Review: WinBackup v1.73, LI Utilities
Out of 5
The only reason we didn't rate it 5 stars was that it wasn't free, and at $29.95, you won't be disappointed with this backup application.

Posted April 22, 2003
2:00 a.m. EST

By Mark Davenport
© SecureLab.com

Statistics:
Size: 1.85 MB,
Cost: $29.95 (download)
Trial: 30 day
Guarantee: 30 day, Full Refund
Company: LI Utilities Inc.

If backup speed, strength of security, ease of use, and a full featured backup application is what you are looking for, then WinBackup should be on your short list of products to consider.

We downloaded the program using a 56k modem connected at 50k. It took all of 6 minutes to download. I would expect to have the file in less than 30 seconds using a broadband connection.
Don't let the small file size distract you from this program's potential.

Installation was smooth, and the best surprise was the wizard that starts automatically to guide you through your first backup job.

Image 1: Screenshot of WinBackup Application

The backup job selection is quite intuitive, even without the wizard. (see image 2) The job size is updated on the fly, as is the estimated compressed file size. The backup file(s) can be split to whatever size you select down to 1 MB if you so choose. You can also customize your backup media to include a cdrw or dvd writer.

Image 2: Backup Job Selection

The final feature we'll mention, that's most important to us here at SecureLab, is the ability to password protect and encrypt your backup jobs. (see image 3) We found that using 256 bit AES Encryption (with compression) slowed the job down to about 1.4mb per second. That's the equivalent of 10x on a cdrw, surprisingly fast for that level of encryption.

Without compression, using 256 bit AES, the backup speed improved to about 3mb per second.

For comparison sake, we tested the same job without either compression or encryption and found about 3.6mb per second.

Although 128 bit encryption would be more than adequate for security purposes, we would recommend using the highest available, plus don't forget to use a mixture of 8 or more alphanumeric characters in your password to guard against brute force attacks and password guessing.

Please note that these speeds may vary based on the equipment used, our testbed was an AMD 1600+ with a 40gb Maxtor UDMA 7200 rpm.

Image 3: Security Settings

We've only touched on a few highlights of this program's features. If you are looking for a good solution to keep your archived data secure, then this application deserves a very close look.

Let us know of your experiences with this program, or give us feedback on this review.

For more information about this program, see the company's web site at: LIUtilities.com