Ashampoo Backup 2020 is a bit of a curious app, with an unusual installation for backup software, and file names of the sort that I’ve seen more often on Chinese code, e.g. deemon rather than daemon – coders appear to definitely not be native English speaking, but I’ve not seen this on other Ashampoo apps. Ashampoo Backup 2020 adds a service that runs with Windows, which is not unusual for a backup app, but Not adding a driver to mount backup archives is not the norm. On installation the software duplicates the user account files – C:\Users\ [UserName]\ -- in a new, protected C:\Users\ _ashbackup_\ folder, which I have seen before, though rarely [possibly with O & O if I remember correctly]. The app itself seems lightweight, adding only a few keys to the registry – mainly 2 for the app & one for the service – but adds older Microsoft C/C++ runtimes that may be the cause of the few hundred thousand new registry entries recorded for the Component hive. [That poorly documented Component hive is where, among other things, a lot of Windows Update related stuff is stored. You normally don’t encounter it, since it’s not opened automatically when you start regedit.]
[If you’re curious, I open the saved HKLM registry log in InstallWatch Pro – walk away for a bit as the app loads the ~60 MB file into RAM – check back & if it’s done opening the log click to sort alphabetically – walk away for a bit – check back & if it’s done, save the log to a .reg file, transfer that to my regular copy of Windows, open it in Notepad, then scroll up from the end of the file until I encounter “Component”, then copy everything below that to a new text file that’s now ~70 KB.]
Coincidentally I received an email from Ashampoo on one of my less used email addresses, saying it’s been a while, and offering me a free copy of Ashampoo Backup 2020.
That all said, I monitored the install out of curiosity, but don’t see any reason to look at it further. Lots of people report great success with AOMEI’s Backupper, I’ve got Paragon Backup & Recover 16 Pro, and most often use Macrium Reflect Free nowadays, because unless it’s something the free version of Macrium Reflect won’t do, it’s faster than Paragon [at everything]. Regardless what you use, if you do create disk/partition image backups, Do Test the bootable USB stick you create with the software, Do Test the bootable environ if you add it to the hard drive, and if you store your backup on a conventional [rather than SSD] USB hard drive, Do Test that the external drive is up to the task – very, Very many are not. Restoring a backup means lots of sustained data transfer, which may mean lots of heat, which is not good for conventional hard drives &/or the electronics in many drive housings, and can cause them to fail. [I have a couple of cheap SSDs I bought on sale, & otherwise use a drive dock with a small fan blowing on the hard drive.]