Windows Phone 7 Mango has a lot of features which have made many people fall in love with the platform. Take the Messaging hub for instance; it’s efficient, simple to use, and even integrates with Facebook chat. Though, till now, there hasn’t been an easy way to back up and restore texts before and after, say, factory resetting your device or trying something risky. SMSBackup is a new homebrew that provides you with a simple way to do just that, provided you have interop unlock on your WP7 device. In addition, it presents backed up messages in a human readable format.

Currently, the tool is not universal, and only a handful of devices are supported, like first generation Samsung devices and a few others (a complete list of supported devices can be found at the source link provided at the end of this post). So, if you are one of the lucky few whose WP7 is interop unlocked and supported, download the latest version of SMSBackup from the same page. After you have deployed the downloaded XAP file to your device, launch the app and wait for it to show all your message threads, after which you start creating a backup. Hit the more/menu button, and tap export & backup. The app will then ask you to choose a backup type. You can save your backup either as a txt or html file.

Once your backup has been created; you can either upload the texts to your SkyDrive cloud, which is the easier and more convenient way, or you can go for the IsolateStorage method, which requires the use of third party tools to access the files on your WP7 device. The homebrew supports English and Chinese languages as of now. You can change the language from within the app’s Settings menu. To restore backed up messages, you will need to use the IsolateStorage tool again, and upload the file to your phone.

SMSBackup has been reported to crash pretty frequently, especially when uploading the backup file to SkyDrive, but it is a good solution to a longstanding issue for WP7 users. To learn more about the tool, and to grab its XAP file, click the source link given below to head on over to its XDA forum thread.

[via XDA-Developers Forum]

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Messages2PDF might not be the first option available to iOS users for backing up their text messages, but it certainly is one of the most convenient solutions yet. If you text a lot, and happen to be a fan of the Cydia store as well, then you should know that every so often you have to do something with your iPhone which leads to the loss of all your text messages, like when you have to jailbreak your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. With the advent of iMessage, the problem of exporting and backing up your messages has spread to the all iOS devices, rather than just iPhone. So, Messages2PDF might be the perfect Cydia app for you if you want to export your messages in textual form, and with complete ease.

The app can be downloaded from the Big Boss repo in the Cydia store, and will cost you $1.49, but the efficiency and convenience it brings to your life is priceless. Once installed, Messages2PDF will appear on the Springboard of your iDevice as an app icon. Before doing anything else, make sure that you have an email account set up on your iPhone, as otherwise the app will keep crashing. To start exporting your messages, launch the app, and Messages2PDf will import all your SMS and iMessage data automatically. You can export multiple threads simultaneously, but it is better if you choose one thread at a time. This is due to the fact that the PDF exported by Messages2PDF does not list the name of the message’s receiver or sender, and if you choose to export multiple threads in one file, you wont be able to tell that to which conversation does an individual text belong.

To select any thread, just tap the contact name displayed in the list. Once you have selected the desired conversations, tap the Go On button in the top right corner of the screen. The next screen just has one big button, labeled Generate PDF. The app will get your text file ready, and a draft will appear in your email. You can add recipients, CC & BCC in the mail, along with any text you might want to add. Once the mail has been sent, the PDF file attached with it will contain the contents of the thread’s messages, along with the timestamps.

Messages2PDF presents a neat solution to a very common problem, and is definitely worth the price.

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Nandroid Browser is a free, fast and simple file explorer for NANDroid backups. Need to pluck a specific app/file from within an entire NANDroid backup package? NANDroid Browser makes it seem ridiculously easy. Using the app, not only can you browse through the contents of the backup package, but also open, view, extract and share any file within. As of now, the app supports accessing content within the IMG and TAR (ext3 and ext4) files found within standard NANDroid backups (including those created using the famous ClockworkMod custom recovery), and works on both rooted and non-rooted Android devices. Details to follow.

There is no denying the vital role of NANDroid backups, especially if you’re addicted to trying new hacks and ROMs on your device, as whenever you mess up, you can always restore a backup to get your device the way it was before you flashed that faulty ZIP file. However, there could be a situation where you might require just a handful of files form within the backup package, but don’t wish to restore it entirely. This is where this app comes in handy. Through its simple interface, the app lets you easily navigate to, copy and open any file that you want from within the backup image.

By default, the app automatically opens to the directory that houses the backup file(s). Tapping a file within a NANDroid backup package reveals a context menu with options to Open, Save and Send it right from within the app’s interface.

During a brief test-run of the app (on an HTC Desire Z running CM7), we successfully tested the app by extracting, sharing and opening different file types. However, contrary to the developer’s claims, the app does not seem to support sharing APK files; not yet, at least. Other than that, all features work as advertised, thereby making the app a useful companion in dire situations.

NANDroid Backup is available for free in the Android Market, and can be download via the link or QR code code provided below.

Download Nandroid Browser

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DFIncBackup is a powerful file backup utility for Windows that enables users to create highly customizable backup tasks and run them simultaneously. Supporting local and remote locations, the application can create backups in highly compressed and encrypted ZIP archive containers to prevent unauthorized usage from any external source. Moreover, the application presents an overly simple wizard to collect backup task requirements from user; it includes a number of backup options ranging from backup type (incremental and differential), source and destination folder, schedule options, file compression and encryption, and file change monitoring options. In short, DFIncBackup provides a comprehensive backup solution, carrying all the features and options that one would need to create backup tasks according to the requirements. More details to follow after the break.

Apart from providing you with pre-defined backup task templates including Email messages, Archive files, Internet files, Music and video, Photos and Windows shell settings, it allows creating a rule-based file inclusion and exclusion lists to select only required file types from the source folder. Additionally, you can specify multiple source folders from where files are to be picked according to defined file masks, and then backed up at defined target location.

For each Backup Template, you have the option to pick file masks to define the types of file you wish to backup. For instance, if you choose Photos and Images template, it will ask you to check the file types from the list, which includes BMP, JPG, PNG< TIF, JPEG and more. This saves you the time it takes to manually specify the types of files that are to backed up.  The application also provides an option to save a local copy of backup archive when you choose to backup data at remote location or removable drive.

On the main interface, it shows all the backup tasks in a queue with options to start, pause and stop the backup process, edit the backup task settings and options, restore the backup archive & extract backups, and configure application settings. To create a new backup task, click New and enter the name of the Backup Task.

The first step requires you to choose either a backup template or Selected file types option. You can select a backup template, and specify the type of files you want to backup at destination folder. However, if you go for manual selection mode, you need to manually specify the file masks.

