14 DAY TRIAL // Everyone knows - or at least should know - of the importance of backing up your system regularly to protect it and you against a system catastrophe, or at least of simply taking periodic snapshots of your system configuration to recover from unexpected problems like virus attacks or application installations gone awry.
RestoreIT 7 from FarStone Technology functions similarly to utilities like Symantec's GoBack (or Windows' own built-in System Restore Points feature) in that it can undo system changes and restore a computer to a previous configuration state.
It also serves as a more conventional backup utility that can restore data ranging from an entire system down to a single folder or file. While many backup utilities require that you manually reinstall the Windows operating system and the backup utility itself before a restore can be performed, RestoreIT allows you to save a considerable amount of time and effort by performing a complete system restore from a command prompt.
All the information needed to restore data via RestoreIT is held in compressed archive files that the utility stores in a hidden partition on your system's hard drive. It can additionally utilize writable optical media like a CD-R or more appropriately a DVD-R/RW disc (RestoreIT supports single-layer writing at present), or in many cases, an external hard disk.
Space Considerations Before installing RestoreIT, Farstone recommends that you run through a pre-install checklist, which includes running Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter. Defragmenting the hard drive is particularly important since RestoreIT puts its (required) hidden partition at the physical end of the hard disk. Thus, compacting the existing data frees up more contiguous free space for this partition to occupy (a minimum of 420MB is required).
On some systems, though, there might be files classified as unmovable (shown in green by the defrag utility) even after defragmenting. If any of these areas is located toward the end of the disk, or if you're just low on disk space generally, the amount of space available for RestoreIT to use will be limited, and possibly severely.
Although you can use an optical drive or external hard disk in addition to the hidden partition, you can only use these devices to store complete system backups. Incremental restore points must be stored on the hidden partition, so even if you have gobs of space elsewhere, a cramped partition will limit the number of restore points you can retain before existing restore points must be purged to make space.
Another important consideration is that RestoreIT performs complete system backups not from within Windows but rather at the system boot from a real mode utility stored its own partition. As a result, for complete backups, RestoreIT can only recognize storage devices that were enumerated by the system BIOS at boot time. Machines more than a few years old may have a BIOS unable to detect external USB or Firewire hard drives (even though they may work perfectly in Windows), and on such machines, RestoreIT will be unable to utilize these devices.
Any or all of the aforementioned limitations can put a serious crimp in RestoreIT's usefulness. In addition, the size of RestoreIT's hidden partition is fixed at the time of installation, so even if you later manage to free up additional space on your hard drive, you won't be able to take advantage without un- and then reinstalling the software - and losing all your existing backups in the process.
Initial attempts to install RestoreIT on several different systems were met with error messages stating that there was insufficient free space on the disk, when in fact there was ample room in all cases. Inexplicably, simply choosing a new install path on the same drive rectified the problem (a fact that was only stumbled upon after significant trial and error). Selecting a "typical" install type will utilize all the contiguous free space available at the end of your hard drive. You can also choose a custom install, which lets you specify how much of the available space RestoreIT will consume. Confusion continued to ensue throughout during the rest of the process; for example, the installation routine recommended that I defrag, even though I'd already done that.
Once you get past the trials and tribulations of setting up RestoreIT, the software presents a straightforward Quick Start dialog that lets you easily kick off wizards for a complete system or incremental backup (restore point), as well as perform system rollbacks or restores of specific files.
To perform a complete system backup or restore from a restore point, RestoreIT must shut down Windows and reboot its real-mode interface from the hidden partition (you can create a restore point without exiting Windows). Although you can access the RestoreIT real mode software by hitting the space bar when the system boots, you may also create a bootable diskette, CD, or DVD to start the system in the event your disk's boot table gets completely hosed.
The RestoreIT wizards make initiating backup and restore operations simple enough, but in a quest to keep things uncomplicated a lot of flexibility is lost. For example, you don't have the opportunity to name a restore point before creating it (each is named "New Incremental Backup Point" and each is distinguished simply by the date and time of creation), and you can only restore the most recent restore point via the Quick Start. To give a backup point a descriptive name or restore any backup other than the most recent one - or to configure a schedule or password protect your backups - you must utilize RestoreIT's Advanced mode.
The problem is that the Advanced mode isn't nearly as user friendly as the basic mode. In fact, like RestoreIT's install routine, it suffers from poor wording and somewhat confusing dialogs that can leave you perplexed enough that you may not be exactly sure of whether you're doing what you intended.
The software does include a somewhat useful tutorial of basic functions, but it suffers from many of the same design ills as the software. A case in point: the tutorial automatically launches when you open up RestoreIT from the Taskbar (a somewhat annoying feature that can thankfully be disabled).
However, since it's pulled from the FarStone web site, it's available only if you're online. Moreover, it runs like a movie and doesn't give you the opportunity to pause it so you can digest what you're watching. Finally, the tutorial is only available when you first launch the program; if you close it, the only way to get it back is to close and re-open RestoreIT. In spite of the irksome installation and interface issues, RestoreIT does do a solid job of backing up and recovering data. We were able to use it on our test system to restore damaged application installations, deleted files, and even an entire Windows partition (which we had sabotaged with the FDISK command).
Pricing and System Requirements In addition to the disk space requirement, RestoreIT's other system requirements are 256MB of RAM and a system running Windows XP or Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2 or higher installed. The utility supports the FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS file systems. Restore IT is available as a full-featured 30-day trial download. Registering the software after the trial period costs $39.99. For households with multiple systems, there's also a 5-user license available for $129.99. FarStone offers a 25% discount to users who register within the first 7 days of the trial period.
In large measure, RestoreIT does what it promises, protecting your data and offering you the flexibility to restore as much or as little of your data as you need. However, there are also enough potential pitfalls (some the fault of RestoreIT, and some not) in the installation and operation of the software that you'll definitely want to avail yourself of the trial period before making the purchase.
The Good
Provides both complete system backups and incremental restore points; can restore a system without the need to reinstall Windows.
The Bad
Confusing, time-consuming installation; commands and interface not always intuitive; external hard drives may not work on some systems; requires considerable free space on a system's hard drive.
The Truth
RestoreIt provides both complete system backups and incremental restore points but the price is a little bit spicy.
Take a look at the screenshots I've provided for you:
