Genie Backup Manager Pro 8.0

Overview

Protecting your data is an essential task that shouldn’t be ignored, especially when storing files that are crucial to your job. That’s why Genie Backup Manager Pro exists; it can help you create backups of your files, making it easy to retrieve them after an unwanted disaster. Features include full system backup support, automatic scheduled backups, backup encryption, FTP and Amazon S3 support for uploading the backups to servers and others.

Installation

Very straightforward and easy installation that finishes quickly. There are no special requirements to install the software, other than having a machine that runs Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8 OS (either 32 or 64-bit system). The setup package is 100% clean from viruses, spyware and any other kind of additional software.

Interface

Version 9.0 of the program tries to adapt the look and feel of Windows 8 by changing the fonts and adding all features in boxes. In other words, rounded corners are almost extinct. On the left side is a pane with 4 options: Run Backup, Global Preferences, Test Data Integrity and Genie Update. From these options you can run saved backup jobs, change settings, test the backups to ensure that they are not corrupt and update the program. From the center part of the window you can perform 3 main operations: start a new backup job, restore an old backup and create a disaster recovery backup. Note that to use the last feature, you must download GBM Disaster Recovery Component, a free add-on for Genie Backup Manager 9.0 Home/Pro/Server. On the right side there are helpful links regarding the program’s usage, and on the bottom left corner there is an option that switches to Easy Mode, which basically removes everything from the window and keeps only the main functions.

Pros

The backups created can be saved locally, over a network or on external storage devices, uploaded remotely to FTP/FTPS or Amazon S3 and burned to a CD/DVD/Blu-ray media. Apart from backing up individual files and folders of your choices you can also backup easily common items such as e-mails, documents, media files, photos, registry keys, Windows and Internet Explorer settings, Favorites, Fonts etc. In addition, GBM can detect several applications installed in your system and include them in the backup separately.

There are 4 types of backups supported by GBM that you can select depending on your needs: Full, Incremental, Differential and Mirror. The backups can be compressed and encrypted if you wish, allowing you to pick the compression and security levels.

After making all the settings, you can either start the backup immediately or schedule it to be created in the future.

Cons

There are no cons, other than the fact that it’s trying to force users to become familiar with the environment of Windows 8 - which is not to everyone's liking. GBM 9.0 is not just Windows 8 compatible, it’s meant for Windows 8.

Alternatives

Here’s a list with a few good backup solutions similar to GBM: Paragon Backup and Recovery (free and pro versions available), Norton Ghost (paid), Uranium Backup (paid) and Cobian Backup (free).

Conclusion

Genie Backup Manager is undoubtedly a great software, although you could argue that there are better ones out there. Still, it’s worth checking out, especially if you have already upgraded to Windows 8.