Very easy to browse and backup this, then that, until the job is done and set for the next time. Then I had it restore some of the important data to another location and compared. Yup, it works.

The interface is attractive enough to keep my attention from wandering, and to keep me coming back until the job is done. That is important for someone like me.

Been using it the past day. As I browse and test Instasoft out, I like seeing all the encryption features and support for storage locations out on the net and the scheduling, and I think it is a good package for my wife's workstation and my laptop.

#33,36, windowsexplorer, just Google the other companies, the offers are on their home pages. More than about five direct links trips the GOTD spam filters, so I limit the number of direct links. I linked the CS Odessa offer because it wasn't otherwise available. As to whether or not you can get that offer without having their other software, you would have to contact them (I posted it previously, to allow people time, as you probably won't get a response on Saturday). Some companies' upgrade offers check for earlier versions, some don't. Many of the offers I post are from prior GOTD offerings which requested an email address, some are from other companies which I've done business with. Many users here won't give out their email addresses, but I've used per-website aliases for years, and I haven't had a problem with spam from any of them (I'd just redirect the alias to a spam box if that ever happened). Unlike many people here, I support the good companies by purchasing their products. These are just offers which I received which can be shared (some offers can't be shared), which I make available to those who are interested. I don't care if I get thumbs-down for doing so, they're for those who are interested, not those who aren't. I've purchased software from all but two of the companies which I mentioned. I received my PerfectDisk 10 upgrades free because I had maintenance on PerfectDisk 2008, but there were a couple of issues. The download link on the website was supposed to send me an email with the product download link, but it never arrived. You can directly download their products here. If you don't have licenses, they will run as 30-day trials. Also, I had to contact Customer Service in order to get my new keys (I received a quick response, but it was irritating to have to ask for something which I had already paid for). If you have PerfectDisk 2008, I recommend a full uninstall and reboot prior to installing PerfectDisk 10 (it’s Microsoft-certified for Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Hyper-V, and supports Windows 7).

As for my issues with Insofta Document Backup registration, it may have been because it was running in the tray (I did notice at some point). I use auto-hide, and this was a many-times rerun (although updated), so I didn't want to spend much time on it (in cases like these, you can just read the earlier comments for those features which haven't changed, and for alternatives). I was trying to remember to respond to #17's comment about Windows Backup, list the expiring deals, and mention IE8 RC1 (I forgot to mention that IE8 doesn't support Win7 yet).

#25, Phil, using the Volume Shadow-Copy Service (XP and higher, NTFS) will allow you to back-up locked files, however, there's no guarantee that in-use files will be in a usable state. Further, when you restore them, existing files that you're trying to overwrite with the backup can't be locked, you'll have to shut down whatever applications or processes have them locked.

Would not install on my Vista 64 system. Kept getting ACCESS DENIED error message.

I usually do not have a lot of things to back up, but if I need to back up something, I use some archiving software (7zip (freeware), WinRAR) and write my data to a USB stick or a DVD disc.
I have no use for today's giveaway, so I'll pass today.
But thanks for the offer anyway.

I've tried 3 other backup softwares this week -- ranging in price from $0 to $49.95. This is simple to use and performs very nicely.

Tested this with the Full backup, Incremental backup and Differential backup -- works great! I was looking for a backup system that makes .zips and this does as well as burns to CD/DVDs. This gets a thumbs up from me. I'll be using this as my backup software.

I would like it to back up, maybe weekly.

More than likely I would use it specifically to back up my photograph folders regularly. Sure, I can FTP it manually, but it would be nice to have them automatically backed up on my web server with the space I already have allocated rather than paying for a "service" to do this.

I have 50,000 GB of server space available with my web host. Is there a way I can use this program to basically keep an image of my computer on my server?

If so, how would I set that up? I also wouldn't want it running continually.

I lost over 10% of my picture files and half of my music files are mixed in with each other after backing up my HD to a Western Digital Passport drive. I learned my lesson and would prefer to keep my pictures and other documents on the web server for backup purposes as well. If I had, I wouldn't have lost over 5,000 photographs that appear to be unrecoverable other than through using a hex editor on each file 1 by 1 and hoping it will work.

