Filing it away - Evaluating file backup software - Part 2

Making backups

File backup software is a lot simpler than disk backup software and we're pleased to note that all the packages were able to backup the test data without a hitch. When it came to restoring the data again, only Genie Timeline gave us any cause for concern, but more on that later.

Creating a backup in Genie Backup Manager and Acronis True Image was a similar process. The welcome screen for Genie Backup has links to some simple tutorials online which demonstrate basic backup and restore operations. After choosing Backup from the main menu, the programs will walk you through the steps of choosing which files to backup, where to store your backups and other optional steps such as encryption and setting a schedule. Both Genie and Acronis have several plugins or profiles that aim to capture program settings or specific types of files such as pictures or documents. Genie Backup has the most extensive set of these plugins, the program comes with several and 471 additional plugins were available for download at the time of writing.

Starting a backup in Cobain Backup was not as straightforward, though once you find the icon for creating a new backup the process is similar to Acronis and Genie. Only the basic options are available here, there are no plugins/profiles.

Making backups with Oops Backup and Genie Timeline is made as easy as possible. Both packages recommend the use of an external hard drive for backing up and will remind you to periodically connect one. Setting a backup is as easy as selecting the files you want to protect and where to store your backups. Both packages help you find your important files, most users will want to use their documents and pictures folders. After this initial easy setup the programs will backup and monitor your data without any further user intervention.

Tests and results

For our first test, we backed up a modest documents folder with around 1 gigabyte of information inside it on a Windows 7 Professional 64 bit workstation with a quad core Q6600 intel CPU. The backup destination was another SATA hard drive in the same machine.

A shockingly slow result from Genie Timeline suggests that maybe the software was deliberately running slowly in order to keep the PC running at a reasonable speed. Oops backup on the other hand had the backup completed even more quickly than the traditional backup packages.

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