The Backup Shootout: Who Will Triumph?

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Backup. Something we know we should do but not many of us get down to doing. Until of course disaster strikes and we realize that we should have done this a long time ago. Well I don’t blame you if you’ve not taken the first step because it took me the same data wipeout lesson before I started championing this cause. With backup applications coming a long way since the early days (anyone still remember the ‘ghost’ SMS on WM2003 devices after a restoration) and we’re now spoilt for choice. If that’s one reason you’ve not started your backup regime, this Shootout will be the cure.

The Contenders

So who do we have for this roundup? No backup discussion is complete without Sprite Backup. The veteran of Windows Mobile backup is one of the most popular applications on the market, thanks to an early head start.

Don’t forget Spb Backup. I’m glad their newer version of Backup was just released earlier this week or it would not have been a fair fight (not to mention that this Shootout would be obsolete as well since the older version is nothing compared to the spanking new version.

Rounding up the pack is Resco Backup (is it just me or do you also wonde r why companies don’t have a more creative name for their backup applications). Now this may be surprising to many but I decided to include the new kid on the block because they’ve come a long way in such a short time since their March 2008 release.

Installation

Needless to say, my device was the safest it had ever been during this Shootout as I had 3 backup applications installed and running. Installation was easy and smooth for all 3. Points for all 3 there. I chose to install the full version of Sprite Backup as well as the desktop applications of all 3 contenders for a fair fight.

However, before we move on, I thought it would be interesting to look at the installation size. Because of the nature of backup applications, it is highly recommended that you install them to main memory (which was done for this Shootout). Thus, if the installation size was large, it would definitely put some potential users of. So here are the screen shots of installation sizes:

From left to right: Resco, Spb and Sprite

As you can see, Resco had the smallest footprint of only 561KB while the newer version of Spb came in at 1428KB. Nothing major there and 2 points to Resco for keeping it small and 1 point to Spb for their size. Sadly no points to Sprite for their massive 8442KB of installation size which is one of the biggest size I have come across for an application of any kind.

Score

• Resco – 3 points
• Spb – 2 points
• Sprite – 1 point

User Interface

When it comes to applications, being all robust and hard to navigate would not get it far and I think the developers of these backup applications know that. We don’t want to spend a lot of time on it, everything needs to be self-explanatory and there should be no complicated menus to go through.

Main interface: Spb on the left, Sprite on the right

When it comes to user-interface, all 3 applications were easy to navigate in my opinion. You didn’t need a manual before using it. You knew that Options got you into the options of the application and Restore meant you chose a file you wanted restored. One point for Sprite and Spb for that.

Resco’s 2 modes: Basic on the left, Advance on the right

Two points for Resco and I’ll explain why. They actually have a basic and advanced view. This means that if you do not want to be distracted with all the extra options and just want something that works, basic view is the one you want to use. For those among us who feel that more is better, the advanced view will work for you.

Score

• Resco – 2 points
• Spb – 1 point
• Sprite – 1 point

Backing Up

When I first came up with this category for the backup, I was debating on what I should include. To some, as long as the application performs the backup properly, it’s good enough for them. For others, they want to know the details. So for this section, I get in depth with what each backup application has to offer in terms of backup.

Compression

When it comes to compressing your backup file, no application does it better (among the 3) than Resco. My device has about 78MB of ROM space that I can use of which about 60MB of it has been taken up by my files and applications. Why am I tell you this? So that you can compare them later.

Options

In terms of options, Resco gets 3 points for offering the most options, Fastest, Normal, Maximum and No Compression. Spb gets 2 for the 3 options it provides (No Compression, Normal and High) and Sprite receives 1 for offering only compressed and non-compressed backups.

Size

When it comes to size, I took the smallest file size to compare. For that, Resco gets 3 points for having the smallest backup file at 27.2MB. Spb came in second at 31.9MB and Sprite rounded off the group with it’s smallest file size at 36.5MB. For the same used ROM space of 60MB, it seems that Resco can really shrink it by more than half and clearly deserves the number 1 spot. In fact, 3 out of its 4 file sizes are smaller than the files sizes of the other applications, even when you factor in the compression level.

Time

How about time? Here, it’s Spb who comes out tops. Using No Compression, you can get a backup file in just 2 minutes 13s while Resco comes in 2 seconds later. Sprite is pretty slow coming in at 3minutes 29 seconds for no compression. So 3 points for Spb here, 2 for Resco and 1 for Sprite.