The following steps require specifying source folders, target location (local drive, network location, removable device) and backup type – incremental or differential. Once backup type has been set, you need to specify default method for detecting changes. It lets you check both By Date and By Content options to backup files as soon as it detects a change. From underneath the file monitoring section, you can configure file archiving methods. include opened and hidden files in file archiving process, and choose required compression level.

The next step lets you enable schedule backup option, and choose backup mode for execution of scheduled backup tasks.

If you enable the backup schedule option, it will require specifying the time and days on which backup tasks are to be performed.

After you set the backup schedule option, configure Errors, Warning and Backup complete notifications settings. You can also choose to send these messages to specified email address. After all required settings have been configured, enter project descriptions, and click Finish to send the backup job details to main interface.

Clicking Start on toolbar initiates the backup process; you can also restore the backup and extract the backed up archive container.

The Configuration dialog holds only application specific settings. It allows you to change the default HDD folder, apply limit on number of backup tasks that can be perform simultaneously, set size constraint on both Backup and Configuration files. The Startup and Notify tabs let you change program startup options, shortcut execution, and notification email settings, respectively. The Template tab enables you to add new templates, and specify pre-included and excluded file types. From Disk drives and Built-in CD/DVD burner tabs, you can disable auto-disk drive detection option and specify custom disk image path.

The DFIncBackup Home (free version) will wholly satisfy your routine file backup needs. However, if you want advance features like command line support, automatic swap to next partition on disk, run backup jobs in defined sequence, shortcuts for one-click backup, run pre and post backup job actions, you can upgrade it to Professional edition, which costs $ 29.95. It works on both server and client editions of Windows.

Download DFIncBackup

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Super Flexible File Synchronizer is a cloud based backup and synchronization service, capable of supporting FTP, Amazon S3, SSH, WebDAV and Google Docs. Super Flexible File Synchronizer allows setting up different jobs to run manually, or to schedule them for syncing data between local directories or cloud based servers. It provides many synchronization modes, including Standard Copying, Mirror and SmartTracking. While Super Flexible File Synchronizer works on a number of platforms, only the Linux version of it’s (client) application is available for free.

Once the Super Flexible File Synchronizer client is launched, it provides three options to either synchronize/backup data, edit/run saved profiles or run several profiles.

If you choose to select the backup or synchronization path, you can either select the local directories or click the Web icon to specify a cloud based server for data backup or synchronization. Both the source and destination locations will have to be specified.

In the following steps, you will be asked to select sync direction and sub folders, sync modes (Standard Copying, Smart Tracking or Exact Mirror), select a profile and sync or backup your data. Before you sync or backup files, the entire file data can be obtained from a preview log.

Ubuntu users can download and run the Super Flexible File Synchronizer client after downloading and extracting the compressed TAR file.

Download Super Flexible File Synchronizer

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Backup for system volumes can be performed with a number of applications. However, retaining the self-booting functionality of a volume can be difficult to achieve using conventional tools. XXCLONE is an application for copying your system volume to another, while retaining self-booting functionality. Using this application, you can even boot your system from the clone volume by swapping the disks. This can be particularly useful for disaster recovery, when the primary volume may have become redundant. XXCLONE is capable of copying data to and from FAT and NTFS volumes. It even supports USB drives, PATA and SATA. You can perform periodic backups with XXCLONE, or opt for a one-time disk upgrade/migration. Since XXCLOE copies files and folders, therefore, you can remain logged into Windows during the cloning process and also perform other usual tasks on your PC. XXCLONE also provides additional tools for duplicating the Volume ID, to repair non-bootable disk, creating batch files, etc.

To clone disk, select a source and destination volume and select a backup mode (backup the entire volume by copying all files from scratch, backup incrementally, backup Windows key directories or transfer system registry without file backup). Click Start to proceed further. You can also enable logging and debugging from the Advanced Settings tab.

You will be provided with a warning message, and informed if your selected backup mode will delete the data in the destination drive. After you click Yes, the backup process will initiate.

You can also benefit from the various tools provided by XXCLONE, which allow you to create a bootable target volume, add a test boot file in the source volume, duplicate volume I.D., create batch files, schedule tasks and manage restore point options.

XXCLONE works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.

Download XXCLONE

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If you become the victim of a hard disk crash or someone steals your laptop, I’m sure that most of us worry more about our data rather than the device itself. Data backup acts as a life saver in these situations, where you will be left without gigabytes of data if you don’t regularly perform backup. CrashPlan is a cross-platform application to backup and restore data to local and remote PC’s. It can perform scheduled backups to an internal or external disk, another PC connected to the network, or on a friend’s computer over the internet. Read more about CrashPlan after the jump.

Before you can start using the application, it requires you to register an account with the service. Enter you Name, Email, Password, and click Create Account to complete the registration process.

To start the backup process, click the Backup tab at the left, and select files and folders for creating a backup from Select button.

Once the files & folders are selected, selected Destinations from the left panel, and specify the save location for your backup. You can choose to backup your data to a friend’s computer, between your own personal computers connected though LAN, or to an internally or externally attached hard drive. Once the backup folder is selected, click Start Backup to begin the process.

The files and folders to backup can be changed any time from the Backup tab. It also lets you perform manual backup of your data.

The Settings tab allows you to configure General, Backup Account, Security and Network settings, such as Name of Computer, Percentage of CPU to use, Alert Method, Backup Schedule and Frequency, Account Information, Account Password, Data Encryption and Limiting Data Sending Rate.

Select the Restore tab to restore your data, Friends tab to invite your friends to download and install the application or connect with them if they are already running CrashPlan, and History to view the complete log of actions performed by the application.

CrashPlan is available in both free and paid flavors, and the complete comparison can be viewed on the product page. It works on all 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, and is also available for Mac OS X, Linux and Open Solaris.

Download CrashPlan

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O&O AutoBackup is an application to automatically synchronize files and folders from a source folder to a removable media device such as a USB or external hard drive. For example, you can create a backup copy of your important office documents, so that they are automatically saved to a USB when changes are made to them. The data copying process immediately starts after you connect the removable device, and updates made to the original data are synced periodically. This enables creating backup copies of data on external media devices, so that you can keep the data available in portable format for later use.

