Simple-to-use and solid CD-RW-only utility also creates drive images and emergency boot discs, for just $60.
NewTech Infosystems, the developer of CD Maker 2000, has applied its CD-RW expertise to the dull but necessary chore of making regular backups. The result is the $59.99 Backup Now, a full-featured program that provides both file backup and imaging of entire drive partitions (à la Symantec's Ghost and PowerQuest's Drive Image) to CD-Recordable or CD-Rewritable discs. The version we tested was downloaded from the NTI Web site; a boxed version with printed manuals is available for $79.99.
Besides drive imaging, the major advantage Backup Now holds over other, similar programs (such as Veritas Backup Exec or Dantz Retrospect is its support for CD-R and CD-RW technology as well as the latest, greatest drives. NTI offers a list of supported drives on its Web site, and strongly recommends that new users check the list before buying the program. However, the top-notch CD-RW support comes with a price--Backup Now doesn't work with other common backup media, such as tape drives.
Installing Backup Now was a simple procedure, and when we started the program the first time it made several helpful suggestions, such as disabling screen savers and power management when performing backups. It even informed us that other programs running in the foreground could slow down or interfere with scheduling or backups. Although the program can't act on these suggestions itself, the help files cover how users can do so.
If you're familiar with other backup programs, you'll find nothing revolutionary in Backup Now. However, its EasyStep user interface is a tad friendlier than those of the other major programs: It divides the backup and restore tasks into easy-to-follow steps, all shown on the main screen. Backup Now has all the same major features its competitors do, plus some notable extras. It creates bootable floppies and CDs--for restarting after a hard-disk crash--and even lets you place an image of your boot partition on your emergency restart CD for seamless recovery.
You can also exclude files individually, by type, or by the date modified; password-protect your backup; generate itemized reports; and back up the Windows Registry. Both file and drive-image backups may span multiple discs, and even system files that are in use are copied.
We were impressed by how informative the program's messages were during the backup process. If the media was missing, the program said so. If the media was present but the drive was still spinning up, that also was specifically stated. We also appreciated the option to erase the CD-RW disc without interrupting the backup if the disc was full or contained other information.
Unfortunately, Backup Now didn't provide the same pleasant experience during image backup or recovery CD creation: The program merely directed us to place a blank CD-R/CD-RW disc in the drive. If we tried to use a previously written disc, we had to stop the backup and use the dedicated disc-erasing function.
All of the backup and restore tests we performed on our 1.2-GHz Athlon system with a Ricoh MP9120A DVD/CD-RW drive went off without a hitch. The backups were created at a speed very close to the 10X CD-RW rating of the Ricoh drive, so each disc took about 7 minutes to write. The only bug we noticed was that every time we ran Backup Now, the program left a document open after it finished backing up, and the file couldn't be used until we shut down Backup Now. But overall we were quite pleased with the program's performance and stability.
If you already own another backup utility that handles CD-RW media, you probably don't need Backup Now. Some CD-RW drives also include a backup program (such as Adaptec's Take Two software, which is bundled with some Teac drives), although such programs don't include the advanced features of Backup Now. First-time buyers who want to use their CD-RW drive for backups should give it serious consideration; it's a bargain when you consider that it does double duty for drive imaging as well.
Backup Now is also available in a Windows 2000 version for $79.99. A free 10-day trial download of both versions is available, and you can purchase both versions from the NewTech Infosystems Web site.
Besides drive imaging, the major advantage Backup Now holds over other, similar programs (such as Veritas Backup Exec or Dantz Retrospect is its support for CD-R and CD-RW technology as well as the latest, greatest drives. NTI offers a list of supported drives on its Web site, and strongly recommends that new users check the list before buying the program. However, the top-notch CD-RW support comes with a price--Backup Now doesn't work with other common backup media, such as tape drives.
Installing Backup Now was a simple procedure, and when we started the program the first time it made several helpful suggestions, such as disabling screen savers and power management when performing backups. It even informed us that other programs running in the foreground could slow down or interfere with scheduling or backups. Although the program can't act on these suggestions itself, the help files cover how users can do so.
Choose Your Backup Style
The program offers all the common backup and restore operations--including full, incremental, and differential backups--plus typical configuration choices such as whether to verify the backup, whether to append or overwrite the media, and what level of software compression should be used (CD-RW drives don't include the hardware compression found on many tape drives).You can also exclude files individually, by type, or by the date modified; password-protect your backup; generate itemized reports; and back up the Windows Registry. Both file and drive-image backups may span multiple discs, and even system files that are in use are copied.
We were impressed by how informative the program's messages were during the backup process. If the media was missing, the program said so. If the media was present but the drive was still spinning up, that also was specifically stated. We also appreciated the option to erase the CD-RW disc without interrupting the backup if the disc was full or contained other information.
Unfortunately, Backup Now didn't provide the same pleasant experience during image backup or recovery CD creation: The program merely directed us to place a blank CD-R/CD-RW disc in the drive. If we tried to use a previously written disc, we had to stop the backup and use the dedicated disc-erasing function.
All of the backup and restore tests we performed on our 1.2-GHz Athlon system with a Ricoh MP9120A DVD/CD-RW drive went off without a hitch. The backups were created at a speed very close to the 10X CD-RW rating of the Ricoh drive, so each disc took about 7 minutes to write. The only bug we noticed was that every time we ran Backup Now, the program left a document open after it finished backing up, and the file couldn't be used until we shut down Backup Now. But overall we were quite pleased with the program's performance and stability.
If you already own another backup utility that handles CD-RW media, you probably don't need Backup Now. Some CD-RW drives also include a backup program (such as Adaptec's Take Two software, which is bundled with some Teac drives), although such programs don't include the advanced features of Backup Now. First-time buyers who want to use their CD-RW drive for backups should give it serious consideration; it's a bargain when you consider that it does double duty for drive imaging as well.
Backup Now is also available in a Windows 2000 version for $79.99. A free 10-day trial download of both versions is available, and you can purchase both versions from the NewTech Infosystems Web site.
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