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Written by Don Lee
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Monday, 25 August 2008 |
 Shadow 4 from NewTech Infosystems is the latest version of their
award-winning, easy to use backup software. Now you know how important
it is to back up all of your important files because you never know
when your hard drive is going to fail. The problem most users have is
how they should do a backup and what is the easiest way to accomplish
it. No one wants to spend a lot of time worrying about it and this is
where Shadow 4 comes in.
Once you install Shadow 4 and launch the application, you will be prompted to choose between a one-way Shadow backup job or a two-way backup job. The difference is that the one-way backup job is a basic backup that will take whatever files and folders you specify and back them up to the location and interval you specify. The two-way backup offers the same backup security as the one-way but it also provides you with the ability to keep your files synched. This is a very important new feature because now you don’t have to worry about which version is the latest. Shadow 4 can do the worrying for you while you can concentrate on finishing the job.
One you have selected the backup job, the next panel in the application wizard will ask what you want to back up. You can choose entire folders or individual files by checking the boxes next to the items you want Shadow 4 to monitor. The program has a filtering option available so you can set up multiple jobs based on the file types. For example, you can create a filter to save all Photoshop files with the .psd extension to be saved to a specific folder on another internal hard drive or storage device.
Once you have made your selections, you can now select where you want to save your backup to. Shadow 4 now allows you to choose a destination such as another internal hard drive, a network drive or a removal storage device. Once you choose your destination, the last step is to determine whether you want to have the backup to continuously track your targeted content, perform backups at scheduled intervals (minutes, hours or days) or to backup on specific days and times.
One of the best features of Shadow 4 is the ability to add files to current backup jobs or to a new backup job. Just right click any file or folder on your computer to bring up the contextual menu and you should now see a new option that says “Add to Shadow Job” which will to directly add the content you specified. You have another option to allow you to create a new backup job from this contextual menu.
Restoring a backed up file is even easier. Just click on the “Restore” button in the Shadow 4 toolbar, then you will be shown the contents of the specific backup job. Just select the files or folders you want to restore, then you can choose whether you want to restore the files to their original location or an alternate location.
The Windows version of Shadow 4 comes with NTI’s Ninja software while the Mac version does not. Ninja is a security application for external storage devices.
The Final Word
Overall, Shadow 4 does a really great job protecting only the files or folders you specify. The great thing is that the program will operate in the background so you do not have to manage the application. The multiple step-by-step setup process is intuitive and simple.
NewTech Infosystems backup software Shadow 4 is available for Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. Shadow 4 is a solid backup application that works in the background and can keep either your latest file changes or a number of revisions to those files. Shadow 4 is the easiest and affordable file backup solution that will pay for itself the next time your hard drive fails.
Shadow 4 from NewTech Infosystems earns 4.5 stars out of 5. Highly recommended.
You can learn more about Shadow 4 by visiting the company website at http://www.ntius.com.
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