We all know how important digital data backup is. It is the most smartest activity by any person owning a computer system including anything that stores data digitally. What is more blessing than the fact that cloud storage is now coming free or very cheap? If you are opting for the free service, than the only investment you are doing is for getting a good unlimited Internet connection. Even if you are opting to pay for getting more cloud storage space, the advantage of getting access to your data from anywhere overcomes it. Thanks to the increasing number of cloud backup services and the intense competition among these services, you can now get “virtually” unlimited storage for just a few bucks per month.

The domain is still in its infancy and for this reason we do face problems using them but we can ignore them. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages and things should improve as the service becomes old. Continue reading after the break to see five coolest cloud backup solutions available for you.

Dropbox

Dropbox doesn’t needs an introduction. It is a one of the first cloud backup solution that made people realize cloud backup power. Dropbox comes handy for backing up files that we use the most. 2 GB of storage space is available for free, while with subscriptions users can get up to 100 GB. Teams can get terabytes of storage. Free users can increase their storage quota up to a total of 8 GB by referring their friends.

Sign-up for Dropbox Now (Referral Link)

Free Storage available* : 2 GB
Pricing* : $9.99 a month for 50 GB, $19.99 a month for 100 GB
Mobile Apps Available : Yes (Android, iOS, BlackBerry)

SugarSync

SugarSync is another good cloud backup service that also lets you sync and share files anytime, anywhere. The service is competitively priced and offers 5 GB of free accounts.

SugarSync makes it easy to back up, share and access your files, anytime, anywhere. With SugarSync you get online cloud storage for all your files — documents, music, photos, and video. When you make a change or add files on any of your PC or Mac computers, SugarSync automatically syncs your files to the cloud, where you can get access to them from any Internet-connected device — including your smartphone or iPad.

Sign-up for SugarSync Now (Referral Link)

Free Storage available* : 5 GB
Pricing* : Plans starts from $4.99 a month for 30 GB to $24.99 a month for 250 GB
Mobile Apps Available : Yes (Android, iOS, Windows, BlackBerry, Symbian)

SpiderOak

SpiderOak took a different approach when we compare it with the above two services. It offers free online backup, sync, sharing, remote access and storage. All in one a complete solution for a computer users backup needs. Another security feature of SpiderOak is users can only change their password using the downloaded client and not through the web interface. This ensures their zero-knowledge privacy environment. Users can add more storage space to their account if they exceed the limit, but the increments comes in the size of 100 GB.

SpiderOak provides an easy, secure and consolidated free online backup, sync, sharing, access & storage solution for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora & openSUSE)

Sign-up for SpiderOak Now (Referral Link)

Free Storage available* : 5 GB
Pricing* : $10 per month per 100 GB increment.
Mobile Apps Available : Yes (Android, iOS, N900 Maemo)

CX

CX is a cloud storage service that allows users to back up, synchronize, share, and manage their documents, photos, music and videos across all of their devices – which includes desktops, laptops, netbooks, and mobile devices. CX offers 10 GB of free storage space while the paid plans are the same as that offered by Dropbox.

CX is a new kind of cloud experience that takes content to the next level with a range of unique features: secure storage, real-time syncing, public and private sharing, interactive group collaboration, and intelligent discovery. Easily organize your content, access it on the go, share it with friends or publish it online — you decide what and when. Want to discuss a file with a team? CX does that too with group functionality and a unique file commenting system.

Sign-up for CX Now (Referral Link)

Free Storage available* : 10 GB
Pricing* : $9.99 a month for 50 GB, $19.99 a month for 100 GB.
Mobile Apps Available : Yes (iOS, Windows, Android and BlackBerry App coming soon)

IDrive

IDrive assists you to create multiple accounts and let other people manage the files too. If a users computer crashes, the user can order a portable hard drive from them for quick retrieval of data.

Sign-up for IDrive Now (Referral Link)

Free Storage available* : 5 GB
Pricing* : Plans starts from $4.95 a month for 150 GB.
Mobile Apps Available : Yes (Android, iOS)

What do you do to back up your important data? Are we missing out any solutions that offers similar kind of services or do you use a specific solution in the list above? Let us know in the comments below.

*At the time of publishing. If a service changes their pricing structure or changes their free storage quota, please comment below, we will update it.

Disclosure: Sign-up links are referral links that will earn both you and me extra storage space. If you don’t want to use the referral link, simply click on the name of the service at the start of its description to visit their homepage.

In this digital age, when we keep all our important data dumped into electronic devices, it’s not very hard to lose the data either by human error or for any other reasons. Also, there is a threat of data being stolen when we thought that we got rid of it. Auslogics File Recovery 3 is a simple to use professional application to recover deleted files or lost partitions. It also includes advanced privacy protection and backup tools too; it includes a secure file eraser and disk wiper.

We completed our earlier Auslogics giveaway successfully, so we are here again with another Auslogics software giveaway! This time, the Auslogics File Recovery 3 is up for giveaway. We’ll be giving away 5 copies of Auslogics File Recovery 3 worth almost $250 in total this week. But, first, let’s see the features offered by this application.

File Recovery is a very straight forward and easy to use program. Inclusion of advanced privacy protection and backup tools further increases its value. Let’s take a quick walk-through of the program features before we talk about the giveaway.

As soon as you launch the program, you’ve the option to begin searching for your files in all available locations. The user-interface is very well laid out and even a novice user can get used to the functions in no time. In the left sidebar, all the detected hard disk drives are listed. In the right pane, you’ll be asked for the task you want to do with the program. In this case, the option to begin searching for deleted files.

There is an option to narrow down your search to certain file types only, if you know what exactly you’re looking for. Otherwise, you may search for all delete files on your drive. Further, you can narrow down to include only the files modified within or after a certain date. Next, the program asks you to enter any specific file name if you’re looking for just a particular file.

The program now provides you the option to do a deep scan, which is basically a thorough search and rescue method. After you click on the Search button, Auslogics File Recovery 3 begins its work. Depending on the size of your hard drive and the limits set by you, the search could take several minutes.

We tested the program on our virtual computer. Since, VM was newly deployed by us, the program returned results within seconds. On purpose, to test the effectiveness of the program, we detected mixed types of files that included some images, a word document, a PDF file and video file. Another feature of File Recover 3 is it generate a quick preview of certain media file types including PDF files. This feature is very handy in recovering the correct file.

