After buying and trying three different “brand name” backup products I had come to the conclusion that nothing existed that would give me a 100% backup of my family photo treasures that I could depend on as being complete and exact. That was until I came across NTI’s Shadow 2.0 (www.ntius.com).

The introductory price of only 99 cents didn’t give me a lot of reassurance that it would do what I needed since the other products averaged $50 apiece (one was much higher), and they didn't even work as described. They couldn't maintain an exact copy or delete a file from my destination backup if I deleted it in my backup source folder. I was frustrated, but felt like perhaps the technology just wasn't here yet to do that since three big companies couldn't do it. But when you have an irreplaceable, century old photos of your great-great grandmother on your hard drive and a written/photo documentary of your father’s WWII memories you’ve worked on for two years, keeping files backed up and synchronized is too important not to keep trying, so I thought I'd at least check out this one last program since they has sent me an email. Thank goodness I did!


I couldn’t believe it! NTI’s product takes all the work out of backup. I simply indicate the files or folders I want backed up and it synchronizes them every time I make a change. If I delete a file in my backup source, Shadow deletes it in the backup folder!!! Wow! My source file and destination file match each other at all times!


Additionally, the other products missed web pages we had saved because the file names were too long. Also, they would miss files you had deeply organized into new folders within folders that made the entire name path long. You see, the other programs inlcude EVERY folder in the name until you got to the final file name you really wanted.... and you are limited to 255 characters. I am one of those who likes to name my songs by the full name of the artist, plus the full name of the song, plus those songs would be in a folder named the category of the music. See how quickly even the average computer user can use the 255 character limitation? Not so in Shadow. Shadow probably has that 255 character limit, but when they start backing up (and counting characters) on the ACTUAL file you want backed up instead of all the folders that lead you to it, you save MEGA characters you can use elsewhere. When I backed up with other programs I was testing, I’d see that the size of the original photo folders and the backup folder wasn't the same. Immediately I would be worrying....okay, which precious photo was lost? Not with Shadow!

And no more worrying about sometimes forgetting one or two of the backup steps and have to start all over again.


Shadow simply works. It keeps an exact copy of my source file. And it maintains it without my having to even think about it. Shadow is awesome…it does it all!


I’m no technical whiz but I do know when I put this program to a supreme test. I had previously researched it on the web and learned how to compare the source file content and the destination file content....relying on the "size" data rather than the "size on disk" data, which simply reflects the difference in cluster location, etc., as I am sure you know. So, I did a backup of 43.7 GB of My Documents, which includes all my music, photos, including several 100-year-old photos of ancestors, and two years of irreplaceable WWII research, Shadow passed with flying colors! (See below.) When you compare the "size" of the files, they matched to the byte! That had NEVER happened before with other backup programs. Other programs were way, way off, huge amounts! So you worried, what was missing? Not so with Shadow!



With priceless photos and documentation (dad's war medals) like I have on my computer, I simply cannot to settle for any quality loss just because it is convenient (or cheaper?) for someone’s backup software program.


NTI’s Shadow works so well I’m sure I’ll be able to pass along all my family photo history and documentation to my children and their children and so on...


I’m a just a litttle grandma from Texas who happens to love computers, but know this, I HATE COMPLEX PROGRAMS, and this program is amazingly simple but 100% effective. If anyone only buys one software program this year, this should be the one. This is THE software program for anyone has to use who has anything important on their computer, whether it be photos, videos, documents, songs, or whatever. All you need is an external hard drive and maybe 5 minutes to set up and learn NTI Shadow. It is the first software product I have recommended to every friend and family member whether they have a PC or a Mac!


The product is a battleship in the fleet of backup packages. But the real surprise is everything it does for its cost. 99cents? I pay that for a Snickers Bar!