as more people install CopyHaven. To be safe, only download CopyHaven from copyhaven.com.au.

Yes. CopyHaven lists any drive that isn't part of the one Windows is on, so the backup survives if that drive fails. But a drive that's always connected goes wherever the PC goes – stolen, in a fire, or scrambled by ransomware – so keep a USB drive away from the PC as well.

No. Your files are copied to your drive (or your own network folder) and nowhere else. CopyHaven has no account and no cloud storage, and it doesn't send us your files or anything about them. The only time it contacts us is to check download.copyhaven.com.au for updates.

No – CopyHaven backs up your files: your documents, photos, email, and accounts data, and any other folder you choose. It doesn't make a full system image of Windows and your programs. Those can be installed again, and Windows can make a recovery drive to reinstall itself: search for “Recovery Drive” in the Start menu. If you need the whole PC back exactly as it was, use an imaging tool for that as well, and CopyHaven for your files.

On Windows 11 Pro, yes: click Protect… next to the drive, and Windows turns on BitLocker, so the drive asks for your password on every PC. Windows 11 Home can't turn BitLocker on – it can only open drives locked elsewhere – so CopyHaven shows Not protected… instead. There, keep the drive somewhere safe when it isn't plugged in, or use a drive with its own password, such as one with a keypad. CopyHaven doesn't encrypt backups itself, so they stay ordinary files you can open on any PC.

The same goes for a NAS or a shared folder: anyone who can open the share can open every PC's backups in it. Set the share so only the people who should see them can – a user name for backups that only you know is enough.

Backups pause until you enter a licence key. Restore and Check backup keep working whether you buy or not, so you can always get your files back from the drive.

No. You pay once for each PC, and CopyHaven is yours to keep – network folders and drive rotation included.

Every update to version 1 is free for as long as you use it – fixes and new features alike, installed by CopyHaven itself. Each update is signed by us, and CopyHaven won't install one that isn't. When there's a version 2, upgrading will cost half the price of a new licence, and nothing at all if you bought in the year before version 2 is released. If you'd rather not upgrade, version 1 keeps working just as it does now.

No. CopyHaven updates itself: when a new version is ready, it asks before restarting to install it. Running a newer installer from this site over the top works too. Either way, your settings, licence, and backups stay as they are.

A licence for each PC you back up – or, for up to three PCs, the 3-PC licence for A$99: one key you use on each. Each PC can back up to as many drives and network folders as you like, and they can share the same drive or NAS.

Yes. They're ordinary folders and files in CopyHaven Backups on the drive. Open them in File Explorer on any Windows PC.

Yes, when you click Back up now. CopyHaven takes a snapshot of the drive first, so files that other programs have open can be copied. Windows asks your permission each time, because snapshots need administrator rights. You can turn this off and back up without asking.

Backups that start by themselves – the daily backup, and automatic backups unless you choose otherwise – don't ask, so they skip files that are open at the time. If Outlook is usually open at that time, click Back up now every so often to include it.

Outlook keeps your mail in a .pst file or an .ost file. A .pst file may be the only copy of your mail, so back it up. An .ost file is a copy of mail kept on the mail server, and Outlook downloads it again if it's lost, so you can add *.ost under "Leave out" in Settings to save copying it.

The first one copies everything, so it depends on how much you have and how fast the drive is. After that, CopyHaven copies only new and changed files, and a typical backup takes a few minutes or less.

Nothing is lost. Your files on the PC are never changed by a backup, and every good copy already on the drive is kept. A file that was half-copied when it stopped is never trusted: the next backup notices, removes it, and copies it again whole, and Restore won't put it over a good file on your PC. Just plug the drive back in and back up again.

Never your files. A file you delete from your PC stays in the backup, so you can always get it back. The only thing CopyHaven deletes is old previous versions: after the time you choose in Settings, and – if a drive gets too full for the backup – the oldest ones, to make room. That only happens when it frees enough space, and you can turn it off in Settings.

So that a drive left plugged in doesn't slowly fill up with files you deleted years ago, you can choose to remove deleted files too. Each one becomes a previous version first, so you can still get it back for as long as you keep those. If lots of files disappear at once, which can mean ransomware, they stay in the backup for 90 days first.

Yes. In Settings, under Leave out, type a name such as *.iso to leave out matching files or folders wherever they are, or add a folder to leave out just that folder. Temporary files are always left out. Anything already in the backup stays there.

Only while it's unplugged. Ransomware scrambles your files and can reach any drive that's connected. CopyHaven helps in two ways: if most of a folder's files change at once, it doesn't back up that folder – it leaves the good copies on the drive alone and asks you to check – and each file a backup replaces is kept as a previous version, so Restore can put a folder back as it was before the attack. But a drive that's plugged in can still be attacked directly. That's why CopyHaven can rotate drives: keep at least one away from the PC, and a copy is always out of reach.

The same goes for a NAS: ransomware on a PC can reach any network folder that PC can save to. Turn on your NAS's own snapshots, and rotate drives as well, so there's always a copy it can't touch.

When a backup replaces a file, the old copy is moved to _Previous versions on the drive, in a folder named with the date. They're kept for 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, or a year, then deleted to save space. The Restore window lists them under each file – and can put a whole folder back as it was before any of those backups.

Files that are on your PC are backed up as usual. Files OneDrive keeps only online are skipped, so CopyHaven doesn't download your whole OneDrive. They're already stored by Microsoft.

If OneDrive's folder backup moves your Desktop, Documents, or Pictures into OneDrive, CopyHaven follows them there and tells you – and their backups carry on, without copying everything again.

Some memory sticks are formatted as FAT32, which can't store files of 4 GB or more. CopyHaven lists those files and backs up everything else. Reformatting the drive as exFAT or NTFS removes the limit – but copy anything you need off it first.

After every backup, CopyHaven checks the copy against your files by size and date. Once a month it also checks each drive thoroughly, comparing every file's contents, as a drive can quietly damage a file without its size or date changing. You can run a check any time with Check backup.

Yes. On the old PC, open the licence window and choose Remove licence. Then enter the same key on the new one.

Click Get help at the bottom of the CopyHaven window. It copies the details of your setup and recent backups – folder and drive names, but never your licence key – ready to paste into an email to support@copyhaven.com.au.