(Funny thing is the mp3 will be playing, play part of another song for a few seconds, then go right back to the first song without missing a beat. Both songs are ruined. The images are mostly grey with sometimes part of the original file showing. Other times they are all grey. (the thumbnail). The funny thing is, when I plug the drive into a new computer, the thumbnail originally comes up as the photograph, then immediately garbles, never to return. I wish there was an easy fix for these photos as I suspect the data is all there somewhere for most of the messed up photos...)

For me, can't see having a backup program that only backs up docs. You have to have one that backs up everything anyway, don't want 2 or 7 or 8, which btw is exactly what I have now, and NONE of them seem to do what I need, so if anyone has advice, please share the info. I need a program that makes a backup of my whole C drive, onto new ext harddrive, which I can activate/reinstall on my pc in case of ANOTHER reformat.(6 Xs last yr was too much!) XXClone erased everything on my new ext drive, before starting to make an ISO image, which is ghastly! Sure glad I didn't try to backup with it on my C drive! All other programs I have for backup either won't backup my whole system C drive, or it isn't self-booting, must use a program that costs $ to install backup later, OR is so complicated I just studied them all for about 3 weeks and gave up! Yes, gave up! Help? If you don't KNOW I can install the backup easy later, pls don't just say whatever pops in mind. I have a serius problem here. Thanks for any advice!
Thanks for the offer GOTD! :) It's a nice offer anyway! :)

Hi all!!

This GAOTD is not bad at all even though it appears to be very slow indeed, not to mention that it doesn't have crucial features such as the registry backup for instance.

So I think that the FREE ALTERNATIVES mentioned by Ashraf are much more effective and complete (especially TITAN BACKUP).

Comodo Backup is a very simple backup solution with no compression, folder sync, etc. so quite similar to this GAOTD.

Another good alternative, who nobody has mentioned till now, is definetely KAREN's REPLICATOR, a pretty COOL backup program written by a geek GIRL (LOL!!): I have used it for weeks and I have to admit that I've never been disappointed.

Did I say that it's FREE?? LOL!!

h ttp://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Back-Up-and-Recovery/Karens-Replicator.shtml

(remove space at beginning)


But if you want to BACKUP not just your files but even the whole DISK IMAGE, Titan Backup can do nothing from this point of view.

For that, you can use GHOST (quite expensive though....LOL!!) or better still the freeware MACRIUM REFLECT with which you can create DISK IMAGES, BOOT CD for restore, that you can restore even without installing Reflect, as well as file BACKUP ARCHIVES using Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service to ensure ‘point in time’ data accuracy, meaning that you can create a full backup of your hard drive through imaging even when you’re logged on in Windows.

The FREE VERSION of MACRIUM REFLECT creates disk or partition images and access them from Windows Explorer but can also create Linux Rescue CD or BartPE Rescue CD, which has network support so you can save the created image to another computer amd directly burn the Live CD from the software (no bad isn't it??): it has also a scheduler where you can create backup from the defined time.

So no need to use Norton Ghost because MACRIUM REFLECT can do the same job pretty well.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!


h ttp://www.macrium.com/ReflectFree.asp

(remove space at beginning)



32 Bit (Vista, XP): http://www.macrium.com/download/setupfree.asp?OS=x86&DLSource=000000

64 Bit (Vista x64, XP x64): http://www.macrium.com/download/setupfree.asp?OS=x64&DLSource=000000


In another way, TITAN BACKUP is probably better than MACRIUM as for as the FILE BACKUP is concerned thanks to the SYNC FUNCTION that the FREE VERSION of MACRIUM REFLECT doesn't have (or at least I couldn’t find the feature...LOL!!).



Finally another good IMAGE, BACKUP Drives and Partitions PROGRAM I think is worth having a look at is definetely DriveImage XML, an easy to use and reliable program for imaging and backing up partitions and logical drives!!


