A Review Of Carbonite 4.0 For Windows

If you're one of the thousands of Carbonite subscribers and you've been happy with it, then you should be all the more pleased to know of the launch of the Carbonite 4.0 for Windows. This review of the latest version of Carbonite takes a close look at what's new with this online backup and storage service which has always been known for its reliability and ease of use.

CEO Davide Friend in his post on the Carbonite blog says that the company is more in the restore business than in the backup business. And true enough, being able to recover one's data at a time when it is needed most is perhaps the best satisfaction a computer user can get from his backup service.

Now just how much of this emphasis on data restore is reflected in Carbonite 4.0 for Windows? Let's explore its main features.

At the core of Carbonite's faster and much-improved process of retrieving data is the Restore Manager. This is a new, intuitive feature that guides the user throughout the whole process, making data recovery quick and effortless, yes, even if one is new to the whole data restore function and even when it's the entire backup file that needs to be retrieved.

Other than the Restore Manager, Carbonite 4.0 also comes with other features that further simplify retrieval of data. The Restore Search assists in locating files that users want to restore. One may search for a file by using the full or even partial name, date, file size, and file type. Then if you have many files to recover, the Priority Restore feature enables you to set which crucial files should be downloaded first.

If you installed a new Windows version on your PC, you can also be sure that any files restored will have the proper file structure to match the OS you're currently using, thanks to Carbonite's Migration Wizard.

Having difficulty keeping track of everything? The Restore Summary Report is a useful feature to help you identify exactly which files have been restored and where these are located. Or, you can find some help from the Redesigned InfoCenter which gives updates on the status of your data restore.

It appears that Carbonite has practically thought of everything with the 4.0 version. Still, those who have just started using Carbonite or are planning to do so in the near future should remember that they first have to backup all their data and this process can take a really long time. This has in fact, left many users annoyed.

Once you have the initial backup done however, you need not think about anything else as Carbonite works quietly in the background.

All things considered, Carbonite 4.0 for Windows looks like a promising upgrade for online backup users that could be worth trying.