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EMC Dantz Retrospect Professional Backup 7.0 

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PCQ Bureau
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While, most backup software available in the market are either for large enterprises or meant for personal use, this backup application from EMC is specifically meant for SMEs-those having a small network. 

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Although the software lets you back up networks, unlike many others, it doesn't mandate you to install the central backup program on a server OS. In fact, you can install the central backup program only on a Win XP, 2000 Professional or NT 4.0 workstation machine. The network back-up client can be installed on any Windows desktop OS starting from Win 95, Linux, Solaris and Mac OS.

The program can be used to back up data from a local machine, remote client machines and network shares. Backup can be made to tape (AIT, DAT, DLT, LTO, Travan, and VXA), local disk, network share, CD and DVD (re) write-able disks, and removable disks, such as REV, Zip and Super Disk.

Retrospect's pasword protection can encrypt your backup. This is an excellent but an uncommon feature

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The installation is simple and fast for both the clients and the central backup program. Linux client installer comes as an rpm package and a tarball, so you can choose to install the way you like. The default preferences for the client machines are sufficient for most purposes and need not be changed. An intuitive wizard-driven interface guides you to create backup jobs on the central backup machine. The wizard lets you find client machines on the network, which have the client backup program installed. Client machines are protected by passwords, so that not anybody could search for them on the network, using the program, and access their data. Additionally, to prevent data theft during transmission, you can choose to encrypt the link between the back-up and client machines. After the client machines get detected, you can select the files and folders you want to back up. The backup wizard also lets you access network shares and local files that need to be backed up. After this, you get an option to select the backup location for your files. You can choose between any of the above-mentioned backup options. Finally, you can choose to run the backup operation once or schedule it to run on selected days and time. To back up to multiple locations, say, tape, disk and DVD, you can create multiple backup sets, each targeted to a different type of media; and different backup operations can then be configured to back up to different backup sets. One good feature that we found was the ability to password-protect and encrypt backup sets, to prevent any unauthorized access to backup data. But you need to be careful with the passwords. If they are lost, there is no way you can

restore data from the backup sets. To save space on the back-up media, there is an

option to compress the data that is being backed up. The way it is simple to perform back up operations, it is also easy to restore lost files and folders. The software manages catalogues of all files that have been backed up, making it easy to search for files within the backup sets. 

Apart from its easy-to-use interface, the program also provides some advanced backup features. Open-file backup feature allows files to be backed up even if they are open and being used. Disaster recovery

allows complete recovery of a system, eliminating the time- consuming installation and configuration processes of the OS and programs. 

Bottom Line: With an easy to use interface and several thoughtful features, a price of Rs 5,800, which also includes two client licenses, is very justifiable. However, for backing up additional machines, you will need to purchase additional licenses. But, you can always back up data from multiple machines by sharing their data on the

network. 

Anoop Mangla

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