Good backup software?

I'm looking for some good software to perform incremental backups (I don't want to have to do a full backup each time) of my laptop and networked storage (which contains most my photos and videos), to external hard disc and/or blu-ray but most of the backup software that comes bundled free with external hard drives seems poor, often no better than bloatware.

Ideally I'd like something fairly lightweight, that doesn't use loads of system resources in the background, with a clean interface and which is able to perform reliable incremental backups and restore files easily. Free would be nice, but I'd be prepared to pay for something (up to about £30-50) if it's genuinely good.

Would any of the software mentioned here meet my criteria?: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/software/3263573/13-best-backup-software-2015-uk/

Anything else worth considering?

BTW I'm running Windows 8.1 64 bit

 

Drive Snapshot and a batch file. They have a fully functional 30 day Demo. It is one of the most light weight backup software you can find, has no installation, is Windows 8 compatible and very fast. Look at their clean interface.

 

Macrium Reflect is a good one too.

They have a free version that will let you do images and cloning of drives.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

 

I don't think the free version does incremental though. Still, the paid version would be worth it in my opinion, Macrium has a pretty good product overall.

 

Ive used Drive Snapshot for years but Macrium reflect looks great too so I will be giving this a test later. I like the fact that it has a Windows PE recovery environment. Having said that, Ive found some nice compiled Windows PE recovery environments images online by power users who shared their work with everyone.

Edit: I notice that Macrium requires an install. I like Drive Snapshots complete stand alone feature where it has no install requirement. Macrium has a tech install option but I think it needs a completely portable version.

 

I would try Acronis this software has worked well for me and still using 2013 version running from CD. That works for my imaging process if the laptop or desktop doesn't have the software installed I can run it all from the CD/DVD/BD drive by itself and it also does incremental backups as well.

 

I'm doing a new system backup now of my primary boot SSD running Windows 8.1 that has 763 GB of used space. Estimation time for the image completion using Drive Snapshot is 35 minutes!

 

Not recommended a very poor way to backup your system image on the main drive is asking for trouble should the main drive fail. And your saying "the best and safest way" is just your opinion for now. I use Acronis imaging and it can do what your AOMEI can do already and can run off a OD media without having to install to use it - this helps on laptop drive imaging with OD and also flash drive currently can't hold enough of drive images to make them useful. I backup my laptop system image to USB HDD that is 2tb and that more then hold all the backup images I need.

 

Yes, this isn't rocket science. Just get a backup program, I use SyncBack, and back up to external drive. Use common sense.

 

I create a bootable USB and use that all the time. It has all the Macrium Reflect functionality outside of Windows, does not require a Technician's license.