KEY FEATURES:

# Backup logical drives and partitions to image files
# Browse these images, view and extract files
# Restore these images to the same or a different drive
# Copy directly from drive to drive
# Schedule automatic backups with your Task Scheduler
# Image creation uses Microsoft's Volume Shadow Services (VSS), allowing users to create safe "hot images" even from drives currently in use.
# Images are stored in XML files, allowing you to process them with 3rd party tools amd restore images to drives without having to reboot.
# Two different compression levels.
# It can backup image and restore drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS.
# Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista compatible.


But the best part of it is that..it's FREE for personal use...LOL!!


h ttp://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm?

(remove space at beginning)



Have a great weekend.


Good night from ITALY!!

Giovanni

Hi all!!

This GAOTD is not bad at all even though it appears to be very slow indeed, not to mention that it doesn't have crucial features such as the registry backup for instance.

So I think that the FREE ALTERNATIVES mentioned by Ashraf are much more effective and complete (especially TITAN BACKUP).

Comodo Backup is a very simple backup solution with no compression, folder sync, etc. so quite similar to this GAOTD.

Another good alternative, who nobody has mentioned till now, is definetely KAREN's REPLICATOR, a pretty COOL backup program written by a geek GIRL (LOL!!): I have used it for weeks and I have to admit that I've never been disappointed.

Did I say that it's FREE?? LOL!!

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Back-Up-and-Recovery/Karens-Replicator.shtml



But if you want to BACKUP not just your files but even the whole DISK IMAGE, Titan Backup can do nothing from this point of view.

For that, you can use GHOST (quite expensive though....LOL!!) or better still the freeware MACRIUM REFLECT with which you can create DISK IMAGES, BOOT CD for restore, that you can restore even without installing Reflect, as well as file BACKUP ARCHIVES using Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service to ensure ‘point in time’ data accuracy, meaning that you can create a full backup of your hard drive through imaging even when you’re logged on in Windows.

The FREE VERSION of MACRIUM REFLECT creates disk or partition images and access them from Windows Explorer but can also create Linux Rescue CD or BartPE Rescue CD, which has network support so you can save the created image to another computer amd directly burn the Live CD from the software (no bad isn't it??): it has also a scheduler where you can create backup from the defined time.

So no need to use Norton Ghost because MACRIUM REFLECT can do the same job pretty well.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!


http://www.macrium.com/ReflectFree.asp


32 Bit (Vista, XP): http://www.macrium.com/download/setupfree.asp?OS=x86&DLSource=000000

64 Bit (Vista x64, XP x64): http://www.macrium.com/download/setupfree.asp?OS=x64&DLSource=000000


In another way, TITAN BACKUP is probably better than MACRIUM as for as the FILE BACKUP is concerned thanks to the SYNC FUNCTION that the FREE VERSION of MACRIUM REFLECT doesn't have (or at least I couldn’t find the feature...LOL!!).



Finally another good IMAGE, BACKUP Drives and Partitions PROGRAM I think is worth having a look at is definetely DriveImage XML, an easy to use and reliable program for imaging and backing up partitions and logical drives!!


KEY FEATURES:

# Backup logical drives and partitions to image files
# Browse these images, view and extract files
# Restore these images to the same or a different drive
# Copy directly from drive to drive
# Schedule automatic backups with your Task Scheduler
# Image creation uses Microsoft's Volume Shadow Services (VSS), allowing users to create safe "hot images" even from drives currently in use.
# Images are stored in XML files, allowing you to process them with 3rd party tools amd restore images to drives without having to reboot.
# Two different compression levels.
# It can backup image and restore drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS.
# Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista compatible.


But the best part of it is that..it's FREE for personal use...LOL!!


http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm?


Have a great weekend.


Good night from ITALY!!

Giovanni

Good Man Ashraf - I have uninstalled - will stick with Titan

Very nice tool to have. Installed and activated very smooth on Vista 64 ult. While I have several versions of Acronis TI, I found this utility to be especially handy with smaller groups of files. I made a copy of a folder on my desktop that was 4 gig. I deleted it, then restored with Insofta Document Backup. The actual path to a folder on the desktop is long--no problems at all, nor any reboot need in this case. IDB seems faster and snappier than Acronis, but then it's like comparing a trout rod to a tuna rod. It saves as a .rar file on my rig. (Formatters/reinstallers will find their info in the "classes" section in the registry). The UI is very easy on the eyes, and will hold the hand of any newcomer if needed. Being able to save to LAN, FTP, HD, or CD-DVD, etc. with a click or two is great. Restoration was painless. Anyone familiar with backup utilities, should be able to run this one with both eyes tied behind their head.

