Steganos Backup 2011 software

There's plenty of backup software around, some free and some included with other programs (many anti-virus programs include a backup tool or even some online storage space).

So a paid-for backup program such as Steganos Backup 2011 really has to work to justify its price tag.

The Steganos software uses simple, easy to understand wizards to guide users through the process of choosing which files and folders to back up, when the backups should take place, which disk location to store the backups and in what format.

It offers encryption and compression of files as well, and allows the user to choose whether to back up all files of a particular type and even to backup web browser bookmarks, Outlook emails that have been exported as .PST files and Windows Contacts.

It also supports incremental backup – which keeps several versions of each file backed up, and retains copies of files that have been deleted since the last backup. However, all of those features are also found in the free GFI Backup program workshop from Computeractive. Steganos doesn't provide the ability to save backups on CDs, whereas GFI does.

The Bullguard security software installed on our test PC included its own online backup tool but its backup process was made confusing by too many choices, and restoration of files wasn't clear either.

To compare the robustness of the backup processes in Steganos and GFI, we forced the computer to restart while the backup was taking place. Steganos came out well, pausing the backup and automatically resuming from where it left off when we started up Windows. GFI reported an error and we had to rerun the backup from scratch.

Steganos didn't offer as much flexibility when scheduling backups, though – where GFI allowed us to run them when starting or shutting down the PC, Steganos Backup restricts the user to specific times.

However, to Steganos Backup's advantage was speed – it was quick and easier to use than the browser-based GFI Backup. Steganos Backup keeps things simple and the program does exactly what it should, but it comes across as a bit restricted.