I used the HOME edition of this software some time ago and I was impressed by its advanced features (see its "SMART SELECTION" feature and its automatic backing up capabilities), but after trying other similar products I realized that this SW (worth $ 60) is not the best backup & restore program out there, especially with regard to its backing up SPEED process, even when compared to FREE solutions!

The Professional edition gives users the ability to restore their system and data even if Windows no longer boots up, thanks to the option to create a bootable startup disk in a virtual partition, USB drive, or ISO image.

So THUMBS UP from me!!

Does this mean I would recommend this software to anybody??

Well, if you are looking for a "file-level" backup program only, this software is probably one of the BEST ones on the market right one....so YES, I'd recommend it without hesitation...after all it's FREE here today, isn't it??!!

But heck, 60 bucks is quite expensive in my view, taking into account that there are so many freeware out there which can do more or less the same things for FREE and at higher speed. Besides that, what happens if we lose the GAOTD key due to a PC crash??

BEST (and BETTER) FREE ALTERNATIVES

* AOMEI Backupper (==> My Personal First Choice)
Amazing brand-new free one-click backup and restore software for home and commercial use, designed to backup both PC and Server in order to prevent data loss.

KEY FEATURES

Supports Incremental & differential backups, Encryption and Compression,
Supports ALL storage devices out there (IDE, SATA, SCSI, SSD, USB external disks, Hardware RAID and so on) with a capacity greater than 2TB, as well as MBR and GPT style.
Supports Windows 7/8/XP/Vista and Server 2003/2008/2011/2012 (both 32bit & 64bit).
Backup & Restore your entire hard disk drives
Backup & Restore your single partitions (including dynamic volumes) to an image file.
Backup & Restore your operating system and installed applications

With this magic FREE tool you can even restore individual files and folders from a backup image file without being forced to recover the entire backup. It can also check the data integrity of your image file, so as to make sure your backups can be restored with no hassle, giving you even the ability to mount your backup image files on a virtual partition in order to browse and see their contents in Windows Explorer.

http://www.aomeitech.com/aomei-data-backuper.html

LINUX BOOTABLE DISK EDITION (to help you recover files even if Windows no longer boots up):

http://www.aomeitech.com/download-iso.html

Just download this Linux bootable disc (amlnx.iso) and save to the installation directory of AOMEI Backupper.
Then run AOMEI Backupper, and click “Utilities” -> “Create Bootable Media” -> “Linux – Create bootable disc based on Linux kernel”, and click “Next” button to burn this ISO file to CD/DVD.
Yes it's true: better safe than sorry!!

* FBackup
Cool FREE APP which is able to protect your important data (files & folders) by backing it up automatically to any USB/Firewire device, local or network location.
This magic FREE tool uses ZIP64 compression (meaning it can create zip files over 2GB in size) and, unlike most (paid and free) backup software out there, it's capable of making a mirror without creating unnecessary folders. To do that, just select the "mirror option", then deselect “Create full paths” and finally select “Remove excluded or deleted files from backup".

http://www.fbackup.com

And as far as I know it's also the only free backup software out there supporting BACKUP PLUGINS for specific program settings.

Here there's a list of over 100 different plugins ready to be used:

http://www.backup4all.com/backup-plugins.html

* Paragon Backup & Recovery 2013 FREE
Excellent FREE disaster recovery and system migration utility, providing you with an impressive array of features designed to satisfy the needs of even the most professional user out there.
This new FREE Edition enables you to back up images of your individual partitions, your entire Hard Drive (including GPT-discs), and/or even of your MBR (Master Boot Record), containing on-disk information and the system service structures.
Restoration options include restoring an entire disk, separate partitions or even single files from the previously created backup image. Best of all, this software also enables users to build a disaster recovery CD or DVD to use in order to restore a backup image of your HD, fix boot problems and perform copy operations, should Windows no longer be able to bootup.

Free and Paid Edition Comparison Chart features:
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/comparison.html

Download:
http://dl.paragon-software.com/free/br_free.msi

To get the KEY for FREE just click the Registration button during installation, or better yet just go to this registration page and fill all the required information:

http://www.paragon-software.com/registration/br2013free.html

As a "file-level" backup tool only, you may also try this FREE GEM:

http://personal-backup.rathlev-home.de/index-e.html

But if you prefer to use a cool file synchronization software, to backup your files & folders on multiple PC & devices, well don't hesitate to download & install this FREE & PORTABLE tool ki$$ing your wallet and worries goodbye for good:

http://synchronicity.sourceforge.net

Enjoy!!

Giovanni's final verdict ==> Dear DUDES, THIS IS A SUPER SUPER SUPER SATURATED FIELD NOWADAYS, meaning there's no need to pay anything anymore for apps like this GAOTD, unless they provide us with very advanced features, which are missing in this GAOTD (for instance the ability to perform several backup jobs in one go): get the drift?? LOL!!

