Document Backup 4.0.0.101

Originally posted - September 5th, 2007

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Good morning technophiles!

Everyone needs to find a good back-up utility. It's just folly to hope that you don't lose any data on your computer - it's happened to the best of us, at one time or another - and today's review is about just such a utility. So what do we look for in such a utility? Read on!



All back-up programs of which I'm aware, have the ability to set restore points, giving the user the ability to return to that point if something untoward should happen on the user's computer, such as file corruption; accidental file deletion and other unknown issues.

In general, back-ups should also have the ability to protect the user's program settings; registry files and any other files that are important to you - so let's see how well Document Back-up stands up:Supported Languages: English; French; Italian and Russian.

System Requirements:
Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista

Additional Requirements: Approximately 3 MB of free disk space is required for the program to run. Additional free disk space may be necessary for storing backup files.

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

General Settings:

• Preference for launch at start-up;

• Priority of the back-up process, when the program is minimized;

• Animation of the tray icon, during the back-up process.

Not being one for flashing bells and whistles and on my computer, I skipped the third check box altogether. You can also specify the behavior of the tray icon: they give you three choices - the most useful choice for me being to open the pop-up menu. The alternatives were to open the main menu, or to begin a back-up.

The user also needs to specify a temporary folder and whether or not it's preferred to have the program password protected - which I definitely always want to do. Back-ups are often a juicy source for hackers to explore.

Configuring a Back-up:

So let's see how this went as I configured a full weekly back-up:

Insofta has made it very easy for users to do this, by the implementation of a wizard:

• Choose a name for your back-up: I usually call it something simple, like; Full Weekly Back-up. I always use a differential back-up for each day of the week, then a full back-up on Sundays.

Specify a back-up set: An easier explanation for new users is; select which files and/or folders you wish included, by checking the boxes shown to you in the next screen;

Select your back-up destination:

Options:

Back-up to Local/LAN: Here you can select to back your files up to your local disk, (I only recommend this option, if you choose LAN., in case your computer dies etc.) If you lose your computer, it's obviously pointless that you had a back-up on it;

• Back-up to an FTP server: For new users; this stands for File Transfer Protocol, and can be a good way to store your back-ups. It's off-site, meaning that no matter what happens to your computer, your back-ups are safe. You can choose to upload it to your own ISP directory, (recommended,) or to a file storage location on the web. File Den seems to be very popular these days, for just such a reason;

• Back-up to a CD/DVD: This would kill me and take around a dozen or more CDs to complete - and it would of course need my intervention to complete. I have hundreds of programs on my computer and this definitely would not be my choice, however if you've chosen only limited files/folders to back-up, then burning to this medium might be a good solution for you.

Specify Destination Options: This sounds like #3, but in fact it's additional information about your chosen destination, needed by the program;

Specify if you want to use the scheduler: Without the use of a scheduler, Document Backup would not be of any use to me. I simply don't have the time to babysit them. Plus, I like to run all my back-up tasks around 3am, when I can be sure that I don't need to use my computer. This way, I can designate the software to have top priority, so that it can complete its task in good time, before I get up to work in the mornings;

Schedule the item: Here you specify the parameters for the schedule you want. I chose Custom Period - then 7 days (every 7 days,) 3 hours (3am,) and 0 minutes. So what I told Document Backup to do is; run a back-up, every 7 days at 3am. I also checked the box to back-up if the scheduled time had been missed. This is a good option, as you may have had your computer turned off, or it may have crashed when it was scheduled to run;

This brings you to the final screen: There are two check boxes, that allow you to determine additional parameters; and if you want to create a shortcut on your desktop to manually kick off the task. Because I did want to specify additional parameters, the program took me to a Properties window - which has several tabs:

• Item Name: Shows the back-up name that you've already chosen;

• Back-up Set: Shows the files and folders you've chosen;

• Destination: Shows where you intend to back-up your files;

• Here you specify how the back-up file should be saved to the destination folder: I chose to use a ZIP file, so that I could save space with the large amount of files and folders I need to back-up. You can also stipulate your compression level; the default being normal, which I just left. I chose also to leave certain files UNcompressed, such as images, music etc.

