Handy Backup Plug-Ins: Windows Registry Backup, Applications Backup, Disk Image Backup, Database Backup, etc.

Handy Backup comes in several editions which differ in functionality and data that can be backed up. The procedure of specifying backup set is done through selecting certain presets in the corresponding menu (see Step 2: What To Backup in the User Manual for details). The basic idea of presets is that you only need to click the menu item, and Handy Backup will automatically locate all necessary data and add it to the backup task.

The following menu items are available in any Handy Backup edition:

• Files, folders and FTP files
• Registry
• Desktop
• My Documents
• Favorites
• Microsoft Outlook Files
• Outlook Express Files
• ICQ Files
• Email Messages

Apart from those, Handy Backup supports multiple plug-ins, most of which can be used only if your Handy Backup edition allows it. If you select the menu item which corresponds to an unavailable feature, the program will notify you that the feature has expired (i.e. the trial period during which it was available has ended). Some plug-ins (e.g. Lotus Notes backup) are available only if the corresponding software is installed on your computer. Generally, plug-ins can be of three types:

• Files-based backup plug-ins are plug-ins that exploit ordinary files-based system queries. They are included into all Handy Backup editions and allow backing up data and preferences of frequently used applications, such as design tools, instant messengers, mail clients, etc. A complete guide on installation and usage of plug-ins is described in details in the Plug-Ins section in the User Manual.


• Image-based backup allows creating a complete hard drive image backup which contains all HDD contents including operating system data and all information that is not represented as files. The corresponding menu item in Handy Backup is called Disk Image and it is available in Handy Backup Professional and Handy Backup Full editions.


• Database backup plug-ins allow backing up different database management systems without stopping their services. There are five plug-ins of this kind in Handy Backup: MS Exchange Backup, MS SQL Backup, Lotus Notes Backup and a general Database Backup plug-in which performs the operation via ODBC protocol. These plug-ins are available in Handy Backup Full edition.

Each Handy Backup customer is free to choose any combination of features that he wants to use in the program. The minimum set of features is defined in Handy Backup Standard, which can be upgraded with whatever functionality at any time. To add certain ability to Handy Backup Standard, you need to purchase it as an additional upgrade. In addition to hard drive imaging and database backup plug-ins, there are two more upgrades that are optional and are not included into the simplest version:

• Support for backup to DVD, Blu-Ray and HD DVD as storage media


• Support for backup to SFTP server as storage location

To enable these features, you also need to purchase them as additional upgrades.

In Handy Backup, the term upgrade doesn’t imply installation of new or modification of the original software, which is called update (to learn more, refer to Updating Handy Backup from Earlier Versions in the User Manual). Free plug-ins (that are available in any Handy Backup edition) are added via common XML files and can be downloaded for free. Advanced plug-ins (that make up different editions) depend on your license. Each Handy Backup license is prescribed to a specific computer, and the functionality of each program copy is strongly bound with its registration serial number. When you purchase an upgrade, you don’t get any software packs to update the program: what you receive is an update of your registration key in our customer database (e.g. the information about the features your serial number allows using in Handy Backup).

Handy Backup comes with a full-featured 30-days trial period. After this period, to continue using Handy Backup you need to purchase a license.

Note: All users of Handy Backup are entitled to free technical support, independently from the edition of program they use.