Restoring files is also very easy using this program. You simply select the check box(es) next to the file(s), you want to recover and then click on the Recover Selected button. You will then receive a prompt to select the destination place, where you want to save the recovered files to.

Two important features of File Recovery 3 are recovering lost partitions and create a disk image. The lost partitions feature included in the program lets you recover accidentally deleted partitions from your system. File Recovery can find the information about deleted portions of the disk, so that you will be able to recover files from a lost partition. The program allows you to create a complete disk image of the logical drive along with all the information contained on the disk, including deleted files. This option allows you to recover files from the disk image later on while continuing working with the logical drive.

As mentioned earlier, File Recovery 3 comes bundled with two more features. Disk Wiper is one of them. The program lets you securely remove files. It permanently deletes files from the system so that no one can recover the files later. Since, some users may also want to securely wipe out their whole hard disk, File Recovery 3 lets you shutdown your PC automatically after the task completes.

File Shredder is another security feature provided by the program. File Shredder lets you securely delete specific files instead of wiping the hard disk. You simply drag and drop those files into the File Shredder, and click the Shred button. File Shredder starts securely deleting the files. So that, not only the program itself can recover the contents of the file. After the process completes, the program generates an HTML report just like its big brother Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 does.

Auslogics File Recovery 3 Giveaway

Auslogics File Recovery 3 is a very good application that’s very simple to use. The step-by-step file recovery procedure is novice proof and allows anyone to easily recover files or partitions. The security features of the program are also very handy. Auslogics File Recovery 3 works with Windows 7/2008/Vista/2003/XP (32-bit & 64-bit).

The program is available for $49.95 from Auslogics. You may download a trial from here to test the program.

We’re giving 5 copies worth almost $250 away this week so join the giveaway below!

Preference will be given to fans of our Facebook page/Google+ page and newsletter subscribers. So if you haven’t subscribed, do so now by clicking on this link.

In a nutshell, Like us to join our Facebook Page. If you are in Google+ than simply add us to your circle. If you’re already following us, you may skip this step.

Next step is to share about this giveaway using any of the social media buttons under this post.

And finally, to confirm that you are entering this giveaway, comment below.

Please use your real email address (if you are a subscriber, use your subscribed email address for getting preference) so that we can get in touch if you win.

That’s it! You’re done!

Well, not everyone are into social networks like Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.

If you are among these, you’re still eligible to join the giveaway.

You have to be either a verified email subscriber of this website or if you have a blog or website, simply publish a post on your blog or website along with a link to this giveaway and a short description. Then come back here and in the comments, tell us where you’ve published it.

This giveaway begins now and ends on next Friday, December 2nd, 2011 at 22:00 (PST).

5 winners will be selected randomly and they will be contacted via email.

Have fun and don’t forget to share about this giveaway with your friends. After all sharing is caring.

FavBackup is a freeware portable software for Windows users that lets you save and migrate almost any major web browser settings. It archives all your personal settings and data such as bookmarks, history, cookies, and saved passwords from all major web browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Safari and Flock.

In this digital age, one just can’t afford to lose their personal settings and data. As the number of web browser choices have increased, most of us like to use multiple web browsers for surfing the Internet. Keeping a backup of all the data, spread over all these different browsers is difficult, thanks to FavBackup it is less of a hassle now. FavBackup offers an easy and comprehensive way to back up all the data and even lets you migrate easily to a browser on a different computer.

FavBackup is completely portable application and requires no installation. The program has an intuitive Ribbon user interface, so getting started with it is easy and quick. After downloading the program, extract the FavBackup executable file in your choice of folder, run the executable.

Backing Up a Browser Profile

The “Backup” option allows you to choose which items you want to save for a specific profile, while “Full Backup” saves all settings for all profiles. FavBackup saves all your personal settings and data into a default.dat file.

Choose either “Backup” or “Full Backup” option according to your needs and select the browser that you would like to back up. Browse to the place where you want to keep the backup and click on “Next”. After the backup is completed, click “Finish” to close the program.

Note: In case of “Backup,” all items are selected by default. The Backup process for all the other browsers are identical (pictured above).

Restoring a Backed Up Browser Profile

To import all your personal settings and data which you backed up using the steps above, use either “Restore” or “Full Restore,” and select the backup file “default.dat”.

If you choose the “Restore” option, you can selectively import items from the backup file. “Full Restore” lets you restore the complete data back.

Choose the option that best suits your needs and select the browser that you would like to restore. Select the backup file and click “Next”. The program will restore your browser settings and data. Click on “Finish” to close the program.

Note: In case of “Restore”, all items are selected by default. The Restore process for all the other browsers are identical (pictured above). If you are restoring portable browser data and custom location is not provided, it may overwrite your regular browser settings. If you don’t want this to happen, please provide portable browser’s backup location.

Convert Opera 10 Profile

FavBackup also lets you convert Opera 10 profiles from Windows XP to Windows 7/Vista in both 32-bit and 64-bit format. Simply select the options available under conversion and click on “Next.”

Conclusion

FavBackup is a powerful backup and restore program which is extremely easy to use. It is definitely a recommended software by us which lets even the most novice users to keep their browser settings. You can download FavBackup from the author’s page.

EASEUS Partition Master is a comprehensive Windows application for easily managing hard disk partitions. Its convenient user-interface simplifies your tasks by offering many functions to manage your partitions. The Professional Edition can let you enjoy all the powerful basic and advanced partition functions.

Windows default partition manager is very basic and doesn’t offer advanced partition options. EaseUS Partition Master with Partition Recovery Wizard integrated is a comprehensive toolkit for computer users. It covers a full range of features including Partition Manager, Partition Recovery Wizard and disk & partition copy and more.

EaseUS Partition Master also allows users to create bootable disk. Using this bootable disk, you can manage hard disk partitions when the Operating System crashes. You can also resize the primary drive to reinstall other Operating Systems or even manage partitions on a computer without Operating System.

We received a trial version of EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition for review. It came along with Linux bootable disk option.

Key Advantages of EaseUS Partition Master:

• It is an ALL-IN-ONE partition solution and the easiest and most convenient hard disk partition manager toolkit including Partition Manager, Disk & Partition Copy Wizard and Partition Recovery Wizard.
• Its built-in Linux-based bootable disk enable you manage hard disk partitions when Operating System inaccessible.
• Copy Wizard to copy partition or migrate entire hard disk to another without Windows reinstallation.
• Partition Recovery Wizard to recover deleted or lost partitions.
• Stable partition management which will protect your data.

