Update: SmartBackup: Review and Giveaway

Posted by Matt Witmer on 08/22/07 in Featured, Home & Personal, Organization, Utilities

For a while now, I have been searching for a backup application that fits in with my work flow and I believe I have found it. The application is SmartBackup and it comes from freeridecoding. You may remember that they also created the DVD Backup utility BurnAgain DVD we reviewed a few weeks ago.

This application is extremely simple and surprisingly powerful. SmartBackup allows you to choose the location of your backup, whether it be an external hard drive, iPod, or a handful of other devices.

SmartBackup Presets Once you have your archive location selected, you go about choosing the files you would like to backup. This is where SmartBackup shines, by pressing the ‘+’ you are given a dialog box where you choose your specific files/folders. This file or folder then appears in the queue and you may change its mode to disable or exclude it if you do not wish to archive it during this sync. SmartBackup also knows where all of your iLife files are located as well as your Mail, Widgets, and Keychains. Having a feature such as this comes in very handy because sometimes OS X places your files in obscure locations.

The speed of this application was very surprising to me. I picked a roughly 7 Gb folder filled with a ton of photos and I choose to have it archive to my external hard drive. The whole process took a slim 10 minutes and couldn’t have gone smoother.

Smart Backup Backing up

Restore is built into SmartBackup as well again it is very simple to use. All you need to do is choose the location of your backups in the “Backup to:” dialog box and then choose Start Restore under the Restore menu. SmartBackup then scans your Mac and determines what you need replaced. One thing you should know though, is that this applications does not do a full boot-able or “clone” of your drive. This is not what the app was developed for. If you find yourself having a core set of irreplaceable files you want to be safe, you can use SmartBackup to keep them updated on your iPod, network share, external HD etc.

So if your looking for an alternative to your standard backup application check out the trial of SmartBackup from freeridecoding and if you like what you see consider the full version for 15 EUR or $20.77.

Update: Freeridecoding has agreed to give away 2 licneses of SmartBackup to you, the readers! To be eligible, all you need to do is comment on how you could bring SmartBackup into your backup routine. Any other feedback is also greatly appreciated!

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21 Comment(s)

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Lonnie said on

August 22nd, 2007 at 2:30 pm

I’ve been using SmartBackup before it was renamed SmartBackup! Great program, easy, simple, hassle free way to backup.

Erich D said on

August 22nd, 2007 at 3:22 pm

I got SmartBackup through one of theose bundles… and I haven’t been dissapointed yet!

In truth, SmartBackup is the ONLY Backup Utility I trust, and it’s already saved my bacon a couple times!

Gimp said on

August 22nd, 2007 at 9:24 pm

My backup solution right now is a mess.

I have two drives, my internal, and my external. I use my external for media and backups.

but my backup routine is horrid.

I have a folder, with a bunch more folders in that, named by the day they were made. and i backup to those, making a new folder for each day that I backup. But I always forget. I end up backing up once, then not for two months, then for 3 days in a row… etc..

Plus i always forget what I’ve already backed up, so I end up spending 30 minutes looking though back folders trying to figure out what i should backup this time.

And, of course, I always miss something. I forget to backup something, then, bam, I delete it, and by the time i realise i needed it, a week later, my recovery programs can’t get enough of the file to be useful.

I need something I can schedule, and forget about, so I don’t go through all this crap.

Scott said on

August 22nd, 2007 at 9:52 pm

I’m so bad with backing up my files, I occasionally backup to DVD but not nearly often enough. So an easy, automated solution would be nice.

I’ve been watching the feedback on MacUpdate for awhile, and with yet another good review from MacApper, I think it’s time to give the trial a spin.

loosegroove said on

August 22nd, 2007 at 10:03 pm

I normally use SuperDuper but I have a NAS drive and the best SuperDuper can do is make a sparse image file. That’s fine but I’d rather just have the files copied over so I can go right to a specific file if I need it. SmartBackup does that and does an EXCELLENT job at it!!!

I want to buy more hard drives just to use SmartBackup more!! Is that wrong?

Josh said on

August 22nd, 2007 at 10:07 pm

I’ve been looking for a program to backup my important data for a while now and this seems to work (I’ve been using the demo). I like how I can still use the finder to see the files on the external HD instead of it being a disk image.

If I’m not lucky enough to win it I will probably buy this great program, well done!

Richard said on

August 22nd, 2007 at 10:10 pm

I could use SmartBackup to archive all my important documents on my iPod every time I connect it. That would give me a little extra piece of mind…

steve said on

August 22nd, 2007 at 10:21 pm

this would really help my backup routine since i don’t really have one. i pretty much just back up important things every once and a while.

Erica said on

August 22nd, 2007 at 11:23 pm

It is so beautiful and useful. I like the fact that it can copy files and folders just as they are and not producing a single sparce image of them! I love this app!

Jack said on

August 23rd, 2007 at 12:03 am

This looks neat. There’s something so comforting about the nice Mac-like interface.

Louis said on

August 23rd, 2007 at 8:32 am

My last backup was months ago. I never could get rid of the feeling that I’m going to mess something up when I do my backup. Maybe SmartBackup is what I need?

Jack said on

August 23rd, 2007 at 1:56 pm

My last backup was a while ago… I really need to get on that!

Well, up until now I have been using Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable image of my drive - works nice for backup because then I only need a similar machine to be back up and running.

This program could change that all including making everything faster!

Thanks MacApper and FreeRideCoding!
-Jack

Carlos said on

August 23rd, 2007 at 2:45 pm

I’ve been backing up manually every week or two and have been looking for a program to setup and forget it. So far I like the feel of SmartBackup. Hadn’t heard of it before this article.

Darren said on

August 23rd, 2007 at 9:32 pm

Backup? Whats a backup?

I’m too busy trying to figure out the old saying ” there are two kinds of people those who have lost data, and those who will!” to backup my computer.

rro said on

August 23rd, 2007 at 9:43 pm

I am using .mac Backup myself, but i’m worried about the mac i bought for my mom. It’s been 2 years and she needs a backup solution. A .mac is too expensive just for backup, but it seems SmartBackup could be a good solution nice article.

photon said on

August 23rd, 2007 at 9:53 pm

I’ve already got a backup routine for my PC, but I haven’t done anything for my Powerbook since I switched back last year. This would fix that.

jwylies said on

August 23rd, 2007 at 10:15 pm

I’ve switched from PCs and I liked having an image as well as a file by file backup. Used Acronis TrueImage on the PC. Using SuperDuper for the image thing now. Haven’t found a good file by file solution that didn’t do the whole effort over. Based on the feature set described above, this might solve the latter effort with some a little more “smart” and not take forever to move the files to an external device.

Brian Waldo said on

August 25th, 2007 at 9:42 am

As of right now, I have no backup routine. I honestly need one, because very soon I may be getting a MacBook. I’m sure the switch with be excruciatingly painful if I do not find an excellent way to back my comp up. SmartBackup seems like the best way to do this.

Thanks for the chance to win it!

Phil Speck said on

August 26th, 2007 at 8:30 pm

I just recently switched to Mac from PC and have been looking for a good backup tool for all the graphics and websites I design for my clients.

Al Smith said on

August 26th, 2007 at 11:21 pm

I need a backup solution which is,

a) “better half” proof
b) elegant
c) works as expected
d) smart and “set and forget”

Nothing I have tried so far, including SuperDuper, Synk, ical and applescript has managed to fill these criteria.

Smart Backup looks like it fits the bill perfectly…..

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Stephen Jakubiec said on