Veritas Backup Exec 8.6

Ashley McKinnon — 2002-05-10T14:01:53.000Z

Ashley McKinnon, PC Magazine, Friday 10 May 2002 at 14:01:53

Still reigns supreme in the backup software market.

With this release of Backup Exec, Veritas has included new features that add to the product's usability and effectiveness. The interface is a bit sluggish, but for a backup solution, it scales effortlessly from the small company up to the enterprise.

Backup Exec 8.6 supports both the Intel x86 and Alpha platforms. To install it, the target system needs at least 24MB of RAM and 45MB of storage space. Windows NT 4.0 (Workstation/Server) and 2000 (Pro, Server and Advanced Server) are supported.

New to this latest version is the ability to backup to disk, enabling administrators to make backups direct to RAID and NAS devices. Integrated SAN support is also included by default.

Web-based monitoring makes the administrator's role much easier in this release, adding the ability to control and monitor the backup process from any secure browser. Backup Exec 8.6 also allows for backup to be invoked from within the standard Windows Explorer interface.

The software supports almost every file type and system, including FAT 16/32, VFAT, NTFS, CDFS and UDF. An antivirus scanner is integrated and the protection of email servers and databases is also catered for.

Backup Exec 8.6 still reigns supreme in the backup software market. Being easy to use, and with the level of features and add-ons available, administrators will have no problems configuring and maintaining it. The base price is very competitive, but could get expensive once you start to add modules.

Contact

Veritas: Veritas Park, Bittams Lane, Guildford Road, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 9RG

Tel 01932 876876, Fax 01932 876855

www.veritas.com

Backup MyPC 4.61

Roger Kirkwood — 2002-04-12T14:12:00.000Z

Roger Kirkwood, PC Magazine, Friday 12 April 2002 at 14:12:00

A backup tool for single PCs and small home networks.

Veritas Software's Backup MyPC is a backup tool for single PCs and small home networks. It has three interface methods ranging from a simple 'one-button' mode to selection of individual options, and can also make disaster recovery sets.

One-button backup displays a window where you choose the backup destination drive, then click start. A full backup of all local hard disk drives and the Windows Registry is initiated. The next time one-button backup is used, only new or changed files are saved. After 10 'differential' backups or seven days, another full backup is performed.

There's also a one-button restore, but here you use check-boxes to narrow the selection - even down to an individual file.

If you launch Backup MyPC 4.61 itself, wizards can take you through the various functions or you can use the program's main window, which groups functions under three tabs - Backup, Restore and Compare. Your backup settings are saved as Job files, which are essentially templates. You can reuse a Job at any time to carry out its settings or schedule it for unattended execution.

Jobs specify what drives, folders and files to back up, what not to back up (by file extension), where to store them and whether you're saving to dedicated media or a file that can reside with other data, such as on a network drive.

Compression and password protection are supported, but not encryption.

Available backup devices are detected automatically and Veritas' website (www.veritas.com) lists supported makes and models. Information about backups is stored in a catalogue on your hard disk drive. If your catalogue is erased by accident, it can be rebuilt by scanning your backup media, which also lets you restore from backups off another PC.

The compare function allows you to check backups against your hard disk drive contents and there's an automatic verify at the time of backup.

The final main function, disaster recovery, is accessed only through a wizard from the tools menu. This differs from an ordinary backup/restore by reconstructing the operating system and applications as well as data. You can boot it from the media it creates (you'll need a Windows CD-ROM to do this).

Backup MyPC 4.61 runs on Windows 9x, ME, 2000 and NT 4.0 Workstation. At the time of writing, it was verified on Windows XP beta only, with no technical support.

If you don't mind the lack of encryption, Backup MyPC will bring a wide range of features to a single PC environment or home network.

Contact

Distributed by Amazon 0800 279 6620 www.veritas.com/uk/products/

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