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It's practically impossible to overstate the importance of backing up your critical data. For the smart user, that means a full backup that can restore your whole system when disaster strikes. We've always advised users not to scrimp when it comes to backup software, and we suggest using Windows Backup as a minimum. A growing number of free backup solutions offering different levels of protection, though; some of them create full backups you can use to restore your system, while others simply back up and restore data. Ocster Backup Freeware is the latter type. It's a freeware version of a full backup solution that can back up your data but not your entire system. It doesn't let you restore individual files, either; it's all or nothing. It's very easy to use, though, producing regularly scheduled full or incremental backups of your data that you can save to a backup drive or similar location or store online, for a fee, at Ocster's Web storage facility.
Ocster Backup's interface has three buttons: Create New Backup Plan, Restore Backup, and Manage Backup Plans. Creating a new plan started with choosing where to store the backup, either locally or externally via your PC or online via Ocster's optional service. We chose a hard drive dedicated to backups (we could also import an existing plan) and then added the files and folders we wanted to back up. The program selected our Documents folder by default. We could view and specify exclusions, too. Ocster gives you the opportunity to encrypt backups but recommends against it; we chose not to encrypt our backup. We could specify daily or weekly backups or choose not to run automatic backups. The program compresses backups by default.
Ocster's freeware can't take the place of a full system backup of the type its premium tools offer. In fact, the free version seems primarily aimed at getting users to upgrade to the premium software. Ocster Backup Freeware certainly works well as a fail-safe for critical data, and it enables users to access Ocster's online data storage service. But you need more than it offers to fully protect your system.
Publisher's Description
From Ocster:
This is a great backup software that was designed from the start to work fully automatic. You simply specify what you want backed up and when and then the software takes care of the rest.
The backups can be stored either on an external local hard disk or (for a small fee) via the internet on the specially secured and highly reliable Ocster Secure Storage. With Ocster Secure Storage multiple highly encrypted copies of the data are stored in professional data centers. This protects the data from the dangers that can render locally stored backups unusable at any time (hard disk crashes, fire, theft, water damage).Ocster Backup Free is really easy to use and requires no technical knowledge at all. But it still supports all the advanced features one expects from a modern backup software like incremental backups, encryption, compression and backing up open files. Backups can also be interrupted at any time and later resumed at the same point, even after restarting the computer.What's new in this version: Improved filtering rules, improved automatic troubleshooting, several other improvements and optimizations
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All versions:
3.4 starsout of 5 votes
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Results 1-5 of 5
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"Not quite what I wanted, see Cons below"
Version: Ocster Backup Freeware Windows Edition 1.55
Pros
I didn't wait to try it. Looks like it's only good for a complete restore
Cons
Under "Restore" in the Help files, it tells you that with the freeware version you can only restore all the files and folders at once. Pity that wasn't mentioned anywhere before i downloaded it.
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"not support net path"
Version: Ocster Backup Freeware Windows Edition 1.55
Pros
friendly interface
Cons
not support net path
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"It backs up. It's free."
Version: Ocster Backup Freeware Windows Edition 1.22
Pros
It does what it's supposed to do, it backs up the folders and files you ask it to.
Simple for noobs to use - with limitations, see Summary.Cons
Slow. 4.28GB took 38 min, compared with 4.55GB in 12 min on the previous free backup I used. You have to make a password even if you're backing up to your own external hard drive.
Summary
When you create a new Backup Plan, the Browse window closes after you select an item, so you have to open it again, then open the desired folder again, find the next item you want, over and over for each and every item you want to backup, which is really annoying. After backup completed, I wanted to check random files on my external hard drive to see if they were ok, but I was unable to open any of them. This was not a problem with the files made by my previous backup tool, which was a bit bloated and complicated for my needs, but I have reinstalled it in favour of Ocster.
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"Great Backup"
Version: Ocster Backup Freeware Windows Edition 1.22
Pros
Does the job of backing up what I need.
Cons
The free version does not allow you to restore a file. You have to restore everything.
Summary
I have been using it and like how it works. It's easy and reliable. I really want the ability to restore certain files instead of everything so I will probably go ahead and buy the Pro Version. The price is not that expensive and I know it works well.
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"Great backup software"
Version: Ocster Backup Freeware Windows Edition 1.05
Pros
- really easy to set up
- automatic creation and updating of backups in the background work really well
- nice user interface
- not many technical options to configureCons
- not many options to configure (not much of a "con" for me, but maybe some experts want more)
Summary
I love this program. I used to burn a DVD with my most important files now and then, but not as often as I should have because, lets face it, I am forgetful. An automatic backup software like this is much better. And this one works really well. It is easy to set up and then afterwards does the job properly.
I didn't check out their Online Backup option for storing the backups ("Ocster Secure Storage") yet, so I cannot say much about that.
All in all, this is a great high-quality product. I already tried out many other free backup products, but this is the only one that did the job well for me.
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