Backup applications come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and complexities. You can find backup applications that are overly simple (that do very little) or are quite complex (that do too much). The middle ground is where most end-users live, which is reflected in what they desire for a backup tool. What these users need is a simple tool to back up the data they depend upon for day-to-day business.
With the abundance of backup applications available, it’s nearly impossible to know which tool is best suited for the most users. But there is one tool that makes itself viable to a huge cross-section of user. Backup4all Professional is a simple to use backup tool that will reliably have your backups safely placed where you need them and can, just as easily, restore those files to your machine.
Specifications
- Operating systems: Compatible with Windows 2000, XP, 2003, 2008 Server, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit)
- Cost: $49.95 per license
- Additional vendor information
Who is it for?
If you are an end user and you need to have your data backed up to a local partition, external drive, FTP server, SFTP, DVD, CD, or BluRay you would do well to give Backup4all Professional a try. Anyone with simple or moderately complex backup needs will benefit from this application’s easy to use backup wizards and one-touch backup solution. One very nice feature that will appeal to many users is that Backup4all can also back up locked files such as .pst files. This means Backup4all can be an easy way of backing up your Outlook data (or any data that is frequently in a locked state).
What problem does it solve?
If you are looking for a solution that will provide a lower-level, bare-metal backup that will enable you to restore an image of a machine to different hardware (such as Acronis Universal Restore would do) you will want to look elsewhere.
Outstanding features
- Outlook plugin
- Back up locked or open files
- Four backup types: Full, differential, incremental, and mirror
- Compress and/or encrypt you backups
- Pre-defined backup filters
- Scheduler
- Handles multiple back up jobs
- Built in notification system
- SFTP backup software
- Snapshot support
- Disk spanning support
- Automated updates
- Logging
- Command line tool
- Easy to use restore wizard
- Once-touch backup
What’s wrong?
My only problem with Backup4all is that during the backup process very little information is displayed. You can see what is happening in the status bar, but it’s not exactly as obvious as the rest of the functioning of the application. I would much prefer a ’status indicator’ that fell in line with the rest of the ‘user-friendliness’ of Backup4all.
Competitive products
- Easeus Todo Backup
- KineticSecure online continuous backup
- Kleo Bare Metal Backup
- Paragon Drive Backup 10 Workstation
Bottom line for business
Although not perfectly suited for server backup, Backup4all Professional is a great solution for client machines that need regular, reliable and even encrypted backups of data. Backup4all is one of the easiest backup solutions you will find that nearly any experience-level user will feel instantly at home with. So if you need a backup solution that everyone from your end users all the way up to your administrators can make use of, Backup4all might be the ideal solution.