Bvckup 2 Review: A Fast and Lightweight Backup Program

Bvckup 2 is a simple backup utility from Pipemetrics, a Swiss company. What separates Bvckup from other software is that it goes out of its way to be as fast and simple as possible, by excluding all nonessential features.

Is Bvckup 2 a program you should use to back up your files? I’ll look at how it performs in this review.

Bvckup 2 interface

Editor's Rating:
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
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User Rating:
Rating: 4.8/5 (40 votes cast)

Pros

  • Fast, easy mirroring of files to local drives
  • Only $20 for personal license (supports PayPal)
  • Can copy locked and open files with Shadow Copy
  • “Device Tracking” feature only runs backups when the removable drive is connected
  • Email alerts

Cons

  • Limited file versioning support

The Bottom Line

Bvckup provides fast and easy backups to local drives. At a fraction of the cost and size of other backup software, it’s perfect for those who just want to copy files from one location to another. However, the omission of file versioning makes this more like a file mirroring program than a complete backup solution.

Backup Performance

Bvckup’s interface is delightfully simple. There’s a single “Add new backup” button displayed when the software is first started. This creates a new backup task.

Creating a new backup

The program can back up any folder on your hard drive, including network locations. As far as destinations, Bvckup supports “anything that is accessible as a file system location, including local and removable drives, NAS devices and virtual drives that front cloud storage services.”

Exclude files

All files will be backed up by default. Exceptions are made in the case of certain system files, temporary files, and the Recycle Bin. These exceptions can be removed, but I left them as is.

Schedule

Bvckup tasks will run every 6 hours, but this can be changed to every certain number of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months. It’s very flexible when it comes to scheduling. Missed backups can be run as soon as possible, or you can wait until the next scheduled time.

There’s also an interesting feature to run backups in real-time, as files are modified. With real-time backups, a minimum interval can be set (every 10 seconds is the default).

For those who want to manually start their backups, there’s an option for that.

The software supports “delta copying” which only copies changed parts of files. This increases the speed of backups. You can also copy files in full, to increase reliability at the expense of speed.

When files are deleted in the source, Bvckup will archive them for 2 weeks by default, before they are removed permanently. This 2 week time period can be modified quite easily, if you want a longer retention. There’s an option to never remove archived files. You can also delete backup copies immediately (no archive), which makes the backup a mirror of the source.

Bvckup copied my files at a blistering rate, limited only by the speed of my hardware. 1 GB of files were copied to my USB 3.0 hard drive in a matter of seconds.

Bvckup 2 interface with backup tasks

While it’s not necessarily a “con,” users should be aware that Bvckup doesn’t have an in-software restore. To restore files, you must manually copy them from your destination back to your source. There’s also no compression or encryption, although this can be accomplished outside of the software via NTFS, ZFS, BitLocker, VeraCrypt, etc.

File Versioning

Bvckup only partially supports file versioning (you need to enable a setting in the .ini file). The company recommends users wait until Bvckup version 3, which will include proper versioning support.

If a mishap were to happen to your files (such as a virus, or unintended edit), this could be mirrored to your backup. There would be no way to undo it. As versioning is a critical component of any backup solution, I am sad to see it missing in Bvckup.

Features

Shadow Copy

Bvckup supports shadow copying, so files that are in use can be backed up.

Move/rename Detection

If files are moved or renamed in the source, Bvckup will move or rename in them in the destination, rather than re-transfer them.

Pre/post commands

Run commands before and after backup jobs.

Email Alerts

Emails can be sent after every backup completion, when any error occurs, or only when a critical error occurs. You can enter your own email server and even customize the template used for reporting.

Device Tracking

This binds the backup to a device, rather than just a drive letter. The backup will only run when the device is present. For instance, if you’re backing up to a USB hard drive, it must be plugged in and turned on for the backup to run. This feature can be turned off, but I felt it was pretty useful to prevent backing up to the wrong drive.

Pricing

Bvckup comes in two editions, one for personal use and one for commercial use.

Personal License

  • $19.95
  • Personal, non-commercial use only
  • Free maintenance updates
  • Email support

Professional License

  • $39.95
  • Same features as personal license
  • Faster tech support
  • Can be run in service mode
  • Windows Server support

More Screenshots

Specifications
Product Name Bvckup 2
Version 74.22
License Shareware
Price $19.95
Operating Systems Window
Backup Types
Files and Folders yes
Full Disk Image no
Incremental yes
Differential no
Backup Destinations
Hard Drive yes
Removable Media yes
Network Shares yes
Blu-ray no
CD/DVD no
FTP no
SFTP no
Online Storage no
Features
Compression no
Encryption no
Email Notifications yes
Error Handling yes
File Versioning no
Priority Setting no
Scheduling yes
Speed Limiting no
Synchronization yes

Geoff Akerlund

Geoff Akerlund

Geoff Akerlund is the founder and editor-in-chief of BackupReview.com. He enjoys attending music festivals, whitewater kayaking on the American River, and board game nights in his free time.

Geoff Akerlund