Using O&O AutoBackup is easy; just select and add source files and folders and specify the external media device, to which data is to be backed up. Once done, select an action, (copy all source data in a directory on the destination drive, copy all modified and new source data or perform synchronization), click Save, followed by the Execute button. If the plugged in removable device does not appear in the list, click Refresh to reload the device list. The first transfer option is meant for complete data transfer, whereas the second method copies all modified and source data (without deletion), to the destination folder. In case you would like to completely overwrite data in the destination device, select the third option.

O&O AutoBackup requires a free registration key that needs to be entered within 30 days, and you can request the key from the developer’s website. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download O&O AutoBackup

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In 2009, we reviewed EaseUs Todo Backup, and later covered the updated version 3.0, which introduced differential disk and file backups. Recently, this backup tool received another update. Version 4 of EaseUs Todo Backup has come with a number of new features, including a more compact interface, support for GPT disks, and an easy management console for managing multiple installations of EaseUS Todo Backup clients. More on the subject after the break.

If you have used the previous version of EaseUs Todo Backu, the the first major change that you will notice, is a more simplified user interface. Instead of splitting the various backup and recovery options in various tabs, they have been now placed on the Home tab. The other tabs on the main interface have been reserved for the management, logs and upgrade option. The Home tab provides options to quickly backup and recover data from a disk/partition, clone a partition or a disk, along with some quick links to handy tools that provide disk image check, creation of a bootable disk, wipe data, mount/unmount and convert image utility and the option to enable PreOS.

EaseUS has introduces a new Central Management Console, which provides ann easy way to manage all EaseUS Todo Backup clients. It has bee designed to help advanced users, like IT administrators, to remotely deploy backup plans for multiple installations of EaseUS Todo Backup clients on a LAN. The below diagram demonstrates the utility of the centralized management console.

Another major addition to version 4.0 of EaseUs Todo Backup is support for GPT Disk backup, recovery and cloning. GPT provides a flexible method for partitioning disks, as GPT disks partition format is well defined and self-identifying. GPT disks use both primary and backup partition tables for redundancy and CRC32 fields, which delivers improved partition data structure integrity. Each GPT partition has a unique  GUID, so no coordination is necessary to prevent partition identifier collision.

You can find out more about EaseUs Todo Backup version 4.0, from the link given below. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download EaseUs Todo Backup

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In 2009, we reviewed FavBackup, which is a tool for backing up and restoring your web browser settings and other data. Since our last review, FavBackup has undergone a number of updates, and has increased support for a number of new browsers and browser versions. In this post, we will take a look at the updates that FavBackup has undergone, and what new features can users now benefit from.

FavBackup seems to have been keeping abreast with the quick updates of famous browsers like Firefox and Chrome. The tool currently supports old and new versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari. For instance, browser support in FavBackup is present for Chrome version 16 and below, Firefox version 8 and below, Opera version 11.60 and below, as well Internet Explorer 8 and Safari 4.

Since our review, favBackup has added support for backing up Chrome login data, Opera’s typed links data, has resolved Firefox AdBlock backup issues, and fixed support for Firefox user styles backup.

While the latest Favbackup updates have focused on support for Firefox and Chrome, it is unfortunate that support for the latest Safari 5 and Internet Explorer 9 has not been added. During testing, I was able to create the backup file with IE 9, however, the restoration process did not seem to bring back the old data. The Favbackup website currently does not state support for IE 9 and Safari 5. FavBackup works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download FavBackup

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Backup of important data can act as a lifesaver in case of, say, a hard disk crash. The problem with most backup applications is that they don’t let you backup files and folders if they are in use. Ocster Backup is a backup and restore utility that takes care of this problem. It lets you create incremental backups of your data and store the backups on hard drives, USB drives or in the cloud using Ocster Secure Storage. The application allows you to encrypt your backups with AES (256 Bit) encryption, and backups can be performed automatically at scheduled times. Backups can also be paused and resumed in the middle, should you need to shutdown your computer.

The Backup & Restore process is just a piece of cake, as the application’s wizard takes you through the whole process. First, select if you want to Create New Backup Plan, Restore Backup or Manage Backup Plans.

Then, select the location of your backup. If you want to create a local backup, choose Store on Hard Disk, USB Stick or choose Store on Ocster Secure Storage to save your backup to the cloud.

If you are using the application for the first time, you will have to create a New Backup Plan. Enter the Backup Location, Backup Name and click Next to create a New Backup Plan.

Then, add the folders that you would like to add to the current backup plan by clicking the Add Folder button. You can choose to add complete folders, or just individual files to the backup. When all desired files and folders are added to the backup list, click Next.

Ocster Backup allows you to encrypt your backups with a password. Note that if you lose the password, you will not be able to access you data at all. So, make sure you’ve kept the password safe and, preferably, noted down.

Choose if you want to schedule the backup to performed automatically at a selected time. You can choose to backup your data on Daily or Weekly basis. Click Next after choosing the desired backup time.

Click Start Backup Now to start the backup process. A window will show you the Total Source Data Size, Processed Source Data, Elapsed Time and Estimated Time Left of the current backup process.

Ocster Backup works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Download Ocster Backup

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Everyone hates to lose their carefully accumulated iPhone data and apps, something which can occur quiet frequently on jailbroken iOS devices with a new firmware/jailbreak release. While it is easy to backup your media files and apps, especially with the kind of integration iOS 5 enjoys with iCloud, some things still don’t fall under iCloud’s protection. One such category of data items present on jailbroken devices is Cydia apps and tweaks, and their preferences. There is no easy and straightforward method of keeping a log of your tweaks, or backing up the settings you have chosen for each individual Cydia app. Granted, there have been tweaks around that allowed you to do this, but it gets even easier with OpenBackup, a newly-released Cydia tweak.

OpenBackup is a simple to use tool, contrary to what the description of the tweak would have you believe at first glance. When OpenBackup is launched through its Springboard icon, you get three buttons – Instructions, Backup and Restore – all three pretty self-explanatory. When you initiate a backup, OpenBackup will save all your Cydia apps and their preferences to a ZIP file in var/mobile/Library/Preferences/OpenBackupFiles location on your iDevice, along with a plain text log file that lists all backed up packages. This ZIP file, then, can be treated in two ways. If iCloud sync is supported and enabled on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, the backup file will automatically be saved to the cloud. Otherwise, you may choose to extract it from the above location to your computer, and restore it later when you wish to perform the latter operation. There is a minor drawback though; according to the utility’s description it, will only create backup for free tweaks, while paid tweaks will be ignored.

If iCloud is not available for you, the backup will have to be used via accessing the file system of your device. Here is a step by step guide as to how you can use the tweak without involving iCloud.

