Restoration Software: they may not be glamorous,
but these four backup utilities can be lifesavers
if your hard drive crashes

You're supposed to back up your PC's data like you're supposed to floss your teeth: regularly. Those ubiquitous denture-cleaning commercials give you an idea how many people actually floss on a regular basis, and the tales of woe on tech-support lines when hard drives crash tell you just how many users archive their data.

Careful PC owners have a number of options to back up their files. You'll find a plethora of backup utilities available to help restore missing data. The four programs we tested --

• Dantz Development's Retrospect Professional 6.0,
• Novosoft's Handy Backup 3.9,
• NewTech Infosystems' NTI Backup Now Deluxe 3.0, and
• LIUtilities' WinBackup 1.73

promise to make backup a less painful chore and are able to back up to a variety of platforms: onto CD, DVD, or Zip drives, across a LAN, or, in some cases, to an FTP site. They can automatically span data across a number of discs and also make it easy to schedule regular times for backup.

Software isn't the only possible solution to your backup needs. Online backup services are growing in popularity, and we take a look at a couple in our sidebar "Online Backup: Set It and Forget It."

But just as buying floss doesn't mean you'll actually run it between your teeth, purchasing a backup utility won't help you if you don't set up regular times to use it. Luckily, using one of these programs will make the chore less taxing--as long as you let it.

DANTZ RETROSPECT PROFESSIONAL 6.0

EDITORS' RATING 8.0

The feature-rich $129 Dantz Retrospect Professional 6.0 isn't the fastest backup application on the market, but its thorough archival routines ensure your data is stored correctly. Retrospect allows you to restore system settings, as well as every file and folder on your PC, to a previous state.

The program supports a wide variety of DVD and CD writers, as well as Zip, floppy, and tape drives. In addition, it comes ready for small LANs and can archive data from two additional Windows or Macintosh clients. Another plus is its boot-by-CD feature, which lets you create a CD restore disc that guides you through a system restore.

Dantz Retrospect Professional 6.0 is a meticulously thorough backup app that's sure to please small-business users, but it may be overkill for home users.

HANDY BACKUP 3.9

EDITORS' RATING 7.0

Novosoft's $30 Handy Backup 3.9 accomplishes two of the three primary goals of backup software. It allows for a variety of backup scenarios--including backups to FTP sites and local networks--and it lets you schedule automatic backups. This app lacks an intuitive interface, however.

Handy Backup 3.9's interface isn't perfect, but the program will pay for itself at its low price, even if you recover your data only once.

NTI BACKUP NOW DELUXE 3.0

EDITORS' RATING 8.0

The $79.99 NTI Backup Now Deluxe 3.0 is a powerful application with the ability to back up using DVD drives and to save data to multiple drives. Plus, NTI provides free-for-life technical support. Although it won't back up to FTP sites and makes storing files to a LAN difficult, the software's easy interface offsets these shortcomings.

Although NTI Backup Now Deluxe 3.0 is expensive, it's worth it for the convenience and features. But if you're on a budget, you might prefer the cheaper Handy Backup, although it lacks flexibility.

WINBACKUP 1.73

EDITORS' RATING 8.0

The $49.95 ($29.95 for the download) WinBackup 1.73 effortlessly backs up files and folders to hard drives or removable-storage devices such as DVD, CD-R, or Zip drives. Although the program lacks some high-end features that corporate users demand, such as the ability to back up to tape drives, it's still an attractive value.

Although WinBackup 1.73 isn't the best corporate option, it's a solid backup program for consumers and small-business users.  (Download a review copy here.)

Tips for Backing-up Your PC Files

• Automate Your Backups: Forgetting to back up regularly is a recipe for disaster. Your backup software should allow you to perform backups automatically, giving you one less thing to worry about.
• Stick to a Schedule: Set aside time to do full monthly backups and more-frequent differential backups (backups of files that have been modified since your last full backup). Back up data files at least once a week; once a day is even better.
• Verify, Verify, Verify: Files can get corrupted, and drives can malfunction. Your backups are useless if you can't open them, so make sure the copied files work on your system.
• Back Up Settings, Too: Obviously, you'll want to back up your crucial documents, but what about system settings and Internet bookmarks? To restore your PC to its most current state, you need to find where your applications save user settings and back up those.
• Buy a Second Hard Drive: With hard drive prices falling and capacities going up, installing a second hard drive to back up your primary drive is more cost-effective than ever. If you want to be extra-cautious, purchase an external hard drive to store your data separately from your PC.
• Back Up on Your Network: Partition-copying utilities such as Norton Ghost let you copy a complete hard drive to another drive on your network (same computer or a different one).
• Make Fresh Floppies: Yes, some people still back up to floppies. Disk manufacturers claim they last a lifetime, but make fresh copies of your disks every few years, just in case.
• Keep Backup Copies Safe: If your basement office floods, not only might your PC be damaged, but the backup copies of the data you store next to it might, too. Consider placing critical data offsite, even in a safe-deposit box, to protect against natural disasters.

Copyright 2003 Gale Group, Inc. ASAP Copyright 2003 ZDNet Computer Shopper July 1, 2003,
BYLINE: Bertolucci, Jeff; Randall, Neil, INTRODUCTION BY SEAN PORTNOY