Macware MacBackup
$0.94
- Keep your backups easy
- Single interface makes backup and recovery easy
- Quick backup categories save downloaded music, digital photos, movies and more
- Save disc space by compressing your backups for maximum storage
- Restore or Transfer Instantly
Product Description
MacBackup makes computer backup easy. Quick backup categories instantly scan and backup your photos, music and movies, email settings and documents folder. You can even just drag and drop anything stored on your computer directly into MacBackup to quickly create a secure backup. Your files are safe until you choose to restore them, or transfer them to a new computer. Backup to CD, DVD, FTP, local and alternative hard drives…. More >>
To be fair, I’ve only tried using this a couple of times, though the reason for that is that it is slow, buggy, and completely unreliable. I recently tried restoring some data spread across 3 CD’s that I’d backed up using this, and it won’t let me actually restore it. It gives me an option on where to save it, shows me all of the file names of what I should be restoring, and when I actually click to restore, another pop-up comes up that looks like it wants me to choose another location, but it won’t actually let me select one.
Absolutely ridiculous. I’ve apparently lost roughly 2 gigabytes of “backed-up” data because this program is an utter piece of garbage.
Rating: 1 / 5
This is all too clearly a first version of the product, and more properly should be beta software. If not for there being so few choices for OSX compatible backup software (and their expense and many equally negative reviews), I would have gone with something else.
The software itself is fairly primitive. Searches for files to choose for backup are slow (improved with v.1.2). The software is much slower than similar Windows products I use (perhaps an OSX issue?). You can only save one set of file choices and options as your “default” backup, and there is no way to modify this without completely redoing it. Documentation is sparse and tech support nonexistent: macXware has never answered an email question from me (the only replies I get are automated form replies that tell me to check the nonexistent FAQ and they’ll contact me soon), and there is no useful information on their site.
On the plus side, it supports many different backup media. I’ve backed up to an NAS device and to an external firewire HD. You have a variety of compression options and can password protect the backups. If you’re familiar with Genie-Soft’s Backup Manager, this product looks like an attempt to copy many of their ease of use features, but is not nearly as well thought through or developed. Again, the v1.2 upgrade looks and functions better than the original product on the disk, but even that wouldn’t install properly.
Rating: 2 / 5
It was looking for a full disk image, Disaster Recovery program, and this is not it. So I tossed it to the side and kept looking. For DR spend
$27.95 on “SuperDuper” for the Mac made by shirt-pocket sales. Google it, you will find it. SuperDuper will not backup to CD or DVD, but likes Firewire or USE 2.0 Drives. It will also back up to a Mounted disk attachment. Fully restores my OS/X, Cocco, and MS Windows on Parallels, Tiger 10.4.
MacBackup is good to backup media types, files to CD, DVD, many forms of media, but it is no disaster replacement software. It is not bad, but it is just not DR software. If you are cool with that, it is easy to use, and does the job.
***UPDATE: Use a free product called “SuperDuper”. It makes a full image of you Mac OS X system from which you fully
restore later on a newly installed Macbook/Macbook Pro. Price is right. If you love the backup software and use
it all the time, as I do, make a donation to support it’s continued updates when we move from tiger to leopard to snow leopard, etc.
Rating: 3 / 5