Hands-On Report--SuperDuper! 2.1, A Universal Backup Application

After we set up a new miniMate 80 GB external Firewire hard drive as a clone to our 20" iMacIntel described here, we wanted to maintain it without having to clone the entire drive over and over again. Incidentally, one advantage of the miniMate is that it is not bundled with a back up application of someone else's choice and presumably is priced lower for that reason.

So, we searched for

• A Universal backup application that could do fast incremental backups from our internal GUID formatted iMacIntel hard drive to update our GUID formatted external FireWire miniMate drive.
• A relatively proven application that was simple enough for a non-techie type to understand and that could also produce a clone drive that would reliably boot our iMacIntel.
• Good customer support "just in case."
• Reasonable documentation and a "free trial."
• An application written with the new MacIntels in mind, not just ported over from the PPC version.
• Oh, and finally, we didn't want to pay too much (Ed. Note: The author is also known as "Bargain Man").

We thought our readers might identify with most, if not all, of these criteria and we wanted to find an application that achieved a majority of them.

Our search for a Universal incremental backup application started a month ago when there were few such applications available. So we had time to pick and choose. We decided to listen to vox populi - the "Voice of the People." (Those of us of a certain age remember "Vox Pop" on the - gasp! - radio. Do you? More here. But we digress.) What were users saying about such applications. We had been using a certain heavyweight incremental backup data application that did not produce bootable clones. So, we were "out of the loop."

We read lots of user comments on such web sites as MacUpdate.com. We read various reviews. We will spare the innocent any aspersions. The overwhelming favorite seemed to be SuperDuper! And we read on the developer's Web site that a Universal version was in beta testing and wasn't just a recompilation for Intel Macs. When version 2.1 was recently released, we jumped on it. Actually, we bought it for $27.95 since we wanted to use its SmartUpdate feature to do incremental backups. You can download and use it for free forever as long as you're willing to back up everything on your hard drive every time. We weren't.

We've taken several paragraphs to tell you how we decided on SuperDuper! v2.1 as our preferred backup application. You might wonder if we now plan to take you through each of the backup steps. We don't - because the developer has done a terrific job of describing each step and providing screen shots. In our experience, the application is simple to use, works well, fast and performs exactly as described. One option it offers is to boot into the clone drive after it has finished updating it, as proof of its effectiveness. That's a nice idea. Many users of other backup applications write that it wasn't until a crisis came that they discovered that their backup didn't work!

SuperDuper! v2.1 met several of our above criteria flawlessly. But, what about customer support. We didn't have any trouble that necessitated help but we had an idea to share with the developer so we wrote him about it. A reply came in a couple of minutes (!) suggesting that we visit the SuperDuper! user forums. Holy Cow! Lots of information in the form of FAQs and a general discussion forum as well with rapid responses from the developer. But wait! There's more. A 60 page User's Guide is available for download. A nice feature is that the documentation is integrated with the application. Reach a stage when you want some advice? Click on Help! in the Menu Bar and you can access the User's Guide as well as other info. Have you ever noticed that the applications that work really well also seem to have the best customer support, too?

We like our experience with SuperDuper! We've used it successfully several times since our first update. And perhaps that's the bottom line. [Dana Baggett]