Backup And Restore Software – Deep Professional Insight

A lot of my friends and relatives ask me as a backup and restore specialist what kind of backup and restore software I recommend. I like to say that when it comes down to choosing backup and restore software I follow 5 simple rules, which I would like to share with your now in case you are interested.

Rule number one is never trust a word of a specialist such as me, and check everything yourself. Now that’s a tricky one. In fact, you should quit reading right now. Though, if you do, you are not going to learn the rest of the rules, which may turn out to be a little more practical than rule number one.

To cut a long story short, if you are really looking for good backup and restore software, here is rule number two for you. Start your search of backup and restore software by specifying your real backup demand. You can do this by answering two simple questions. Question one is how much data you are going to back up. Question two is what kind of data you are going to back up. If you are going to back up some user files whose overall amount doesn’t exceed 40 GB, then you can live with a simple backup solution which has nothing more than a copy-on-schedule functionality.

Let’s say you need to back up system data as well. Ok, then what kind of system data? Do you need to back up Registry only? If so, look for a registry backup feature in your backup and restore software. Now, you tell me you need to back up different types of data which are spread out across your hard drive including user files and system data.

In this case a good option is an image backup feature which allows creating the exact copy of your entire hard drive. This is like taking a picture of your hard drive as such a copy has absolutely no regard for your file system. Nevertheless it allows restoring your data in full including the operating system.

Well, this seems to be all a home user should need. However, if you are looking for a backup solution to protect company data, it takes things to a different level. Companies like to keep their data in databases. Backing up data from a database raises another issue – the issue of retrieving data from a database. It is important to find out what kind of connection certain backup software uses to retrieve data from a database. Some software use ODBC driver to communicate with a database. And it is a good way which allows restoring data to the same or a different database even over a network. Anyway, the functionality of database backup is something that makes backup software professional which may affect its price.

With that said, let’s move on to rules number three and four. Rule number three states: always use a free trial option to check the software that you are planning to buy in action. Even if you see that it has the functionality that you require, you’d better test it before you buy to make sure that the software is bug-free and its usability suits you. During free trial make sure not only to back up your data, but do a test restore as well. If no problems surface during free trial, you can proceed to buy the software.

And, last but not least is rule number four. Check out if the developer offers support for the software that you are planning to buy, and how reliable the support is. In fact, this rule applies to any kind of software, not just the backup and restore software. Here you can find more information about backup and restore software.