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by Kevin J. Vella
Uniblue
Systems
In Part One, I mentioned the six attributes that the backup industry uses to
classify the various features of their products.
In this second part, I will explain each attribute in greater detail so as to give you a
thorough knowledge of what to look for in backup software.
Ease of Use: You need to ask a set
of questions in relation to how easy it is to install and configure the software, to use the
product to back your data and to use the product to restore your data. For example:
Is the install interface clear and unequivocal?
Are the steps written in plain English and do not leave any place for choosing the wrong
options? Is the product easy to use and user
friendly? Is the user interface built in a
Windows-familiar environment? Are the
user-interface and the commands intuitive? Does
the product allow step-by-step backup and restore? Does the product allow non-technical users to make use of
this product? How easily can the user browse
around the various options to set up backups and restores? How easily can the user browse around the documents and
application settings to set up backups? Are
there any shortcuts to this data and settings? How easily can the user browse the backup archive to find
and restore multiple or single files?
Value for Money: Money is always an
issue, otherwise, we would all be living the life of the rich and famous! However, this may not always be the case with backup
software. We usually advise people not to look
at the price tag on its own but to make calculations as to the relationship between price and
functionality and price and time spent on backup and restore. For example, does the vendor
offer limited functionality with the “bare-bones” product and more functionality pricey
“add-ons” that only together will the product provide the required protection? Does the product sacrifice performance and reliability for
price? Are upgrades and patches available at a
charge? In relation to the time factor, buyers
must beware. Beware, some brands may be more
costly than others to administer. If, for
example, the compression technology of the particular product is not strong, it takes longer
to perform backups the data backed up is spread over a larger number of media (taking up more
storage space). Therefore, although a product
may be less pricey, it may be more expensive to run in the long term.
Reliability: The issues of reliability
are three-fold – (a) does the product deliver consistently a 100% accurate restore of the set of
data that was backed up? This includes such aspects
as reliable schedules, accurate reporting and fault logging features (whether you are alerted
when and if things go wrong), and validation of data integrity. Data validation or verification is extremely important because
there are certain technologies (e.g., bit level validation) that guarantee that your data
restores are 100% accurate. (b) Does the product
secure your data from prying eyes? Although, at
face value, this may not be important to the user, think about whether you would like somebody
else to steal your backup files and looking at (or distributing) your personal
data. Therefore, ask whether the product has
password protection and supports the best levels of encryption. (c) Is the
vendor reliable? Does the vendor provide
technical and customer support? Is the vendor
slow to answer?
Performance: The product must be fast and
it must not sacrifice sheer power for reliability, value for money, and ease of
use. You must be able to backup your data
securely and accurately in a few minutes and not spend a fortune on such basic
functions.
“Depth of Feature Set”: What features does the product have? How does the product compare to other vendors? The features that you should have are - compression,
encryption, scheduling and reporting, popular media support, high data volume support (as few
products have actually overcome the problem of memory leakage), validation or verification of
data integrity, full and incremental backup feature, restore multiple or single files to
original and to any location, and strong fault-logging.
“Breadth of Backup and Media
Coverage”: Finally, make sure that the
product backs up your PC (or notebook) and supports a strong list of backup storage media
including CD, Pen Drives, and Zip Drives.
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