Interface and Usability

EaseUS Partition Manager comes enriched with a hefty set of functions. The Operations area will be handy when you want to do some disk management tasks. If you are are not happy with Windows built-in backup feature; you can use the wizard and do backup and recovery tasks. This can be accomplished by using the Copy disk wizard, Copy partition wizard and Partition recovery wizard. Using the software it’s very easy to create the Linux bootable disks. Using these disks, you can rebuild MBR and can also create/delete/format partitions before installing OS. You can make bootable USB disk, CD/DVD and can export ISO image as well. The program lets you resize other NTFS partitions excluding NTFS system partition without reboot. Before that you must make sure all applications in the partition are closed.

The Disk Copy is designed to copy your entire disk to a new hard drive. There was a time when upgrading to a new hard drive meant hours of downloading your data, applications, and operating systems to disks; then more hours of reinstalling everything to the new hard drive. With Disk and Partition Copy Wizard, you can quickly and easily create an exact copy of your hard disk, including the operating system, applications, preferences, settings, and data. Partition Copy is designed to back up your partitions before the partition operations applied to the hard disk to prevent any data lost from program error or some other accidental incidents. Disk and Partition Copy Wizard can also copy dynamic volume safely to basic disk and resize it indirectly.

Partition Recovery Wizard included into EaseUS Partition Master completely protects your partition, allowing you to recover deleted or lost partitions due to a hardware or software failure. Together with Partition Manager, Copy Wizard and other useful features, you can do mostly anything you want on hard disk with EaseUS Partition Master. You must have this Partition Recovery Wizard if you care for safety of your partition and wish to be fully armed and ready for any personal, hardware or software failure, virus attack, or hacker’s intrusive destruction partition loss. You can recover the deleted or lost partition with Partition Recovery Wizard – a reliable partition recovery tool.

Other Features

• Resize dynamic volume – resize dynamic volume without data loss.
• Support command line – for easier disk management and run a batch file with no need for program running.
• Repair RAID-5 volume – repair RAID-5 by reconstructing the data of the failed member on another disk.
• Convert FAT partition to NTFS – to use the advantages of NTFS.
• Wipe data on free space – to offer a safer space for the new data.
• Disk surface test – check or find bad sectors.
• Convert primary to logical and vice versa – convert a primary volume to logical to create a fifth volume on a disk with 4 existed primary volumes.
• Defragmentation – speed up your computer.

Conclusion

EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition with built-in Linux bootable disk license retails at $19.95. It is definitely a good software which provides great value. If you want a comprehensive solution then we must recommend going for EASEUS Partition Master with WinPE bootable disk.

Download EaseUS Partition Master

For those who may have missed this giveaway, you all can get any EASEUS product at 30% discount. Simply visit EaseUS store at http://www.easeus.com/buynow.htm, select the product you want to buy and use the coupon code: CHEN-9SCN-GIVE

EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition with built-in Linux bootable disk License Giveaway [Expired]

Thanks to EASEUS for sponsoring 10 EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition with built-in Linux bootable disk licenses. Being a reader of My Technology Guide, you stand a chance to win one license. All you have to do is become a subscriber and comment below. We’ll announce the winners in one week from the date of publishing this contest. For increasing your chances, you can like us, follow us and share the word about the campaign using the share buttons below.

Update: Winners are announced here.

My Technology Guide readers will love this giveaway as they have to do nothing to win this! Thanks to LotSoft, the developers of the application, we were able to get unlimited licenses for the BDlot DVD Clone Ultimate. The application is a DVD clone software which can also backup and rip DVD’s. We will talk about the giveaway at the end of this article, but first, lets see how good is BDlot DVD Clone Ultimate.

Now, coming to the user interface, when you start the application, you will notice big buttons to do a full DVD disc backup or a DVD title backup at the top. When you click on those buttons, the program automatically changes the options that are available for the task. After inserting a DVD, it fills up information about the DVD, including cover art, name, studio, director and performers automatically.

The program supports all known copy protections like CSS, CPRM, CPPM, RC, RCE, APS, UOPs, SONY ARccOS, Rip-Guard, Disney X-DRM protection etc. It comes with GPU acceleration which can greatly improve the decryption and copying speed. Most of the time you simply have to click on the big Run button and the program will take care of everything.

The unique Sector to Sector copying and GPU accelerating technologies helps speed up tasks such as DVD Cloning, Data backup, ISO burning etc. Though the program will work depends largely on the speed of the DVD drive, the processor, computer memory available and if the video card can be used for GPU acceleration or not.

Features of BDlot DVD Clone Ultimate :

1. Can create perfect DVD Backups of Raw Content.
2. Removes all known DVD copy protections, such as CSS, CPRM, CPPM, RC, RCE, APS, UOPs, SONY ARccOS, Rip-Guard, Disney X-DRM protection, etc.
3. Clone Entire DVD to Blank DVD: Lets you backup full content of DVD-5 or DVD-9 movies as a DVD folder or ISO image on your PC hard drive or USB drive.
4. Lets you backup the “Main Movie” in the DVD or only certain chapters from the DVD.
5. You can burn ISO file or DVD folder to a blank DVD or re-writable DVD.
6. Built-in virtual DVD drive allows you to load and unload any ISO image file for processing.
7. Compatible with Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit) and Windows XP

BDlot DVD Clone Ultimate is very easy to use and requires very little user interventions. The options available for the tasks are easy to understand and the help file is very extensive. It covers all the functions of the program along with How-To’s.

Giveaway

We have an unlimited amount DVD Clone Ultimate licenses. To win this giveaway, you don’t have to do anything, you don’t need to subscribe us (even though we will like it if you do as you will receive our updates in your email!) or do any other stuffs.

Simply, download the program from the developer website, and enter the license code BU-TUUPTTZU-HBRSRO after installation to activate it. But do remember, you have to register using the license code on or before August 7.

The Data Liberation Front team has launched a new service called Google Takeout, allowing users to liberate their data and create backup of all Google products.

Takeout service basically makes it easy for the end-user to back up all their data stored in their Google Account. This way they can later use the backed up data into a new account or at a different service provider.

Using the Takeout service, users can now download all the information related to Google Buzz, Contacts and Circles, Picasa Web Albums, Profile and Stream. “These are just the beginning: we will be adding more Google products as time goes on, so stay tuned” said Brian Fitzpatrick, The Data Liberation Front.

With the click on a button, back up of all the data starts and wrapped into a single zip file for download. You can see a quick overview of the total number of files it is backing up and the estimate size of those files.

