Decent Backup s/w?

[gt40]

Came anyone recommend a decent backup s/w for use on win xp.
It will be used to backup data over a network from several machines. I would like it to be able to do this unatended.

Thank you

[seether]

For home use or business?

Veritas/Stomp Backup Exec/Backup MyPC packages are pretty flexible and can backup across a network via push or pull (except for remote registry backups) to file/files on disk or spanned tapes, CDs or DVDs.

[gt40]

For business, but for a small (6 computer) network.
Thanks I'll have a look at the veritas stuff.
Has anyone used Winbackup?http://www.liutilities.com/products/winbackup/

[Gurm]

Yes. Veritas/Stomp are the defacto backup standard. I've always used them fairly exclusively, ever since it was... err... GOD I can't even remember who first wrote Backup Exec. How sad is that?

- Gurm

[Taz]

Originally posted by Gurm err... GOD I can't even remember who first wrote Backup Exec.

Arcada , then became Seagate Software and finally Veritas.

[Kurt]

Re: Decent Backup s/w?

Originally posted by gtforty
Came anyone recommend a decent backup s/w for use on win xp.
It will be used to backup data over a network from several machines. I would like it to be able to do this unatended.

Thank you

I've pretty much fallen in LOOOVE with Powerquest V2i. It doesn't have the open files problem (although there are some open files agent options on some programs), is not bothered by the operating system, can backup more than one machine at a time and here are the 3 best reason: it's FAST, FAST, FAST.

Tape is so passé now

Yo can backup over the network either on a server, NAS, SAN or any kind of USB/Firewire drive.

If your users tend to keep gigabytes of e-mails you'll want to consider this as tapes that don't cost $5000 are _very_ slow (which makes your backup window very short sometimes).

IMO, the best solution is to implement V2i to backup all the PCs on the server HDD (get a BIG and cheap 5400rpm one) then make a simple copy of the image files to tape for secure (and external) storage. Also, backing up a single or multiple but big files is mucho mucho faster than backing up many little files since it permits the tape to roll at full speed instead of doing multiple restarts.

[The PIT]

Yes the open file is a big pain in the ass I thought Veritas suffered form that. Earlier versions certainly did under NT/win2k.

[Taz]

Originally posted by The PIT
Yes the open file is a big pain in the ass I thought Veritas suffered form that. Earlier versions certainly did under NT/win2k.

You need to buy the Open File Agent to be able to backup all files, this unfortunately is sold as a seperate product

[Kurt]

And if you don't have it, get V2i (I should start getting fees from PQ now). It can make a complete image of the server WHILE the server is running. No downtime. It can commit to disk about anything you had running, support Oracle and whatnot (yes, I DO like the soft ).

[Byock]

V2i does look sweet. Too bad it does not support Netware, or linux.

[Kurt]

not directly, but you can image any mapped drive.

also, _NT4_ support is only going to be implemented in v 2.0 which is coming out +/- end of may.

[Blick]

Does anyone have an opinion on Dantz Retrospect Single Server? How does it compare to Backup Exec for flexibility and ease of use on a small network of ten users?

[xortam]

Look at Legato NetWorker for enterprise backup; supports wide range of platforms. Its usually Legato and Veritas winning the large enterprise deals. They're probably too expensive and overkill for your minimal needs.

[gt40]

Thanks for all the input. I will probably purchase something this coming week. I'll let you know how it works out.