Zinstall FullBack review: Backup with a unique migration feature

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I’m always up for a new take on the all-important backup chore, and that’s what you get with Zinstall’s FullBack. Actually, that’s a white lie — it’s the program’s restore function, which can transfer your data and apps to a new OS installation that’s particularly unique.

I’m calling my claim close enough and sticking with it — with the addendum that you pay rather dearly for the fresh-take aspect. Also, the restore process is a bit convoluted and not particularly speedy.

Further reading: See our roundup of the best Windows backup software to learn about competing products.

What are Zinstall FullBack’s features?

FullBack backs up your entire system, but it’s not imaging. While you can of course retrieve individual folders and files at any time and to anywhere, the full (files, apps, and settings) restore functionality is purely migratory — i.e., it transfers your apps and data to an existing OS installation such as what exists on a new machine. If you’re restoring to the same hardware, you’ll need to reinstall your OS first.

The migratory restore is a two-step process. First you download FullBack onto your new computer/installation and use it to mount the backup as a virtual drive. You then download another Zinstall product — Migration Kit Pro. Normally a $190 purchase, you get a license with FullBack, though there’s a soft one-month moratorium on using it so unscrupulous types don’t cheat by renting FullBack for a month just to save on Migration Kit Pro.

How exactly Zinstall can enforce this is somewhat of a mystery, but they told me they aren’t heartless and if for some reason your PC actually did die right after subscribing, they’ll cut you some slack. To me, they’re taking a real chance on human nature.

While everything on your computer is selected by default, you can use FullBack’s exclusion filters to back up only select data. This is a more tedious process than simply just choosing a folder or two that you want backed up, but hey, if that’s all you want to do, there are cheaper options such as Windows own freebie File History.

As you can see below, you can also set backups to go off every hour or so, daily, or weekly. Hourly is the continuous backup the company advertises, though generally I’d like to see something involving parts of an hour before using that term. I’m being picky.

As far as destinations, FullBack supports the gamut, including network locations and online storage services. These are limited to the biggies such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Amazon S3, and BackBlaze B2, but they’re biggies because a huge number of folk use them.

Even nicer, you can define multiple destinations for your backup. A good thing as there are no “jobs” as such, just drives listed that you can back up. Think of FullBack as one all-encompassing job that you can turn on and off. There’s an on/off switch. It’s large. You can’t miss it.

If you’re using a less mainstream online storage service, check out our roundup of cloud managers. One of these will let you use nearly any service with just about any backup program.

How much does Zinstall FullBack cost?

Now it’s dampen-the-parade time. FullBack is available for $14.90 a month, and that’s it. No perpetual license or yearly discount is offered, so we’re talking almost $180 ($178.80) a year. And once you start, it could be a lot of years.

I’ve already mentioned the sales conundrum Zinstall faces. The company’s main focus is installation migration and if you wish to use other backup software that can create a VHD, Zinstall’s separate $190 Migration Kit Pro and $130 WinWin programs are options.

Either way, it’s a fair amount of cash, even if it does buy you the unique ability to migrate your apps to a new installation. But migration is likely something a lot of users might prefer, and Zinstall’s products do it well.

In terms of disaster recovery competition: Backup and Restore (Windows 7) is free, R-Drive Image (my favorite backup program) is $45, and even the pricier Macrium Relfect 8 Home edition is only $80.

I understand all software companies are looking for continuous revenue streams, but the end-user might be better served if Zinstall folded FullBack into the migration software packages and sold them for a couple bucks more.

Indeed, though I’m jumping the gun as to performance, Migration Kit Pro will work with any mounted VHD (Virtual Hard Drive) file containing a Windows installation, so you could buy it outright and use another backup program with VHD abilities and a perpetual license. Sorry, guys.

I was quite tickled to have all my programs and data magically appear on an otherwise fresh installation of Windows.

How well does Zinstall FullBack work?

FullBack backed up without functional glitches, making relatively quick work of my 650GB C: drive to a NAS box, an external SSD, and a secondary internal SSD. Note that these are done consecutively, not simultaneously. I tried another small backup (using the exclusion filters) to OneDrive with the same success.

I also migrated data and apps to a new Windows 11 installation to test that ability. It’s a rather convoluted and somewhat time-consuming process depending on the size of you installation — several hours with my 650GB. So hang on.

When you bring up the restore page, you can either “Export for full restore” which creates a VHD container file from the backup (a couple hours) and mounts it, or choose “Show my files,” which mounts the backup as a virtual drive immediately. Then you download and install Migration Kit Pro, point it to the mounted virtual drive VHD and let it do its thing.

Alas, my first attempt with the Export option failed and Migration Kit Pro claimed there was an issue with anitvirus or a firewall. I turned off Defender antivirus (the firewall was already off) and tried again. Err, maybe. Zinstall isn’t very accurate with failure notifications as you’ll again see below.

Fortunately, the “Show my files” mounted Z: drive worked fine. Use this method, even though the Export might seem more intuitive. Read the users guide.

Note that FullBack will not back up an exFAT formatted drive, though I was able to back up another drive to an exFAT drive. Go figure.

Ultimate success aside, I spotted another couple of peccadilloes. First, there was weak notification about removing all the backups when you “Reset configuration.”

Yes, there was a dialog with a warning, but thinking I was just “resetting the configuration,” I pressed okay before the part about deleting data sank in. Yes, that’s why I get the big bucks because I’m hasty, which helps me break things.

Regardless of my rare talents, there should be a second “Are you certain?” dialog that doubles down on a head-ups concerning data deletion.

Also, when I selected a network location and the backup set off, it threw an error message saying the physical drive was bad. See below.

It was just a “hair” off the mark. What actually happened was that I didn’t change the user name FullBack listed (the local computer logon) to one for the NAS box, so the program could not log on. Once I supplied a legitimate user name, the network backup proceeded apace.

To be consistent across reviews, I need to dog Zinstall about untidy programming and somewhat confusing methodology. There’s a fair amount of admonishment above, but ultimately the backup and restore worked as advertised and success is the bottom line.

More than that, I was quite tickled to have all my programs and data magically appear on an otherwise fresh installation of Windows. Despite the foibles, that earned my grudging trust, and some programs I’ve reviewed recently haven’t even earned the grudging type.

Should you buy Zinstall FullBack?

I love the migratory aspect of FullBack backup, as most people want to bring their apps with them when they replace or upgrade their computer. I also like that FullBack offers multiple destinations and succeeded with all of them.

What I don’t really love is the ongoing cost: $180 a year, every year, translates into a lot of money for backup, even with cool migratory restore.

I mentioned alternatives above, but cost is an individual factor. If you don’t mind providing your credit card info, feel free to download the 30-day trial, and if you find FullBack worthwhile, have at it. If not, don’t forget to cancel or you’ll be charged.