Dantz Retrospect is a very versatile backup programme. I have used it personally in various versions and recommended to clients it for several years. Technical support used to be provided free in the early days, but it now comes at a price, after an initial grace period. However, the support I have received on the last two occasions, both within the grace period has been totally worthless, and both issues are still outstanding.

Retrospect Small Business Edition is supposed to provide backup and disaster recovery for Windows SBS. The package costs almost as much as the server software, yet it is practically useless. Spending over £300 on backup software specially tailored to a specific OS, one would expect that a restore from a full backup would enable the system to continue from where it left off. Not so!  Retrospect SBE does not backup open files, that privilege costs another £320+, nor does it backup the Sharepoint database. To do that effectively, you have to be running the Enterprise edition of SBS. Retrospect will then interact with MS SQL server correctly and do the backup. Dantz have been strangely silent about these shortcomings since I complained about them.

The latest version of Retrospect Professional Destop software is also giving problems, and despite being within the grace period for support, I have received virtually none. The previous version of Retrospect happily backed up to my DVD RAM drive. The new version doesn't even see the drive as a backup device.  No change of hardware or drivers on the system, just a change of backup software. My initial request for help simply referred me to the list of supported drives. My last request, that I be given some constructive help in finding out why this new version did not work, and hopefully help me to access to my stack of DVD RAM backups, has had no response whatsoever.

The support from Dantz has been dire, and seems designed to get my back up as opposed to helping me backup.

Colin Ferrington