Ciao
Giovanni

Giovanni  –  11 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+198)

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As a simple home user I don't have a great need for a backup program. I keep a current image of my hard drive and this works well for me. I decided to give this a try to see how it looked. First off you must visit this page...

http://www.genie9.com/magazines/Giveaway.aspx

and provide your name and email address. In my case the email came instantly to my Hotmail inbox. The email contained the key and a link to download the program. I used this downloaded program and it worked fine so you don't need to use the GOTD version. This should mean you can reinstall at a later date if you desire.

As for the program itself, I am no expert so I can only relay what I experienced. I turned on my Wondershare Time Freeze and gave it a try. There is not many options during the install as your only choice is the destination folder. During the install a redistribution package is downloaded. One service was added to my startup according to Anvir.

I have a program called Atomic Clock that I got from a giveaway running. After the installation this program exited and began generating and endless stream of error messages. I am not sure why, maybe a fluke? I ignored the error messages and went on with the program. I have an external Seagate hard drive. For some reason, the program would not accept it as a backup option. No reason was given but I will admit there is not much free space on it so perhaps that was the cause.

You can select the type of file you want to back up. You have the option to compress and/or encrypt your backup. For a business person with tons of vital files on your computer, this program seems like it could help you. As I said, I am far from am expert so I went to Download.com. Here are some user reviews of this and earlier versions

http://download.cnet.com/Genie-Timeline-Professional-2012/3000-2242_4-75179793.html?tag=mncol;1

As for me, I greatly appreciate the chance to look at and try new software. Isn't that why we are here? In the end I will reboot my computer and restore it to it's previous state. Thank you GOTD team and Genie9 Corporation,

dadams  –  11 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+116)

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Pros
*Extremely easy to use. Touts 3 step setup and has the ability to easily backup common file types.
*Supports file versioning -- keeps different versions of backed up files and allows you to pick which version you want to restore
*Has excellent automatic backing up capabilities
*Has different backup modes to ensure Genie Timeline Professional does not slow down your computer
*Supports compression and encryption of backups
*Has two different ways of restoring files: ‘Timeline Explorer’ and ‘Advanced Restore’
*Supports the ability to create Linux-based bootable CD/DVD/USB

Cons
*You cannot have more than one backup ‘job’ at a time
*Is fairly slow in backing up files, even when run in Turbo Mode
*No offline help

Free Alternatives
Review of best free file-level backup software for Windows

Final Verdict
Click here for final verdict and full review

Ashraf from dotTech  –  11 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+114)

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I always thought that Genie Timeline was interesting, but I don't use file / folder / data-type backups, I find them annoying and not very useful. I did try Genie Timeline in the past (a couple of times), those versions had problems but I haven't tested this version. I have a backup solution, I think that it's unwise to use multiple backup programs. I use StorageCraft ShadowProtect Desktop to provide near-continuous protection of selected drives / partitions. Genie Timeline's Explorer integration is nice, but as you can see the interface is busy and cumbersome. I don't want to have to monitor my backup application and get all kinds of status about what it's doing. Yes, ShadowProtect provides detailed information if you want, but it's rarely necessary to look at unless there's a problem. In near-continuous mode, the ImageManager automatically checks all backups periodically to make sure that they still function. Genie Timeline can backup more frequently, down to 3 minutes if desired. ShadowProtect used to allow high-frequency backups, but it's pointless and consumes too many resources, so now the minimum is 15 minutes. Genie Timeline has nice tools to find earlier revisions of files, ShadowProtect doesn't. However, ShadowProtect can do a full restoration from any backup, mount it in a VM, do a hardware-independent restore, mount and browse / copy / restore in Windows Explorer, and even write to backups (i.e., modify a backup image)--and it works the same for compressed / encrypted backups. I also never notice that it's running, and I'm currently backing up directly to an external USB 3.0 drive. By the way, drivers for USB 3.0 suck in general, and I'm told that the situation is even worse in Windows 8. Maybe Windows Blue will be better, but I doubt it. If Genie Timeline works, it's better than nothing, but I prefer to have my system backed up at all times instead of certain files / folders / date-types. The normal price of ShadowProtect is somewhat higher, but for home users, annual renewals (not mandatory) are cheaper than most other solutions. ShadowProtect could be a bit of a pain for some users to set up initially, but Genie Timeline is no breeze, either.

Fubar  –  11 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+82)

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Used this for a while a couple of years back on 2 laptops.
Seemed fine until I tried to recover a backup when it not only failed but messed up my computer completely. Had to do a re-install.
To see what it was like on the other laptop I first did a disc image then tried to restore from the Genie Timeline. The restore failed.
I suggest using one of the free backup applications available such as Macrium or Easus. They don't have all the features Genie claims to have but they do what you need them for, recovery.

Anna Croft  –  11 years ago  –  Ritieni questo commento utile? sì | no (+67)

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