Cobian Backup 10.0.3.743

Rated 50/50 by atnobo at Feb 19, 2011

lots of nice features none as of yet good product and does the job

Rated 20/50 by wesleyrwallace at Feb 22, 2011

Can compress files or not. Restore is simple cut and pasteSimple to set up. Will not run backup from sleep mode. Does not seem to do incremental backup. Without the ability to easily do incremental back up can not recommend this program.

Rated 10/50 by AstuteOne at Mar 5, 2011

Apparently this software has some impressive capabilities, but you wouldn't know it because there are no instructions for its very complicated interface. Aside from the complete lack of instructions amidst an ocean of unexplained buttons and widgets, the software installs incorrectly, creating another self-starting tray app when specifically instructed not to do so. Highly confusing software with no instructions.

Rated 30/50 by KNRover at Mar 15, 2011

Very simple interface; ability to drag-n-drop folders/files from Explorer is best way I've encountered to select what you want to back up; uses non-proprietary format (zip) for backups. No restore process; user must use their own zip program (e.g., PKZip, WinZip, 7z, etc.) to extract backup files and folders I have used PKZip for 25 or more years to make backups. The files that I want backed up are identified in a text script I created using NotePad. It is extremely fast; about 2.5 min. to back up 1.5GB of working files, including some pictures. However, I've had a PC since 1984, know DOS like the back of my hand, and can do things with computer programs that the average user can't. I evaluated Cobian a part of a search for a backup program for someone who is not computer savvy, and that's somewhat of an understatement. The program had to make it extremely easy/obvious to both DO backups and RESTORE backups. While I liked the backup part of Cobian for this person, the lack of a built-in restore function killed it. For someone who is comfortable using a zip program, Cobian is definitely worth a look.

Rated 40/50 by Dag-Are at Mar 19, 2011

The layout is... beautiful. I demand a good layout that is easy to look at and easy to understand. I can't stand software where every option-box is squeezed so tight it's hard to see what is what. It rarely used terms/words like "Shadow Copy" that might be difficult to understand. The software should have a little info-window which appeared, explaining the words. For me, the worst thing is that it doesn't have the ability to synchronize : ( I can't use this program as it can't synchronize, but the backup function is so good that I decided to keep it anyway! I've tried different Backup/synchronizing programs. SyncBack doesn't have support for certain characters (amongst them: Asian characters). I now use GFI Backup, but the layout isn't as good as in Cobian.

Rated 10/50 by oscarucb at Mar 22, 2011

Many options seem nice Once a large backup begins it just sits there doing nothing for literally hours - no status, no progress bar, nothing. Didn't even answer a stop command. Finally had to process kill. YMMV

Rated 50/50 by junkcatcher at Apr 8, 2011

I have used Cobian Backup since the early versions and it has saved my bacon on more than a few occaisions. Week in week out Cobian Backup performs unattended scheduled backups via FTP to a pair of cheap as chips LANS Disks without any hassle. Only real niggle is I much preffered the look of interface on the early versions.

Rated 50/50 by renaum at Apr 20, 2011

Several password options.Scheduled backup.Network support. It has so many settings it can take some time to find the best for you. Regular backups can be faster if it's not set to compress to Zip or 7z. My current settings uses Blowfish and the last one took less than a minute to complete although the first one took around 40 minutes. Good luck setting up yours, it wasn't easy for me.

Rated 50/50 by GeneHunter at Apr 26, 2011

It's freeIt's intuitive which makes it easy to useIt's eye friendlyIf a lot of work has been done in some files I can easily do a manual back-up for those specific files in between the scheduled back-ups. None for me I've used Cobian for 8 months. This is the only back-up programme that I've used that long, because it is so easy to use. I recommend this programme to anyone.

Rated 20/50 by smikecarl at May 18, 2011

Free to all Will not work with my Seagate NAS. Will not open new files on the networked drive - even with administrator access.. (Yes, I have shared the drive with all users on the network.) No value for me even if it is free.