Dantz Retrospect Backup 6.5

While most of us would find ourselves up the proverbial creek if a rogue application decided to trash our hard disk, why is it we hardly ever back up our data? Time, complexity and not having anywhere to put it are the typical excuses. There really is no excuse, though, especially with products like Dantz Retrospect Backup Professional for Windows around.

Now on version 6.5, Retrospect is designed to make backing up as secure and easy as possible. The Professional edition lets you back up two PCs and boasts a wealth of improvements. It now supports a wide range of backup including tape drives, hard disks, Zip drives and CD/DVD recorders. However, we had trouble getting Retrospect working with a Desktop PC's CD-RW, although it worked fine on a notebook PC.

Perhaps the most useful change is the software's ability to back up open files (those currently in use) on Windows XP. This facility only works on hard disks using the NTFS file system (see What on Earth is? in issue 133 for more information).

Thanks to Retrospective's EasyScript Wizards, getting started is child's play. You can either back up your whole system or use the standard Backup tool to select individual drives, folders and files. Fortunately, in the event that a backup needs to be restored, the process is just as easy.

Retrospective's progressive technology cuts down backup times by carefully analysing files and copying only data that has changed. It also offers security options to keep unwanted noses out of sensitive archives and compression to reduce archive size. Regular jobs can be scheduled and automated in a few clicks and it's easy to check over the contents and details of past backups.

At £85, Retrospect isn't cheap but if you think about just how much your data is worth, it warrants consideration.

Contact: Dantz Europe 00 33 1 5533 0200
www.dantz.com