The last option in this window, also allows you to determine whether or not you want to split the back-up into several different parts. This is something I always need to do, because of the size of my files and it's part of the reason that I've rejected other back-up programs. Most will split ok if you're backing up to CD/DVD., but not always when the destination is somewhere else.

Remember that ZIP files have a limitation of 4 Gig, so if you have a lot on your machine like I do, it's better that you do stipulate splitting.

The next window specifies your back-up type and a couple of other self-explanatory options. Basically, I chose to do a full backup of all selected files; as opposed to, a full back-up that only updated existing files, or, an incremental back-up, which only backs-up any new and modified files.

The other option for you to determine, is whether or not you want to use a time stamp with the back-ups. This is simply a user preference.

The next tab, is all about encryption: This is also a personal preference. I have a lot of sensitive client data on my machine. Hackers are well known to infiltrate people's systems and look at the My Documents folder (among other things!) because often there is a lot of sensitive/personal information stored in there. I would not store any back-ups without using encryption, but as I said, it's a personal preference.

I chose the 256-bit AES encryption because it's military strength and used to encrypt top secret military information. This doesn't mean that other algorithms are ineffective, it's just that AES is the best. However, you don't get the choice of any other type of encryption with Document Backup - AES with different bits is it.

And finally you've completed configuring your back-up!

I know it's a lot of time to spend initially, but if you've chosen to schedule your tasks, you won't have to do anything again, unless you want to create some other kind of special back-up from scratch. Some back-up programs allow you to copy/clone an entire back-up task, so that all you need to do is edit it for the new task.

Help File: Very comprehensive; layed out well and very easy to understand.

Features:

Easily configurable: I found this software to be easily configurable to my tastes - except for the fact that it doesn't offer differential back-ups;

Restore: I specifically tested this out, and had a great result with no issues;

Log: You can view logs, which is especially handy if you want to check on the program once in a while, to make sure that it's adhering to your back-up parameters. It's also handy when wanting to identify any issues that might occur.

Trial Version: You can download a trial version of the software.

Summary:

I thoroughly tested this program, by backing up My Documents on my computer, with the destination for the backed up files - over on David's computer, (via LAN.,) as he has more space than I do. *grumble grumble* ;)

I had no issues with the way the program worked whatsoever, and I was surprised at the speed with which it completed the task. My Documents at least on my machine, is a huge folder and defining David's computer as the destination was a breeze. Clearly there is no problem with using a LAN to back-up documents back and forth.

Always be careful, if backing-up to an internet file storage location. While handy, it's possible disaster for the user. (Without mentioning the company's name,) it's very possible for the company owning the internet location to go under and not notify their members. If this were to happen, you'd be left with no back-up files at all.

If you choose to back-up to CDs/DVDs, it's a general recommendation that they are stored off-site - that means, other than your home. If you were to have a fire, there would go all your data, settings and anything else that you specifically care about on your computer.

Just think how devastated you'd be, if you lost all your financial information! What would you do at tax time? How would you recreate all your receipt information for the year? How would you recover your encrypted financial program passwords? Somehow, you'd have to try and recreate all the information you had in there, once you reinstalled your tax program.

That was just an example - but I wanted to show you how extreme, loss of data can be.

If by using another back-up software, you choose to back-up to a USB stick, be careful there also. Loss of the USB stick, would constitute the same issues as the latter. Personally, this is not something I would choose to do, unless I'd planned on immediately going to a friend or relative, to store the back-up with them.

Four negatives:

• There is no option to have differential back-ups which I prefer to incrementals;

• Document Back-up doesn't have the ability to back-up to USB sticks, which although unimportant to me, might be an issue to others;

• Error with overlapping fields in window, even after shutting down the program and launching again;

• Will not back-up programs that are running or documents that are open.

Points:

• Originality:4/10

• Functionality: 7/10

• Intuitiveness: 8/10

Price: US$29:00:

Definitely not worth this price as far as I'm concerned - there are too many features that are missing. Perhaps the next release will have brought this product into adulthood - but even then, to remain competitive in the back-up market, they will still need to bring their price down.

Shop for your software needs at: ~ Software by Swan ~

Recommendation:

I think this software still needs improvement for the use of power-users like myself, however, I do recommend it for simple back-up requirements.

Thank you again, for reading my reviews - your comments are always welcome!
~ Swan






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