Instructions:

1. From the ModMyi repo in Cydia, install OpenBackup on your iDevice.
2. The installation of the utility will add a new icon to your device’s Springboard. Launch the app.
3. If you want, you can read the Instructions regarding the utility by tapping the first button on the screen. The real purpose of the app is to backup jailbreak data, and that can be easily done by just choosing the Backup option of OpenBackup. If you chose the iCloud path, your Cydia settings will automatically be uploaded to Apple’s cloud service (although we haven’t tested the iCloud sync ourselves).
4. Backing up will save the Cydia data to the following path in the device’s file system
   var/mobile/Library/Preferences/OpenBackupFiles
5. Access this location on your jailbroken iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad either through SSH, or using a tool like iFile or iPhone Explorer. Copy the files to your PC in a safe location.

To use the backup again for restore operation, just place these files at the location mentioned in step 4 of instructions, and from the Restore option in OpenBackup, a single tap will bring back all the data related to the free tweaks in your iPhone. Tethered jailbreak users be warned, for the restore function will require a reboot of your iDevice.

OpenBackup is available for free, and for all avid jailbreak users, it is a must-have.

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Earlier, we showed you how to create persistent Ubuntu Live media disk, and use it for resetting and changing Windows 7 administrator and standard user account password. Apart from tweaking with Windows registry hives, Ubuntu Live media disk can be used to create data backup, shrink partitions, clone hard disk, scan system for viruses, imaging disk partitions and more. Although disk imaging or hard disk cloning can be done using data backup and disk copying applications, malware-infected OS often make it hard to perform essential data backup operations. For instance, if a PC is infected with boot sector virus, disk cloning application doesn’t work unless you clean the system from virus and repair boot sector.

Ubuntu Live media disk lets you clone disks and create disk images, so that you can easily restore the data after performing low-level cleaning of the system. In this post, we will look at 2 simple ways for cloning and imaging disks using Ubuntu Live USB.

The first step is to change the system boot priority from BIOS menu. On system startup, press F2, F10, ESC, DEL, or other system defined key for accessing BIOS menu. Now, open Boot menu to set USB Hard disk/Removable Drive as first boost option. Once done, save the changes, plug-in Ubuntu Live USB, and the reboot the system. Once rebooted, it will take you to Ubuntu Live boot menu, select Run Ubuntu from this USB option to load Ubuntu OS.

Create Image of local disk partition to external hard drive

Once Ubuntu 10.10 is loaded, plug-in the external hard disk on which you want to create your primary hard disk image, and then mount the external hard disk from Places menu.

We will use Ubuntu dd command to create disk image. The command is widely used to perform low-level data copying and disk cloning operations. Using if (input file) and of (output file) operands, we can use dd to create an exact copy of specified disk in IMG format. To begin, click Applications and open Terminal from Accessories menu.

Now navigate to media disk using cd /media command. Open the external hard disk using the cd <disk label> command. You can use cd command to navigate to folder in external hard disk where image is to be created.

Since we need to create disk image to external drive, we will use sudo fdisk –l command to list down all the partitions of primary hard disk. This will help us identify the partition whose image is to be created on external hard disk. Once listed, note down the partition identifier under Device column, as it will be used to specify the hard disk partition with dd command to create a disk image.

The syntax for creating disk image is as follows:

sudo dd if=<disk partition identifier> of=./<name of disk image>

If you for instance want to create a disk image for /dev/sda5. Enter;

sudo dd if=/dev/sda5 of=./BackupDisk.img

The time it takes to create a disk image depends upon the size of specified disk partition.

Once the image is created, open external hard drive location in Nautilus (Ubuntu File Explorer) to verify the disk image size. Similarly, you can create disk images for other partitions of primary hard disk in external storage medium.

The dd command also lets you restore or extract the IMG file to specified location. The syntax of extracting IMG file is as follows.

sudo dd if=.<name of disk image file> of=<output location>

You can specify the local disk where data is to be extracted or specify the folder hierarchy where you want to copy the data from IMG file.

sudo dd if=./BackupDisk.img of=/dev/sda3

It must be noted that when you restore data from IMG file using dd command, it will wipe all the free space of target drive. The screenshot below shows the cloned D drive. To reclaim the free space, copy the data from cloned drive to other disk and then format the cloned drive using Windows built-in Format utility.

Clone Local Disk Using Ubuntu Live USB

The process of cloning disk is similar to creating disk image. All you need is to mount the primary hard disk and navigate to it in Terminal using cd <disk identifier> command.

Once mounted, use sudo fdisk –l to list down hard disk partitions, so that you can note down the Device identifiers of both disks including disk which is to be cloned and target disk where data is to be copied.

For instance, if you want to create a clone of /dev/sda5 in /dev/sda3. Enter following command

sudo dd if=/dev/sd5 of=/dev/sd3

It will take /dev/sd5 as input file (if operand) and clone disk at specified location (/dev/sd3).

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There are many free backup services out there, that let you create backup copies of your data, but most of them get you confused with a lot of options and menus. SaBackup is an open source backup application that creates incremental backups of your data by using Microsoft’s Robocop and Volume Shadow Copy service. You can add backup sources from an easy-to-use GUI, and define multiple folders to backup at a time. Moreover, it allows you to exclude file types, and specific files and folders from the backup sources, allowing you to customize the backups according to your need. The application enables you to run applications as pre-backup and post-backup operations. Running some applications require you to start them as administrator, and prompt you to enter administrator password; SaBackup lets you start applications as administrator by default. The backup files do not need any special application to view, and can be accessed from any regular file explorer.

The application has Backup to local drive and Backup to network share options at the top. The Backup Sources appear in the middle, while Add backup source, Edit backup source, Delete backup source, Move backup source up and Move backup source down, Start backup and Advanced settings buttons are available at the bottom. Click Start backup to start the backup process.

To create a new backup source, select Add backup source to access the New source window. Enter the name of your backup and enter directory path. If you want to exclude any specific files, file types or subfolders from the main folder, you can add them under Exclude Files and Exclude Folders. When every thing is done, click OK. Add multiple backup sources in the same way.

Select Advanced Settings to configure options such as Number of retries on failed operations, Wait time between retries, Run program before backup and Run program after backup. You can choose to start the applications as administrator by default. Click OK to save changes.

During backup, click Show Details button to view the complete log of the backup process, including Total, Copied, Skipped, Mismatch, Failed and Extras folders and files processed.

