Thanks be to all! Thanks to Ashraf and Giovanni .. you guys are incredible!!

Thanks to all the others who have written helpful reviews.

And thanks to the Genie people for making this and other great offerings .. wishing you the best as you all deserve it!

I've been using Genie backup for over two years. I much prefer a backup system that stores the files unencrypted, uncoded or whatever because if I want to restore a particular file or files I can just go to the backup folders, select the files and copy them back. Can also delete files no longer wanted to be backed up (free up space). Genie runs in the background, and when it is 'caught up' it will save new and changed files in real time. Once the first backup has been done, Genie is basically invisible unless you want to peek.

Had a glitch installing this offer as it said MSVCP100.dll was missing from my PC ... but install/repair succeeded the second time.

Once the backup is 'configured' there is a red button on the Dashboard page that says Buy / Enter serial number. Pasted it right in and it's perking along on the first backup.

I can't receive the registration email.
Why?

For those that don't understand the negatives rating of Ashraf it's because quite a few regulars don't like the fact that he's already reviewed the product and posted a review on his site and is usually the first to post here. There have been accusations on previous GAOD that he's cheating or something, I don't get how you can cheat for this kind of site or who really cares because he did use the product and has reviewed it.

#28, Chris Locke, be careful whose "reviews" you pay attention to. Read my comment #4, decent backup software handles system restoration and file / folder recovery equally well.

Downloaded and installed but like so many others didn't get the reg. key. Copy and paste the link in the readme file then download the program directly from the site and sign up, you will get the reg key within minutes. Program is compatible with Win 8 Pro and works like a dream - Hope this helps.

GOTD should really make an effort to ensure their offerings actually work properly before putting them up for grabs. Okay, its free but free or otherwise is useless if it can't be registered.

@Giovanni:
I can only second Peter #27, first looking for your posts.
And you're often right, freeware out in the wild often is (much) better compared with the giveaways here.

Gone 4 hrs now without receiving a serial key. Nothing in spam filtered mail. Is Genie blacklisting certain email domains?

While my question was awaiting moderation, Andrew #34 answered it. Thanks

Uninstalled! After backup I had to start my computer in safe mode and remove this app. Be warned!

Like someone wrote above, I can't find "tools" on the dashboard in order to register. When dashboard is opened, I get a Setup Wizard -----I can't find any "tools" on it. Can anyone help?

Was going to give it another try, but it wouldn't completely uninstall,
locked up System Restore, slowed down everything considerably. Now I've wasted 2 hours, and need to do a REAL complete restore on that PC.
Verdict- Epic Fail, won't even consider trying on my main system.

The key finally arrived but then the problems REALLY started. Every time I tried to run it I got a message that the disk I was backing up to was full, despite the fact that there was a shade under 1TB of free space on it. THEN I discovered that there's no way to shut it down, except by using task manager (and it just relaunches if you do THAT), plus it (or possibly something else, but it's a hell of a coincidence) wiped out the settings on Comodo Dragon, which I'd used to download it and which was still open when I ran the setup program. The uninstall program then refused to run properly so I tried a system restore which fell over with a 'critical error' message. Reinstalling and running the uninstall program finally got rid of it, but Dragon is still broken.

I actually LIKE the look and feel of this program, but it clearly doesn't like my PC or me. A pity.

BTW... Ashraf's comment was rated -7 earlier today, when I posted my comment/query... which is what I didn't understand.

Just in case it wasn't clear when I wondered if it was black-balling, I was wondering whether the comment was being voted down by anonymous persons simply to discredit the writer of it, as opposed to the content of the comment.

I, for one, am very glad to see that balance has been restored and the comment is now rated +49 at the time of writing this comment.

After installation it tries to setup a backup - not what I expected.
I was looking to enter a registration number first. When I tied
to set it up - I get "Backup engine failed to load" on XP SP3
Has anyone had better results when downloading frion their site?

To 20 Eddie:
That was initially my problem too. You cannot see the Tools - Product information UNLESS you go on to set up where you want to back up your data, etc. etc. Just continue to set up your backup, and when it starts backing up, then you will see a big yellow button Tools on the right side of the GUI. Hover your mouse over that button and you will see Product Information, click on it and enter the registration given you.

Sorry that I have not had time to read through the comments, but does this software negate Windows restore points? I seem to recall in the past that similar software installs itself IN PLACE of Windows restore functionality?

i'm like eddie where is tools to enter the code?

also can my flatmate load it on her computer? seems to only allow one installation though we have separate pcs.
thanks

So is this any thing about like the Time line that Face Book uses? Can I in-corpoate into a useful feture with Face Book...because they use time line to. $60 app for free, nice.... Thank

Will the installation of Genie-timeline interfere with or have any conflicts with or negative effects on my Win 7 restore system?
Will the win restore system still work after installation of the timeline?

