I was looking for the same thing you are.  After a lot of research, I
came to the conclusion that there's nothing like a perfect backup
program which will allow home users to back up to CDs.

If the drives or directories which you want to back are small enough
to fit on a single CD (compressed), then I would recommend
MSBackup.exe, which already exists on every version of Windows
I have seen.  It works at least as well as any other mastering-
based backup software I have seen, and for practical purposes it's
free, since you already paid for it when you bought Windows.

If you have to span CDs, I would recommend Backup Plus, which
is what I use now.  As I said, it's not perfect, but it's packet-writing
software, which I find MUCH better, and it's relatively cheap.  Free
evaluation version at http://www.backupplus.net/ .  I never had to
use their tech support, but their customer support (on a problem
which I caused) is excellent.

My wife works testing software at what is politely called a major
financial institution.  They use something made by Veritas, but
when I looked at the Veritas price list I just giggled.  And I don't
think they have evaluation versions.

If you decide on mastering software, write to me privately and I'll
point you to a page of mine which has some advice for its use.
The page is largely commercial, and if I put a link to it here the
PCSOFT moderators will curse me forever.

> I am having difficulty finding a backup program. I will backup to CDs,
> and want a program that is simple, compresses backed up files, and is
> preferably free, or low cost. Recommendation?

Thank you.
David Jonathan Justman

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