Genie Timeline Free is automatic backup software from Genie9 Corporation. It backs up your data at regular intervals to a network or USB drive. You can then restore your data from any point in time.
Pros
- Free
- Automatically backs up your files
- Easily recover data from past backups
- Sleek interface
Cons
- 8 hour limit between backups
- No encryption or compression
The Bottom Line
Genie Timeline Free is a great “set it and forget it” backup program. It takes everything that makes Time Machine on Mac so great and brings it to Windows.
Backing Up
Backing up in Genie Timeline Free is a 2-step process.
Genie Timeline Free features big buttons and easy menus.
The first step is to select a backup drive. This is typically an external USB hard drive or network drive, where you want your data to be stored.
The second and final step is to select what files you’d like to backup. Genie Timeline includes a “Smart Selection” feature to choose the most common areas of your computer, such as My Documents, pictures, and video files. Users wanting more control can manually select files and folders.
Choose which files and folders you’d like to backup.
Genie Timeline will then backup all the files you selected. It will repeat the process every 8 hours, which is the only interval for the free edition. The Home and Pro editions can each backup changes every 30 minutes and 3 minutes, respectively. Most users will be happy with the 8 hour interval, which will backup your data at least once per day.
There is no 8 hour restriction for backups started manually. You can run them as often as you want.
Genie Timeline also creates a “No Backup Zone” folder on your desktop, which is excluded from your backups. The software also excludes certain system files and folders, which you wouldn’t want to back up anyways.
Restoring
To restore, you select the timeline you’d like to recover data from. For instance, you could select the previous day, week, or month. You then select the data you’d like to recover.
Genie Timeline Free lets you recover data from any point in time.
I like that Genie Timeline includes this restore process. A lot of other free software leaves you in the dust when it comes to recovery; in most cases you have to copy the files back in Windows Explorer.
You can also restore from older backups, such as ones stored on another drive. Your old backups will always be accessible no matter where they’re located.
The final option is where to restore the data. You can either restore to the original location, or an alternate location. There are also file replacement options.
Features
File Versions
Also known as incremental backups. Genie Timeline Free will take regular backups of your data as long as your external drive is connected. You can then restore any version of any file from your previous backups.
Genie Timeline App
This allows users to view their protection status from their iPhone or iPad.
Backup Open and Locked Files
One of my biggest gripes with free backup software is not being able to handle locked files. Fortunately Genie Timeline supports this in all its editions.
Support
Genie9 states they don’t provide tech support for their free products. For that, you’d have to upgrade to the Home or Pro edition.
Genie Timeline includes a help manual, as well as big question mark (?) buttons on every screen in the software. Clicking the button will take you to that section in the manual. There’s also a knowledgebase and FAQ.
| Specifications | |
| Product Name | Genie Timeline Free |
| Version | 3.0.3 |
| License | Freeware |
| Price | Free |
| Operating Systems | Window |
| Backup Types | |
| Files and Folders | |
| Full Disk Image | |
| Incremental | |
| Differential | |
| Backup Destinations | |
| Hard Drive | |
| Removable Media | |
| Network Shares | |
| Blu-ray | |
| CD/DVD | |
| FTP | |
| SFTP | |
| Online Storage | |
| Features | |
| Compression | |
| Encryption | |
| Email Notifications | |
| Error Handling | |
| File Versioning | |
| Priority Setting | |
| Scheduling | |
| Speed Limiting | |
| Synchronization | |
Geoff Akerlund
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