Well, I didnt receive my key and when I try same link to register again, it keep saying I'm register please check my account, as the above, no key mail in my email yet.

Peter (#27) When you viewed, the score was 0. Before you clicked 'Yes', others clicked 'No' to bring the score down to -3. You clicked 'Yes' bringing the score to -2.

UtkuB (#15) The 100 GB is fantastic until you realise the software is the free version - you have to wait 3 to 5 hours to restore any files from the online storage.

Ashraf has mentioned before about system image backups and file backups. Both are important and distinct. If your system crashes due to a Windows update gone bad, then you'll need the system image. If you work on photos and accidentally deleted the wrong one, you'll need the file backup (you don't want to restore a 20 GB system image from a week ago to restore a 1 MB photograph).

As for the software, its quick and easy with a simple GUI hand-holding you through the process of creating a backup. However, it only performs a backup on a schedule (4, 12 or 24 hours) and you can't tell from Windows what files its recently backed up.
Although you can restore files from the website (not the application) it can take a minimum of 3 hours and up to 5 hours, and you can't preview files before restoring them.

Overall, its a simple program, but has its flaws.

Gave Giovanni a YES for this like most usefull comment but the counter jumps from zero(0) to minus two(-2) at display. What a s... is thhaaat???

@Giovanni
Thank's for always really usefull comments. Your's and Ashraf's are the first to pick for me. The first overwiew basics in comment's.
Don't think about the display. It's not showing the real numbers about the "clicks" on yes or no!

I bought this when it was released. Genie TL Pro as an upgrade from the GOTD of the home version.

All I can say is, its done a couple of system restores over the years that I've used it and never had a problem. I back up to a network NAS, and it's very easy to use.

So yes, it handles disaster recovery fine. It will turn on and off shadow copy just so it can copy locked files. It does a full system back up if you have "System recovery" checked off.

I use this software on a gaming rig, and have never noticed any slowdown. It will pause itself if it senses something kicking in to full screen, like a game, then resume when you exit out of full screen.

To ME, it's worth the price.

I purchased this a while ago, and whilst it seems ok on the surface, the backups were simply missing files, overall size of backed up folders etc didnt match so I could not trust it. I personally use Memeo Backup Premium. All I would say is be careful

Not an especially helpful comment, but does anyone actually like "Metro Style" user interfaces?

Slightly off-topic I know, but I don't understand the negative rating on Ashraf's comment...? What is not useful in the comment? Is there some kind of black-balling going on here?

I used the HOME edition of this software some time ago and I was impressed by its advanced features (see its "SMART SELECTION" feature and its automatic backing up capabilities), but after trying other similar products I realized that this SW (worth $ 60) is not the best backup & restore program out there, especially with regard to its backing up SPEED process, even when compared to FREE solutions!

The Professional edition gives users the ability to restore their system and data even if Windows no longer boots up, thanks to the option to create a bootable startup disk in a virtual partition, USB drive, or ISO image.

So THUMBS UP from me!!

Does this mean I would recommend this software to anybody??

Well, if you are looking for a "file-level" backup program only, this software is probably one of the BEST ones on the market right one....so YES, I'd recommend it without hesitation...after all it's FREE here today, isn't it??!!

But heck, 60 bucks is quite expensive in my view, taking into account that there are so many freeware out there which can do more or less the same things for FREE and at higher speed. Besides that, what happens if we lose the GAOTD key due to a PC crash??

BEST (and BETTER) FREE ALTERNATIVES

* AOMEI Backupper (==> My Personal First Choice)
Amazing brand-new free one-click backup and restore software for home and commercial use, designed to backup both PC and Server in order to prevent data loss.

KEY FEATURES

Supports Incremental & differential backups, Encryption and Compression,
Supports ALL storage devices out there (IDE, SATA, SCSI, SSD, USB external disks, Hardware RAID and so on) with a capacity greater than 2TB, as well as MBR and GPT style.
Supports Windows 7/8/XP/Vista and Server 2003/2008/2011/2012 (both 32bit & 64bit).
Backup & Restore your entire hard disk drives
Backup & Restore your single partitions (including dynamic volumes) to an image file.
Backup & Restore your operating system and installed applications

With this magic FREE tool you can even restore individual files and folders from a backup image file without being forced to recover the entire backup. It can also check the data integrity of your image file, so as to make sure your backups can be restored with no hassle, giving you even the ability to mount your backup image files on a virtual partition in order to browse and see their contents in Windows Explorer.

http://www.aomeitech.com/aomei-data-backuper.html

LINUX BOOTABLE DISK EDITION (to help you recover files even if Windows no longer boots up):

http://www.aomeitech.com/download-iso.html

Just download this Linux bootable disc (amlnx.iso) and save to the installation directory of AOMEI Backupper.
Then run AOMEI Backupper, and click “Utilities” -> “Create Bootable Media” -> “Linux – Create bootable disc based on Linux kernel”, and click “Next” button to burn this ISO file to CD/DVD.
Yes it's true: better safe than sorry!!

