Archiware expands backup options
Handles Windows PCs but not Microsoft servers yet
By Maxwell Cooter | Techworld | Published: 09:24, 26 October 2009
German backup company Archiware is looking to expand beyond its Apple Mac expertise, even if it can't handle Microsoft servers just yet.
The company has released the latest version of its PreSTORE backup and archiving to prove its credentials in a non-Apple environment. The product handles both Macs and PCs and works on remote machines as well. "We wanted to expand the possibilities for workstation backup," said Josef Doods, Archiware's CEO. However, the company doesn't as yet support Windows Server, "We'd hoped to have it out in this release," he added. "But it proved harder than we thought - it should be available ve ry shortly though."
The product, an extension of Archiware's Backup2Go, uses a technique called common file elimination said Doods. "It works like this: in a workgroup you could have 60 percent of the machines using the same operating system, we recognise this and by using common file elimination we can avoid having to back the same things up 100 times."
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The company has also changed the way of backing up. "In the past," said Doods. "We had to start the backup process from the client. Some of our larger customers asked us to be able to start the backup process from the server. We've added a rollout script to the software so that the script can start the process.
Doods said the enhancements had greatly speeded up the backup process. "By comparing the files from the server and client server and only backing up the difference, we are transferring only the changes. "
PresSTORE 3.2 also includes several other newfeatures such as a graphical storage pool and volume manager, to give administrators information about storage capacity - both on tape and disk. The company has also introduced the ability to monitor networks from an iPhone. The product costs £625 for 20 users, with an additional 10 users costing £431.
