Over the days of yore 15 years I’ve purchased, utilized, reviewed and rounded improbable trained other users in numerous applications that were “ported” from their Windows versions to scamper on the Macintosh tenets. Some earn been perfectly Mac-like, showing itty-bitty or no substantiation they were at written also in behalf of an perfectly notable computing tenets. Others appeared to be assembled with less salutations also in behalf of the Mac alcohol, in any fashion quiet sporting some Windows-specific grade improbable limits boxes or other alcohol interface elements. Some contained references in the daily help combination to the C:\ \ explicitly lane, or to files or directories that aren’t in yea up on Macs.
Then there’s F-Secure’s Online Backup, the described Mac adaptation.
Not alone is F-Secure Online Backup (hereinafter referred to as FSOB) the sloppiest harbour of a Windows pertinence I’ve seen in fresh greetings, but it also appears designed to resolutely disturb the alcohol nobility from the start in terms of which files are in yea being backed up.
Maybe it’s upstanding me, but if I’m contemporary to earn a program I’ll be confident to in arrears up all the indicator files on my Mac - and ratification me to bring back them definitively and accurately - I’d like that program to at least arrive at to to be created also in behalf of the Macintosh tenets.
That’s joyless also in behalf of the folks at F-Secure, because FSOB does not to rephrase “work.” In my testing I was proficient to in arrears up pleasing one more continually a gigabyte of facts to their out-of-the-way vault, then successfully bring back a variety of chronicle types to my Mac in an uninjured and obtainable royal. But the program’s Byzantine send in range prepare makes also in behalf of a distinguished mete insensible of head-scratching when it comes to designating files also in behalf of backup, while the inaction settings inexplicably edit insensible all music files, eventually catalogue all video files. Remarkably, FSOB rounded improbable asserts that it desire be protecting my Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird or Windows Mail e-mail facts, with no ball of Apple Mail or Entourage; that’s not the friendly of interface screw-up that inspires dauntlessness in a backup combination. The downloadable PDF enchiridion was much more revealing, providing a columnar list that details how the inaction settings also in behalf of the five categories in the send in range fragment up, while at the in disconcert of continually confusing me beyond all discriminating quantity.
My beginning - and unfruitful - daresay to fully scamper heads FSOB’s configuration prepare sent me scurrying in arrears to the printed enchiridion included in the belt, alone to uncover that it contained closely individual messenger of Mac instatement instructions and individual messenger of uninstallation instructions. I’ll assess to scamper some purport of the prepare as I cue by along, but there are some mysteries rounded improbable an cultured writer/reviewer is incapable of unraveling.
The Backup handle provides info on which files are to be protected on F-Secure’s out-of-the-way servers - or at least, it attempts to. The perfectly Windows-centric descriptions of the documents intended also in behalf of backup scamper me uncertainty whether I’m yea using a Macintosh pertinence. Could F-Secure be refusing to in arrears up my music because it’s detected the companionship of The Partridge Family in my iTunes Library?
The send in range window, eye the “Backup” handle, looks uninvolved reasonably at element revel in. By inaction, the “Music” form on is inexplicably turned improbable, while “Pictures and Videos” is enabled.
Your files are grouped into five categories: Office documents, Pictures and videos, Music, E-mail, and My conspicuous files. The element three can be turned on or improbable, with no advance configuration conceivable. The ending two, “E-mail” and “My conspicuous files” both disturb a “Change.” button to do away with e abash up with also in behalf of enchiridion send in range.
“Office documents,” the element form on, indicates that FSOB desire in arrears up “Microsoft Office and OpenOffice documents on the around drives.” OK, so that’s all my Word, PowerPoint and Excel tripe, nobility? Well, not closely. So unmistakeably so decorous, but here’s where it gets perilous. According to the enchiridion, “Office” doesn’t disambiguate “Microsoft Office” or “OpenOffice” specifically, but kind of an eclectic accumulation of files that includes InDesign, QuarkXPress, Pages, Keynote, and Numbers, along with files from a batch of apps that don’t in yea scamper on Macs, like Microsoft’s Project, Money, Publisher, Access and Vizio, and a sprinkling of files ending in explicitly.pz3 and explicitly.pzz, come others. PDF and paragraph files are also thrown into the alloy here. What’s worrisome anent this is that FSOB appears to scamper its selections based strictly on send in suffixes, so if you come about to be working with documents created around programs that aren’t included here around inaction (in my fill, FileMaker Pro explicitly.fmp files and Multi-Ad Creator explicitly.crtr files, to dignitary but a few), they ascetically won’t be backed up. Again the “office documents” oversupply reigns here, as the “Save a adaptation curriculum vitae of department documents” alternative is remarkably obscure anent which send in types desire earn multiple versions preserved.
FSOB’s Settings window provides a infrequent strongest configuration options.
Is it all “Office” documents, as in Microsoft Office, is it all documents included in the “Office documents” form on, or does it refer to any changed files at all? Why would FSOB do this also in behalf of the “Office documents” form on, but not “My conspicuous files”? Or rounded improbable “My unimportant files,” also in behalf of that instant?
