Retrospect 8 for Mac ships, backup admins do dance of joy
You can find Mac applications that have been around longer than Retrospect, but not many that have the same ratio of copies installed to jobs/sanity saved. The venerable backup tool, now in its third decade and published by EMC Insignia (original developer Dantz was acquired a few years back) has been revitalized in version 8, now shipping, with scores of features that bring it to reasonable parity with the Windows version of the app.
The new Retrospect, which EMC previewed at Macworld Expo, breaks the administrative UI away from the underlying backup engine and allows backup managers to control multiple instances of the tool from one console. Simultaneous execution is supported now, along with advanced disk-to-disk backups, faster catalog rebuilds, single-write/multi-read operation, improved networking and tape drive support, and media & catalog cross-platform compatibility with the Windows 7.6 version. Video tutorials for the new v8 are here.
Retrospect 8, for the moment, only runs on Intel machines but can be used to back up PowerPC clients (PPC support is coming in a near-term update, the company says). Pricing starts at $129US for the Desktop edition with support for 3 client machines (a maintenance plan adds $120), and ranges up to $1700 for the Multi-Server, Unlimited Client version; there are also Single Server 20-client and unlimited client licenses available at intervening price points. Upgrade pricing is available through the EMC site.
