Iomega QuikSync 3 Backup: Set It, Forget It

Tom Mainelli

Just too darned busy to back up those important computer files? The new QuikSync 3 program from Iomega instantly saves your data to a second drive, so you're always covered if your hard drive goes belly-up. And unlike previous versions, which worked only with Iomega's drives, QuikSync 3 works with all types of drives from other manufacturers.

I installed my shipping version in about 5 minutes. Then I backed up several folders from my hard drive to my 100MB Zip drive. After that, each time I saved a file to one of those hard-drive folders, QuikSync 3 saved the file to my Zip, too.

The software's clean, simple control panel offers backup amenities aplenty. When you change a file, you can either overwrite the old file on the backup drive or create a new one--useful for tracking revisions of a document. You can specify the number of revisions to retain--if any--before the oldest is deleted in favor of the newest. You can select certain file types not to back up and schedule specific backup days and times. It notified me when my backup Zip disk was nearly full, and it let me disable the intrusive backup progress bar, as well as the QuikSync icon (lightening the load on my system tray).

This software takes some of the hassle out of backups. While you can find freeware utilities with similar features, few could possibly be this simple to use. At $40, QuikSync 3 is a bargain--especially when compared to the high price of losing precious data.