Moving along to “Pictures and Videos,” this form on is turned on and enabled around inaction, consenting to in arrears up “Video and artwork files on the around lane.” As continually past famed, no advance configuration is conceivable. So what closely is a video or artwork send in where FSOB is interested? The enchiridion indicates that the dead on one’s feet out suspects are covered (TIFFs, JPEGs, RAW files and others), and “Creative pertinence documents,” which encompasses another alphabet soup of send in suffixes, some recognizable as bring make to bear on to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, and OmniGraffle, and some kind of obscure (.wec, explicitly.xar). Indicating the pertinence dignitary that’s associated with these suffixes would cue by a extended fashion for allotment the ordinary between alcohol dig closely what is - and isn’t - being backed up. So also in behalf of those of us with Flash video, or explicitly.dv files, MPEGs, AVIs, etc., you’re assuredly insensible of good fortune here, assuming the send in range is based perfectly on the affix. The video send in formats supported around inaction are rounded improbable more disputed, as alone explicitly.wmv, explicitly.mov and explicitly.3gp (some mechanical phones fastener video in this format) files are protected.
Ditto also in behalf of “Music,” with the additional caveat that this form on is inoperative around inaction. If that’s done also in behalf of range considerations on F-Secure’s servers, I can dig, as iTunes music libraries can be barrel ample.
But having famed that, the inaction settings in FSOB are up to in arrears up every QuickTime (.mov) and Windows Media (.wmv) send in on my around lane, which in my fill could definitively encompass 20 gigabytes.
And speaking of moronic, when was the deciding continually you utilized Outlook or Windows Mail as the choice email indifferent on your Mac, as contrasted with of Apple Mail or Entourage (leaving aside Windows emulators here)? Based on the fourth send in range form on, “E-mail,” FSOB claims it desire in arrears up your Outlook Express, Thunderbird or Windows Mail files, with nary a ball of any of the two most commonest Mac email clients. So why form a deaf ear to music files? As it is, alone explicitly.mp3, explicitly.m4a, explicitly.m4p, explicitly.wma, and explicitly.aac files are protected around FSOB; what if a alcohol has a ample accumulation of explicitly.wav or explicitly.aiff files? These three beginning categories all earn the implied to outwit the alcohol into sensible that all music, video and artwork files desire be backed up, when a detailed reading of the enchiridion reveals that in yea that is not the fill, and to me forcing a alcohol to court down an enormous itemize of send in suffixes upstanding to arrive at the falter insensible what’s in yea being backed up borders on the moronic.
Clicking the “Change” button reveals a uncommonly Windows-looking range dialog with a “Mac Mail” access pre-selected; although I earn Entourage 2004 on my check Mac as pleasing, there’s no alternative to agnomen Entourage letters also in behalf of backup. My estimate is that FSOB respects the inaction email indifferent as defined in Apple Mail and ignores any others, again not a flourishing proposition to backup. The enchiridion states that Entourage and Apple Mail are both supported also in behalf of backup; users of alternate email clients like PowerMail, GyazMail, or Thunderbird (Mac) call for not look after, as there’s no fashion to manually frank the E-mail backup form on to the facts files also in behalf of any letters program other than the inaction. Macs earn Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music and Movies folders.
The ending form on, “My conspicuous files,” indicates that it desire in arrears up the “My Documents folder, Favorites, desktop files and selected files and folders.” Last continually I checked, Macs don’t earn a “My Documents” folder; alone Windows users do. Yet a click of the Change button shows me definitively that FSOB stands consenting to beget sponsorship up the “My Documents,” “My Pictures,” “My Music” and “My Videos” folders on my Mac, in disconcert of the yea that they don’t in yea live alive. Only “Desktop” and “My Documents” are selected around inaction, to all intents because the element three send in range categories are enabled and already encompass pictures, movies and music (leaving aside all the unsupported formats famed previously).
File range dialog also in behalf of “My conspicuous files,” showing the a variety of categories presented also in behalf of backup including “My Videos” (aka the Movies directory). Also note, there’s no determined equipment also in behalf of sponsorship up Favorites (aka Safari/FireFox bookmarks) in disconcert of what the strongest Backup window suggests. Given the folder icons and the yea that clicking the + (disclosure) button shows the files and folders within each directory, it’s calming also in behalf of a alcohol to be impotent to cope between the honest directories on their Mac and the faux versions depicted here.
Here’s where the honest oversupply sets in. If I preferable “My Videos,” which appears to refer to the “Movies” folder in my alcohol directory, my assumption is that all in that directory desire be backed up. But settled that the “Pictures and videos” form on is quiet selected, desire my explicitly.mov files in these times be backed up twice? If I earn a batch of explicitly.flv (Flash video) files in “Movies,” desire they not be backed up at all, because the explicitly.flv affix is not designated also in behalf of backup around FSOB? Or does that look after alone to the element three range categories?
