Stellar data care suite

The first layer is a full back-up solution, the second a pre-crash protection and the third an early warning system.

We found creating back-ups using the Insta Backup software easy. Just name the task, select exactly what you want and then choose a back-up location. The selection process is particularly clever, as you can add ‘Profiles’ to your back-up job from a built-in list which includes Outlook mail data, favourites and even playlists; great considering these files can be hard to find.

Once you’ve made your selection you can back-up to either a hard drive, optical media or even directly to a FTP server. Though the FTP route will take time if you’re backing up lots of data, it does mean that you can create back-ups from a remote office location, to the server at your main office, with ease.

Stellar Shield, the second layer of protection, complements the back-up solution in that it creates a snapshot of your system and constantly monitors your PC for data loss (whether due to a virus, accidental deletion or even partition corruption).

The last layer of protection however is the star of the show. This early warning system keeps a close eye on your hard drive’s health by monitoring factors such as its temperature, write error counts and more. When it detects hard drive errors, it sounds an alarm.