Backup Exec Desktop Edition 4.2

PROs: (1) Unlike some reviewer I think that the user interface is actually fairly good. (2) So far, after several backup sessions it seems to be working OK on tape backups.

CONs: (1) I can only get the product to work with my tape drive. Even after checking with tech support from HP, Adaptec and Veritas, I can't get this to use my HP CD-RW drive. (although it is supposed to work per Veritas) The problem seems to be between the Adaptec drivers (DirectCD) and Backup Exec. This is a known problem but there does not seem to be a fix for it that I've been able to locate. This is a major concern for me because I had hoped to start backing up to CD rather than tape. (2) I am able to back up my wife PC's which is peer-to-peer networked to mine but Backup Exec never remembers my inclusions/exclusions between sessions for her directories even though they are saved. I have to redo these each time - a pain. (3) It will not backup the registry for networked PCs. (4) The best compression (with the product set to max compression) that I've been able to get is about 1 to 1.5. Pretty dismal!

I've tried some other backup software solutions and each one tends to have more CONs than PROs. This seems to be one product area where the software vendors consistently release mediocre products.


Disaster, not recovery   September 2, 2000
John Meghly (Still in California.)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is about version 4.1, as included free in Win98 SE. I was stuck with this product while trying to work out a system transfer and discovered it does not backup user settings including network settings, password lists, and those "network" features that every individual workstation on a network has. This is intentional "sabotage" because veritas sells a very expensive network version. Note I am not talking about backing up over a network -- like that's worth ... extra [$] anyway. And beyond that this is typical inept backup software as you can read examples of in previous reviews -- typical because all backup software I've ever seen including Ghost 2000 (in SystemWorks 2000 PRO) is really really clumbsy. Ghost, however, at least allows backup and restore from DOS in Win98, 2000, and even NT, by using a boot diskette, which gives a perfect mirror, which is tolerable for home networks who can't afford automated server software -- it's manual and just move or copy the files afterwards. Keep those reviews coming.


Kind of expensive for what your getting   August 21, 2000
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Backup Exec is a fairly decent backup utility, but it is a bit pricy, and a hard to get used to interface. I can see someone in a big business using this, but if your a small/home office or just a home user, the free utilities that are bundled with Windows 95/98 will do the same job.


This product needs some serious re-thinking   June 5, 2000
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

I purchased this software to do backups on CD-R(W)s. What a disappointment! Not only does Veritas fail to recognize CD-Rs from CD-RWs, as noted in another review, but if one cd has an error (not an uncommon occurance), the ENTIRE BACKUP JOB IS ABORTED! This means that if you are backing up a 15gb drive, nessecitating 12 CDs and CD # 10 is rejected, instead of asking you to insert a fresh disc and going on, the whole thing stops and you must start with 12 new, blank discs, and you are the proud owner of 10 shiny new coasters! No recommendation from here. Amazon does let you give less than one star, or else I would have.


Awkward Product shows lack of customer focus.   April 29, 2000
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Version 2 shows lack of customer focus. I have used the emergency recovery feature. When creating a recovery disk it asks you to find the appropriate drivers for the SCSI and Jazz drives and tells you to search your manufacturers literature! Good luck on this. I could not get an emergency disk to work with my SCSI Jazz drive, and I am a reasonably educated user and program computers as part of my job.

During an emergency recovery from tape, the program stops in the middle of a 4 hour restore to wait for your input everytime it encounters a problem. Any decent program would just put this in a log file for you to see later. In the first 700 files (out of 1200) it has stopped twice. This makes unattended operation almost impossibly slow. Also You also cannot restore multiple file systems at once.

Even if they fixed this in a later version, how can you trust a company this sloppy with your data?