"The Backup Solution for the Home or Office"

www.novastor.com

INTRODUCTION

So you have decided that you have heard just about enough horror stories about hard drive crashes resulting in the loss of weeks of data and untold lost revenue; or maybe you have personal experience with this and as you were looking at the monitor just showing flickering static, you asked yourself 'why didn't I back it up?'. NovaBACKUP 7 is exactly what you are looking for then.

NovaBACKUP 7 is a very robust backup solution. It is network aware to allow for backup and restoration across a networked environment, it will work seamlessly with the vast majority of storage devices currently on the market. It allows for advanced as well as wizard guided backup and restoral procedures. NovaBACKUP can be configurable for unattended functionality as well as onsite usage. It will also allow for multiple media backups to cover significant data storage.

INSTALLATION

Installing NovaBACKUP 7 is the simplest procedure. Once you have the original file downloaded, it is just a matter of executing the install file, telling it where to install and accepting the EULA. During the install you will need to input a user account that the program can run on when the system is not otherwise being used. When it is finished installing, the final size is only 14.8 megabytes of disk space.

CONFIGURATION

There is little configuration needed before making use of the program. It will identify the Operating System drive automatically so mainly any automated backup solutions will need to be configured then it is just a matter of opening the program for more specific backup requests.

The steps necessary to configure NovaBACKUP 7 for scheduled backups is extremely easy and straightforward. You will start by accessing the scheduling function then clicking on 'Add'. You will need to define if the backup will be a one time, hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. The longer you define between backups will mean more information will be needed, ie scheduling for monthly means setting a day for the backups to be performed.

INTERFACE

The interface is laid out in a clean and very intuitive style, the generic access controls of 'file, edit, etc...' are complemented nicely by larger quick start buttons for the primary functions of the program. The buttons are labelled clearly for their function and clicking on them brings up screens with clearly defined functions. Each screen has 'right-click' options available when there are multiple functions that can be applied, ie on the Scheduling screen you have 'refresh' and 'add' when you are right clicking in the fields, as well as buttons for those functons located in the bottom right of that screen. This touch makes the whole process just that much faster to setup for anyone that is already familiar with Windows tendency to offer the 'right-click' shortcuts.

FUNCTIONALITY

NovaBACKUP can be configured many ways and there are several choices you will need to make depending on how this can work best for you. There are three basic configurations that will cover the majority of uses; Backup, Restore and Disaster Recovery.

Choosing Backup will bring up a screen with the folders on the left pane and the specific files displayed on the right. From this screen you can choose to backup folders, drives or specific files. Once you have selected the items you wish to Backup, you can click on the settings button to assign encryption, filters, if you want to enable the anti-virus support, your destination devices and any custom scripts you want to run. Then it is just a matter of clicking Backup.

Choosing Restore will bring up a three pane window, one along the top and the other two beside each other below. The top window allows you to browse among the backups that are available for restoral on your network. Once you have chosen what backup you want to restore, double clicking on it in the upper pane will open it in the lower left pane.where you can select to restore it in it's entirety or select specific elements. You cannot select specific files to restore from the left hand pane, but they are listed in the right hand pane.

Choosing to prepare for a Disaster Recovery situation will mean you will need to ensure you have a destination media capable of handling all of the files you currently have in the Program Files folder on your Operating System drive as well as any other drive/folder/files you want to prepare against catastrophic failure. Essentially the rest of the settings are the same as when you are running a standard backup. There is an option to create a generic Disaster Recovery boot disk from the menu along the top of the screen.

CONCLUSION

NovaBACKUP 7 is a very smooth and user friendly program. It will not matter if you are an experienced SysAdmin or the sole employee of a new startup, you will be able to make effective use of this program and it will provide you with peace of mind knowing that the data that you and/or your company needs, is protected. This program used in conjunction with a conscientous data backup regimen will mean, any downtime which is the result of systems failure will be determined more by the ability to get the hardware back online.

ANIMATED DEMO

COMPARISON CHART

PROS: a. quick and simple installation b. very easy to create, modify or delete configurations CONS: a.In all honesty, with the testing I performed, I did not find any element that I would define as a con. Reviewed By: Brett Mumford