| Stable release | Handy Backup 6.9.6 build 8822 / August 12, 2011[1] |
|---|---|
| Development status | Active |
| Operating system | Windows 7, Vista, 2008 Server, XP, 2003 Server, 2000[2] |
| Available in | English, Spanish, French, German, Russian and other (21 total) [3] |
| Type | Backup software |
| License | Commercial proprietary |
| Website | Handy Backup |
Handy Backup is a disk imaging and backup software developed by Novosoft LLC. Handy Backup creates backup copies of data stored on computers working under Microsoft Windows OS or Unix-like systems with the WINE Windows-compatibility layer. The backups can be stored to a variety of local and remote devices including HDD, CDs/DVDs, FTP and SFTP servers and other storage media. Users of Handy Backup can also take advantage of the Novosoft Remote Backup Service which incorporates the program with a secured remote hosting.
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Introduced in 2002 by Novosoft, Handy Backup is a backup software targeted for use in home and small business environments. The program was originally designed for backing up individual files and data and settings of popular software applications. However, after cession of the copyright to Novosoft LLC, Handy Backup quickly acquired multiple advanced features, such as support for backing up Microsoft Exchange Server data, disk imaging, and other.
Handy Backup has a Wizard driven interface and a task-based architecture which allows creating and scheduling three types of operations: backup, restore and synchronization. Key options include task scheduler, ZIP compression, Blowfish encryption, e-mail notifications, and an option to start other programs before or after task execution.
File systems supported by the software include NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS, Reiser4 and other. This variety is achieved through the use of disk imaging module which allows performing sector-based backup which does not query the file system. Though this feature is not primarily designed for hard disk cloning, it can also be used for this purpose.
Handy Backup stores information about each backup task in index files of its own .HBI format. Each index file contains the list of files, their sizes, time of creation, time of last modification, file attributes, and other data. It also includes a reference to the previous index file and is renewed with each execution of the task, which enables doing incremental and differential backup and save only changes. In Handy Backup, incremental backup is made on file level and differential backup is made on byte level.
Handy Backup comes in three editions designed for individual PCs: Standard, Professional and Full. Also, there is an enterprise backup edition called Handy Backup Server which includes all features of Handy Backup Full and allows backing up data of networked workstations. The editions have different sets of features and are targeted at different market segments. All programs are distributed as shareware and have a full-featured 30 days trial period.
Novosoft LLC was partnering with Novosoft Inc in the field of software development for over ten years. In 2003 due to a financial markets storm caused by a Dot-com bubble crash, the companies decided to make their businesses independently and divide the software products they created together. On May 29, 2003 the copyright of Handy Backup was transferred to Novosoft LLC.
During the reorganization, a group of people from the Russian branch of Novosoft Inc accused Novosoft LLC of stealing the trademark and refused to transfer ownership of the Handy Backup web site. They filed a suit against Novosoft LLC claiming that the copyright had been transferred illegally, and continued selling the program, acting under the old name of Novosoft Inc (which in fact stopped its existence as a US-based company).
Since then, both parties have fought in a continuous legal battle which is still not over. At present, there are two websites, http://www.handybackup.net belonging to Novosoft LLC and http://www.handybackup.com belonging to Novosoft Inc, selling different versions of Handy Backup under the same name.
While Novosoft LLC seems to put many efforts into development and promotion of the program,[4] Novosoft Inc succeeds in selling a 5-year obsolete version of the program,[5] due to initial high rankings in Internet search engines (in a "classical" dot-com way). This creates a lot of confusion among both customers[6] and editors: e.g., in 2008 TopTenReviews published a review of Novosoft Inc's version of Handy Backup, mistakenly ascribing it to Novosoft LLC.[7]
In May 2008, the Texas District Court acknowledged that the Handy Backup copyright had been transferred to Novosoft LLC legally and dismissed the case. Immediately after that Novosoft LLC filed a suit demanding that Novosoft Inc transfer the domain name to them.
As of October 24, 2011 the HANDYBACKUP.COM web site is still online.