With a software satisfaction he hasn't felt in some time, Wes says, "I have fallen in lurv with ViceVersa. If you, like me, hate proprietary backup-file formats, and want a simple backup copy of your files, this program is perfect."
Tired of the self-quote format, Wes continues:
It does exactly what it should and provides a rich set of options. Each time a file changes, it gets backed up and the old version is time stamped and archived in another folder, which can be deleted after a time -- or number of changes -- that you specify. The folder/file-filtering capabilities and scheduling options are complete and they work. You can select multiple sources and/or multiple targets. The comparison view will show you any differences between your sources and targets and it's easy to understand. It will even synchronize your clock with an Internet time server when the program starts.
A lot of this sounds pretty basic, but too many backup programs fail on one or more of these points, or simply don't let you configure them with the accuracy that you should be able to.
I've been trying ViceVersa a day and a half and I'm ready to pull out the credit card. Great software.
Previously, I thought the best I would do without throwing down more than a hundred bucks was Genie Backup Manager, which I am now thankfully able to avoid.
It won't back up empty folders, though the developer promised it would in final release, its cataloging feature is confusing, its file filters don't always work, not to mention it's rich with typos, though I pointed them all out to the developer during version 5's beta phase. And top that off with the fact that its archiving feature, when used with an incremental backup, will eventually delete your base set of files!
(Example: You set it to archive changed files and to delete them after 7 days. The first time you back up, it backs up all files in an initial folder. The second time, it creates a new folder and backs up changes. The next time, it does the same. After 7 days, your first folder, containing all the unchanged files, is wiped out, leaving you only with files that have changed in the last week. I swore there had to be some setting that would prevent that, but after trying it the last couple of months, I sure as hell couldn't figure it out.)
