Oops!Backup
 Oops!Backup
Reviewed September, 2010
What’s It Do?

This easy backup software for Windows not only allows you to preview and bring back lost, deleted, or misplaced files, it also allows you to view past changes made to those files and to undo or adopt those changes. It provides a full history of any changes made to a file in under a minute with a few clicks. It automatically backs up incrementally to external hard drives, network, or USB flash drive for portability and will even back up files that are currently open.


Does it do what it promises?

Reviewer 1 - Mark Snyder: Absolutely! The Web Site makes only two primary claims: That Oops!Backup is easy backup software for home users. . . . and that it enables you to travel back in time to find and recover changes made to your documents, photos and any other files at any point in time. I found everything in those promises to be 100% accurate. In fact, it could have claimed to be the "easiest" backup software to use and they would have still been accurate.

Reviewer 2 - Dana Bostick: Yes, Oops!Backup offers "Instant PC Recovery", 2-click recovery, quick restore, custom backup sets, scheduling, continuous data protection, parallel backup (can backup to multiple connected drives at the same time), data backed up in "native file format", the ability to synchronize data between multiple computers, "Versioning"- the ability to restore previously saved versions of the same file, and automatic formatting of the target backup drive.

Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: Yes. In spite of its name (which may lead some to suspect that this is not a serious program), Oops!Backup does an excellent job of keeping backups of whatever documents and files desired. Instead of overwriting previously backed-up files, it stores the older versions of those files. While this feature is available in a few individual programs, it is not universally so. With Oops!Backup, this is now possible with the data produced with any program or any other file that may be stored in folders backed up with this application.


Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1 - Mark Snyder: Yes. It is a medium sized 17.2MB download that took only 30 seconds to download on a reasonably fast broadband connection, but did initially require 33.5MB of disc space. Installation was fast and smooth, using the program's own Application Wizard. It required only to begin the setup and accept the default prompts. There were no confusing questions or technical terminology. In fact, it was one of the most easy to understand "plain English" installations I have seen in some time (something also found on their Web site). Best of all, there was nowhere the ubiquitous third party software so many developers are now trying to piggyback in their downloads and not an Ask Toolbar to be seen. Thank you! It did install itself in my startup folder-something I generally object to strenuously-but in this instance, a necessity because the whole purpose of this program is to run at startup and in background all of the time. It also installs two services, again a necessity for the operation of the program. It did install an icon on my desktop without my permission which is something I object to and furthermore, with this program it is really superfluous since the program runs in background and is accessed by a right click menu in the system tray. The EULA was printable and one of the shortest and easiest understood licensing agreement I have seen, and contains none of the liability legalese that seems to have become standard fare in most EULAs today. This program uninstalls as flawlessly as it installs, leaving only a few fragments in the Registry; an example of well written code.

Reviewer 2 - Dana Bostick: Yes, installation was fast and simple. The installation did trigger several warnings about new startup programs from software that I have installed to do just that. The Oops!Backup service.exe resides in the system tray to monitor one's system and allow for scheduled backups. Once installed, it launches a "setup wizard" to walk the user through the process of setting up the source and target drives and determine which files and folders to backup. There is also an option called "Migrating to a new PC" which allows transferring everything to a new drive.

Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: Yes, but with drawbacks. It is a standard Windows installation that allowed me to place the program in the location of my choice; however, I would prefer that I also choose the location of the Oops shortcuts as well, for easier management..

It also wanted to run a program and a service when the computer starts up, and run from then on all the time. As it turns out, this is preferable if one is to use the full power of the program. Still, I wish to decide what runs when the computer starts. If a program needs something to run all the time, it must explain why, and ask me if I will let it do so. This can be controlled in the Oops!Backup settings, and I prefer programs to be up front with me from the start.

I was able to install the new Version 3 over the present program without any apparent errors. There needs to be an indication that this can be done safely, or some people might try to install it into a different folder. Even better, the installer should find the correct folder and simply do its work without the need for user intervention. The installation did an excellent job in picking up all the settings, schedules, history of backups and so on from the previous installation. It even installed the new licence key without my having to do so.


Good points.

Reviewer 1 - Mark Snyder: Once again I am faced what has always been a rarity over the past thirty years of testing computer software: I think I can honestly say that this is a nearly perfect program. As I have stated previously, those who are familiar with my reviews know that I am often harsh in my criticism and until recently the word "perfect" has not been in my reviewer's vocabulary; -but Oops! Backup performs nearly perfectly, using a minimum of resources and very little user interaction in a highly sophisticated and well-written program that is not only efficient and effective, but attractive as well.

For those who procrastinate from making backups because the programs seem so complicated, you do not understand the terminology, and you hate to have to read a lengthy user's manual: your excuses are no longer valid. Once the program finishes installing all one need do is follow the Setup Wizard's prompts to help select what data is to be backed up, where it is to be backed up, and how often it is backed up. It really is the "set it and forget it" of backup programs. From that point on, Oops!Backup will not only backup everything selected, it will also backup any changes made in the data as often as chosen or whenever changes are detected.