One thing to note is that Sprite does the backup in 2 steps. The first step is when it analyzes your device (which takes about a minute) and then it soft resets it and does the backup. In timing Sprite backups, I took into consideration the analyzing stage, paused when the device was being soft reset and resumed when Sprite started again.

Overall

When you factor time and compression levels into 1, it’s hard to have one that is the fastest and smallest file size. However, if I had to choose, I would say Resco, using their fastest compression level is pretty impressive. Taking 2 minutes and 15 seconds to create a 28.9MB backup file, it’s just 2 seconds slower than the fastest (Spb) and 1.7MB larger than the smallest backup file (also by Resco). 1 bonus point for Resco in this scenario. For your reference, I did a scatter plot below which combines both time and size. The lower and more the left the dot is, the better it is.

Click on the image above to view it clearly

To simplify things, the closer the point to the bottom line, the smaller the file size of the backup. The closer the point to the left line, the faster the backup.

Score

• Resco – 9 points
• Spb – 7 points
• Sprite – 3 point

Restore

Besides being able to backup a file, it must be dependable for restorations as well. The last thing you want is for the backup file to be corrupted and not usable. In this case, I tested all 9 backup files by hard resetting my device and then using 1 backup file to see if it restored it to the last known configuration. All performed well so I decided to take a closer look.

Time

When it came to restoring my device, Sprite’s compressed backup file had the fastest timing of 4 minutes 15 seconds and gets 3 points. With 5 minutes and 1 second, Reso comes in second (and gets 2 points) and Spb rounds it up with the fastest among its 3 clocking 7 minutes 35 seconds earning it a point.

Notable mention to Resco for having all 4 backup files clocking just over 5minutes, with the slowest doing 5 minutes 22 seconds. Can’t really say the same for Sprite and Spb though when there was a gap of almost 2 minutes (for Spb) and over 3 minutes (for Sprite) between the fastest and slowest timing.

Options

Next, we cover the options you are provided with when doing a restoration. Since all 3 allowed for the user to choose whether they wanted a full backup or just to restore certain files, each gets 1 point.

Spb and Sprite get another point each for having device and ROM upgrade modes where you could actually backup on one device and restore on another or even restore on the same device after a ROM upgrade.

But Sprite takes top honors for giving users the ability to choose the kind of upgrade mode they wanted, such as choosing only personal data or merging between 3 levels. Another point for that as well.

Score

• Resco – 3 points
• Spb – 3 point
• Sprite – 6 points

Scheduling

All 3 applications allowed me to schedule my backups, right down to deciding on which days of the week I wanted to backup to be carried out. Points to all 3 applications for the feature.

Scheduling options from left to right: Resco, Spb, Sprite. Note that Resco allows you to choose between full or incremental backups.

However, an extra point for Resco for giving the user the option to do a backup every X hours. What this means is that if you are one of those users who make a lot of changes to your device throughout the day, you could schedule Resco Backup to run every hour if you chose. Or up to every 12 hours. While hourly might seem like overkill, I am sure there are users out there who are taking advantage of it.

Score

• Resco – 2 points
• Spb – 1 point
• Sprite – 1 point

Backup Control

Because backup files can take a lot of space, it is important that you can control it. All 3 applications give you the ability to choose just how many backup files you want to keep which earns them each a point.

Size

However, Sprite get’s an additional point for allowing the user to decide how much space to use in the backup folder. This means that even if you set a certain limit on the number of files and size of the backup folder, if either is reached first (say the backup folder size), then it would adjust accordingly so to meet your requirement.

Location

To earn points for this, the user must be able to choose the location of his backup folder. Resco only allows you to chose between storage and main memory so it gets only 1 point. Sprite goes a step further and allows you to choose which folder on the memory to use and earns 2 points. Spb takes the cake on this one by allowing the user to choose exactly which folder he wants to store it in, be it a folder or sub folder (which Sprite does not allow).

Score

• Resco – 2 point
• Spb – 4 point
• Sprite – 4 points

Desktop Application

A backup application should function well on it’s on on the Pocket PC but considering that a large number of users also sync with their computers, it’s only natural to have a desktop application that links up with its counterpart.