How to use Takeout to Liberate Your data?

For using Takeout service, first you need to login to your Google Account. After logging in, visit google.com/takeout.

For liberating all the data, simple click on the Create Archive button.

If you want to take backup of each service individually, click on the Choose services tab and select the services that you want to back up.

You are than shown the estimated number of files and file size. Click on Create Archive button to continue.

You will see a statistics of the files which are getting archived. If everything is going good, than the progress bar will be green. If its red, than try again.

After the backup is complete, you will see the Download button, click on it to get back your data.

Facebook has a similar backup option which lets users download all their photos, videos and other data related to their Facebook account. Facebook compiles all the information on the back-end and then emails the user when the file is ready instead of displaying the backup process in real-time.

“We believe that if we make it easy for you to leave Google, we’ll have to work just that much harder to make sure you don’t,” the Data Liberation Front said in the video unveiling the service.

What are your thoughts about this new service? Will you be able to trust more in “Don’t be evil” motto because of Takeout?

NovaBACKUP Professional is a powerful backup and restore solution for Windows users. We took the latest version, NovaBACKUP 12 Professional for a quick review and found it easy to use for both novice and advanced users. You can read our review by clicking on the link below:

NovaBackup 12 Professional Review

Backing up our digital data is very important. Sadly, most of us don’t understand the value of a good backup until we face a disaster ourself. Here comes a simple application with advanced features for users, handling the backup task automatically with minimal user intervention.

Normally, NovaBACKUP 12 Professional retails at $49.95 for each single user license. But, if you are our readers, here’s a great chance for you all. Thanks to NovaStor, the developers of NovaBACKUP, for sponsoring three full version NovaBACKUP 12 Professional license.

How to win a genuine Free License key of NovaBACKUP 12 Professional?

So, what you have to do, to become eligible for the giveaway and be one of the three lucky winner? Its simple.

All you have to do is be our verified email subscriber and comment below. Read the instructions below on how to be our verified subscriber.

1. Click on the link below to subscribe.
   Subscribe for free My Technology Guide email updates (delivered via Google FeedBurner)
2. Provide your email address and fill up the CAPTCHA code, click on the Complete Subscription Request button.
3. You will receive an email address asking you to click on a verification link to activate our email subscription.
4. Click on that link and you are a verified subscriber.
5. Use that verified email address and your original name and comment below telling us how much important data backup is for you.

Already verified subscribers don’t have to subscribe again. They have to simply comment below telling us how much important data backup is for them.

You can help us spread the message about the giveaway by using any of the social channels that you are in like Twitter, Facebook, etc. You can take the help of the Share buttons present at the end of this article.

Giveaway Terms and Conditions are as follows:

1. No purchase necessary.
2. This contest is open worldwide.
3. Kindly use your genuine email id (used to subscribe to our email subscription) and full name for participating in this giveaway.
4. All entries must be made using the comment form on this giveaway page.
5. No responsibility can be accepted for entries that are lost, or which are not received for any technical reason.
6. The closing date for the giveaway is 2^nd July, 2011 23:59 hours (Pacific Time).
7. If you win, we will notify you by e-mail.
8. If we do not get a response to the email within seven days, the prize will be offered to a runner-up.
9. The prize is not exchangeable for cash or any other prize.
10. If, for any reason, an advertised prize is not available, we reserve the right to offer an alternative prize of equal or greater value.
11. Incorrectly completed entries will be disqualified. An entry which doesn’t follow the terms and conditions and our comments policy will be disqualified.
12. All federal, state, local, and other taxes on items won are the sole responsibility of the applicable winner.
13. Void where prohibited by law.
14. By entering, entrants certify that they meet all eligibility requirements.
15. By entering, winners also agree to all Terms and Conditions of MyTechGuide.org.
16. My Technology Guide holds the complete rights to change the Terms and Conditions without prior notice.
17. Our decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered.

If you are new here, you can also take part in our other active awesome exclusive giveaways:

• Online Microsoft Office Training by Webucator: Exclusive Giveaway
• Win a Windows 7 Ultimate License and Be Genuine [Exclusive Giveaway]

P.S. Follow us on Twitter/Like our Facebook Page, if you don’t want to miss all the awesomeness that we offer to our loyal beloved readers!

Best of luck everybody!

In this digital age, we store data commonly in hard disks, but we should be extra cautious about our precious data. As hard disks are getting cheaper and cheaper, everyone is storing everything they can in them. But, have we all ever thought about backup? With these fragile data storage medium, we can never be 100% sure. Disaster happens almost everyday, hard disks fails, data corruption occurs, in seconds all our important precious data vanishes in thin air, while we just stare at the monitor helplessly. Sounds scary?

It’s scary, loosing all our data in seconds is the worst nightmare that anyone will want to experience. Here, at My Technology Guide, we take backup seriously, thus we rely on VaultPress, a premium backup service by Automattic for WordPress sites. We will share about our experience with them some other day.

While our Windows operating system is busy performing a scheduled backup, there’s time to check an interesting backup tool, NovaBACKUP Professional. NovaBACKUP Professional is a cost-effective backup application for Windows users. It has an easy to use user interface and can back up your data to CD/DVD drives, online over the Internet, or to tape drives, disk drives and other media without interfering with other programs. The easy step-by-step wizard guides you through performing backup and restore tasks.

NovaBACKUP 12 Professional offers custom backup options along with wizards catering both novice and advanced users. The user interface itself is split into two vies; Simple View and Advanced View. The Simple View has all the tools meant for novice users while the Advanced View has features for the advanced users. We found that the basic view hides some functions which are available only in advanced view. Some functions which are available in basic view are hidden in the advanced view.

For instance, the Copy Wizard can only be found in the Advanced View while the Refresh My Backup feature is available only in the Simple View. The application provides three types of copy options. The regular copy is recommended for most users simply because it’s identical to simple copy and paste of files. The other two options are mirror and bidirectional copies.

In the simple view, you’ll find the Backup Wizard. When you launch the wizard, you have to choose which files you want to back up. Next, choose if you want to limit your backup to just the files modified since earlier backup. At the end, choose if you want to start backing up your data now or later.

Advanced view offers much more control. Options like virus scanning, open files backup, verification and data compression are available here. The Advanced View version of the Backup Wizard lets you choose whether you want to do a snapshot, differential, incremental or full backup. Normally, do a full backup first and then choose the other options available.