I'll be sticking with Titan Backup.
If you were lucky enough to get it from GOTD on March 6 2008 you can update to current version 2.5 and still keep your license!! I tried updating with Returnil turned on (another great GOTD) and it worked so I saved my session.

Hey guys.

As some of you may know, who visit the page for Document Backup on my website, I was not able to write a 'full review' earlier today because I overslept.

But now I made time and sat down to actually do a full review of this software. Initially in the morning I did a quick overview of this software, and it looked good. It did what it was supposed to and was easy to use. However, during my full review of this software, I went through all the features and did poking around. My full review revealed many new cons that have earned this program a thumbs down. I apologize for earlier - I should have reserved my judgment until I sat down to fully review the software instead of posting earlier. I thought I was helping but it turns out I gave the wrong judgment.

I suggest people read up on the full review of this software before downloading it. Too many cons to recommend it. However, Titan Backup is still my recommendation.

Full Review

Thumbs down to this one why? Reason is I don't let programs handle my other programs for storage. I use hardware like the flash drive it is the way to go people or even a simple CD can store most data. I mean its not like were putting the whole partition on a CD only my most valued files that I searched for a long time.

Others may find this useful though with FTP sites and what not.

Hello,

I don't get why people would use Comodo Backup or this compared to Dropbox or Soonr...

They're smaller, faster, and secure (Soonr has encryption of all files).

Allen

Thanks for this great Giveaway. This is exactely what I was looking for a long time. Easy to use and very configurable. Will be a great value for my daily work.

Backup software is a utility. It doesn't have to be pretty, it has to work properly. I recommend everybody have at least one good one!
I'm passing today simply because I don't need another one. I have Second copy 7 on Vista & since it's Ultimate, it does it;s own drive imaging. I have Acronis True Image Home 2009 & the Maxtor Manager that came with my external hard drive on XP so I'm covered all the way around.
If todays offer works for you thats great & in that case it gets a thumbs up. If not, then look elsewhere but like I said, we all need at least one that works. My data is far to important to me to risk loosing it under any circumstances. If you are in need, try todays offer. What have you got to loose? Nothing except important data if you choose not do regular backups. Not backing up is plain old irresponsible to me.

#39 and et al - Isn't that what I said? For someone who writes about making a long story short you sure had me fooled. Nit-picking does no one service, especially when the nit-picker leaves a strong impression that they didn't bother installing the GAOTD to try before commenting. :)

Installed on Windows XP and kept getting 30 trial notice. Uninstalled and reinstalled several times. Originally I left the run after installation box checked. On reinstallation I unchecked the box and the 30 day trial notice disappeared.

Mr. Rescue (45) . . . I thought I always disabled that option on install, but found it ticked when I just now checked . . . so I unticked it and guess what?
Version 2.0.0.22, (Titan) the one given away in March here, now shows as fully registered to me, not even GAOTD, as usual. Cool.

A good program I guess but please try Idlebackup, it really is great. Thanks GAOTD, looking forward to tomorrows offering.

http://idlebackup.nl

2:11 PM: After activating and installing, I checked "About" and found that is not registered to giveawayoftheday. It is a 30-day trial classified as Unregistered. Did I click the wrong link somewhere? How do I get the $29 version available today? (over 12 hours remaining for an answer)

I am using a paid/registered copy of East-Tec Backup, which is exactly the same as Titan Backup. (Both have been offered here.) I am very happy with it and plan to keep it up to date and registered for a long time. Document Backup pales in comparison to East-Tec/Titan products.

To MrFishy #43 & TWIMC:

Check comments #35 by kalmly (many thanks to him) or #41 from our Ashraf to get a full commercial version of Titan. It will be registered by the manufacturer's site (Then, to play safe, after installation go to the "settings" and disable the "home call to update" - what it tries to do quietly).

I used Easuas Partition manager free home edition for partitioning. It restarted the computer for some steps. IN the second restart while It was doing some steps, I forgot about the work I had given it to the program and I cancelled the steps thinking, It might be overdoing the steps.

Lost 8GB data, one of my favs. People, if you want some insurance. Please save your data in multiple machines and yes, place scheduled backups. Incremetal or something.

This software might be kind of help in this scenario.

I just checked the Titan Back-Up given away here some time ago, and it appears to have reverted to some trial version. Could some kind GAOTD visitor perhaps check their TitanBack-UP (March6, 2008) and see if it's still valid.
When I started mine, after some registry access permissions were give, Titan wanted to dial home, which I blocked but now suspect may have been a link to the current facts.
Wasn't gonna dl this current offer, but may NEED to.

Guys, if you are concerned about the harddrive failure, then backup your data to net using a secure encryption and a key that only you know.

I use a free service idrive.com that gives 2GB of backup at no charge, after that its a flat fee of $50/year. 2GB should suffice for most documents (sans music and video collection).

The service has a windows explorer kind of interface with drag and drop and auto schedules the backup of defined folders automatically. Recovery is equally fast. All other s/w quoted above requires backup to your other drives but what if you had a theft or flood or house emergency so that everything is gone? The online data is accessible from anywhere in the world!

The Good

* Nice clean interface.
* Decent backup speed.
* You can specify what type of backup you want.
* You can exclude X file type from backup.
* Excellent compression rate.
* You can encrypt your backups.
* Scheduler for automatic backup.
* You can backup to disc, local/lan folder or FTP.
* You can restore your backups from within the program.


The Bad

* Compression only gets good enough to mention when your source file size are big.
* No registry backup.
* The time it takes to backup increases at an increasing rate as you increase file size of source files.
* CPU hog during backup process.
* A sync feature would have added a nice touch.

Free Alternatives:
Cobian Backup
Comodo Backup
Titan Backup 1.5

Verdict:
All of the tools mentioned above, Document Backup, Cobian, Comodo and Titan, are all excellent tools. All worthwhile. The differences between most of them is few and far in between so it is hard to go wrong with either tool. However, the best tool out of all of these, and my recommendation for today would have to be Titan Backup. True Titan Backup 1.5 encryption is not as strong as you would find with the other tools, but I recommend Titan Backup because of its added features of registry backup and sync tool - a worthy trade off. And if you really want AES encryption, you can upgrade to Titan Backup 2.5 for fairly cheap. Thumbs up for all programs, but double thumbs up for Titan Backup.

download and installed, one thing I like about it is that if your system crashes you can still restore the backup files back they are .zips

Document Backup is a nice backup program, but it doesn't seem to be or do anything revolutionary. Backing up to a zip file instead of a disk image, encrypted or otherwise gives you easier access for restoring individual files/folders, but the backups themselves take up more storage space, it's more difficult to restore &/or copy a backup of an entire hard drive, it's more work for your PC's CPU, and both backups & restoration take longer. If you wanted to restore a file in the Windows folder for example, or maybe a copy of a doc or spreadsheet you've been working on, with an image backup you have to mount the image on a virtual disc, then copy the file(s)... virtual discs are often a bit of a hassle, even when your backup program handles them for you. With a zipped backup you just have to open the archive, select whatever, & un-zip them wherever you want.

The main problem I have with this software is that I don't know why I would ever want Document Backup running constantly, using up resources, & wouldn't ever use it that way. If I want to do a manual, non-scheduled backup of an individual or set of files/folders, either drag/drop or right click using the open source 7Zip from Windows Explorer is as fast or faster. If I want to do things on a schedule there are loads of scheduling apps, including built into Windows, that should start whatever app & run it.

-------

#11: "it gives prices for yearly and unlimited licences"

The developers' site actually states: "1 year updates/technical support", which to me is very different.

-------

#16: Bob, I would suggest a bit more research/learning on your part... While having 2 partitions may/may not help when it come to backup size, you really have no protection at all should either parition's contents become lost or damaged. Repairing a partition table *Sometimes* works, restoring the partition's table of contents more or less, but it's pretty rare for a partition table to become damaged in the first place -- plus you've already got a partition on every Windows hard drive to start with, so increasing that number to two can't do anything like you seem to suggest.