For this, I award Resco 1 point for providing a rather paltry application. In fact the application is so basic that you need to unpack it to see its contents.

Sprite does a much better job as it allows you to view the files without unpacking them. It also allows you to set the options of the application on the Pocket PC right on the desktop itself. On top of that, you can even back up or restore the device right from the computer. 3 points for Sprite there.

When it comes to desktop applications, nothing beats Spb. While you can’t set the options like Sprite allows you to, it does a lot more. For starters, it can sync your backup files from the Pocket PC to your computer every time it’s connected. It also allows you to initiate a backup from the desktop application. What’s more, unlike the other 2 backup file explorer, the one on Spb allows you to actually see your messages, contacts, tasks and calendars as they were meant to be seen. Wow. 3 points for Spb.

Score

• Resco – 1 point
• Spb – 3 points
• Sprite – 3 points

Extra Features

Before I end the Shootout and choose a winner, I wanted to cover one more part which is the extra features of the applications. While they do not impact performance, they do add some functions that some of you may be looking at. What are they?

Project & Sets

Initially, I was skeptical of Resco’s decision to use Project and Sets for it’s backup applications. Unlike Sprite and Spb, where all your backup files are one and the same, Resco allows you to create Projects which contain Sets. Put it simply, a set is the Sprite/Spb’s version of a backup file and a Project is like a folder where you store your backup files. So you could have one Project called ‘Nightly Backups’ and another called ‘Hourly Backups’. While this is a different way of doing things, there are some advantages to it 1 point to Resco for it.

FTP Backups

They say you should never have your backup files on the same device or area where you store them and I definitely agree. Which is why there are companies like SugarSync out there to meet this requirement. While SugarSync does not have any partnerships with any of the backup applications, Sprite does allow users to FTP their backups to a server far, far away. This means that if your device fails and your laptop where the backup files are stored is not accessible, you can still get the backup file from the server. 1 point to Sprite.

Compare Backups

With Resco, you get to compare your backup files right form your device. Wondering if deleting a backup file is worth it or should you just keep it? Well Resco helps you decide by comparing both (or more) and seeing if the difference is worth keeping. 1 point to Resco.

Incremental Backup

Sometimes, not much has changes on your device between backups so there’s really no point to do a full backup (which would take a longer time to complete). Instead, the application chooses to only add new and modified files to the archive. As only Spb and Resco support this feature, they each get a point.

Content-Based Backup

Only Resco allows you to choose if you want to do a time-based backup or content-based backup. A time-based means that files are compared based on timestamps while content-based sees if there are any changes to the file before deciding if it should take the newer file. While content-based backups are faster, there is also a very small chance that the more updated file is not backed up but this rarely happens. 1 point to Resco.

Today Screen Plugin

Only Spb has a Today screen plugin so it get’s 1 point. What I like about having such a plugin is so that the users can see at a quick glance if the last backup was successful and when is the next backup, all without having to launch the application.

History

Only Resco and Sprite allows you to view at a glance the backup files/sets that you have. Both also provide an error log for each file (if any) so you know what’s going on. 1 point to each for that.

Skip Files

There are times when you do not want to backup certain files such as temp files. With Spb and Sprite, you could have rules so that these type of files are never backed up. 1 point for each.

Smartphone Support

This one is pretty straightforward: does the backup application support Smartphones or not? Well only Spb and Sprite seems to and they each get 1 point for that.

Score

• Resco – 5 points
• Spb – 4 points
• Sprite – 4 points

The Winner

When I first started this shootout, I was curious as to who would come out tops. Would it be the veteran Sprite or the newcomer Resco? Maybe Spb would steal the crown with it’s latest version? Well after the dust has settled and the scores tallied, we have a winner:

Resco came in first with 27 points. In second place is Spb with 25 points and Sprite comes in third at 23 points.

I never expected a newcomer to fare so well it was definitely a close fight. The Backup section was were the fight was won or lost with Resco getting 9 points from that and Sprite only managing 3. Here’s a recap of the scores:

It also made me wonder why developers have the option for non-compressed backups. When you look at the bigger picture, these backup files take up a much larger space, they are created in a slightly shorter time and take a much longer time to restore. Doesn’t really have much of an advantage if you ask me.

So were you surprised with the results? Who were you expecting to win?

Vital Stats

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