How-To Geek
GFI Backup Home Edition is a Free Data Backup Utility for Windows
In today’s tough economic times the last thing you want is to lose important data because you couldn’t afford a quality backup utility. Today we look at GFI Backup Home Edition, a completely free professional grade backup solution.
Installation is quick and easy following the install wizard. Everything in GFI Backup is wizard driven making it easy to use for even novice computer users.
From the main interface is nicely laid out so you can easily select the backup or other task you want to create.
Creating your first backup is simple following the steps in the Wizard. A noteworthy feature is being updated via email in case there are any errors or other issues with the backup.
The backup destination can be an external hard drive, removable media, network locations, and even an FTP server.
There is the ability to compress and add AES encryption to the backups. Here you can also select Incremental or Differential backup types.
Easily schedule backup tasks based on your preferences.
While the back up is running you can monitor the progress in the My Tasks window. We backed up
Restoring files is just a matter of exploring the backup and finding the missing data. You can also restore an entire backup if needed.
You can access controls from the System Tray Agent.
When the backup is complete a report is generated so you can monitor the results.
If you have any problems or want additional information about backups, everything is stored in log files you can export to text or HTML reports.
More advanced users will like the different tasks and other settings options.
Conclusion
GFI Backup is a good free backup application for beginners and experienced users. It officially works with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and we were able to run it without any problems on Windows 7. If you are looking for a free backup solution this is certainly worth a look.
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Comments (4)
Programmer by day, geek by night, The Geek, also known as Lowell Heddings, spends all his free time bringing you fresh geekery on a daily basis. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 06/30/09
Hey Geeks, THANK YOU for another great recommendation! I installed it today and have been testing it out. So far, VERY GOOD. This is a really nice FREE alternative to WINZIP!
Really nice recommendation. Just as you reported, pretty easy to set-up and configure, and a decent number of options.
Thanks again!
Nice App., but Win 7, already has a local backup software build in. It can be backed up in the local network, i.e. NAS, SAN, SAS, etc….I haven’t actually tried it yet.
Either, great app., to know about.
My Windows 7 backup had been working until recently. Maybe a Windows update messed it up. I tried to figure out what was wrong, but never found a solution. So I installed GFI Backup and it works like a charm. I love the How-to Geek. I’ve learned a lot and this is usually the first place I go when I have a problem with my PC. Thanks!