14 DAY TRIAL // My computer works just fine, but I don't. Anyway, this is a good occasion to think about backing up my data again, since I can't backup my health when I am perfectly healthy. Anyway, good programs always make me feel better, and today's medicine is a backup tool, as I was saying, and its name is East-Tec Backup 2006.
This program's last version is 1.0.4 and comes as a 15 days trial version, but I have the full program here and I have to thank EAST Technologies for this. The installation kit has only 4.5MB in size and the setup process shouldn't be a problem for nobody. The price of the full version is 39.95$, and that should be reasonable for most of you, considering what you get for your money. These being said, let's move on and check this program's interface and features, as usual.
East-Tec Backup has an excellent interface, well designed and easy to use. Same as most backup tools that I've encountered so far, this program allows you to use wizards to speed up and ease your work. There are two different areas that can be noticed here - the main window and the task management window, but you don't have to worry much about them, because your steps are guided all along the way.
The main window lets you choose one of the following items - Backup, Restore, My Backup Tasks and Quick Tour. What I am going to do next is follow the backup wizard and discover the program's features as we move on.
First of all, you have to take care of the General area. Here, you can enter the name of the backup task and archive/folder, an optional description and an optional email address that can be used to receive notifications in case of errors, warnings or the summaries of completed backup tasks.
Next tab located inside the Backup Properties window is called Source, and its purpose should be obvious to everyone. The items that can be backed up using East-Tec Backup are, as usual, the files and folders that you choose, but you can also include registry keys, emails and various Windows user settings, including settings, bookmarks and cookies for Internet Explorer and Firefox, desktop links and more.
After choosing the source of your backup, the natural step to take is to set up the destination. East-Tec Backup can save your data to your local folders, CD/DVD drives, remote LAN and FTP locations, as well as removable devices such as floppies, USB sticks or memory cards.
After finishing the previous steps, it's time for the advanced backup options. Here, you can change data compression and encryption settings, and I am glad to tell you that this program supports 256bit AES encryption and incremental, differential and stack backups.
At last, we have the scheduler and the Events area that allows you to choose actions to perform before and after the backup task and notifications that should be done during the backup process.
This was the backup wizard, and the restore wizard is much easier to use, having only one step. The backup management window is also well organized and easy to use, allowing you to start backup tasks, edit existing ones, restore data or decrypt password protected archives.
This was East-Tec Backup 2006, another excellent backup solution for your safety, but before moving on, some conclusions are required!
The Good
This program is an excellent backup solution - easy to use, reliable and with a lot of features. Its documentation is well done, and the price that you have to pay for the full version is a good one.
The Bad
In the future, I would like to have the chance to backup my data to RAR or 7Z archives for better compression, and a tool that can create bootable recovery disks would also be a great addition to this program.
The Truth
There's no perfect program, so East-Tec Backup can't be perfect, but it's not that far from being the ultimate backup tool. I must say it was a pleasure to try it, and I am sure that 15 days will be enough for you to decide if this program is worth its price or not. Take your time to try this and don't forget to enjoy stayin' on the safe side with East-Tec Backup 2006!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