* FBackup
Cool FREE APP which is able to protect your important data (files & folders) by backing it up automatically to any USB/Firewire device, local or network location.
This magic FREE tool uses ZIP64 compression (meaning it can create zip files over 2GB in size) and, unlike most (paid and free) backup software out there, it's capable of making a mirror without creating unnecessary folders. To do that, just select the "mirror option", then deselect “Create full paths” and finally select “Remove excluded or deleted files from backup".

http://www.fbackup.com

And as far as I know it's also the only free backup software out there supporting BACKUP PLUGINS for specific program settings.

Here there's a list of over 100 different plugins ready to be used:

http://www.backup4all.com/backup-plugins.html

* Paragon Backup & Recovery 2013 FREE
Excellent FREE disaster recovery and system migration utility, providing you with an impressive array of features designed to satisfy the needs of even the most professional user out there.
This new FREE Edition enables you to back up images of your individual partitions, your entire Hard Drive (including GPT-discs), and/or even of your MBR (Master Boot Record), containing on-disk information and the system service structures.
Restoration options include restoring an entire disk, separate partitions or even single files from the previously created backup image. Best of all, this software also enables users to build a disaster recovery CD or DVD to use in order to restore a backup image of your HD, fix boot problems and perform copy operations, should Windows no longer be able to bootup.

Free and Paid Edition Comparison Chart features:
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/comparison.html

Download:
http://dl.paragon-software.com/free/br_free.msi

To get the KEY for FREE just click the Registration button during installation, or better yet just go to this registration page and fill all the required information:

http://www.paragon-software.com/registration/br2013free.html

As a "file-level" backup tool only, you may also try this FREE GEM:

http://personal-backup.rathlev-home.de/index-e.html

But if you prefer to use a cool file synchronization software, to backup your files & folders on multiple PC & devices, well don't hesitate to download & install this FREE & PORTABLE tool ki$$ing your wallet and worries goodbye for good:

http://synchronicity.sourceforge.net

Enjoy!!

Giovanni's final verdict ==> Dear DUDES, THIS IS A SUPER SUPER SUPER SATURATED FIELD NOWADAYS, meaning there's no need to pay anything anymore for apps like this GAOTD, unless they provide us with very advanced features, which are missing in this GAOTD (for instance the ability to perform several backup jobs in one go): get the drift?? LOL!!

Ciao
Giovanni

If you can only have one thing backed up at a time with this program & you cannot have multiple backups, what good is this program? A program that won't let you back up your system files & at the same time backup say, your my documents files, & keep both backups is worthless IMO.

Am I the ONLY one having trouble registering this app? I got the license key (btw, that took about an hour to reach my inbox) via email and I am following the instructions in the text file and nowhere in the app I can find the "TOOLS" menu to enter the key. PLEASE HELP!!!

How long does it take to receive the serial number by mail?
I´m waiting for an hour now but there´s still nothing new in my inbox. :-(

Re #13: I am testing the free 100 GB cloud storage at the moment. It runs fine. You can select the folders to be synchronised. You can choose to have everthing encrypted. That is always wise to do.

See |https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OVRZB5lJir8
for a demonstration.

Can it be used for System Recovery?

Cant open application in Windows 7

Has anyone download zoolz from their website? It seems they are offering 100 GB free as cloud storage

Is it working with Win 8 Pro?

Imports settings from previous GAOTD offering of Genie Timeline Home in 2010. Big difference is that version gave a registration key so there was no problem if it needed to be re-installed. This version only registers online within the next 24 hours, so if you needed to re-install either Windows or Genie you would need to buy the full version to access existing backups.

Used this for a while a couple of years back on 2 laptops.
Seemed fine until I tried to recover a backup when it not only failed but messed up my computer completely. Had to do a re-install.
To see what it was like on the other laptop I first did a disc image then tried to restore from the Genie Timeline. The restore failed.
I suggest using one of the free backup applications available such as Macrium or Easus. They don't have all the features Genie claims to have but they do what you need them for, recovery.

The program only lets you pause a backup but not to cancel it while in progress. There should be a mechanism for this feature.

I've installed and have started to use it, but what worries me is that there is a huge box asking me to enter a serial number, which implies that this is only a demo version.

As far as I can see, no serial number was given, so what am I supposed to do? There's no point running a back-up only to find that I can't restore anything because the demo time has run out.

No sign of a registration email so I created an account on the site. Now I'm waiting for a password foe the account! :/

It's been about ten minutes and I still haven't received the registration email.

