RestoreIT 7: Total System Recovery Worth the Hassle? Installation Woes and Other Minor Annoyances Joseph Moran
Installation Woes
Initial attempts to install RestoreIT on several different systems were met with error messages stating that there was insufficient free space on the disk, when in fact there was ample room in all cases. Inexplicably, simply choosing a new install path on the same drive rectified the problem (a fact that was only stumbled upon after significant trial and error).
Selecting a "typical" install type will utilize all the contiguous free space available at the end of your hard drive. You can also choose a custom install, which lets you specify how much of the available space RestoreIT will consume. Confusion continued to ensue throughout during the rest of the process; for example, the installation routine recommended that I defrag, even though I'd already done that.
Once you get past the trials and tribulations of setting up RestoreIT, the software presents a straightforward Quick Start dialog that lets you easily kick off wizards for a complete system or incremental backup (restore point), as well as perform system rollbacks or restores of specific files.
To perform a complete system backup or restore from a restore point, RestoreIT must shut down Windows and reboot its real-mode interface from the hidden partition (you can create a restore point without exiting Windows). Although you can access the RestoreIT real mode software by hitting the space bar when the system boots, you may also create a bootable diskette, CD, or DVD to start the system in the event your disk's boot table gets completely hosed.
The RestoreIT wizards makes initiating backup and restore operations simple enough, but in a quest to keep things uncomplicated a lot of flexibility is lost. For example, you don't have the opportunity to name a restore point before creating it (each is named "New Incremental Backup Point" and each is distinguished simply by the date and time of creation), and you can only restore the most recent restore point via the Quick Start. To give a backup point a descriptive name or restore any backup other than the most recent one — or to configure a schedule or password protect your backups — you must utilize RestoreIT's Advanced mode.
Problem is, the Advanced mode isn't nearly as user friendly as the basic mode. In fact, like RestoreIT's install routine, it suffers from poor wording and somewhat confusing dialogs that can leave you perplexed enough that you may not be exactly sure of whether you're doing what you intended.
The software does include a somewhat useful tutorial of basic functions, but it suffers from many of the same design ills as the software. A case in point: the tutorial automatically launches when you open up RestoreIT from the Taskbar (a somewhat annoying feature that can thankfully be disabled). However, since it's pulled from the FarStone web site, it's available only if you're online. Moreover, it runs like a movie and doesn't give you the opportunity to pause it so you can digest what you're watching. Finally, the tutorial is only available when you first launch the program; if you close it, the only way to get it back is to close and re-open RestoreIT.
In spite of the irksome installation and interface issues, RestoreIT does do a solid job of backing up and recovering data. We were able to use it on our test system to restore damaged application installations, deleted files, and even an entire Windows partition (which we had sabotaged with the FDISK command).
Pricing and System Requirements
In addition to the disk space requirement, RestoreIT's other system requirements are 256MB of RAM and a system running Windows XP or Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2 or higher installed. The utility supports the FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS file systems.
Restore IT is available as a full-featured 30-day trial download. Registering the software after the trial period costs $39.99. For households with multiple systems, there's also a 5-user license available for $129.99. FarStone offers a 25% discount to users who register within the first 7 days of the trial period.
In large measure, RestoreIT does what it promises, protecting your data and offering you the flexibility to restore as much or as little of your data as you need. However, there are also enough potential pitfalls (some the fault of RestoreIT, and some not) in the installation and operation of the software that you'll definitely want to avail yourself of the trial period before making the purchase.
Pros: Provides both complete system backups and incremental restore points; can restore a system without the need to reinstall Windows
Cons: Confusing, time-consuming installation; commands and interface not always intuitive; external hard drives may not work on some systems; requires considerable free space on a system's hard drive