What's even better and makes this program unlike so many others is not just that it allows one to go back in time and restore the most recent version of a document while providing a full history of all of the changes made to that document or images. It does this by using something it calls Reverse Delta Technology which, in short, means that it only saves those changes to data rather than the whole document; thus, it does not start filling up one's hard drive with numerous full backups.

Restoring files, where often even the best backup and imaging software fails, was as foolproof as was the backup procedure. One simply select the file from the date desired to restore, right click and it is restored. The restores are very fast, taking only seconds for even large files.

Other good points of note:

dot The latest version of the document or file is always available for restoration;

dot It works automatically in the background so there are no more lost, misplaced, or deleted documents or photos;

dot It uses Windows Volume Shadow Copy so that one can backup even those files that are being used.

dot Old versions of files of one's choosing can be deleted;

dot Backup can be made to existing media or USB Pen, Server and external drives, so there is no need to buy a separate external drive;

dot A Plug & Protect feature automatically start backups when attached to a backup source, especially valuable for laptops that are often portable;

dot t is fast. My initial backup and versioning of approximately 2G took less than two minutes to my external USB drive;

dot Minimal use of resources, only 33MB of memory while backing up and no significant CPU use; and,

dot Excellent support through direct email with a 24 hour turn around time; a comprehensive User Guide; and active Community Forum that seems to be constantly monitored by the developers. Email support was very fast, the people I talked with were not only courteous, knowledgeable, and professional but were friendly and made me actually feel that you I was important to them.

There are less expensive and even free backup programs (and certainly more expensive ones as well); but, at $37.00, one can get a lot of piece of mind that documents, photos, and all data will be continuously backed up and be just a click away with no action other than simply turning the computer on. I highly recommend this program.

Reviewer 2 - Dana Bostick: Oops! Backup is fully automated and very flexible in its ability to choose files, folders, source & target drives, including multiple target drives. It seemed to have very little impact on my system operation when it was running although there were a few issues with "windowing me out" of some running programs when it triggered at its scheduled time. Simply clicking the task bar icon brought the windowed out program back up again, so this was only a minor annoyance.

Oops!Backup and its various display screens is very easy to use and quite intuitive without needing to dig into the documentation. Full documentation is available online or as a downloadable PDF. The manual is very clear and easy to understand with hyperlinks to appropriate sections included in both the online and PDF versions. For anyone who has ever used any backup and restore software application, the screens provided by Oops!Backup are fairly self-explanatory. In using the "Go Back in time" restore feature, the application clearly displays which folders and files that have been backed up. A "History" list along the right side of the restore options screen allows one to step back in time to the most recent backup or as far back as there are backups available.

Oops! Backup has a "Dashboard" through which one can manage backup operations. There is a lot of information displayed here including a pie chart of the backup drive status, a bar graph of the total backup size by day, a listing of all the backed up folders, a listing of what was included in the latest backups and any warning or error messages about the omitted files and why they were not backed up, as well as a listing of any "Changed Files Since Last Backup"

Oops! Backup's User Interface is very clean and easy to understand. Working from the dashboard, it was very easy to see what my current status was and to navigate the various areas of the program to control what and when it was doing.

Oops!Backup is very flexible, in that it will allow setting up a backup frequency on a folder-by-folder schedule.

The options for "target" drives are many. The program will utilize external USB, eSATA, USB Flash drives, File server drives using UNC paths or mapped drives, NAS (network attached storage) drives or the internal drive on the actual PC being backed up. The latter is not recommended since it would be somewhat self defeating if the drive crashes and it's the same one on which data was backed up.

Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: First: it works. Backing up is good, and necessary. But it is also important to be able to use the backup to "Restore" files that have been lost, deleted, corrupted or otherwise disappeared from one's computer. Oops!Backup does both the backing up and the restoring.

Since I started using Oops!Backup, it has gone through several updates, and recently was upgraded from Version 2 to the new Version 3. This added several features that greatly improved the "Dashboard" and other parts of the user interface Although I was already fairly pleased with my experience with Oops!Backup, Version 3 improved my overall impression of the program. The fact the program is in continual improvement is a good sign, as the developers are committed to producing a good program. Amongst other things, I note that they do listen to the suggestions of their users. Bug and feature "fixes" are shown in the change-logs and each update advises what has changed from the previous version.

Oops!Backup can be set-up easily and quickly, even by someone with little computer experience. Once up and running, little is required. I set my files to be backed up every hour. Since Oops will only make backups of files that have changed since the last time, the process is easily accomplished in the background, with no noticeable effect on whatever it is that I am doing at backup time. I also have three other back-up programs that I use on a daily basis. When one of those other programs gets going, and I happen to be working at that time, I immediately notice a significant slowdown, almost to the point of being impossible to continue. With Oops!Backup, I note no such slowdown and observe only my storage USB running momentarily.

Those nervous about losing backups (as am I) can easily add a second drive in Oops!Backup. I have that one set up to operate at different times from the first one with no significant effect on my system.

