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Sonic Solutions bought Roxio in December 2004, and Roxio BackUp MyPC Deluxe 2006 ($50 as of 5/25/06) looks an awful lot like last year's Sonic BackUp MyPC 6.0 Deluxe Suite.

The repackaged release is a competent and easy-to-use backup program, but it feels a bit dated. For example, its disaster-recovery function can't handle large FAT32 partitions and still requires floppy disks. Plus, the program lacks features, such as native file backup and support for Blu-ray Disc, found in competing products.

More worrisome is the accompanying readme file that refers to the app as version 6.0.0, suggesting that there hasn't been a single change or improvement in the last year. A Roxio spokesperson confirmed that the software's only update was to its name, but said that Blu-ray support would be added in the next version, intimating that Roxio will continue to develop the program at some point.

The program performed flawlessly with rewritable DVDs, hard drives, network drives, and tape. It also backs up open files, a major plus and something that costs you extra bucks as an add-in with competitors such as Genie-Soft's Genie Backup Manager and Uniblue's WinBackup.

Sonic sweetens the software pot by throwing in Roxio RecordNow CD/DVD mastering software and the Express Labeler disc-labeling application, though their features are barely backup related. Both are competent, but will never be mistaken for Nero's Burning ROM or Roxio's own Easy Media Creator. Another extra is Stopzilla, which cuts down on pop-ups and spyware.

As is, BackUp MyPC Deluxe 2006 took the second spot on our recent backup software chart, despite its lack of updates. Here's hoping Roxio treats this classic app with the respect it deserves, delivering the promised Blu-ray update and perhaps adding native file backup as well.

Jon L. Jacobi