It’s been around for quite a while, and although it’s basic, it is totally reliable. When I say basic I mean it, because there’s not even a restore feature! (Since it creates archives in zip format, data can easily be recovered with about any archive utility) It’s used by thousands of organizations and individual users, and has the advantage of a strong user community. There’s a Unicode version that only works with Windows NT and later, and a second version that doesn’t support Unicode, but works with all Windows versions. It supports shadow copy so it can backup files that are in use at the time of backup. Encryption of the archives is also supported.

For all the bells and whistles you get with this backup program, we were shocked to find that it’s free. Cobian Backup not only looks good, but it proved to be a very reliable and easy to use backup tool.

The user interface is straightforward, and the colorful command buttons are extremely intuitive. Creating a new backup task was easy, despite all of the configuration options. Basically, all we had to do was create a name, decide what files and folders to include, and create a schedule for the backup. We opted to save important files to our USB, which worked perfectly. We were impressed by the file compression and encryption options that aren’t found in many paid programs. The Options menu comes with tons of settings for more advanced file compression, password-protecting the user interface, and even changing the interface’s appearance. We were able perform random backups with the click of a button, and likewise, we were able to run multiple backup tasks all at once without any problems whatsoever.

Cobian Backup offers multiple help venues, including an index, a tutorial, and support forums. However, even the most novice users will be able to jump in with very little, if no, guidance. We highly recommend this program for all users.