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Backup For One

From Tony Bradley, CISSP, MCSE2k, MCSA, A+, for About.com

Backup For One
What Is It?: Backup For One from Lockstep Software is a Windows program that allows you to easily automate backup and restoration of your critical computer data.
Why Use Backup For One?: Backup For One is flexible and easy to use. You can backup your entire computer with one click or you can create custom sets of files and folders that you would like backed up.

Backup For One can be scheduled ot automatically backup at specified intervals and it allows you to backup to various media including external USB or firewire hard drives.

What Are The System Requirements?: You can install Backup for One on any computer running:
  • Windows XP
  • Windows 2003
  • Windows 98
  • Windows 2000
  • Windows ME
  • Windows NT 4.0
  • Windows 95

    You will need approximately 5 MB of disk space to install Backup for One.

    You will need a storage device for your backup data. Backup for One stores your data on any external USB or Firewire hard drive device.

  • Features of Backup For One:
  • Automated, disk-based, backup for your Windows computer
  • Flexible scheduling and automatic email reports
  • Automatically closes Outlook or Outlook Express to enable backup of those files and restarts it when the backup is completed
  • One-button backup and one-button restore
  • Custom disaster recovery plan offers step-by-step instructions for rebuilding your system after a crash or other catastrophe
  • Snapshot of Backup For One: Backups are a necessary part of any disaster recovery plan. Whether through malicious code such as a virus or trojan, hardware failure such as a hard drive crash or physical disaster such as a fire or flood, there may come a time when those backups you've made regularly will come in handy.

    That is unless you are from the vast majority of people who don't think about backing up their data until its too late. Not only is it prudent to back up all of your critical data files and important personal data from your computer, but its important that you store it separately from the computer itself. Your backup won't do you much good if it becomes a pile of molten plastic in a house fire right next to your computer.

    Traditionally, backup software has relied on tape-based systems. Tape drives offered a large amount of space at a relatively cheap price so that users could back up their entire computer if they wanted to onto one tape. Now that hard drives are dirt cheap it just makes sense to use that as your primary media rather than tape.

    Backup For One allows you to backup your data easily onto disk-based media, including external USB or firewire drives. You can backup your entire system at the push of a button or you can create custom sets of files and folders. Backup For One allows you to set virtually any schedule you like for automatically performing the backups and you can also configure it to automatically email you a status report once the backup is completed.

    I found the software easy to use and easy to configure. Under the preferences you can define how long you want your backup media to be stored, what types of system messages should be written to the log, the email address to receive automated reports or how to encrypt the stored data. The user interface is very clean and user-friendly.

    Windows has built-in backup functionality, but it is not as easy or flexible as this program. Backup For One can help you ensure your data is there for you when you need it.

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