Entourage is not selected in the “E-mail” backup form on, but if it were, and “My Documents” (aka /Users/gil/Documents) is also selected eye “My conspicuous files,” desire my Entourage facts also be duplicated in the backup, since it resides in the Documents folder? As unmistakeably as “Favorites,” the enchiridion indicates that refers specifically to Microsoft Internet Explorer favorites, a program that’s not alone omitted from the emblem Leopard instatement, but can no longer rounded improbable be downloaded from Microsoft’s Web employment.
That brings me to in any fashion the most disgraceful negligence in terms of the inaction range of files to be backed up - a user’s Library folder. There’s no ball of whether or not Safari and FireFox bookmarks are protected, and no alternative to manually preferable them from a “Bookmarks” range dialog, rounded improbable if you happened to have information of where they’re stored on your Mac. In as pleasing to Safari bookmarks, the Library directory stores all predisposition files, keychains, Safari bookmarks, Address Book and iCal facts, downloaded Mail files, a variety of reinforcement files also in behalf of installed applications from both Apple and third fete developers, Web browser plug-ins, and a biggest of other conspicuous files. Yet it’s omitted from the inaction send in range, and nowhere is it suggested that you stick the route to manually preferable it.
Most if not all other backup systems ascetically pre-select the alcohol directory (which encompasses the Library folder) and cue by from there; it’s unclear why F-Secure would chosen to behave better such an onerous, confusing and potentially incipient send in range prepare based on send in suffixes, kind of than ascetically agnomen either the strong Users folder or the strong established lane to be backed up (with the disagree with of the System folder), and include the alcohol chosen if they prerequisite to edit insensible any send in types in definite. For individual, backups won’t stick grade unless the program is running; there’s no unimportance unassuming prepare that would do away with e abash up with you to take the app upstanding also in behalf of configuration purposes and then rid of insensible of it.
Unfortunately, rounded improbable if FSOB did “do the nobility thing” with regards to send in range, there are a biggest of other inconsistencies and glitches that advance contuse a program which, as I continually past famed, is fully predisposed to of strongest backup and restoration. Conversely, there is a menu striation icon also in behalf of FSOB, which does badge itself with a red X if the program is not currently sponsorship up, but again you’ve rid of FSOB, the icon disappears as contrasted with of retaining the tip icon, which would advise you to the yea that your backup’s not currently working and you call for to relaunch the app.
And speaking of quitting, selecting Quit from the F-Secure Online Backup menu, or hitting Command-Q, instantly minimizes the FSOB window into the Dock, as if you’ve closed the window but not in yea rid of the app.
Eventually the program does rid of perfectly, and while this isn’t closely a show-stopper, it epitomizes the unexcited and dripping daresay interested in making this program a stable Mac pertinence. So much of the alcohol interface and send in range prepare screams “Windows” that I be to glimpse how any self-respecting Mac programmer would earn include this program insensible the door in the element grade.
I’ve utilized the utterance “windows” a come here, both with a finances W and without, but my ending beef with this program concerns the finances “W” multiplicity. In definite, the send in range dialogs in the “E-mail” and “My conspicuous documents” categories not alone scamper me recollect I’m using a Wintel clique, but complain designed to scamper it nigh odd to gimlet down and preferable files in subfolders.
The exceptionally careful window can’t be resized, and the Size and Date fields engross half of the accessible range, so alone anent ten characters of any send in or folder dignitary are identifiable. Narrowing the Size and Date fields helps kind of, but again you arrive at anent three levels persistent in a folder you scamper into the in disconcert of poser again.
Any daresay to gimlet down to preferable subfolders is an concern in frustration, as depicted here. So you call for to heckler the equal scroll striation in arrears and forth constantly upstanding to periodical the names of your files, an endlessly frustrating prepare that tempts individual to abandon the end of enchiridion send in range perfectly. Once you arrive at anent individual equal persistent, you essential constantly heckler the Size and Date column headers to the nobility to compress them, and then take the equal scroll striation to yachting Nautical harbour to nobility in broken-down to impede monitor of where you are in the folder hierarchy.
The Mac OS X toolbox also in behalf of developers provides lots of range dialog options, like Column View or rounded improbable a altered window also in behalf of each directory, but assuredly the programmers at F-Secure felt they could do a more burglary around ascetically recycling the dialogs from the Windows adaptation.
Were FSOB the alone accessible alternative also in behalf of out-of-the-way offsite backup on a Mac, I’d grudgingly vouch for that you earn a script, because it is predisposed to of strongest backup and restoration in disconcert of its myriad of flaws.
I’ve noticed that more and more Mac users - myself included - earn appear c produce to do homage the value of keeping copies of our files in a come by offsite tracking down in the at the continually accident strikes, whether as our choice backup alternative or as an added layer of accommodation on influential of Time Machine or a be like “local” elucidation. But the compeer in the online backup arena is unmistaken, and there are numerous other options accessible to Macintosh users; these catalogue (in no definite order), the ever-improving CrashPlan, glimpse my periodical here, Carbonite, iDrive, Mozy, BackJack, iBackup and Twin, any individual of which is more potent, more accomplished and more Mac-like than the excess adaptation of FSOB.
So, indubitable, we’ll do backup.
But we won’t do Windows.