SaBackup works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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Microsoft and Apple are, quite literally, two worlds apart, as are their respective mobile devices, but should necessity ever call on you to get them together in one room (i.e., on one system), it is more than likely that several Steve Jobs & Bill Gates memes will cross your mind. If you’re a Mac user, and need to connect a Windows Phone 7 to your system to be ale to browse and sync files with it, you’ll find Windows Phone 7 Connector very useful. This Mac app, while invoking memories of the All Things Digital conference held in 2007, allows you to browse your Windows Phone 7 on a Mac, sync files to your system, and copy or delete them from your phone. The app supports two way sync, so you can sync your music, podcasts, images and other files from iTunes to your phone, and vice versa. You must have iPhoto installed on your Mac for syncing to work perfectly.

Launch the app and connect your phone, and the device will be automatically detected. The app displays available free space, and also tells you how memory usage is currently distributed between your files. Click Sync to read files from your phone.

You can selectively sync files from your Mac to your phone, and also view files on your phone. Before you sync, click Device Options once your phone has been detected, and select how you want the app to sync your phone each time it is connected. If you want to import photos and videos from the device, select the Import photos and videos from my device to my Mac option. You can also backup and restore files saved on your phone under  Device Update options. Click Create backup to initiate the backup procedure. Your phone will restart during the process.

To sync files from your Mac to the phone, select them from the expandable list to the left. All files in your phone will be listed using Browse Device. Select a file and click Preview to view it, and you may select multiple files and click Import Selected Items to copy them to your system.

To sync media files from iTunes to your Windows Phone 7 device, select Music from the left panel and select what you want to sync from iTunes. Follow suit for everything else you want to sync from your Mac to your phone.

The app is a simple way for you to quickly connect a Windows Phone to your Mac and browse files on it, and is an even more convenient way of syncing iTunes.

Get Windows Phone 7 Connector For Mac

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Time Machine is a feature in Mac that regularly backs up your hard drive, but setting it up, although worth the effort, is not something that a lot of people might consider doing. This is partly because not all data is equally important, and because the backups will consume precious space. Backuplist+ is a Mac app that is much simpler to set up, and ideal if you want to take periodic backups of particular files and folders to an external drive. The app not only backs up files and folders, but can also create backup images, ready for burning on optical drives. You can schedule backups at any interval of your choice, and as frequently as you want.

Once installed, create a Set (files and folders group to be synced together) to back up your first batch of files. Click the plus sign in the bottom left corner of the left panel, and enter a name for the set. To add files and folders, you can either drag & drop them onto the right panel, or use the plus sign below it. Specify a destination for saving the backed up files in the Destination folder, and click Backup.

Backup intervals can be determined for each set. Click the clog wheel at the bottom of the app window, specify a folder name for a particular set to be backed up to, add a date to the folder name, and schedule when and how often you want the set to be backed up from the Settings tab.

If you have a folder with a larger number of files that you want to exclude from the backup, you may do so by defining an exclusion criteria in the Exclude list tab. Additionally, you can run certain scripts before or after backing the up from the Automation tab, receive email alerts when a backup has successfully been taken, and even send your system sleep or shutdown commands once backup is complete. This feature can be highly useful if you want to take a backup at the end of the day, without having to wait for it to finish so you can log off.

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PowerFolder is a cross-platform folder sharing program to backup, sync and share data to and from multiple computers. It is designed for both advanced and novice users, and provides HTTPS/SSL and AES encryption. While PowerFolder has many Dropbox like features, it is distinctly unique in its own way, as its interface provides easier sharing and synchronization options for multiple folders. This ensures that you are conveniently able to sync different directories with the PowerFolder cloud, as well as multiple computers. Using PowerFolder, you can automatically synchronize files between numerous computers with the utility of configuring custom file versioning settings.

To get started, signup and login with a PowerFolder account.

Once done, you can select folder to begin synchronizing them with PowerFolder cloud.

You can start an instant wizard for synchronizing, sending/sharing, backing up and download files by clicking Wizard option from main interface.

One of the best features of PowerFolder is the display of real time synchronization stats, connected computers, files and folders within a selected directory (which is to be synced). To view this information, you will require dragging (expanding) the PowerFolder interface to display additional options i.e. Files, Members and Settings tabs.

Like other cloud storage services, you can also access and mange your saved data by signing in to your account from the PowerFolder website.

PowerFolder has both a paid (starting price $30) and free version. The free version provides 1GB of storage and direct sync space. Unlike the full version, it is limited to synchronization of 3 Folders. It is also worth mentioning that PowerFolder currently does not have a mobile version, which, for now, is a huge drawback, as other competing cloud storage service like Dropbox and Ubuntu One already have mobile applications. Power folder works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X and Linux.

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A while back, we covered TimeMachineScheduler that enables users to replace the default Mac OS X Time Machine backup interval with custom backup schedule. The application has the ability to skip the backup operation within the user-defined time range and auto-mount the backup drive to seamlessly backup the system data. Today, we have stumbled across another Time Machine tweaking application, namely TimeMachineEditor, which has a slew of Time Machine backup schedule options. Unlike TimeMachineScheduler, it doesn’t require you to disable the Time Machine from System Preferences to tweak the system backup schedule. You can create a complete backup plan by specifying the day and time for creating regular backups. Other advance options to make daily, weekly and monthly data backups are also available.

TimeMachineEditor doesn’t change default system files to schedule and perform the backup operation; it deploys its own backup scheduling and triggering mechanism to set the time interval and backup the system data at defined location. To configure the backup schedule, launch the application, choose Interval from drop-down menu, and then enter the time interval (in hours).

If you want to run the backup operation at defined day and time, choose Calendar Intervals from drop-down menu at top, and then set the backup day and time. By default, it shows an option to make hourly, daily, weekly or monthly backups on specified day, but you can use add button to further refine the backup schedule. Clicking add button reveals option to make hourly, daily, weekly backups at specified time.

Upon clicking add button, it will let you specify the day for Monthly, day for Weekly,  and time for Daily option. For example, if you choose Monthly from the drop-down list, it will ask you to mention the day followed by time to schedule the backup operation.

Once you’ve set the backup schedule, click Apply to enter the admin username and password to make changes to Time Machine backup schedule.

TimeMachineEditor comes particularly useful for those who don’t make quite a lot of changes to their system and user data, and want to use custom backup schedule instead of Time Machine’s hourly backup interval option. It works on a Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion.

