Get Backup 2.2

September, 2009

By: Laurrell Davenport

With the introduction of Apple's Time Machine you may wonder if there is a place for a backup program. The answer is Yes. Time Machine is good at what it does, but it is not designed for long-term archiving and is minus some of the bells and whistles of a dedicated backup program. Enter Get Backup from BeLight Software.

Get Backup is very easy to use. Simply drag-and drop the files/folders/Apps that you want backed up to Get Backup's main window. If there is something within a folder that you don't want copied, simply highlight it and then delete it by hitting the “-” (minus) button. Files can also be automatically excluded by file type that is set in the Backup Properties dialog box. Get Backup comes with a set of predefined exclusion pattern/rules. If you don?t see what you need, you can create you own exclusion pattern. You can choose files with “The same Extension”, “The Same Name”, or with “The Same Name and Extension”.

Get Backup can create full, versioned and incremental backups. The creation of backup archives can be initiated manually or automatically according to a time schedule.

A Full backup contains copies of all files and folders listed in the backup project (that you had previously created). A Full Backup archive's size is the same size as the original files. When a new archive is made, the previous version of the archive will be deleted (if possible).

An Incremental backup will backup only the files that have changed since the last Full or Incremental backup. The Full and all of the Incremental archives need to be present to Restore your files.

A Versioned backup will make a whole new backup of all your files. Unlike the Full backup, previous versions are not deleted. But only the last version is needed to restore your files.

In addition to these three backup types, you can also have Get Backup compress your files (in the GZIP format)-handy if you are short on hard drive space or if you want to save to a CD or DVD. Uncompressed files are saved in the TAR file format (both formats are readable by Mac's OS).

Backups can be saved to different volumes, removable drives, network drives, CD/DVD or Blue-ray drives. If your files are too large for one disc, Get Backup will split your files between multiple disc.

If you Restore an uncompressed TAR archive using the Mac's OS, then it is restored to the same location as the archive. But if you want more Restore options then you will want to use Get Backup to restore since it lets you choose whether to restore part or all of the archive and it lets you choose where (which folder etc.) to restore to.

Not only will it backup your files and folders, but Get Backup will also synchronize duplicate folders.

Normally when you synchronize files, it is one way. From the source to the destination. But there can be instance where there is a newer file on the destination folder. Get Backup has this covered by offering two-way synchronization.This way whatever is the newest file will be copied to the opposite location. Thus both locations will be up-to-date.

The Synchronization window has three columns: the left target, the right target and a center column that tells you whether the files are the same or different. If they are different, a blue arrow appears showing the direction that the file needs to be copied. Simply click the big blue button and the files will be copied in the correct direction.

The Skinny

Evaluation: At first I was going to give Get Backup a negative review because of a few glitches that I encountered. But I was instructed to download the latest update and then everything worked like a charm. All my complaints were corrected. Get Backup is simple to use and I liked that the Synchronizing tool lets you synchronize in both directions at the same time. The only thing I wasn't too pleased with was the fact that Get Backup archives your files in the TAR file format. I don't like applications modifying my files and apps since there is always a chance that something might go wrong and corrupt my file - thus it won't restore properly. TAR archives may be completely safe and reliable-but I don?t know for sure. So I like to error to the caution side. I must admit that I haven?t used a backup program in years so for all I know, archiving files in another format may be how it is done with all backup programs. But I remember in pre-OS X days I used a backup program that saved the files and applications as is. If I wanted to by-pass the backup application, I could just get the floppy out and drag my file or application to my hard drive and I was up and running. I would like to have this option in my backup program. This is just a “Wish list item” which may never happen. Until then there's Get Backup. I suggest that you give Get Backup a try. Fortunately there is a demo version that lets you try the program to see if it does what you want.

Requires: CPU: Intel or PPC , Mac OS X 10.4 or later, 7 MB of available disk space for the application, some available extra disk space on the system volume for temporary files if you plan to write backups to a CD or DVD (the extra hard disk space equals the size of one CD or DVD, plus about 30–300 MB for resource forks and auxiliary files).

Company: BeLight Software Street Price: $39.95; User Group special: $33.95.

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