--------

#17: "how is this different from the regular Windows Backup tool?"

In 2 words, this "is better".

--------

#20: "The program extracts the full path of backups"

This is exactly what you want much (most?) of the time -- you don't want to manually figure out which Windows sub-folder each restored file belongs in, & move it there...

--------
#21: When this or any other backup program talks about locked files, they're not encrypted or anything, but in use and subject to continuously change... The program simply takes a snapshot of whatever, and preserves that.

--------

#28: You can back up -- zip essentially -- any files on your hard drives. However if a file is already compressed, you won't see much if any size reduction from compressing it again, i.e. zipping a zip file isn't likely to make it smaller. If your pics & video are already compressed (many are), you'll just put them basically in a zip archive that takes as much space as the originals.

--------

#38: You're correct in that your data (in your case I assume in My Docs) is not as easily replaced as the program files/folders for Windows or any other software, but you forget that there's time involved setting up your PC, setting preferences, & with GOTD fans, an issue of programs that can't readily be installed again tomorrow. You're also neglecting updates, which can consume hours installing, which are not included on the original set-up or OEM discs.

Long story short everyone should have copies of important files (docs, pics etc.) stored off their hard drives, but just because you can reinstall most of your software along with Windows, that doesn't mean you should or would ever want to go that route rather than take the time to back everything up. I use Paragon for hard disc images, & I can restore the entire disc in less than 1/2 the time it takes to just install XP Pro.

I’m more worried about the contents of the My Document folder than I am about the system files. The reason being that system files are no brainers and easily replaced as far as resurrecting a crashed PC goes. I know right about now some of our self proclaimed ‘techie’ commenter’s are all wide eyed and ready to label me a heretic.

Yet stories abound of people who called tech support for a crash and advised, “Just reinstall Windows with the CD that came with your purchased PC, follow the prompts, and your PC will be just like it was out of the box!” You don’t exactly need a PhD in computer science to figure that one out.

The My Documents folder is the most valuable item in a PC, and today’s GAOTD makes it easier to protect contents that to some are irreplaceable. It’s a nice tool that supports CD and DVD backup along with local or LAN backup destinations. In particular, I thought they did a good job with the systematic wizard that guides a user through the files and folders selection process. Other features of zip compression, integrated CD/DVD burning restore Wizard and optional password protection round out the package. I’m sure for $79.00 programs like Acronis True Image work very well and likewise for the freeware alternatives even though their developers have moved onto greener pastures. ;)

After 4 tries at different times this program will not operate. Even after the setup is complete and you are told that the download was a success to the computer. When the program tries to start a information block menu comes up stating that: - the dynamic link library vssapi.dll is missing.

The program will not go any farther. Click the ok button and everything quits.

P.S. #22 CD Odessa link goes to a Concept Draw upgrade offer page, FYI.

#6. Thanks for the laugh :)

If anyone is interested in Titan Backup, they currently have a freebie offer here: http://www.techsupportalert.com/view/hot - click on the link that says: First Class Commercial Backup Program for Free. If you like the free version, you can purchase the brand new version very, very cheaply.

I get "Access Denied" (5) during installation, any suggestions? Windows XP Pro.

#22-Fubar: Your list has CS Odessa as a link, but not the other deals expiring tomorrow, so where can we find the other ones, please? Also, for future reference, where should we go to find such deals routinely? As for today's software, ATI (Acronis True Image) is best and what I recommend; even though it's not often free, I lucked into a beta test of their new version which works fine for me and is worth $50 US, IMHO.

I recently bought a 500 GB Seagate external hard drive from Walmart for $79, which is just a little over double what this software costs.

It has excellent backup software and backs my files up every evening or whenever I want it to. It only backs up changes from my c: and J: drives so the evening backups only take about 5 minutes or less. If I delete a file on C: or J:, it deletes the files on Seagate when the backup is done. So it is an exact copy of all the files.

It doesn't compact the files so I can just go and copy a file or look at a file. Since the hard drive is so large, I don't really need to compact the files.

