Retrospect Disk-to-Disk

There are several versions of the Dantz Retrospect backup program, for individual users and businesses of various sizes. The single-user version of Retrospect costs about £70, but then there's a big leap to the Small Business Server edition, which costs more than £500.

This new Disk-to-Disk edition is designed to plug that gap, offering a more affordable backup solution for small businesses or workgroups.

Rather than backup features for individual PCs on the network, it focuses on protecting data stored on a network server running applications such as Microsoft's Exchange Server or a central database.

The program provides a good range of options for automating and scheduling regular backups, but it has a few rough edges. The interface isn't very tidy, often putting multiple overlapping dialogue boxes on screen.

Because of its low price, Disk-to-Disk only lets you back up files onto external hard disks, CD-Rom or DVD-Rom. There's no support for the high-capacity tape drives used by many larger businesses, yet there's still a 'tape' option in the main Backup dialogue box.

You may also be confused by the rather generic manual, which covers the entire Retrospect product range but seems to have been written before the Disk-to-Disk version was released. As a result, it's not always clear which features are available in this version of the program.

It's useful and reasonably priced, but Retrospect Disk-to-Disk is let down by sloppy presentation.

Contact: Computers Unlimited 020 8358 2009
www.dantz.com

System requirements:

• Pentium processor
• 256MB Ram
• 50MB hard disk space
• Windows 98 or higher