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When playing games like Assassins Creed, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Need For Speed, losing game progress is something all gamers fear. Imagine all those hours spent on completing quests and missions wasted just because you did not have a fresh backup of your game progress. Previously, we reviewed SaveGameBackup and GameSave Manager, which allow you to perform manual backups of games, but they lack the option of scheduled backups. Gameston is a backup and restore application that lets you backup games, transfer them to other PC’s and restore them with the added ability to set an automatic schedule for creating game backups.

The main interface has Main, Backup and Preferences tabs at the left side, whereas the Add, Backup Now, Show Backups, Recovery, Edit and Remove buttons can be accessed from the bottom of the window. The game backups are displayed in main window.

To begin, click Add button from the main interface to add a game to the Backup List. The installed games will appear in the Add Game Wizard. Click Add Customized to add games that are stored in your PC but do not appear in Add Game Wizard. Enter the Viewing Name and game path in Save’s Path field. When all games are selected, click Next. You will be taken back to the main interface; click Backup Now to start backing up the complete list.

The Backup tab allows you to configure backup settings. You can change the Backup Folder, Enable Scheduled Backup and set the time to run backup after every 1 hour, 2 hours, 12 hours or 24 hours.

Games can be restored by clicking the Recovery button. The Recovery Wizard will guide you through the recovery process. The Preferences tab lets you change application behavior. Gameston doesn’t support Steam yet, but hopefully it will be included in the next release. It works on all Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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Acronis is a familiar name in the computer software industry that excels in offering secure and reliable data backup as well as storage management solutions to its users. Just recently, the company has released its official Acronis SyncMe client for Android that lets you remotely access data stored on Acronis cloud. Using Acronis SyncMe, you can instantly create and add new folders, images and videos to your existing cloud data or upload any file that is stored on your SD card. The app lets you add content to your favorites, keeps it in sync with any recent changes and provides you with option to download data to your device for offline access. That’s not all; you can share your online folders with other Acronis SyncMe users or share public links of your online content with your friends. The app also lets you access data that you might have uploaded from your PC via True Image 2012 – the official desktop client of Acronis which can be downloaded from the company’s website for free. Read on for further details.

When it comes to availing trusted, quality online cloud storage services, it is certainly hard to look past the likes of Dropbox, SugarSync, Box.net and the likes, but that does not necessarily imply that there is no room for a new entrant to bring something more to the table. This is where Acronis SyncMe steps in. It is a great way to utilize the mammoth 250GB of free cloud storage space offered by Acronis to each registered user. With Acronis SyncMe, not only can you upload your favorite content from your device on the go (handy option for data backup), you can also remotely access all your uploaded computer data.

To start using the app, you must be logged in with your Acronis credentials. In case you don’t have an Arconis account, you can signup for for free by hitting the Create A New Account button from within the app. Once logged in, you’re taken to the app’s neatly designed homescreen, where you will find all your data arranged under four tabs, namely SyncMe, Favorites, Storage and Settings.

The SyncMe tab displays all the data that you’ve stored on cloud via your device. Tapping a folder displays its contents whereas tapping a file lets you download it to your device. You can long press on a file to add or remove it to/from favorites, share its download link via email, check its properties or delete it. While on the SyncMe screen, you can tap Menu to manually Search for content, Create (and instantly upload) a new folder, image or video, Refresh all data, toggle List/Thumb (thumbnail) view or Upload a file from your SD card to cloud. The Multiselect option within this menu lets you select files and folders in batch, so that you may easily add them to favorites, share or delete them.

Even if you’re not connected to the internet, you can still access your favorites list. The app uses the Acronis folder on your SD card to store all such data.

The Storage tab displays all the data that you’ve uploaded to your Acronis cloud storage from your PC using True Image 2012. You can do everything that the app allows you to do within the SyncMe tab except for uploading new content or modifying/deleting existing content. The tab provides one-way data access to files uploaded from your PC.

The Settings tab carries your account information and the amount of storage space that you’ve consumed. Under the General Settings menu within the Settings tab, you can enable or disable the automatic sign-in feature as well as the option to sync data over Wi-Fi connection only. Furthermore, you may allocate total Local Cache (storage space on your SD card) that the app is allowed to use. To delete all the app’s cached data at once, just tap the Clear Local Cache button at the bottom of the same menu.

Acronis SyncMe is free on the Android Market. Download the app via the Market link or QR code provided below.

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ODIN is a freeware utility to backup and restore hard drive volumes, and even complete hard drives for Windows-based operating systems. ODIN can be run in two modes i.e. with a GUI or from a the command line. You can create or restore an entire disk image of used clusters, and run snapshots from command line or with the GUI (Graphical user Interface). The command line mode can be useful for automating tasks running from scripts. Odin also provides the utility to verify backup image to check for damaged disk image files. The created backup files can be split into different chunks and burned on a CD/DVD or saved on the local drive.

To backup a volume or the entire hard disk, select Backup option, choose a volume, a destination folder and click Start to initiate the backup process.

Before backing up volumes you can also choose to save only used block, save only used block and take snapshot, save all blocks, select a compression type (No compression, GZip or BZip2) and optionally choose a image file chunk size (in case you wish to split image files). Splitting of the image file chunks can help create precise blocks for writing them on a CD or DVD (e.g. 700 MB or 4.3 GB).

Once the backup process is complete, you can restore your disc image anytime by selecting the Restore option, specifying the disk image file and clicking Start. To use the command line option, enter the commands in the “Enter comment here for disk image” text box. If you would like to verify a disk image (IMG or MBR) then select the image and click Verify.

ODIN is an open source application, which works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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Mac OS X native backup utility, namely Time Machine, offers the easiest solution to backup data on external storage mediums and Time Capsules, but doesn’t allow changing the default backup time interval. If you’re looking for an application that can replace hourly backup schedule with custom backup time interval, TimeMachineScheduler is what you probably need. It’s a standalone application that lets you disable the Time Machine default backup interval function, and replace it with user-defined backup schedule settings without having to fiddle around with com.apple.backupd-auto.plist. You can set backup interval from 1 to 12 hours, and skip the backup operation within the specified time range.

TimeMachineScheduler installs itself as a System Preference pane. Before you set the backup schedule, it’s recommended to completely disable the Time Machine. Once done, select TimeMachineScheduler from System Preferences and from Scheduler section, click Install. This will start the installation of backup scheduler. After the process is finished, you can change Backup Interval settings including both default interval and skip backup time.

