Filing it away - Evaluating file backup software - Part 4

Quick links for file backup software review:-

Overview of the contenders
Making Backups
Test 1 - Windows 7 1GB data
Test 2 - Windows 7 1GB data restored
Test 3 - Windows XP 7.56GB data
Test 4 - Windows XP 7.56GB data restored
Features at a glance
Conclusions
Comment on this article

Finally we deleted our original copy of the data and restored from the backups we just made, performing a CRC check on the data to make sure it was all present and correct:-

Program	Time (mm:ss)	Notes

Acronis True Image 2010	03:02
Cobain Backup 9	N/A	Not supported - see below
Genie Backup Manager Professional 8	03:40
Genie Timeline	11:02	Some files missing!
Oops Backup	03:22

Again, Genie Timeline is significantly slower and again it manages to actually miss some files altogether, a disappointing result for the Genie product and surprising considering the quality of Genie-soft's other backup programs.

No time is given for Cobain Backup again, since it does not directly support restoring files from a backup.

Other features

Here you can see at a glance the other useful features the packages offer. Some of the packages actually offer disaster recovery options that let you restore your computer in the event of a partial or total hard drive failure. Acronis True Image has full disaster recovery options since it includes full disk backup tools.

Feature	Acronis	Cobain	Genie Backup	Genie Timeline	Oops

Disaster Recovery	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Encryption	Yes (AES)	Yes (Various types)	Yes (AES)	Yes (AES)	No
Plugins	Yes (few)	No	Yes (many)	Yes (few)	No

Supported Media

To create a backup, you will need somewhere to back up to. Each package supports different backup media. For more information on backup media, see our guide to choosing backup media.

Media	Acronis	Cobain	Genie Backup	Genie Timeline	Oops

Hard drive	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Network	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
DVD	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Blu-ray	Yes	No	No	No	No
Tape	No	No	Yes	No	No
Online	Yes	No	Yes	No	No

Obviously media like blu-ray and DVD isn't suitable for the kind of frequent backup that the time capsule backup packages require. Both Genie Backup Manager and Acronis directly support their own online backup services. For those wanting to use another service there are guides on the internet for the more popular online backup providers.

<< Previous Page
Next Page >>

Jump to page: 1 2 3 4 5

Back from File Backup Software Review to Planning a Backup

Back to Home Page