How long should this take?

does anyone know if it conflicts with system restore, or comodos time machine, as i would not mind another tool in my toolbox in case time machine bites the dust

Had a little trouble installing. Kept stopping part way through. Then I saw some instances of Notepad2 had started up. Once I killed those Twice), it proceeded to completion. You won't have that problem unless you have made another text editor take over from the standard Notepad.

Running a backup now.
Have yet to try including files from across my LAN. That will be next.
I've used Genie products for about 6 years, and I find them pretty reliable.

I always thought that Genie Timeline was interesting, but I don't use file / folder / data-type backups, I find them annoying and not very useful. I did try Genie Timeline in the past (a couple of times), those versions had problems but I haven't tested this version. I have a backup solution, I think that it's unwise to use multiple backup programs. I use StorageCraft ShadowProtect Desktop to provide near-continuous protection of selected drives / partitions. Genie Timeline's Explorer integration is nice, but as you can see the interface is busy and cumbersome. I don't want to have to monitor my backup application and get all kinds of status about what it's doing. Yes, ShadowProtect provides detailed information if you want, but it's rarely necessary to look at unless there's a problem. In near-continuous mode, the ImageManager automatically checks all backups periodically to make sure that they still function. Genie Timeline can backup more frequently, down to 3 minutes if desired. ShadowProtect used to allow high-frequency backups, but it's pointless and consumes too many resources, so now the minimum is 15 minutes. Genie Timeline has nice tools to find earlier revisions of files, ShadowProtect doesn't. However, ShadowProtect can do a full restoration from any backup, mount it in a VM, do a hardware-independent restore, mount and browse / copy / restore in Windows Explorer, and even write to backups (i.e., modify a backup image)--and it works the same for compressed / encrypted backups. I also never notice that it's running, and I'm currently backing up directly to an external USB 3.0 drive. By the way, drivers for USB 3.0 suck in general, and I'm told that the situation is even worse in Windows 8. Maybe Windows Blue will be better, but I doubt it. If Genie Timeline works, it's better than nothing, but I prefer to have my system backed up at all times instead of certain files / folders / date-types. The normal price of ShadowProtect is somewhat higher, but for home users, annual renewals (not mandatory) are cheaper than most other solutions. ShadowProtect could be a bit of a pain for some users to set up initially, but Genie Timeline is no breeze, either.

As a simple home user I don't have a great need for a backup program. I keep a current image of my hard drive and this works well for me. I decided to give this a try to see how it looked. First off you must visit this page...

http://www.genie9.com/magazines/Giveaway.aspx

and provide your name and email address. In my case the email came instantly to my Hotmail inbox. The email contained the key and a link to download the program. I used this downloaded program and it worked fine so you don't need to use the GOTD version. This should mean you can reinstall at a later date if you desire.

As for the program itself, I am no expert so I can only relay what I experienced. I turned on my Wondershare Time Freeze and gave it a try. There is not many options during the install as your only choice is the destination folder. During the install a redistribution package is downloaded. One service was added to my startup according to Anvir.

I have a program called Atomic Clock that I got from a giveaway running. After the installation this program exited and began generating and endless stream of error messages. I am not sure why, maybe a fluke? I ignored the error messages and went on with the program. I have an external Seagate hard drive. For some reason, the program would not accept it as a backup option. No reason was given but I will admit there is not much free space on it so perhaps that was the cause.

You can select the type of file you want to back up. You have the option to compress and/or encrypt your backup. For a business person with tons of vital files on your computer, this program seems like it could help you. As I said, I am far from am expert so I went to Download.com. Here are some user reviews of this and earlier versions

http://download.cnet.com/Genie-Timeline-Professional-2012/3000-2242_4-75179793.html?tag=mncol;1

As for me, I greatly appreciate the chance to look at and try new software. Isn't that why we are here? In the end I will reboot my computer and restore it to it's previous state. Thank you GOTD team and Genie9 Corporation,

The program is compatible with Windows 8, see Website. How to enter serial key is not described properly, but works once you find out how to.

Pros
*Extremely easy to use. Touts 3 step setup and has the ability to easily backup common file types.
*Supports file versioning -- keeps different versions of backed up files and allows you to pick which version you want to restore
*Has excellent automatic backing up capabilities
*Has different backup modes to ensure Genie Timeline Professional does not slow down your computer
*Supports compression and encryption of backups
*Has two different ways of restoring files: ‘Timeline Explorer’ and ‘Advanced Restore’
*Supports the ability to create Linux-based bootable CD/DVD/USB

Cons
*You cannot have more than one backup ‘job’ at a time
*Is fairly slow in backing up files, even when run in Turbo Mode
*No offline help

Free Alternatives
Review of best free file-level backup software for Windows

Final Verdict
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