First off, set the backup interval time from the slider and then specify the time when you don’t want to perform the backup operation. For instance, if you want to run backup after every 6 hour except between 3 AM and 5 AM, move the slider to 6 and then specify the time range. The application lets you hide the backup volume as well as enable auto mount option for specified Backup Volume. To change these settings, first plug in the backup drive and then launch the TimeMachineScheduler to enable/disable Automount and Invisible options.

It works on Mac 10.5 and higher.

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[via Caschys]

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We have previously reviewed a number of rsync GUI applications that enable synchronization of your local and offsite files with powerful backend agent of rysnc. Retriev.er is a portable application which uses rsync as the backend agent to perform synchronization between source and target locations. Unlike previously reviewed rsync-based Grsync and Qtd Sync tools, it has a more simplified interface, and doesn’t require configuring any type of settings.  For those who aren’t familiar with rsync, it is a Command Line tool for Windows & UNIX to synchronize files and directories. What makes rsync quite handy is the ability to support a wide range of features and options that help users customize the synchronization jobs as per requirements. Since it uses rsync to create backup and synchronize files and folders, you need to specify the source path of rsync.exe file. After launching the application, select Options from File menu to specify the rsync.exe path.

Once done, click New, specify source and destination folder. You can schedule backups specifying date and time. Alternatively, you can choose to synchronize data on hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis. The synchronization process can also be performed recursively and remotely.

When you want to sync source and target locations manually, select the job and click Sync Select button. From bottom of the window, you can synchronization process details.

Like other rsync based applications, Retriev.er is available for a number of operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. You can read instructions for using this open source application on other operating systems from the Github page link given below.

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FBackup is a backup utility for Windows that can create and manage backups of files and folders. The backups can be sorted on local, removable or remote locations. It allows you to protect your data by scheduling tasks and password protecting your backups. The data can be stored in original form, or in compressed archives to save disk space. Filters are available to exclude temporary data from your backups and run predefined backup tasks such as My Documents, My Pictures, Outlook Express etc.

The interface has New, Open, Views, Copy, Properties, Delete, Backup, Restore, Cancel and Refresh buttons at the top. The backup jobs appear at the left, while details of the backup appear at the right side of the interface.

To start making backups, click New to enable a wizard which will guide you through the backup process. In the first step, enter Backup Name and choose the save location of backup. When everything is set up, click Next.

Then, select the folders that you want to backup. Click Add Folder to add folders to the backup list and click Add Files to add files to the list. To exclude and include temporary internet files, choose Exclude or Include from the Type drop down menu at the lower right corner.

You can either select the folders manually, or select a predefined backup task from the drop down menu at the top. The default backup tasks include FBackup Configurations, My Documents, My Pictures, Outlook Express and Windows Mail. Click Next when everything is set up.

In the next step, choose the type of backup from Make Full or Mirror. Selecting Mirror will save the files and folders in their original form while Make Full will compress the backup into a ZIP archive. Choose Yes and enter a password to encrypt your backup. Click Next when done.

Define the parameters for scheduling the backups. Configure How often?, What Day?, What hour?, User and Password, click Save and select Save and Run to start the backup process. 

The details of the backup process will be shown in the right side of the application. You can create and save multiple backup tasks in the same way. We only covered the basic method of making a backup but this application has more options that are not included in this review. FBackup works on all version of Windows.

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Although Mac OS X Time Machine provides a one-stop solution to backup and restore both system and user data, it comes with some limitations, which force enterprise clients/network users to consider third-party backup tools for backing up their important data to remote locations. You may know that Time Machine can only backup data on external storage medium and Apple Time Capsule (a Wireless router, network hard drive and print server packed into one). If you’ve been looking for a simple, yet powerful tool that can automatically mount network drive in order to seamlessly backup data to specified remote location, have a look a Simple Backup Utility. According to developer, it’s been designed for enterprise clients who are unable to use Time Machine in routed environments.

The application operates from system menu bar. After installation, click its menu bar icon to open Preferences. You need to specify both source and destination folders, and if backups are to be created on network drive, then specify the network drive you want to mount. Now enter the backup frequency (time interval for creating regular backups) and close the Preferences.

Once backup settings are configured, it will backup data from source path to destination folder after every defined amount of time. However, you can manually start the backup process from menu bar. When you start the backup process, its icon will animate in a clockwise direction, indicating that application is currently backing up the data.

Hovering mouse pointer over its icon shows the last successful backup time. If it, for some reason, fails to backup the data, the icon will turn yellow, and hovering mouse pointer over it will show the number of days passed since last backup.

Simple Backup Utility uses standard preference file, which can be remotely configured using Managed Client Settings (MCX). You will find its Settings table on product page. Moreover, it maintains a detailed log of backup processes in system.log file. To view Simple Backup Utility log, open system.log in Console and navigate to Simple Backup Utility section using search feature. It works on Mac 10.5 and later.

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SmartSerialMail is a Windows application that lets you create and send newsletters to multiple recipients. The application lets you send out up to 400 personalized emails at a time, and address each customer personally with their name. It has the option to create backups and restore your mailing lists, which can also be imported and exported into XML, HTML and CSV file formats. The application detects invalid, empty and duplicate email addresses and lets you easily delete invalid entries. Before sending the newsletter, you can get a preview of mailing list. More to follow.

The application has a simple wizard, which takes you through the initial configuration. First off, you will be required to set up a profile; enter your name, email address and click Next to begin the process.

Once setup is complete, you will see the main interface, which contains Profile, Recipients, Content, Preview, and Sending tabs. First, you need to configure Profile settings including From Address, Display Name, Reply Server and SMTP Server. You can also access Advanced Outgoing Server Options to manually configure mail server settings.

The Recipients tab lets you create mailing lists. All you need is to enter Mail Address, First Name and Last Name of the recipients. When the newsletter goes out, all the individuals will be addressed by their first and last names.

From Content tab, you can edit the newsletter template. It allows you to change the text layout, insert placeholders view source code, insert images, create and edit tables and insert hyperlinks of the template. Once newsletter template is created, enter the subject of your newsletter and then click Preview tab to view your newsletter..

Clicking Send Mail tab begins the sending process. You can view Profile, Recipients (Unsent, Sent, Error, Blocked) and Content (Subject, Message Size) along with other information in main window. It allows you to Save, Delete, Start, Pause and Abort the process.