Question for Phil (#25): You keep mentioning tape. Do these advantages/disadvantages apply when the backups are made to an external HDD?

Stay away from COMODO. Bad software which did significant damage to my XPSP3 system. Some may like it but I would NEVER use it again.

Syncback - only thing you will ever need. www.2brightsparks.com

Can i have back-up of photos and avi files. Any idea of compression ratio. I have 7 GB of these data, could anyone let me know what could be back-up file size?

#5 Gary Hall
Thank you for the pointer to Back2Zip, which looks like good software.
A possible difference between what it gives and what I need is that Back2Zip's page
( I'm looking at http://free-backup.info/back2zip.html )
says it saves folders, and not individual files.

Windows XP, SP3 w/ IE8 installed fine. Like #23, I did not run it until I activated it.

McAfee Site Advisor now lists this as a warning sight Yellow "May contain Ads, spyware, etc." Mcafee does not seem to have a link to suggest changes to listings. Their website is : www.siteadvisor.com/

Though I have no use for such a program (I use the good old copy n paste method to an external hard drive any time I change a document) I can see where some may find this program useful. One question I have is if it backs up locked or protected files, does it unlock them at the same time? And if you restore the locked backup files does it restore the files so their original security tool can actually open them?

I've had these problems before with incremental backups, and I'm listing Incremental options and others below.

Incremental
A "normal" incremental backup will only back up files that have been changed since the last backup of any type. This provides the quickest means of backup, since it only makes copies of files that have not yet been backed up. For instance, following a full backup on Friday, Monday’s tape will contain only those files changed since Friday. Tuesday’s tape contains only those files changed since Monday, and so on. The downside to this is that in order to perform a full restore, one needs to restore the last full backup first, followed by each of the subsequent incremental backups to the present day in the correct order. Should any one of these backup copies be damaged (particularly the full backup), the restore will be incomplete.


Differential
A cumulative backup of all changes made since the last full or normal backup, i.e., the differences since the last full backup. The advantage to this is the quicker recovery time, requiring only a full backup and the latest differential backup to restore the system. The disadvantage is that for each day elapsed since the last full backup, more data needs to be backed up, especially if a significant proportion of the data has been changed.


Multilevel incremental
A more sophisticated incremental backup scheme involves multiple numbered backup levels. A full backup is level 0. A level n backup will back up everything since the most recent level n-1 backup. Assume a level 0 backup was taken on a Sunday. A level 1 backup taken on Monday would only include changes made since Sunday. A level 2 backup taken on Tuesday would only include changes made since Monday. A level 3 backup taken on Wednesday would only include changes made since Tuesday. If a level 2 backup was taken on Thursday, it would include all changes made since Monday because Monday was the most recent level n-1 backup.


Reverse incremental
An incremental backup of the changes made between two instances of a mirror is called a reverse incremental. By applying a reverse incremental to a mirror, the result will be a previous version of the mirror.


Synthetic full backup
A synthetic backup is a form of an incremental backup that is possible when there is a separate computer that manages the backups. The backup server takes a typical incremental backup of the system in question and combines this data with the previous backups to generate a new synthetic backup. This new synthetic backup is indistinguishable from a normal full backup and shares all the advantages, such as faster restore times.


Incrementals forever
This style is similar to the Synthetic backup concept. After an initial full backup, only incremental backups are sent to a centralized backup server. This server keeps track of all the incrementals and sends the proper data back to the server during restores. This can be implemented by sending each incremental directly to tape as it is taken and then refactoring the tapes as necessary. If enough disk space is available, an online mirror can be maintained along with previous incremental changes so that the current or older versions of the systems being backed up can be restored.


Block Level Incremental
This method only backs up the blocks within the file that changed. This requires a higher level of integration between the file system and the backup software.


Byte level Incremental or Differential
These backup technologies are similar to the "Block level Incremental backup" method. However, the Binary Incremental or Differential backup method is based on a binary variation of the files compared to the previous backup: while the block-based technologies work with heavy changing units (blocks of 8Ks, 4Ks or 1K), the byte-based technologies work with the minimum unit, saving space when reflecting a change on a file. Another important difference is that they work independently on the file system. At the moment, these are the technologies that achieve the highest relative compression of the data, turning into a great advantage for the security copies carried out through the Internet.

