NTI Backup Now Review

Introduction

NTI Backup Now 5.5 is a backup program. The Standard Edition allows for only file-based backups. However, the Advanced Edition of NTI Backup Now allows for file-based backups plus continuous and drive-based. A useless but interesting fact is that the manufacturer of Backup Now which is NTI started back in 1993.

Ease of Use

NTI Backup Now has an interface that I dislike and find hard to use for a number of reasons:

1. 90% of the colour scheme is a boring grey.
2. Locating the help-file is not as obvious as I'd like.
3. There is very little onscreen instruction on how to use NTI Backup Now.
4. The navigation menu is the most difficult aspect of the program – the main menu at the top comprises of obscure images that have no wording to explain what they do.

I opened NTI Backup Now and was confronted with a confusing interface, I had no idea what to do – I had to click around randomly and refer to the help-guide to understand how-to use NTI Backup Now.

The backup process seems easy enough, you follow a three step process – (step 1) is to select what to back up; the (2nd step) is to select the location to backup to; and (3rd Step) is to select when to back up.

In summary, NTI Backup Now is a program that will be difficult to use for the average user.

Features

NTI Backup Now 5.5 comes in two versions: Standard and Advanced.

NTI Backup Now Standard features are:

File-based backup: select directories, folders and files to backup to either a Hard Drive/CD/DVD/Blue-ray/Pen Drive/NAS/Network Drive/FTP Server – using either a full or incremental backup.

Password Protection: you can set a password to protect your backup files from unauthorized access.

Backup archives are compressed to save space.

You can use file filtering to exclude or include certain types of files.

You can also schedule backups to take place at predetermined times.

NTI Backup Now Advanced features are:

The same as NTI Backup Now Standard but also includes:

Drive-based backups: backup the entire computer.

Continuous Data Backup: this involves being able to monitor particular files and folders and create backups on a continuous basis.

Create a Bootable Image Restore Disc that can be used to recover your system in the event the Operating System no longer loads.

Performance

I tested all the features in NTI Backup Now. I created a driver-based backup first and it was completed in 53 minutes and 19 seconds. I tried to restore the drive-based backup I created but I got an error “The destination is system partition, you cannot restore to it.” I read the help guide, and I even referred to their website, but I found no answers. I then redone the driver-based backup and tried to restore again, yet the same error message came up.

The tick boxes you’re supposed to tick to select what drive to backup are not intuitive. For example, I tried to tick the top tick box and nothing happened.

The file-based backup in NTI Backup Now took 15 minutes and 52 seconds to back up 605 files (21GB). I also restored the file backup and it worked fine.

I created a Boot Disc in 3 minutes and 16 seconds. I tested the boot disc, and it worked, but the user interface is unfriendly. There is an option in the Boot Disc to restore your system using a drive backup image. I also clicked “Tools” and then “Repair your system” but I got a strange message “Your Vista drive is D. Do you want to repair it?” – I answered “Yes” but nothing happened, I tried a few times. Furthermore, why did it say “Vista” as I was using a PC with Windows 7 installed – strange screw-up from NTI Backup Now.

NTI Backup Now 5.5 was only able to impress when it came to file-based backups, every other backup and restore function was a hassle.

Help & Support

Email

Use either http://www.nticorp.com/en/us/support/contact_tech.asp or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to contact NTI email support.

I emailed a question about the limitations of the NTI Backup Now trial, and they responded on the same day and confirmed that the trial is fully functional, but is time limited to work for 30 days.

FAQs

There are plenty of FAQs on NTI Backup Now at http://www.nticorp.com/en/us/cms/faq.aspx - just make sure you select “NTI Backup Now” from the category field to view them.

Conclusion

NTI Backup Now 5.5 is your ordinary backup program. However, the standard edition supports only file backups. The advanced edition supports drive backups, continuous data protection, and boot disc creation. Despite most things about NTI Backup Now being average, there are two negatives: it is difficult to use, and there were a couple of performance problems.

Cost/Value:		2/5
Overall rating:		2.6

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