Feature-wise, TK8 Backup is on par or slightly better than most of its mid-level competition. It has full scheduling, though you can?t alternate weeks or media, and backs up files as plain copies or compresses them to normal or self-extracting zip archives. There?s full and incremental backup, and you can even specify that the program create another full backup after a certain number of incremental backups. The latter is a feature I?ve never seen before, but it?s handy in terms of saving disk space. You can also specify the number of copies of each file copied in plain file mode.

TK8 Backup backs up via FTP in addition to the hard drives and optical media I?ve mentioned, and unusually for a non-continuous data protection application--will back up to two separate locations. You can also have the program delete files after it writes them to optical media, which can be handy for unattended archival operations. Ready-made templates to backup Outlook Express, Outlook, My Documents, your Favorites, fonts, and Windows Address book are provided to help novice users protect important Windows data they might otherwise miss.

I truly enjoyed using TK8 Backup Standard and the only problem I see--as with other mid-level backup vendor?s products--is the price. The limited time offer (as of this writing) of $30 and regular price of $40 are fine if the program fills all your needs. However, with the far more powerful industry heavyweight NovaBackup now only $49, it?s difficult to recommend TK8 Backup or any other mid-level backup program at any price higher than that.

Note: The professional edition adds 256-bit AES encryption, password protection, file filter selection, after-backup shutdown of your PC and a few other features for $50.