What To Look For In
Good Backup Software

Backup software features can range from basic to robust. An operating system such as Windows already includes a rudimentary backup program. The Windows backup can get the job done but there are pitfalls and difficulties to overcome. When considering any type of backup software, think about the following issues before deciding which program to use.

Creates backup save sets. A backup set is a single file that contains all of your data. Because of this, there are several properties of a backup set that are important to consider. The backup software should be capable of creating a set that is larger than 4GB and can contain more than 65,525 files. A non-proprietary format insures that you will be able to extract your files with other tools. The most common format is the ZIP file. When backups become too large to fit on one hard drive or DVD, it should be possible to split the set into multiple pieces that can reside in separate folders or on different disks.

Backup wizard. When you're new to a program, it's helpful to have a wizard that guides you through the steps of creating a backup. The wizard will give you simplified options and limit the number of decisions you need to make. Then, after you become more familiar with backup procedures, the program should provide many other settings you can change to optimize your backup. Stay away from software that only provides a wizard but doesn't enable you to change settings through other means. Saving your files is a complicated task and at some point you will want to make more detailed modifications to the backup procedure.

Restore wizard. The restore procedure is the critical part of any backup software. What does it matter how well all the other parts of the program work or how many features it has if you cannot restore your files? Like the backup wizard, the restore wizard will hide the full power of the backup software by giving you a limited number of options. However, even when using the wizard, you should be able to restore individual files and you should be able to place the restored file into a different folder. You do not want to be in the position of having to restore all the files in an entire backup set if all you want is a single file.

Supports full and incremental backups. A full backup is merely all the files on your computer you want to save. If most of your backed up files do not change daily, doing a full backup every day can be redundant and expensive. The concept of the incremental backup is to save only those files that have changed since the last full or incremental backup.

Automatic backups. The best backups are the ones that you can schedule to occur automatically. It's easy to forget this important task. By using the backup software to schedule your backups you can set your mind to work on other priorities.

Backup to and from any standard Windows drive. Flexibility is important here. The technology is constantly improving and you don’t want to be locked into one backup device option. You may want to backup to a network drive, an optical drive, or an FTP server. The price of hard drives has been dropping so dramatically, that a disk to disk backup is becoming more popular than the older method of using magnetic tapes.

Backup verification. A backup with no verification is worse than no backup at all because it gives you a false sense of security. You don't want to be in the position of looking for a lost file and discovering that the only set which contains your file is corrupt.

Conspicuous failure message. If your backup fails for some reason, you need to know about it. The backup software should send a failure message so explicit that you cannot miss it or ignore it. An email or an SMS message notifying you of a backup failure can be invaluable.

Simulated backup. A simulated backup goes through all the steps of a real backup except that the data is never written to the backup set. This is helpful when developing a backup procedure for your unique circumstances.

Compress backup data. When you have a large amount of data to backup, compression can be your friend. Compressing files can reduce both backup time and storage space. However, some files do not compress well so you will want backup software that can do different levels of compression or even turn it off altogether.

Encryption and password protection. If you have sensitive and private data, you will want to encrypt your backups and protect them with a good password. This is particularly important if you are doing offsite backups such as an FTP backup.

Backup to remote FTP server. If you are not already doing an offsite backup, you need to seriously consider this. An onsite backup will only protect against loss from hardware failure or accidental deletion. It will not protect you from situations such as fire, flood, theft, or terrorist attacks.

Support by the vendor. Backups can be complex and the software needed to do these backups will to be complex. Support via phone can be expensive, but you should at least be able to get support though email. Some software vendors save money by not providing any support.

Runs quickly. Look for backup software which is fast in both the backup and verification stage. Some performance problems may be due to hardware limitations. To help backups run faster, the destination of your backup should go through a different adapter than the one that has the source drive.

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