Some of the advanced (but still easy to set up) features are:

dot the use of Special Folders to set unique options for particular folders, different from general settings;

dot enabling the VSS feature of Windows to backup files or folders that are in use. Normally these files/folders are unavailable or locked from having more than one program to use them at the same time;

dot the ability to have version backups save only the changes, rather than the full file each time, thus saving space on one's backup drive; however, the most recent Save is a full copy, and the older ones are converted into "deltas" (changes only). This way one can have access to the full, most recently-saved file, directly from your backup; and,

dot the ability to determine a maximum backup size. This deals with the problem that I have with other programs that completely fill up my backup.

For those who wish to adapt their settings, or to take advantage of some of the extra features of Oops!Backup, the Help file is very well done. It has the usual explorer tree structure with clear explanations and illustration. A great touch that I saw in the Version 3 change-log links is the "Changes at a Glance" segment. It is essentially a series of screenshots of the places that the new version has implemented important changes, with arrows pointing to the features that they want to highlight. This is the best "change-log" that I have seen.

There are several ways to access support. The quickest method is to use the Feedback button at the bottom of the "Dashboard" screen. Or one can get there via the on-line Help, the Community Forum, email or by using a form on the Web site. My questions on the Community Forum were answered within 12 hours.


Weak points.

Reviewer 1 - Mark Snyder: There really are no serious weaknesses. Overall, I found absolutely no problems with the backup or restore procedure. For the purpose of this review, Oops! Backup monitored all of my most active folders and each one was properly backed up every time I made a change or addition. It was easy and it worked. I do have one not-so-small complaint that is directed more to the developer(s) than to the program itself, and that is their policy of providing free support for only a single year. If this was not such an excellent program and one which I suspect will require little support, the one year of support would be a deal breaker. Support should be for the life of the program and most software that I use and trust provides this level of customer service. Even much freeware today provides unlimited support, and when the program is $37.00 this should be expected. I understand that support can be expensive and that everyone needs to make money, but if the program is as good as believed, the cost of providing support should be very low.

Reviewer 2 - Dana Bostick: The only issue I really had with this program was that if left running as intended, it brings one's computer out of standby to run at its scheduled time. This is understandable but it can have unintended consequences. I installed it on a laptop that I take to my worksite in standby mode. Oops!Backup brought the laptop out of sleep mode while in my backpack and the laptop nearly overheated. I found that I either had to turn off the automated scheduling manually each time I transported the laptop, or simply turn off the program entirely.

Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: I am generally satisfied with Oops!Backup, which has functioned well for me since the installation; however, I do not particularly like the New Community Forum. Perhaps it is because I was expecting that it would resemble the forum structure with Topics and Sub-Topics that are familiar to me. This new Community Forum is linear, with every kind of question being listed in chronological order, except that replies are tied to the original posting. It is much in the style of the large Social Networking sites that I frequent only rarely. Perhaps this is why I feel uncomfortable there.


Other Comments

Reviewer 1 - Mark Snyder: I had a support issue, brought about by my own misunderstanding of the program. When the desktop icon is clicked, it attempts to recreate itself. The developers are aware of this and correcting the problem. I did not mention this as a weakness because there is really no need to have a desktop shortcut to begin with. I was treating the program as a standard backup program that can be scheduled or run manually but this somewhat defeats Oops!Backup's effectiveness which will be attained only if the program is left running in the background all of the time. Having said all of that, Simon, who helped me, could not have been nicer to work with. When dealing with people such as Simon and observing the developer's response and eagerness to help customers in the Community Forum, I realized that this is a company that takes pride in its product and in working with its customers. That's a combination that is hard to beat. I even rather like the name 'Oops!"


Reviewer 2 - Dana Bostick: Many backup solutions cram backed up data into one huge proprietary file that can only be opened with the software that created it with an "all or nothing" restore. This is cumbersome, time consuming, and not very flexible. Oops!Backup makes every folder and file individually available for restoration on an as-needed basis. If one accidentally deletes a single critical file or loses it during a file transfer, the latest version is available in the archive and restored. (assuming, of course, that Oops!Backup was instructed to back up that file)

Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: We all know we need to back up our data but may just not quite get around to actually doing it. Oops!Backup makes this necessary chore quite easy to implement, and the short time to get it running will save eventual grief. The additional feature of being able to go back to recover something accidentally deleted or overwritten, or to simply compare a file with what presently exists takes Oops!Backup into a different class. Up to now, I have needed two different programs: one for backups to deal with a potential disaster, and the other to make versions of all the stuff I am working on. Oops!Backup puts it all together.


Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1 - Mark Snyder. Absolutely. In fact, it goes on my very short list of recommended programs.

Reviewer 2 - Dana Bostick: Yes, in the desktop setting, it appears to have little or no impact on system operation when running. It is very flexible or "granular" in its ability to drill down into a backup and select a single file to restore or restore an entire folder or move an entire hard drive's contents to a new drive. Oops!Backup is quite flexible and very usable.

Reviewer 3 - Peter Royle: Yes, even to the point of uninstalling a previous program that I was using.

OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
 Windows Vista Home Premium, XP Pro, XP Home, XP Media Center

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