Coming to restoring data, NovaBACKUP comes with a simple Restore Wizard. Select files and folders that you want to restore from a backup. Choose whether you want to restore the data to.

Speaking about its other features, one of the worth mentioning is the integrated disk-imaging disaster recovery. Using this feature, you will be up and running fast in case of a disaster.

NovaBACKUP 12 Professional is a very good backup solution for Windows users. You can download and try a 15 day trial copy of NovaBACKUP 12 Professional and see yourself how it performs.

Wondershare MobileGo is a smart Android Manager to manage your Android phone. With this application, you can easily manage your phone from your computer conveniently and effectively. The application is an one-stop application for everything that you need for your device.

The manager enables you to easily transfer all your contacts from your Symbian device, import your contacts from Microsoft Outlook, convert movies to formats that your phone can play, easily import or export contacts, manage your SMS, music, photo, or movie, backup and restore your phone data, and do other management tasks between your computer and phone. Using the app is very easy. With its well laid-out user interface, finding any function and using is very easy. You can find a simple guide on how to use this application here.

The application supports a range of Android phones running 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 operating system. It supports phones manufactured by Google, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Dell, ZTE, HUAWEI and Acer.

Wondershare MobileGo Features

• Easily transfer your Contacts from Symbian phones.
• Import your Contacts from Outlook, Outlook Express, or vCard.
• Convert movies or music with the formats that Android phone can play.
• Backup and restore your Contacts, SMS, Applications with 1 click.

How to get a free license of Wondershare MobileGo?

Wondershare Software Co. Ltd., the software company behind Wondershare MobileGo has partnered with us to offer our readers with unlimited number of licenses until 20th June, 2011 21 June, 2011 (extended). So, everyone is a winner in this giveaway!

1. To get this free license all you have to do is visit the promotion page created for our readers.
2. Provide your name, email address (where they will send you the license key), and a simple comment about the product.
3. Click on the big Get It Now button and within 30 seconds, you will receive your free Wondershare MobileGo license.
4. Download the installer file from Wondershare MobileGo homepage and install it.
5. Use the license code that you received to activate the app.

Liked this giveaway? Don’t forget to take part in our other active giveaways!

If you’ve got a working Gmail account with lots of important emails, you might want to back up all your emails. Around 500,000 Gmail users lost access to their inbox over the weekend. Some of Gmail’s users found all their Gmail stuff vanished. While, we haven’t experienced the issue personally, but according to reports, the glitch effectively reset some accounts, treating their owners as new users complete with welcome messages.

The last update from the App Status Page is as follows:

We have revised downward our estimate of the total number of users affected by this issue from 0.08% to 0.02% of Google Mail users. Access has been restored for one third of the affected users. The remaining 0.013% of accounts are being restored on an ongoing basis, and we expect the issue to be resolved for everyone within 12 hours.

Some ways to back up your Gmail are as follows [via Lifehacker]:

1. Use any desktop IMAP email client like Thunderbird, or Outlook, or Apple Mail. You can see the complete list of supported IMAP clients by Gmail here.
2. Forward all your messages to your secondary email account.
3. Use Getmail: Read here for a simple how-to by Matt Cutts.

Online backup service Backupify is taking the opportunity to entice new users with a coupon code (savegmail) for a year of free backup, including Gmail.

From now until 11:59pm Eastern time on March 1, Backupify is giving away a free year of Backupify Pro 100 service to anybody who asks for it.

See more details on the Backupify blog.

Do you use any other method to back up your email? Share with us.

Symantec has released version 5.0 of its Norton 360 suite. Symantec calls Norton 360 v5, “the industry’s fastest, most effective all-in-one security suite.” Norton 360 includes backup and tune-up features along with security, which makes it a complete-suite.

The user interface of Norton 360 is different from that of Norton Internet Security 2011 but it offers all the same protective technologies offered in NIS 2011. Norton 360 version 5 features: Insight, which uses anonymous software adoption patterns of Symantec users to automatically identify and block new malicious software; SONAR 3, which monitors running applications for suspicious behavior to identify new attacks, crimeware and other threats designed to evade traditional detection; and Norton Power Eraser and Norton Bootable Recovery Tool, which offer detection and repair technology that enables consumers to clean up previously infected computers.

One of the additions in Norton 360 v5 is the Norton Control Center. This part is already seen in Norton Internet Security 2011 and Norton AntiVirus 2011 which offers a direct view into Norton Safe Web, Norton Online Family, and the new Norton Cybercrime Index. The index uses statistical modeling based on information gathered from Symantec and other sources.

Another impressive feature is Norton Safe Web Social Media Scanner which lets you check your Facebook Wall and News Feed for bad links and other threats from within your Norton Control Center.

Norton 360 version 5.0 is available directly from Symantec and from major online and offline retailers. Its $79.99 price includes three licenses and 2GB of online storage. For $99.99 users can upgrade to the premium edition, which features 25GB of online storage (up from 10GB with version 4). All users with a current Norton 360 license are eligible for a free upgrade.

If are a new user and want to test Norton 360 v5 before buying, Symantec is providing free 3 months (90 days) trial license. To download Norton 360 v5 with 90 days free trial subscription, visit the promotion page here.

Click on the button, Try FREE 90 days and download the setup which is pre-activated with free 3 months subscription.
You can also download the setup by using the direct download link below:

Download Norton 360 v5: N360_5.0.0.125_MS_LOEM_MRF1441_5671.exe

If you want to try Norton Antivirus 2011 for 90 days instead of Norton 360 v5, you can get it from the same promo page above or use the direct download link below:
NAV_18.1.0.37_MS_LOEM_MRF1325A_5452.exe

Bleeding Edge is a Linux shell-script designed for the popular Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system, both 32-bit and 64-bit version of Ubuntu are supported. With the help of Bleeding Edge, you can easily install all the multimedia codecs, system fonts, Flash Player, Mozilla Firefox 4, Ubuntu Tweak, Hulu, LibreOffice, VirtualBox 4 and more with just a click.

Bleeding Edge can also install additional software repositories, disable the annoying system beep, enable 5.1 sound support, install restricted extras and media players, move the window buttons to the right, install proprietary hardware drivers, and the “Open in Terminal” extension for GNOME/Nautilus.

Bleeding Edge can also clean your system. That means removing locales (language files), removing old kernels, removing apt cache, removing config files for unused .deb packages, and emptying the trash.

How To Install Bleeding Edge in Ubuntu?

