The most recent articles from Computeract!ve

DriveImage XML 2.02

Tim Smith — 2008-11-05T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 5 November 2008 at 00:00:00

Backup & restore your drive

This is the software publisher's description:

DriveImage XML is an easy-to-use and reliable program for imaging and backing up partitions and logical drives. Features include the ability to backup logical drives and partitions to image file, browse these images, view and extract files, restore these images to the same or a different drive, copy directly from drive to drive and schedule automatic backups with your Task Scheduler.

Image creation uses Microsoft's Volume Shadow Services (VSS), allowing you to create safe "hot images" even from drives currently in use.

Images are stored in XML files, allowing you to process them with third-party tools. Never again be stuck with a useless backup. Restore images to drives without having to reboot.

DriveImage XML runs under Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista only. The program will back up, image and restore drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS.

Since this program is currently distributed as freeware, we don't offer technical support for it. Please refer to the program's help file and documentation.

Personal Backup

Tim Smith — 2008-09-15T16:49:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Monday 15 September 2008 at 16:49:00

Back up important files to a removable disk or FTP server

There are two kinds of backups, full disk images or those that save folders. Personal backup takes care of the latter and makes the process much faster and easier than trying to do it manually.

A list of all the folders on the computer are shown on the right-hand side of the windows. Click on a folder and then on Add to Task to mark it for backup. Files of a certain type can be excluded from backups. This is a useful way of saving space in backups if you don't need to back up a ripped music collection. The existing CDs are a form of backup themselves.

Backups can be saved to another folder or to another computer on a network or the internet using FTP. It is possible to add placeholders for information such as date or time so later backups do not overwrite existing information. This could lead to the problem of running out of space on the target disk or computer but it is far better this way.

The files can be compressed as well as encrypted for storage and security. There is also the very important option to verify a backup; there is no security in having a backup if it is not an exact copy of the files on the computer.

Email confirmation of backups can be sent. This is helpful if the software is installed on a friend's computer, as the software can be set to make backups automatically, either at a particular time or when the computer is shut down (though backup on shut down isn't working on Vista at the moment).

Comodo Backup 1.0.4

Tim Smith — 2008-08-21T17:33:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Thursday 21 August 2008 at 17:33:00

Keep valuable files safe

Backup is very important but isn't the most exciting task. Comodo Backup is a very capable program that makes this job much easier.

Installation is easy although a restart is required. The interface is quite plain and does not use any wizards but the tabs are well laid out, just make sure you work through them in order to avoid missing anything.

There are presets for backing up the My Documents folder or an Outlook file but it is also possible to include bespoke folders as well.

The files can be backed up to another disk in the system, optical disks or even an ftp server online. The backups can be compressed and password protection if required.

Once a backup has been created it can be updated with only the changes that have been made, saving time and disk space.

R-Studio 4.2: Data recovery

Tim Smith — 2007-12-03T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Monday 3 December 2007 at 00:00:00

Save files in the event of problems

Accidents happen and if there is no up to date backup available the only alternative is to try and recover files from the hard disk. This is often easier said than done but R-Studio 4.2 is particulary good.

It can recover files from just about every kind of file system in use from all kinds of operating systems.

The list includes FAT (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32), NTFS, NTFS5 (created or updated by Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista), HFS/HFS+ (Macintosh), Little and Big Endian variants of UFS1/UFS2 (FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD/Solaris) and Ext2FS/Ext3FS (Linux) partitions.

This demo version will find files but only recover those smaller than 64KB.

There are cheaper versions available that are more limited in the file systems they can recover from either NTFS or FAT

Remember that if you are using this software for real it should not be installed on the disk with files to be recovered. Otherwise there is the risk that files will be overwritten before they can be recovered.

SpeedUSB2CdDVD backup utility

Tim Smith — 2007-02-01T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Thursday 1 February 2007 at 00:00:00

Back up the contents of your USB key

USB keys are normally used as a medium for backup rather than needing backup themselves. But if they are used for moving important information, this is a necessary step.

SpeedUSB2CdDVD offers a complete backup of a USB key in three or four clicks and can use any kind of optical disc, up to and including Dual Layer DVDs. These are useful given the ever- increasing capacity of these devices and the ease with which they can be lost.

If the disc format used is not big enough, SpeedUSB2CdDVD can split the contents of the USB key. It is also possible to specify a particular folder rather than the entire key.

Backups can be compressed to save space and encrypted to make sure that the information contained within them is not stolen.

R-Mail for Outlook Express Demo

Tim Smith — 2006-11-10T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Friday 10 November 2006 at 00:00:00

Backup and recover emails in Outlook Express

Emails probably contain the most important information on our computers and yet they can be difficult to backup up, or recover when disaster strikes.

R-Mail for Outlook Express can restore deleted messages, even if the files conatining them have been damaged in some way.

The software uses an interface very similar to Outlook Express so it is easy to use from the outset.

As this is a demo version (the full product costs $30) it is not possible to save found messages so they can be viewed in Outlook Express. It is also possible to view the full text of the email for checking who it was sent from.

The demo can be used to backup the email files used by Outlook Express that can then be recovered with the full version.

A separate version is available for Outlook.

FreeUndelete 2.0

Tim Smith — 2006-10-02T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Monday 2 October 2006 at 00:00:00

Recover accidently deleted files

Whether an honest mistake or the result of malicious viruses, losing files can be a traumatic experience.

FreeUndelete can retrieve files because the information contained within them is not destroyed with the file is deleted. Instead all references to the file are removed from the index on the hard disk. If the space on the disk is not reused, the files can be restored.

The software can restore files from disks formatted with NTFS, FAT32 and FAT16 covering all versions of Windows, although FreeUndelete can only be installed on computers running Windows 2000 and XP.

It is best to install the software before a file is lost to avoid the risk of overwriting the information with FreeUndelete.

It is very simple to use FreeUndelete. Select the drive that containing the deleted files and click on the Scan button. The software will display a list of all the files it has foud that can be restored by clicking the Undelete button.

FreeUndelete does not work with Windows 98 or ME.

Phoenix Recover Pro 6

Tim Smith — 2006-08-29T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Tuesday 29 August 2006 at 00:00:00

Make backups that are independent of Windows

The greatest drawback with many backup programs is that they won't work if Windows is completely broken.

Phoenix Recover Pro 6 avoids this problem by working independently of the operating system if the need arises. Even better, no backup media is needed; all of the backup is stored on the hard disk.

When Recover Pro is installed, a special area is created on the hard disk for the backups. It is hidden from Windows software so cannot be attacked or damaged by viruses. Backups can also be made to external media such as CDs and DVDs

The recovery process can be started with a key press before Windows loads or individual files can be restored to reverse mistakes.

Regular incremental backups protect the latest versions of files without tying up the computer for long periods of time.

Registration is required for this download. Once complete, Phoenix will email you the download details

System Requirements:

Microsoft Windows 2000 (SP3 or later), Windows XP (SP1 or greater)
Pentium III
256MB memory
ATA, Serial ATA or USB hard disks
Hardware RAID 0 and 1 disk arrays supported

ABF Outlook Express Backup

Tim Smith — 2005-10-25T00:00:00.000Z

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve, Tuesday 25 October 2005 at 00:00:00

Keep emails and settings safe

Outlook Express is the standard email software for many people, yet it can be quite difficult to backup emails and the address book. ABF Outlook Express Backup takes the strain out of this essential job and can back up settings and blocked senders as well as messages. All of this information is saved to a single file and you can add a description to the file for future reference.

Restoring the backup is just as simple and can be restricted to any number of the backup options, so it is possible to restore message rules without affecting messages.