Is There a Time Machine Software for Windows?
You really need to know what to look for when looking for a Time Machine type application for your computer system. There are many solutions that claim to be the ultimate Windows Time Machine, however there is a big distinction between being a traditional backup utility and an actual time machine for Windows.
What Are The Primary Differences?
Speed – Both the process of taking a snapshot and also restoring to a snapshot must be within seconds.
Comprehensive – the entire contents of the drive should be restored as it was 100% at the time of the snapshot
Let’s first look at a couple solutions currently available that refer are listed as “Time Machine” solutions.
Apple’s Time Machine
The beautiful thing about using Apple’s iMacs is their built-in Time Machine utility. It’s like a safety blanket that allows you a more carefree computing experience. For those unfamiliar with it, Time Machine allows you to rebuild your PCs from a backup. For PC users, many would have thought Windows System Restore to be the nearest alternative to Apple’s Time Machine. But Windows System Restore is only good for restoring Windows system files.
There Is A Windows PC Time Machine
Not very many people are aware though there is a superior alternative to Time Machine available for Windows-based machines. For PC users, RollBack Rx is the nearest thing to Time Machine-like functionality that comes with Apple’s Macs.
First, you can use RollBack Rx as a full-system reset to the exact point in time when that snapshot was taken (right down to the temp files and your desktop icons). If you should delete a file accidentally or if a file gets corrupted and you would like to get back that file from an earlier snapshot, you needn’t revert your entire computer.
Instead, just browse all the files by exploring a snapshot and simply drag-and-drop any file or folder you’d like to your current system state.
With Apple Time Machine there’s a trade-off between space and how long Time Machine can keep its backups. It also takes a bit of time to load up one of those Time Machine backups. For most conscientious Apple or PC users who bother to do backups at all, it’s a tedious but necessary chore. It’s also treated as a last-resort for that ‘once in a blue moon’ instance in which you accidently delete an important file or suffer a catastrophic virus infection.
Now, imagine if a daily backup of all the data on your harddrive could be done automatically every time you start your machine. This is exactly what RollBack Rx does.
By default RollBack Rx takes a snapshot on the first boot of the day. Each RollBack Rx snapshot only takes up less than one percent of the space on your drive drive.
Apple’s Time Machine VS Windows System Restore
Apple’s Time Machine for Mac and Windows System Restore (also known as Windows Reset and Refresh on Windows 8) share many similarities. Firstly, both Time Machine and Windows Reset and Refresh are designed to quickly restore their respective operating systems system files and registry settings. However a complete rollback is never achieved because not all data or files are restored. This usually causes conflicts and more issues that problems it is designed to protect users from.
What Is The Best Alternative to Apple’s Time Machine, But For Windows?
RollBack Rx is a complete PC Time Machine solution that protects the entire contents of your drive. It quickly restores everything, not just the system files. Moreover, if you experience the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) or if Windows is not booting up RollBack Rx can still rescue the machine.
Since RollBack Rx sits below Windows, it can be accessed prior to Windows loading by pressing the HOME (default hotkey). Once you enter into the RollBack Rx sub-console you can then create a new snapshot and/or rollback. Furthermore, you can recover any and all data up to the second of the system crash. With Windows System Restore, if Windows cannot boot-up, System Restore will not be accessible.