The installation process is the same for both Ubuntu 32-bit and 64-bit operating system, and requires you to download a .sh (shell-script) file. Once you have .sh file you need to give execute permissions to the file, you can do this by two ways.

Right-click on the downloaded .sh file, select Properties.

Select the Permissions tab, check the Execute option and close the Properties dialog box.

Now, double-click the .sh file and choose the Run in terminal option, follow the on-screen instructions.

The second simple option which I like is using the terminal. Type the following command at the Terminal and press Enter:

sudo chmod +x BleedingEdge1_0_6.sh

You can then run this script using the following command at the Terminal:

sudo sh BleedingEdge1_0_6.sh

Now, simply select the applications that you want to install and let Bleeding Edge do the magic for you.

And also the cleaning:

Data security and backup is one of the most important activity in computing world. You can find abundant of backup applications available and they all come with different features and specifications. Novice users for instance can easily find backup applications that are very simple to use while power users and administrators will search for backup solutions that are feature rich and provides them control over the data backed up. Between these two categories of user types is where most end-users live, which is reflected in what they want for a backup tool. These users need a simple but reliable tool to back up the data they depend upon for day-to-day business while the software itself should not be overly complex to configure.

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 backup tool that makes itself viable to almost all types of users, be it novice, power or end users. 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.

Backup4all automates the backup process, saving you time. It also saves storage space by compressing the data (using standard zip format) and even protects your sensitive data by optionally encrypting it. Using Backup4all you can easily back up your data to any local or network drive, backup to FTP, backup to SFTP, backup to DVD or CD, backup to Blu-ray or other removable media (such as USB HDD or flash drives).

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 often in a locked state). It features four backup types: full backup, differential backup, incremental backup and mirror backup.

Backup4all’s interface is well designed and easy to use for everybody. In order to back up your data, you will use the New Backup Wizard, accessible from the File menu, toolbar or using the Ctrl+N keyboard shortcut. Using the wizard you can easily set up any backup configurations you wish. You can define powerful file filters and schedule your backups any way you want. Once a backup is performed, you can see what files changed since the last backup using the explorer-like tree view or you can read the statistics about the next backup execution.

Features:

• Microsoft Outlook backup plugin
• Backup locked or open files (XP/2003/Vista/Windows 7)
• Four backup types: full backup, differential backup, incremental backup and mirror backup
• Customized Zip Names, Standard Zip Compression and zip64 support, Encryption support
• Predefined Filters and, File and Folder Filters
• Built-in Scheduler
• Handles multiple backup jobs
• Built in Email notifications
• SFTP backup software
• Snapshot support
• Disk spanning support
• Automated updates
• Logging
• Command line tool
• Easy to use restore wizard
• Once-touch backup
• Backup directly to CD, DVD, Blu-ray
• Create shortcut for backup job/group

Backup4all Professional is a great solution for users looking for 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. Try it yourself by downloading the 30 days trial version from the link below and share your experience with us.

[ Download Backup4All Professional ]

Backup4All Professional License Giveaway (5 Licenses each worth $49.95) [Expired]

We are pleased to announce that Softland SRL, the developers of Backup4All Professional is providing 5 Pro licenses each worth $49.95 exclusively to My Technology Guide readers.

To be eligible for the giveaway, simply follow the steps below:

Subscribe to My Technology Guide Newsletter. You can subscribe us using following link:

Subscribe to My Technology Guide Newsletter

Note: For new subscribers, don’t forget to click on the confirmation email sent to you by FeedBurner to start our email subscription. If we find that your subscription is incomplete than your entry for the giveaway will not be considered.

Share the word about the giveaway with your friends and colleagues through Social Networks like Twitter, Facebook, etc. So that they too can take part in the giveaway. You can follow us or like us for more updates in the future!

Giveaway is over, winners list here.

Out of the many Facebook’s features, one of the most useful feature that Facebook has rolled out is the one that allows you to download your complete profile as a backup. This backup includes all your messages, Wall posts, photos, status updates and profile information. At this moment not all Facebook accounts activated with this feature but once the feature rolls out to your account, all you need to do is follow the guide below to get your complete Facebook profile backup.

How To Backup All Your Facebook Data And Download It?

First, login to your Facebook account. After logging in, go to Account > Account Settings using the top right menu.

On the Account Settings page, scroll down to find the option that says, Download your information. Click on the learn more button and then click on the Download button on next page.

After clicking on the download button, Facebook will send you the download link on the email address associated with your Facebook account after the backup is ready. Click on the link sent to your email, enter your Facebook password and click on the Download button to download the backup zip file that has all your Facebook profile data.

Below is the official video tutorial that explains the above procedure:

If you are looking for a software that will backup your flash drive automatically when you are inserting it, but you never found a good useful one, then check USBFlashCopy which makes the process really simple and painless for you. It comes with automatic backups feature that is profile based for individual flash drives, if you have many.

Every time you plug a new USB flash drive into your computer, USBFlashCopy identifies it and asks you if you want to make a new profile, use the default profile, or never backup the contents of the flash drive. If you choose “new profile” USBFlashCopy then offers you an array of options like where you want to store the backup to, name the backup, select copy speed, and filter out file types that you don’t want to back up.

After the profile for that particular flash drive is saved, the task of taking backups using USBFlashCopy becomes automated. Now, when you plug that device to your computer, USBFlashCopy automatically scans it, and according to the filters and rules set by you, it starts backing up the new files. These new files can either be copied or overwritten to the backup according to the profile rules set by you.

USBFlashCopy is a portable freeware Windows application that helps you take automatic backups of portable devices when you plug them in your computer. The app keeps all its settings in an INI file, which is automatically created in the folder it is running from. Simply copy USBFlashCopy.ini along with executable to keep your settings intact across all your computers. It is just 300KB in download size but offers great features and functionality.

Are you using any other application or methods (like using automated scripts) for backing up your flash drive contents? Share them in the comments!

[ Download USBFlashCopy ]

In our previous we talked about how to use a system repair disk for rescuing Windows 7 or Vista in case of problems. In the System Recovery Options that Windows system repair disk offers, there is an option System Image Recovery that lets you recover your computer using a system image created during a backup.

In today’s article, we take a look at creating a backup image of your machine without the need for a third-party utility like True Image or Norton Ghost. In case of problem, you can choose the System Image Recovery option provided by the system repair disk and use this image to recover your Windows.

All editions of Windows 7 comes with a pretty impressive backup utility which lets you easily create an image of the system very easily. In case of Vista, only Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise editions allow you to create a system image, but Vista Home and Home Premium users don’t have the option. So if you are a Vista user running those supported editions you can follow this article.

