Coming to Windows 10 and 11
Plug in a drive. Every version of every file, kept for months.
TimeShelf backs up your changed files to your own external drive or NAS every hour, and keeps the old versions. Slide back to yesterday, last week or last month and pull out the file you need. No cloud account, no subscription, no kernel driver.
One-off price, US$34 per PC. Not released yet: leave an email and you get the launch price and a free key if you help test.
- Smith-kitchen.xlsx84 KBcurrent
- Smith-kitchen.xlsx83 KB
- Smith-kitchen.xlsx79 KBrestore this
- Smith-kitchen.xlsx71 KB
- Smith-kitchen.xlsx40 KB
Windows has never had this done properly
File History keeps breaking
Since the March 2026 updates, File History on Windows 10 and 11 shows a stale "last backup" time and "no previous versions available" even when files were copied. The threads on Microsoft's own forums have had no answer for months.
Windows Backup is OneDrive only
Microsoft's replacement will not back up to an external drive at all. It wants 5 GB of free OneDrive space or a Microsoft 365 subscription.
The paid tools went subscription
Macrium Reflect Free is gone, the Home edition is now a yearly fee, and an April 2026 Windows update blocked the old perpetual version from mounting its own backups.
How it works
- Pick a drive. A USB drive or a network share. TimeShelf remembers the drive itself, not the letter, so it keeps working when Windows shuffles letters.
- It runs every hour. Only changed files are copied, and files that are open (Outlook, Excel, databases) are read through Windows' own shadow copy, so nothing is skipped.
- Old versions stay. Every hour for a day, every day for a month, every week until the drive fills, then the oldest go first. Duplicate data is stored once.
- Go back in time. Slide to any hour, browse your folders as they were, and restore one file, a folder, or everything to a new PC.
- It tells you the truth. The tray icon and health screen only say "backed up" after the run finished and was verified. If nothing has worked for three days, you hear about it.
- Your drive, your format Backups are stored in an open format that free tools can read. If we vanish, your files do not.
- No kernel driver Nothing to get blocked by a Windows update. User-mode only, plus the shadow copy service Windows already has.
- No cloud, no account Nothing leaves your PC unless you point it at your own NAS.
- Runs as a service Backups happen whether or not you are logged in.
- Restore is free forever The trial ends, the licence lapses, the restore browser still works. That is a promise in the terms.
- Made in Queensland Sold by Wombat Logic, a named person in Australia, not a brand you cannot place.
What it is, and what it is not
TimeShelf is file backup with history. It does not image your disk, and it will not put your PC back together after a dead SSD. For that, keep an imaging tool. For everything else you touch day to day, this is the tool.
| File History | Windows Backup | Point-in-Time Restore | Macrium Home | TimeShelf | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backs up to your own drive or NAS | Yes, when it works | No, OneDrive only | No, C: only | Yes | Yes |
| Keeps months of file versions | Yes | No | 72 hours | Images, not per file | Yes |
| Restore a single file from any hour | Yes | No | No, whole volume | Mount the image | Yes |
| Works on Windows 10 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Shows an honest "last backup" | Broken since Mar 2026 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Disk image and bare-metal restore | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Price | Free | Free to 5 GB, then Microsoft 365 | Free | US$49.99 a year | US$34 once |
Point-in-Time Restore is Microsoft's new Windows 11 feature (24H2 and later). It is a good idea. It is not a backup.
Pricing
Buy once, keep it. No yearly fee, no tiers, no feature you have to unlock.
TimeShelf
Everything. Hourly versioned backup, restore browser, health and alerts, service mode.
- All updates to version 1 included
- 30-day full trial, no card
- Restore works with no licence, forever
- 14-day money back
Household
Same software on up to three PCs in one home.
- Three keys, one receipt
- Share one backup drive or use three
Prices in US dollars, GST or VAT added at checkout where it applies. Purchases will be handled by Paddle as merchant of record. Nothing is on sale yet; the email list gets the launch price first.
Questions
Is this Time Machine for Windows?
It is the same idea: plug in a drive, everything is versioned, slide back in time to restore. Time Machine is Apple's product and name; TimeShelf is ours, built for Windows 10 and 11.
Does it replace an imaging tool like Macrium?
No. Imaging copies your whole disk so you can rebuild a PC. TimeShelf keeps every version of your files. Most people need the second thing every week and the first thing once a decade. Run both if you like; they do not fight.
What happens if the drive is not plugged in?
Nothing bad. TimeShelf waits, and the next time it sees the drive it catches up. The tray icon shows how long it has been.
Does it back up files that are open?
Yes. It uses the Volume Shadow Copy Service already in Windows to read files that another program has locked, such as Outlook data files and spreadsheets left open.
Is my backup encrypted?
Yes, and by default the key is stored on the backup drive as well as on your PC, so a plugged-in drive just works on a new machine. If you want the key kept off the drive, that is a switch.
What if TimeShelf disappears one day?
Your backups are stored in the open restic format. The free restic tool reads them on any computer. We think that is the only honest way to sell backup software.
Does anything leave my PC?
No. No account, no telemetry, no cloud. If you back up to a NAS, the data goes to your NAS.
When?
Testing now, launch planned for late 2026. Leave an email and you will get the launch price, and a free key if you would like to test it on a real drive first.
Tell me when it launches
One email at launch with the launch price. A second one only if you tick the box to test early. Nothing else, ever.
Prefer email? Write to hello@timeshelf.app.