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WITH ALL THE innovations in backup devices, the weakest link in the chain is still the software. The utilities bundled with the backup devices we tested are deficient in advanced file selection features. Some emulate Microsoft's awkward procedure for archiving the System Registry, making emergency backups over a network a chore. And most still won't let you sort a file list.
Fortunately, we discovered some software alternatives for tape drive owners who miss the versatility of the old Windows 3.1x backup giants. NovaStor's NovaBack for Windows 95 and Cheyenne Software's ARCsolo for Windows 95 support a bevy of QIC parallel port and SCSI drives, as well as large DAT devices. They offer feature-rich file selection and restore options, tape diagnostics, control of multiple tape arrays, well-developed scheduling utilities and DOS emergency recovery diskettes. And both packages dispense with the nonsense of hiding the Windows 95 Registry files.
NovaBack's programmers should win a special award for reintroducing the ability to sort a file list by name, size and date in ascending or descending order. It's the only Win95 backup product we found that retains this feature. The included Doctor Tape diagnostic utility can perform a sector-by-sector ASCII or HEX data dump of almost any tape cartridge's contents.
Now, if NovaBack allowed you to store archives on diskettes or fixed and removable hard disks, it would be an ideal backup solution. But it's for tape drives only.
Cheyenne ARCsolo is the Win95 backup utility with the biggest biceps. Its interface includes an abundance of statistical screens and interface windows. Each window contains a separate fascinating display of hardware configuration information, file statistics or customizable performance options. For instance, you can select from four types of shared file access to capture open files during background backups. And you get a built-in virus scanner that can rename or delete infected files. The Copy Disk feature, similar to the option in Iomega's Jaz Tool Kit, lets you perform a file-by-file transfer of the contents of one disk partition to another. (It supports UNC Network paths, mapped network drives and Jaz cartridges.) Version 2.0 of this package (called Cheyenne Backup 2.0, which is now shipping) supports a much wider array of tape devices than the first version. And it lets you select the Jaz drive (as well as tape drives) as the repository for true compressed backups.
We found ARCsolo archived 15 to 20 percent faster on the Seagate TapeStor 8000 than Seagate's bundled software did. The program is currently incompatible with the Colorado tape drive.
One serious caveat: NovaBack and ARCsolo are more sensitive than the less sophisticated programs bundled with the tape drives we tested. Although both programs worked fine on two of the systems we tested, each timed out and crashed sporadically on a third system for no apparent reason.
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