What is a system image?

A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run. It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files. You can use a system image to restore the contents of your computer if your hard disk or computer ever stops working. When you restore your computer from a system image, it’s a complete restoration–you can’t choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image.

Creating a System Image in Windows 7

Note: To create a system image of a drive, it must be formatted to use the NTFS file system. If you save the system image on a hard drive or USB flash drive, it must be formatted to use the NTFS file system.

1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button, then clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

2. In the left pane, click Create a system image. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. Decide where you want to save the system backup image. You can choose an external drive, burn to multiple DVD’s, or store it on a network location.

4. At the confirmation screen check the amount of disk space the system image may take. If something doesn’t look right or you want to change something, you can still go back from this point and make adjustments.

5. After confirmation, a progress meter is displayed while the system backup image is created.

   

6. After the process is complete you will get the option to create a system repair disc (see our article on creating a system repair disk in Windows 7).

If you’re saving your system images on an internal or external drive, or on CDs or DVDs, you can keep several versions of system images. On internal and external hard drives, older system images will be deleted when the drive runs out of space. To help conserve disk space, you can manually delete older system images.

If you’re saving your system images in a network location, you can only keep the most current system image for each computer. System images are saved in the format of drive\WindowsImageBackup\computer name\. If you have an existing system image for a computer and are creating a new one for the same computer, the new system image will overwrite the existing one. If you want to keep the existing system image, you can copy it to a different location before creating the new system image by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the network location of the system image.

2. Now, copy the WindowsImageBackup folder to a new location.

Creating system image in Vista

The process is similar in Windows Vista as shown for Windows 7 above.

1. Open Backup and Restore Center by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, then clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore Center.

2. Click Back up computer, and then follow the steps in the wizard. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

   

The award-winning server backup software by Novosoft LLC, Handy Backup Server is designed specially for centralized backup of enterprise networks. The program consists of a server part and client workstations. This software works well on windows server backup (including Windows 2008, 2003, 2000 Server), performing client-server backup scheme.

To protect your business from loss of critical data and to set you free from routine actions like manual backup and sync, Handy Backup Server has the following features:

• Centralized backup: This can help you to organize the best backup management. All backup operations in the network can be performed by one person from the central server. Your employees may even be not aware that their work is backed up!
• Database backup: Handy Backup Server has a lot of functions for database backup. The utility is able to run backup of most popular ODBC-compatible databases: MS SQL Server backup, MySQL, DB2, Oracle, InterBase backup and other.
• Exchange server backup: Microsoft Exchange mail server is used by most companies today, which means that a lot of important data is stored in Exchange Server. Handy Backup Server will allow you to easily back up, synchronize and restore email, calendars and other data.
• Backup to FTP server: There’s no doubt that remote data storage is more secure than a local one. This program will help you to back up your data to FTP/SFTP server — either your own or the special backup server in a secure data center.
• Automatic backup: The flexible scheduler gives you an opportunity to run your backup tasks automatically with any suitable time.
• Windows service: Handy Backup Workstations run as windows service, providing the administrator access to back up all users’ data without them being logged in.
• Multi-threaded backup engine provides fast backups without interfering users’ activity.
• One-way and two-ways synchronization. You can easily synchronize folders and files between computers in the network.
• Encryption, compression, masks, filtering. These and many other additional functions will help you to achieve the perfect backup strategy without any difficulties.

To learn more about Handy Backup Server functionality please visit the official website: Handy Backup.

A free 30-days trial including all features is here: Download Handy Backup Server.

Some information about Novosoft LLC:

Novosoft LLC was established in 1992. During the years of successful work this company has gained a good reputation and recognition of users throughout the world. Today Novosoft LLC is a prominent developer of computer and server backup software for home users as well as for small and middle-sized enterprises. The key product of the company — Handy Backup — is present in three major editions meeting every user’s needs: Handy Backup Standard, Handy Backup Professional and Handy Backup Server. Depending on individual needs there are different customer solutions based on flexible plug-in system.

Wondershare Time Shuttle is a very powerful and convenient, all-round system restore, drive data recovery and file recovery software. When you compare Time Shuttle with other backup and restore software, you will find that Wondershare Time Shuttle executes backup and restore faster. It is a multi-snapshot backup software and even allows you to repudiate what you have restored and go back. Wondershare Time Shuttle is also able to do individual file recovery without restoring the computer system data like other software does.

Time Shuttle also uses a different concept for system backup. Instead of copying data, it takes snapshots of the current hard disk partition and map’s indexing system. In simple layman term, a snapshot is a “picture” of the PC and is not conventional backup files and doesn’t contain hard disk data itself. Since, these snapshots don’t take up any space in the hard disk, you can create and restore from 1,000 different snapshots, enabling users to jump between the snapshots according to their needs.

All data on Wondershare Time Shuttle protected drives are well protected. Thus no matter what you have done on the drive after you delete a file on it, you can easily get it back, no need to worry whether its place have been overwritten. Even if you cover a file with another file with the same name, you can get the old version back. That’s why we can use Time Shuttle to recover files in any conditions. Before using it to restore system, we first need to create snapshots (backup) which serves as a restore point. The time required to take a snapshot is usually 5 seconds depending on your system. Then, when you need to “go back”, just select a snapshot and reboot your computer. In 20 seconds, the time shuttle will restore Windows to the time as the snapshot records.

Features:

• 5 Seconds to backup system and all data in the form of snapshot
• Up to 1000 snapshots can be created with NO disk space taken
• 20 Seconds to restore Windows from selected snapshot
• Remove virus, spyware, Trojan and other malware and fix sick system
• Get damaged, deleted, lost data back on protected drives in 20 seconds

The user manual provided by this software is also good. You can find a walk-through on how to use Time Shuttle in different situations here.

Note: If you are using the free licensed Wondershare Time Freeze, then you have to uninstall it first before installing Wondershare Time Shuttle to prevent possible system conflict.

If you are looking for a fast, easy to use all-round system restore, drive data recovery and file recovery software then give Wondershare Time Shuttle a try, you won’t be disappointed. You can download the trial version good for 30 days. What’s more? You can get Wondershare Time Shuttle for a flat 30% off on the retail price of $69.95 if you buy it now from Wondershare.

Wondershare Time Shuttle can be used in both 32-bit and 64-bit of Windows 7/XP/Vista, and Windows 2000/ NT 4.0/98/ME.

