CNET Editors' review
Next to antivirus protection, regular backups may be the single most important measure you should take to protect your PC, your data, and yourself, yet studies consistently show it's the preventative measure PC users neglect most. There is simply no excuse for not backing up your system, especially when you consider the following facts: (1) You have a lot of money invested in your hardware and software; (2) Your PC most likely contains files, records, and archives that are important to your life and well-being; (3) something is certain to go wrong; and (4) backups are easy, especially with excellent free backup utilities like FBackup around to do all the work for you. You can schedule regular backups, of course, but you can also choose full or partial backups, levels of compression, drive mirroring, backups of specific folders or files, and much more. It creates standard ZIP files that you can access with any compression utility.
FBackup is based on Backup4all, Softland's flagship product and a powerful backup solution. However, for most users, the freeware utility is more than enough. With a simple two-part interface and a wizard that explains each step, it's about as user friendly as backup utilities get. You can choose either an external device (recommended) or a network location to store your backup.
FBackup is free, and it's ready for Windows 7. It makes regular backups painless, and it produces high-quality backups that will help you recover your system quickly when, not if, something unpleasant occurs.
Publisher's Description
From Softland:
FBackup is freeware backup program for Windows. FBackup protects your important files and folders from partial or total loss by automating backup tasks, password protecting and compressing it to save storage space. Using FBackup you can easily backup to any local or network drive or to external drives (such as USB drives). FBackup can backup open or locked files and it can perform full and mirror backups (backup type that does not compress the files). When defining a backup you can also set file filters and schedule the backup for automatic execution. You can run predefined backups, such as My Documents, My Pictures or Outlook Express and load backup plugins that will back up the settings and data of specific applications. FBackup has ZIP64 support (can create backups over 2 GB) and creates standard zip files, meaning that you can access it with any zip compatible utility. FBackup also allows you to password protect your backup. FBackup tests the backup files automatically to ensure the backup is safe and correctly executed (uses CRC32).
What's new in this version: Version 4.6.260 includes a faster restore process and a fix for sources.
More Popular Backup Software downloads
- Easeus Todo Backup Free
30,027 downloads
- Macrium Reflect Free
9,035 downloads
- Easeus Disk Copy
6,247 downloads
- Paragon Backup & Recovery Free
5,680 downloads
- DAEMON Tools Pro
5,116 downloads
-
All versions:
3.6 starsout of 101 votes
-
Current version:
3.0 starsout of 7 votes
-
My rating:
Write review
Results 1-7 of 7
-
"crashes constantly"
Version: FBackup 4.6.260
Pros
quick install
Cons
crashed on my first attempt to create a backup. what more can you say, really?
Summary
uninstalled.
-
"Didn't work for me"
Version: FBackup 4.6.260
Pros
Looks fairly intuitive at first with many useful options
Cons
Extremely slow and scheduled auto backups kept developing problems and stoppping after a few days without any explanation.
Surely there are better, more intuitive and easy to use back up programs out there.
I spent many hours trying to get it to work but by now I have given up and am looking elsewhere for my back up needsSummary
I see there are many good reviews for this product but even after spending alot of time browsing the help menus and online forums I simply couldn't get it to work for me for backing up important programs and data on my business computer. (In fairness it should be noted that when it comes to computing generally I would say I have intermediate experience but beginner experience when it comes to back up programs.)
I'm sorry I just realized this review was for a different back up product - Pc Backup Pro by DT utilities (however I tried Fback up as well and while it is quite good for basic back up tasks (storage data) I was looking for a program that can do mirror back ups and this one didn't work for me either)
Updated on Jan 12, 2012 -
"Does what I need without confusing me (much)."
Version: FBackup 4.6.260
Pros
Minimal UI, basic features without yer typical overwhelming array of backup options. Seems reliable and built for ease of use.
Cons
As usual with backup software, I find the jargon a little dense and wish the distinction between its measly two backup "Type" options - "Full" and "Mirror" - had been explicated right there in the menu rather than requiring a visit to the .pdf user manual for research. Same deal with some other options, sparse as the array may be, e.g., "Remove excluded or deleted files from backup"... duh.... what???
Summary
While I personally use a variety of methods and destinations for file and/or system backups over the course of any given month, I needed to replace my Old Unreliable software, Cobian (which has begun to exhibit inexplicable looping behaviors), for the most basic backups that I do: making plain old duplicates of a pre-chosen list of folders and files. Then - manually - the duplicates get burned onto rewritable DVDs; finally the dupes are erased off my hard drive, again manually. Other tools - such as the backup module of my disc burning suite or the non-imaging module of the system backup program I like - have so many options, so much gobbledygook language, that I can't get a clue about, let alone trust, what I am choosing. FBackup, though, replaced Cobian for my purposes without a steep learning curve.
I now regret my original 3-star rating and would alter it to be 0 stars if I could. The software functioned OK the first few times I used it (for a pre-stored, user created, named project). Then, without any sort of error messages, it began to skip some or all of the designated files that were meant to get stored. It plain old would not copy them. This behavior was erratic. In different attempts, different portions of my list would get skipped.
While FBackup does do a few more tricks than I will be needing from it, I can say even without using them that its [zip] archiving options look a notch too limited yet - same old complaint - not well explained within the interface.
Updated on Feb 4, 2012
I reinstalled the software: same bad behavior.
Backup software needs to be - first and foremost - reliable and predictable. FAIL! -
"Works well but ...."
Version: FBackup 4.6.260
Pros
Everything I have tried works well as advertised. Have not tried all the features yet.
Very easy to use.Cons
I did a mirror back up of my complete c: hard drive. When I got a virus, I tried the Restore. It will not Restore any open file and Windows has a lot of opened files including the Registry. You can not recover the complete operating system with this program.
Softland confirmed FBackup is only to Restore data files not the complete operating system. -
"Did what I wanted -- but took 13 hours."
Version: FBackup 4.6.260
Pros
Able to backup to network drive.
Cons
Lack of incremental backup.
-
"Best I've used, so far."
Version: FBackup 4.6.260
Pros
Easy to customize which folder t backup. Choice of mirror or full backup.
Mirror backup allows access to files from another computer easier.Cons
Won't start backup, automatically, if computer is turned on after it was off at time of scheduled backup.
Summary
Exceptional program. I like better than Windows backup because it more customizable.
-
"Pretty much works as Advertised!!!"
Version: FBackup 4.6.260
Pros
Backups my whole system weekly just great. Also backs up my documents, music, and pictures perfectly.
Cons
The backups don't always run as scheduled. Save the backup job and run it manually. Works better than most and no need for program to restore. Just extract or unzip. Windows XP, Vista, and 7 all hve extract capability built in.
Summary
Works better than most and no need for program to restore. Backups my whole system weekly into zip file just great. Also backs up my documents, music, and pictures perfectly. Just extract or unzip. Windows XP, Vista, and 7 all have extract capability built in. Also Free programs work. FBackup also has a Restore Function that is faster.
Results 1-7 of 7
Add Your Review
Submit your reply
E-mail this review
Report offensive content
See more CNET content tagged:
Previous Versions:
