Customer Reviews

NTI Backup Now 5 Standard Edition DVD Case [Old Version]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have this backup software, it is easy to use and they keep it updated -- without trying to get extra money. It permits backups to a wide variety of formats and also lets you tailor your backup, sources, what to do when done, file names, etc, etc. Very flexible program.

I use it daily to back up to my USB drives, one of which I take to an off site location. When I have had to restore files it was easy to do so.

All in all a great backup program, makes it easy to do backups.

I had nti 4 and then upgraded to 5.5 to use with windows 7 on 2 of my computers. After much e mailing with Heather on NTI staff, I worked out the details for the particluar way I wanted to use the software (transfer of data, e mails, email addresses to other computers not just re installs). She was very patient with me, I just ordered another copy for my other computers. Only software I could find that does just what I want. It may not be easy but I don't want easy. I want a software than I can specify the files I want to backup automatically.

Let me start by saying the only reason I gave this "software" one star is that zero stars was not an option.

I own six computers for my office and personal use. I purchased numerous copies of the software be backup and restore my computers. I use the Windows 7 operating system. On each and every computer, at least once week, when I go to open the software, I receive an error message that the program was not installed properly, and I have to reinstall the software. This takes place on EACH OF THE SIX COMPUTERS I own.

I called technical support on numerous occassions. I have spoken to the same person on each and every occassion I called. I have been told that it must be Norton 360 that is causing the problem. I explained (to Heather, I believe her name is) that I only have Norton 360 on 4 of the computers, yet the same thing happens on all six. Unfortunately, after all the calls, and dozens of reinstalls, the same problem continues.

Another issue, if that was not enough, is that on many files, the file name is transfored to the the new computer, but the file is empty. Again, not explaination was afforded by Heather.

In my opinion, this software is the worst piece of crap I have had the misfortune to purchase. It has caused me countless hours of frustration and grief.

In my opinion, the softwares should only be used as a place to put a glass on. It is a complete piece of garbage. I have replaced it with a new backup program.

Shame on you NTI, for selling this piece of crap.

I bought a copy of this software to use to back up my laptop, looking for something with a "friendlier" UI than Lenovo's Rescue and Recovery, which is bundled with Thinkpads. I used it in parallel for a couple of months with the Lenovo software, alternating days. When I most recently lost my HD as a result of a head crash, I was able to rebuild a new system disk on a brand new drive using this product in boot mode - the true test of any backup program.

Problem is, it took over 12 hours to do the restore! I had about 220GB on my hard drive when I created the backup file I was restoring.

I repeated the process with a (one day older but only trivially different) backup made with Rescue & Recovery onto an identical disk and it took about a third of the time. In both cases I was restoring from a Toshiba USB external drive to identical Seagate 7200 RPM internal SATA drives.

The "backup" UI on this product is pretty nice - I think non-technical people would have an easier time of it than with the Lenovo product. But, though I didn't measure it - it seems that the backup part takes a lot longer, too. That might not be an issue for a lot of people, but when I start a backup at lunch and it's not done by the time I need to undock and catch a train at the end of the day, that's way too long.

I had hopes, but I'm going to stick with the less-friendly Lenovo software and continue to do so for employees in my company (I run IT). The speed of restores was the deciding factor for me. My laptop takes some vibration abuse on trains and it's usually hard at work managing my development on a Linux VM hosted on a native Windows, and I was crashing about 3 hard drives a year (until I switched to a SSD). My backup program MUST be able to do a full restore overnight (6 hours).

I used the older version 3, before, which worked great. This Upgrade does not work!
When I e-mailed for technical assistance, I received a silly, no help reponse. Then, I tried to phone. The first phone number rejected calls and provided another number to call. That second number also refused to accept calls and connected me to an operator. The operator also refused to answer and suggested to call the previous number. That is, when I gave up and wrote email again. I received no response!
Stay away from that product. Only the total lack of technical assistance is worse than this piece of crap.
Alfred Voytek, lake Worth Florida.

The older version 4.0 worked great with XP, after my upgrade to Windows 7 64, the upgrade does not work. I get an error message about the installer does not work with this NTI Software. Support is zero, I've called, waited for an hour before hanging up, tried e-mail support, no response after a week, now when I call all I get is a busy signal.

Stay away!

Ken Johnson