[ Download Wondershare Time Shuttle ]

GFI Software is a leading software provider for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB‘s). GFI Software has recently released GFI Backup 2010 Business Edition. This new backup solution is ideally suited for SMB administrators who wants to create a single backup/restore task and apply it across the entire network. This will save valuable business and productivity time in configuring multiple tasks as well as maintaining them when a change in policy occurs. GFI Backup Business Edition has purposely been designed to make sure that the process to restore data is reliable, efficient, fast and easy to manage.

Through GFI Backup’s central administration (web) console, system administrators can easily configure and carry out company-wide backup policies in a single task. Using the GFI Backup Agent, users can easily create their own personal backup and restore tasks, over and above the centrally created default backups. You can view the full feature list here.

Today we looked at this same GFI Backup Business Edition and present here a review and a guide.

Installation and Usage

Installation of GFI Backup Business Edition is quick and easy by following the simple install wizard. During installation you are required to configure the connection settings, i.e., configure the IP address, HTTP and HTTPS ports that will host the GFI Backup administration (web) console.

Configure the administrator account credentials, and, after a couple of clicks more on the Next button, the installation will complete.

After completing the installation, when you click on the Finish button, the installer launches the GFI Backup administration (web) console on your default web browser.

Now, in the console, simply configure the Administrator Console log in details. Select the data access method according to your requirements. Click on Finish.

GFI Backup Business Edition is mainly composed of two interdependent components:

• GFI Backup Administration Console: The GFI Backup Administration Console is installed at a central location with network access to all the computers that require a backup solution.
• GFI Backup Agents: The GFI Backup Agents are the components that manage backup and restore operations on client machines, including the computer where GFI Backup Administration Console is installed.

GFI Backup provides a complete system that enables the management of all backup agents installed on networked computers. The main interface is nicely laid out so you can easily select the backup or other task you want to create or configure.

Once GFI Backup Administration Console is installed and agents are deployed on all the computers from where to take backups, configuring new backup tasks is the next logical step in using GFI Backup. GFI Backup Business Edition provides the option to backup files and folders, and, also to backup SQL servers. The facility to back up and restore Microsoft SQL Server databases is a very important function for any organization. This function provides you with the facility to backup databases as they are at specific points in time and will allow the restore of data to that specific instant.

Creating your first backup is simple following the steps in the New Backup Wizard. The backup destination can be an local/external hard drive, removable media, CD / DVD / Blu-ray disk, network locations, LAN folder, and even an FTP server. Backups can be ZIP compressed to save space and you can also add ZIP password protection or AES encryption to the backups for security. You can also select the Backup type as Replace Backup type or Stack Backup (with versioning) according to your requirements. Backup tasks can also be easily scheduled based on your preferences. Using the Pre & Post Actions tab, you can further configure the notifications and actions that will be performed before or after the backup. While the back up is running you can monitor the progress. You can back up files even if they are still open using the Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). Restoring files is also very easy with GFI Backup.

After completion of the backup task, a report is generated so you can monitor the results.

If you have any problems or want additional information about backups, everything is stored in log files.

System administrators can access different controls and perform backup and sync tasks easily from the System Tray Agent.

GFI Backup Business Edition also provides a vast number of settings for the system administrator to play with.

GFI Backup enables users of computers on which the agent is installed to set up their own synchronization tasks that enable the automatic replication of data stored on a workstation to an additional local or remote network location. The command line tool enables you to create new, import, execute, and remove tasks on the computers where GFI Backup Agents are installed. It also enables you to decrypt encrypted backup files so that their contents can be retrieved.

Now, coming to the GFI Backup Agent, it is basically the user-side component of GFI Backup for SMB.

Apart from providing backup, restore and monitoring functions that are administered by the systems administrator, it enables the end users to set up their own backup, restore and sync tasks across their desktop workstations, laptops, servers, and external drives.

Conclusion

GFI Backup 2010 Business Edition is one of the best backup application for SMB. During the making of this review we have extensively tested almost all the functions provided by it. It ensures that your business data is secured and backed up and is also in sync. It officially works with Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 Standard/Enterprise, Windows XP. GFI Backup 2010 Business Edition supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the supported operating systems.

“If you are running a SMB and looking for a good and reliable backup solution, then GFI Backup 2010 Business Edition is certainly worth a look.”

For home users, GFI provides a freeware version, GFI Backup Home Edition, which you can download for free.

Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions include Backup and Restore Center. You can use this nifty tool without investing into third-party tools to automate backups and to create a complete backup of a computer.

Windows 7 can automatically create both personal data backups and system image backups. Personal data backups includes your personal pictures, music, videos, e-mail, documents, and other types of important files. While system image backups the system drive, boot drive, and other drives required for Windows to run. Use the personal data backups to restore your data and use the system image backups to restore the computer incase it doesn’t work normally.

How to Configuring Automated Backups?

To configure automated backups, follow these steps:
1. Open Control Panel, under the System And Security heading, click on the Back Up Your Computer link.

2. If you haven’t previously configured automated backups, click Set Up Backup. Otherwise, click Change Settings.

3. On the Select Where You Want To Save Your Backup page, use the options provided to specify a backup location on a local disk, a CD/DVD drive, a USB flash drive, or the network, and then click Next. With CD/DVD drives, if the backup doesn’t fit on one disc, you need to be available to insert discs when prompted.

4. On the What Do You Want To Back Up page, select from one of the following and then click Next:

• Select Let Windows Choose if you want to back up all personal data in user profile folders and libraries and also create a system image.
• Select Let Me Choose if you want to select personal and system data to back up.

5. If you selected Let Me Choose, use the options provided to select personal data to back up. You can expand the Data Files and Computer drives to select specific folders and libraries. By default, the Include A System Image check box is selected to make sure that system image backups are created (which is what you’ll usually want to do).After making your selections and clearing unwanted options, click Next.

6. On the Review Your Backup Settings page, click Change Schedule. Use the options provided to set the backup schedule, and then click OK.

The How Often list lets you choose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly as the run schedule. If you choose a weekly or monthly run schedule, you need to set the day of the week or month to run by using the What Day list. Finally, the What Time list lets you set the time of day when automated backup should occur. Click OK.

7. If you are creating the first backup and saving the backup schedule, click Save Settings And Run Backup to save your settings and then have Windows create the first backup. If you’ve already created the first backup for the computer, you’ll see the Save Settings And Exit option instead.