This may or may not be overly useful to all but give it a shot as it works well. If you miss this, I also recommend the Comodo backup (Freeware)

What I do like is the program's simplicity with familiar wizards for the backup "jobs" which you can come back and hit at various times or schedule automatically and even drop in a desktop icon.
It has a lot of manually configurable options for backing up various scenarios and the support for multiple media and built-in Starburn disc burning give it some extra edge some others don't have. Also the backups are in ZIP format and compression rate is adjustable for trading off minimum filesize and compatibility reasons.

One thing that really did impress me was it's smart enough to not compress certain files like mp3 and jpg files which are already compressed internally would save a lot of time when a backup of a quantity of these files is executed. Very good thinking there!

I wish the install footprint and the mentioned before memory usage was a lot lower, this is just a basic "folder watcher" after all and the program seems to be huge for what functionality is supplied.

8/10 Apart from the memory and disk space hog, this software performs well and is easy to use and polished without looking like they spent more time on the shininess than functionality. I wouldn't pay $30 however but $10-$15 seems to be more on target.

HI Folks
I installed with no problems on XPsp2. I did NOT allow the backup program to be launched by the installation program, but activated it first, then launched manually (checkbox on the last installation screen). Launching will cause the backup prog. to stay resident and may require restart to allow activation to show up.

I also installed Cobian backup on the recommendation of a couple of ppl here. Both look very impressive. Document backup's wizard looks a little nicer, but Cobian may be more professional - I will be trying both. It will take some time to work out the potential of each - both are full of features.

So thx to GAOTD for the download and thx to the ppl above for their comments!

I installed this on Vista over the previous version, it wiped the key. Activating put the new key in the registry, but didn't complete the registration. I had to copy the key from the registry, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Insofta Development\Document Backup\Key, and paste it into the registration field of the program to complete registration.

The difference between this and Windows Backup is that this gives you more flexibility, compresses to standard Zip-64, has optional encryption, and uses StarBurn 10.5 for burning DVD's, Blu-Ray, etc. Other options, depending upon what you want to do, are Microsoft SyncToy 2.0, and the Robocopy command-line utility (standard on Vista, downloadable for XP) and optional GUI.

Deals scheduled to expire tomorrow: Agnitum, 3Planesoft, Blue Project Software, Nagarsoft with coupon code GOTD-DA2, CS Odessa, PerfectDisk 10 with coupon code PERFECT10, iolo with coupon code JAN2009.

IE8 RC1 has been released, I haven't had much time to test it but except for some zoom issues it's vastly better than the beta (which I uninstalled because it was unusable). Be sure to run Windows Update after installing and rebooting, and you should be running Windows Search 4 (downloadable). The Google Toolbar deletes its Find feature because IE 8 has it (unfortunate, because Google Toolbar is better), and I read Google is halting development on Notebook.

Application popup: DocumentBackup.exe - Unable To Locate DLL : The dynamic link library vssapi.dll could not be found in the specified path C:\Program Files\Insofta Document Backup;.;C:\WINNT\system32;C:\WINNT\system;C:\WINNT;C:\Program Files\PC Connectivity Solution\;C:\WINNT\system32;C:\WINNT;C:\WINNT\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\.

Version 4.1 of this program was given out here in July last year. According to the offical website, version 5.1 supports Volume Shadow Copy, adds folder-specific filters, writing on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD disks, and improvements in performance.

PROS:
-Wizards present just the right amount of features
-Lots of detailed options available for more advanced users
-Powerful filters
-Skip compression for jpg, mp3, archives etc.
-Time stamps, version backups
-Light on resources

CONS:
-Restoration feature can be much improved. The program extracts the full path of backups, so you'll get folders named "C", "Program Files" etc.
-No registry key backup
-Manual selection of files and folders. No templates for quick backups of browser bookmarks etc.

Rating: 4/5

Free alternatives:

Cobian Backup
Comodo Backup

FULL REVIEW