Review: NOVA Backup 2011

Posted: April 06, 2011

NovaBACKUP backs up and restores your data better than any other data backup software. It also allows you to store your backups anywhere you want and ensures that your backups remain virus-free. This data backup software’s interface is sophisticated enough for data backup experts, but is also simple enough to reduce the learning curve for people who haven’t use this kind of software before.

[caption id="attachment_8550" align="alignright"]Image courtesy of Top 10 Reviews[/caption]With a number of flexible, complex features, NovaBACKUP is powerful data backup software. This application addresses the needs of users of all skill levels with an interface that’s split into a Simple View and an Advanced View. The Simple View has tools beginners can use without any problems while the Advanced View has features for people that have used data backup software before. This application is essentially a two-for-one deal. NovaBACKUP wins our TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award for data backup software hands down because of its dynamic features and interface.

Feature Set:

The Copy Wizard gives users a simple tool to create copies of selected files or folders. While this feature is very useful, we found the description of the various copy types to be less detailed than we would have liked. We recommend the regular copy because it’s identical to copying and pasting files from one location to another on your hard drive. The other copy types, mirror and bidirectional, are a little trickier. Mirror copies delete files from the destination that aren’t in the source, creating an identical mirror image of just the source file, while bidirectional copies move files from one path to another without deleting any files.

NovaBACKUP provides shortcuts to the sign-up pages for several prominent online storage services like Steelgate Technologies. The sales that are provided within this data backup software make looking into online storage solutions worthwhile. You’re going to have a hard time finding these deals elsewhere.

Ease of Use:

NovaBACKUP’s flexible interface makes this data backup software particularly easy to use; however, switching between the Simple View and the Advanced view might result in reduced functionality since it’s sometimes difficult to find features that are located in the Advanced View in the Simple View and vice versa. 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. Features that have identical names function differently in one view than they do in the other, which increases the learning curve for users who want to transition from one view to another. We would like to see Novastor make the depth of each feature’s explanation the only difference between the two feature sets.

Backup/Restore:

NovaBACKUP’s Simple View and Advanced View present you with two similar, yet unique feature sets. These feature sets provide simplified backup and recovery wizards for beginners and advanced features like the Copy Wizard for data backup experts.

[caption id="attachment_8551" align="alignright"]Image courtesy of Top 10 Reviews[/caption]You’ll find the Refresh My Backup feature in the Simple View. The feature incorporates any recent changes you’ve made to your files into your backups. You can accomplish the same goal by scheduling a backup of only the modified files on your hard drive.

Using the Backup Wizard in the Simple View requires three easy steps. First you choose whether you want to backup only the files in the My Documents folder or all the files on your hard drive. Next, you have to choose if you want to limit your backup to just the files that have been modified since the previous backup. Finally, you have to decide if you want to start the backup now or perform it at a later time.

You’ll find options for virus scanning, backing up open files, backup verification and data compression in the Advanced View version of the Backup Wizard. Since viruses are often the reason you lose data, this feature is especially helpful. The last thing you would want to do is back up viruses and deal with subsequent or repeat data loss. This option will simply inform you of any viruses. It’s up to you to pick additional software that will remove them completely.

The Advanced View version of the Backup Wizard lets you choose whether you want to perform a snapshot, differential, incremental or full backup. Snapshot backups back up every file or folder you select but don’t mark any files as backed up. Differential backups deal with files that have changed or been backed up previously, and this option also doesn’t mark files as having been backed up. Incremental backups addresses the same files as differential backups, except this option marks them as being backed up. Full backups create a backup of all selected files and mark each file as backed up. You should perform a full backup first and then use one of the other kinds of backups to modify and update the original backup.

You’ll find that NovaBACKUP has great options for managing backups which will help make data recovery a breeze. These features include verifying, compressing and performing backups and creating bootable media. When you verify a backup, you’re double checking to make sure the backup includes all of the files you wanted backed up and eliminating the chance of errors popping up when you try to recover your data. Backup compression decreases the amount of hard drive space your backups occupy. This feature is helpful because the last thing you would want to do is have to delete backups to free up hard drive space. These options are parts of an all-encompassing solution for users who want to protect their data against disaster.

NovaBACKUP’s data recovery features are even simpler to manage than its data backup options. You’ll notice that the Restore Wizard is the same in the Simple View as it is in the Advanced View. First, you select files and folders you want to restore from within a backup file. Then you decide where you will store the restored versions of your files and if they will overwrite existing files. There’s nothing more to it than that.

Help/Documentation:

Novastor’s complex customer service offerings are presented in table form on their website. Their help documentation, training videos, forum and knowledge base are available to everyone no matter what. If you want unlimited email support for one year, you’re going to have to pay a one-time fee to enroll in their customer service plan. With this plan, any emails you send will be responded to within one business day. They pledge even faster response times if you upgrade your service plan. You can also hire Novastor’s technical support team to restore your data for you and set up this data backup software.

While you’ll find a lot of information in their online training videos, documentation, knowledge base and forums, their current pay-to-play customer service structure diminishes the value of the options they give away.

Biz Tip Source: Top 10 Reviews