Most optical writers come accompanied by Nero Burning ROM, a bundle of useful applications including Nero Vision 4 and Nero Mobile. One of these bundled applications is BackItUp2. We take a look at how useful it is.
Step 1. Getting Ready
After launching the application, click on the File Backup icon. You’ll see a file-explorer-like interface on the right. Here, you can mark the files and folders that are to be backed up. You can also add files and folders to the backup by dragging and dropping them into the window. Click on Start File Backup to proceed to the backup screen. 
Choose what you want backed up
You can use File Filters to choose the types of files you want to include / exclude from the backup. You can also add custom file filters, which you create in the File Filters section of the Backup tab in Options. 
You can choose to back up an entire drive
If you wish to back up an entire drive, click on the Drive Backup icon. You will see the installed hard drive(s) with the partitions. Select the required partition and click Start Drive Backup to proceed to the backup screen.
Step 2. Setting Up The Backup
You now need to specify the backup destination. This can be selected from the drop-down list and can be another drive, an optical drive, or an FTP server. For the latter, you can add the address of the FTP server to which you wish to backup / restore data in the FTP tab under Options. If the backup destination is an optical drive (as in our example), insert the appropriate medium in the recorder drive. Depending on the amount of data you’re intending to back up, you can opt to use a CD or DVD (of any type).
From the drop-down, select the type of backup you intend to make. The options available are:
- Full backup (the only option if this is a first backup)
Update backup (if a hard drive is the destination, all previously backed-up files will be replaced, but if it is an optical drive, only files that have been added or modified after the most recent backup will be replaced)
Differential backup (a cumulative backup of all the files that have been modified since the last full backup)
Incremental backup (which will back up all the files that were added or modified files after the most recent full or incremental backup).
Specify a name for the backup in the Backup name field, and add comments (if necessary), clicking OK to save them.
Under More, you can choose whether to compress and/or encrypt files before the backup. These options are a good idea as they save on disk space and secure sensitive data respectively. Click on the Compression Settings button to set the level of compression from the provided presets. Click on Set Password to set the password for the encrypted backup. Click Next to proceed.
Step 3. Reviewing Your Settings And Backing Up
You can now review the backup options you have opted for-a green icon in front of a setting indicates a selected option; red indicates the option was deselected.
Click More. Check Verify data after backup to be doubly sure that your data has been safely backed up. Select the writing speed and click Backup to begin the backup process.
Step 4. If Bad Things Happen
If things go awry and you need to restore a backup, click on the Restore icon. You will be able to view the available backups on the right. Choose one of them and set the file filter at the bottom if necessary. You can even choose to restore individual files in the File View applet. Click Start Restore. You can then opt to restore to the original or to a different path. Click Next and then Restore to start the restore process.
Under Tools, you’ll see an option called Create Bootable Disc. If you use this, a bootable disc with a stripped-down version of Nero BackItUp will be created, which lets you back up and restore a drive when your computer cannot start via your hard drive.
Step 5. More Options!
Under Options is E-mail notification, which sends you e-mails when events take place.
In the Expert Features tab, check the box next to Use the CRC checksum when comparing files to make sure that the backup is 100% perfect.
Check the box next to Enable scripting if you want to specify any scripts to be run before or after the backup process.
Enable intelligent compression will let you specify types of files that need not be compressed; this saves time.
Check Use shadow copy for file backup to first prepare a copy of the backup before sending it to the destination (target), rather than doing it on the fly.
BackItUp also allows you to schedule backups, and this is typically useful for a system administrator.
You’ve had this utility for ages, but just didn’t care to take a look at how useful it really is. Backing up your data cannot get any simpler!