SmartSerialMail is an extensive newsletter sending utility, but we have tried to cover all the important features and options. You can, nevertheless, check out complete features list on its product page. SmartSerialMail Free version doesn’t allow you to send email attachments, but if you want to send files with newsletters, you can upgrade to Small Business version and Enterprise Edition from within the application. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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Mostly, it’s the value of the data stored in a hard drive that motivates us to create backups. Since the data keeps changing, regularly updating the backups in accordance with the data is a lot of hassle. Windows File Replicator is a simple backup tool that replicates changes made in your source folder to your destination folder in real time. It is capable of monitoring multiple source folders for changes, and automatically makes those changes to your multiple backup locations. You can set the application to replicate data when it is renamed, created, changed or deleted in source folders. Windows File Replicator monitors all the errors, warnings and messages, and allows you to export list of alerts in an excel file.

The interface of Windows File Replicator has three tabs; File Replication Tasks (to start and edit replication settings), File Replication Alerts (to view errors, warnings and messages) and File Replication Log File (to view exceptions). To start, right-click File Replication Tasks and choose New File Replication Task in the left pane to enable the File Replication Task Editor. Now, choose a task name, check the operations that you want replicated in your backup folder, select a source folder and a destination (backup) folder, check Task is Enabled, and click Update. You can include sub-folders for backups by selecting Include Sub Folders, and can add multiple tasks in the same way to backup more folders. Finally, start, pause or delete a task at any time by right-clicking the task name in the left pane.

Open the File Replication Alerts tab if you want to view the Errors, Warnings and Messages that appear while replicating files. You can save the list in an XMLX format for future use.

The File Replication Service can be accessed from the File Replication Log File tab. It keeps track of exceptions occurring in the replication process, and maintains a log file that can be used to diagnose any problems with the service.

Windows File Replicator is an open source application, and works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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EVACopy is a comprehensive backup and restore tool, developed for both system admins and novice users alike. This portable application includes 3 default sources to backup: My Documents, Favorites and Desktop, combined with Outlook default mailbox. However, just like any other backup application, it lets you specify any local and/or remote location for creating backups. Apart from keeping backups of your recent documents, you can keep previous versions of backups to restore them later. EVACopy works silently in background without disrupting your workflow. It allows you to set predefined paths, exclude files and folders from backup operations, tweak with backup logging and perform post-backup actions.

Moreover, you can specify post-backup actions to streamline you backup operations. It maintains detailed logs of your backups, so you can check the errors it encountered during the backup and restore process. On the first launch, you need to configure EVACopy’s basic setup. In Sources, define the folders you want to backup. In Destination, select the folder where your backups will be saved. Set Launching on Automatically or Manually, depending on your preference, and click Save and Launch EVACopy!

To perform backups, right-click on the program’s system tray icon and choose the folders you want to backup. The icon will keep blinking as an indication for an ongoing backup.

To access advanced settings, right-click the system tray icon and select Configure from Settings. You can change destination folders under Predefined Paths, file and folder exclusions can be defined in Paths and Exclusions, logs can be managed through Options and Logging, post-backup operations can be set up under Upon Completion, and automatic backup settings can be changed in Resident.

EVACopy works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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Phone management software are plentiful, but once in a while, something manages to outshine the competition by a huge margin. Presenting MyPhoneExplorer to the delight of those with Sony Ericsson’s mobile devices or Android-based phones. This recently-updated program is a phone management suite to help sort your Contacts, Calls, Calendar, Alarms, Notes, Messages, Internal Memory and External Memory. It can also monitor your phone’s battery and CPU statistics, as well as the memory status. Other options allow you to create and restore backups, send and receive messages and even dial calls from the comfort of your PC. Read on after the jump to find out more about this feature-packed, widget-equipped application.

The application’s interface features File, View and Extras tab. The left sidebar contains links for Contacts, Calls, Organizer, Messages and Other menu categories, while items are displayed in the right pane. Contextual buttons appear above the right pane according to the selected category.

When you launch the program for the first time, click File and choose Connect to set up your phone. Notice that, to use the phone over a WiFi or Bluetooth connection, you will have to download MyPhoneExplorer client from the Android Market (this connection mode does not work for non-smartphones). To connect through WiFi, run the client on your phone and connect to the same network as your PC. Alternate connection mode is through a USB cable, which is considerably faster than a wireless one. Choose Settings under File to change preferences like connection, sync, appearance, etc.

Apart from conventional data/personal detail management, the application also allows sending and receiving SMS messages to your contacts.

You can also create a backup of your phone using MyPhoneExplorer. Open Extras tab and go to Create Backup. Available options include Contacts (SIM & phone both), Events and tasks, Notes and SMS and Profiles; check the items that you want to backup and click Create Backup.

You can sync your Contacts, Calls and Organizer with your PC using the Synchronize button. Contact sync is supported for various services, including MS Outlook address book and Google contacts.

There is also a File Browser that allows you to access the contents of your phone’s internal memory and SD card.

MyPhoneExplorer may pose a short learning curve, but once settled, it proves to be a highly useful application. During installation, you can also choose if you want to make the application portable. It works with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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[Via Caschys]

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Backup Folder Sync is a backup & restore application that mirrors your selected folders. You can save the backups to a local folder, external drive, USB stick, network share or mapped drive, and restore them to the any folder, including the original one. The application allows you to save your backup selections as jobs, so you don’t have to select the folders each time you are making a backup of some particular folders. A detailed report listing each file and folder being affected is also created during a backup for your later review.

When you re-do your backups, only those files are copied that have been added or modified. If any folders are deleted in the source, these items will also be deleted from the backup destination folder so you don’t have any old items when restoring your backup.

Backup Folder Sync has two panes. The folders appear in the left pane while the backup and restore process is shown in the right pane. At the top, there are buttons for Open Job, Save Job, Refresh, Clear, Destination, Backup, Restore etc.

To begin, click Destination to choose a local or a remote location for saving your backups. Selecting folders is just a matter of right-clicking the directories you want to include, and Ctrl+right-click to exclude.

With your selections in place, click Backup. You’ll need to enter a name for the backup job. As stated earlier, saving backup jobs is advantageous in that the next time you need to make a backup of the same folders, you can just open the job and all your folders will be pre-selected. Backup Folder Sync will display all the files in the right pane.

When you want to restore your data, just select the Destination where you saved your backups, click Restore Open and select the folders you want to restore by right-clicking on them. When all folders are selected, click Restore.

If you delete or modify a file or folder in source, and then overwrite the back up, it will also be deleted in the backup set to avoid cluttering of unwanted files and folders. A limitation of Backup Folder Sync is that you cannot schedule your backups to be performed automatically, but we hope the developer will include this in future releases. This application requires Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher and works on all versions of Windows.

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