SmartBackup4.2.1

Version 4.2 is out. This app is now FREE. Seems to have impressive features.

Marketing promotes very dubious benchmark stats about how SmartBackup is 2x faster than SuperDuper! and 3x faster than Carbon Copy Cloner. Highly unlikely as SuperDuper! backups run at about 80% of disk speed.

New version is licensed per machine. The good influence of the Mac App Store isn't enough for Solesignal who want to take us back to the dark ages of software licensing. I can just see per machine licensing for utilities that are tied to hardware (Coolbook or TurboBoostSwitcher for instance: who both offer prices to match the limited license) but for run of the mill backup software. - run for the hills.

If we will all have to deal with per machine painful licensing, it's time to shut down our Macs. The small developers who benefit from the Mac community's willingness to support shareware suffer in the end from predatory moves like this one from Solesignal which poison our marketplace. I highly recommend that noone reward Solesignal for their punitive approach to licensing.

I haven't used CCC in a long time (it was great software when I did use it) as SuperDuper! is so reliable and easy to use that I haven't had to look elsewhere. SuperDuper! has always been sold at a reasonable $25 shareware fee (not bundled as far as I know) with free updates from the beginning and unlimited licensing per user.

For more advanced syncing and backup, there's the incredibly powerful SuperFlexibileFileSynchronizer now known as Syncovery. Also per user licensing.

Guess it's not on here, but Arq is perfect backup, & once it's set up, effortless.

What the heck is going on here? So many reviewers venting their spleens. Forums such as this are not the place to question features (or perceived lack of them) or post problem descriptions. This dev, like 99% of indie devs, has a web page and a contact email. I find that I get extremely quick and helpful advice when I contact the dev personally. @freeride: You've gotta have a tough hide around here. I'm sorry you've been treated like this.

Bad update policy. And low on features for the price. I did not update and I cannot see any imrovements.

Well, its 2011 now, where is this feature? I do not wish for Ical to be flooded with Smartbackup entries anymore. I would recommend Super Duper over this, as that dev tries to help his users. My exact post from 2009. I have used Smartbackup for a long time too. The biggest thing that bugs me is the developer keeps promising the option of scheduling built into the application itself. Its been worked on and added as a feature request is the usual response. It's almost been a year now.

WARNING!!! Without any prior notification, v2.5 of smartbackup requires $10 payment for previous paid customers! As a paid customer of v2.3.1, I took the mistake of updating to v2.5 and was not able to use the newer version until I cough up the update fee. There is no option to download previous versions on the developer's site. BE WARNED!

I want to be very clear here. I have used SmartBackup for a long time, and I loved it. It works great and is reliable to use ... but with a HUGE caveat. DON'T USE IT WITH NETWORKED DRIVES! I have multiple back ups of many of my drives, and one was a "shared" drive between many computers in my home. I use the airport's usb port to "network it." This drive failed last night, so I went to my backups relieved that I had SmartBackup religiously backing the drive up. Unfortunately, the folder was completely empty. NO BACKUPS. It had a very long log of how it was backing it up everyday, but somehow, it was not connecting to the drive. So, it thought there was nothing to backup. I would give this software 4 stars if it were not for this realization of its massive Achilles heel. If it cannot give some kind of warning when it doesn't connect to the networked drive or finds no files or something ... then you are as good as dead when you find no backups when you really need them. I am having to find another solution, today. This is a sad day. Again, this complaint is just about networked drives. If you have none, then I would recommend this software. All my other backups are in perfect shape. [Cererbl]

The Automator Aktion saved as a programm, does unexpected quit. Also after installing a new system.

Syncup makes the false presumption that a backup set is connected to a destination. This means that you cannot change the destination of a backup set. Other things that are missing is making a backup of other users' files, choosing single files to backup instead of directories and backing up files that you cannot get at with Finder. It also means the writer has no experience with backups. The fancy features are nice, but if you haven't got the basics right, that means the program is of very limited use. To me, it's useless. And man, work on your interface, this is ungainly to say the least!

The developer posted syncup, later versions called syncup X, as a free download. I faithfully downloaded and tried out each version, even when the developer decided to withhold further versions except to those who contacted him personally, which I did and received. Suddenly, one day, I got the dialogue that it was beyond the time limit, that I must now pay for it. I felt that I had been duped into trying out betas and finally being forced into going without it or buying it. Does the developer know what "free" means, or is he just conning us Mac users?