Things to consider When Choosing Backup Software

Deciding on Ideal Backup Software Is Important


Choosing suitable backup software is as necessary as choosing the right house or the right automobile - you will have to live with it daily. Choose a good backup software package and you will get regular and reliable backups, with the wrong one you're going to get unreliable backups or none at all.


Why Buy Commercial Backup Software?

The best answer is that you only get what you pay for. Freeware is available, many operating systems have some form of backup software, and most backup hardware bundles some basic backup software program. This is frequently a stripped-down edition of a commercial bundle luring you to upgrade to the full version. They work, but they are much less full-featured than the commercial package. You can always try free software to see if it meets your requirements.


Backup Software Features to look for


Media Spanning: Seen by many as the definition of 'real' backup software, media spanning is the capacity to backup large files onto several bits of media.


Backup Verification: Any decent backup package should have a confirmation mode. In order that the backup is correct and viable, the program compares every document which it backs up to the original file on your harddrive.


Scheduling and Automatic Operation: A handy attribute available on most commercial software. The backup will run instantly at a predetermined time, so you don't have to be around to do it.


Wide Device Support: How many hardware devices does it work with? Usually, software support for new devices is


less frequent than for established ones. Check if they provide updates as new drives hit the market; some do not.


Operating System Support: Does the package support full functionalities and requirements of the operating system?


Backup Type Selection: Even standard software should provide full, selective and incremental back-up options, good ones allow the use of search strings or patterns to select files and directories.


Disaster Recovery: A crucial feature mostly restricted to more expensive products, with names like one-step recovery, single-step restore, or related. With this, a disk is made with a special recovery program that lets you recover the system without once again installing the entire operating system. This will save a great deal of time and hassle.


Compression: Software data compresion is extremely useful, saving room in your backup media.


Media Append and Overwrite: You should have options to always add to the existing files on the back-up media, always overwrite, or prompt the user.


Tape Tools: If you backup to a tape unit, will the backup software permit you to format, rewind, retension, or view the catalog in your tape? The tape drive producer often supplies software that performs this, but it is more convenient if the backup software supports this.


Security: Can you password-protect your back-up set?


Backup Configuration Profiles: You'll likely want to do various kinds of backups for various situations, better software packages let you avoid changing the settings every time by saving various profiles.