Exchange & Outlook
by John Pearson
February 2000
Last week, when I could least afford it, my Windows NT system crashed. I had it partially restored when
it crashed again. UltraBac.com's UltraBac, a Windows NT backup product, could've helped me.
UltraBac 5.04, a small program with built-in data compression, can back up to tape, to a disk, or even
to a floppy. It can do a file image backup or a disk image backup, and includes its own scheduling process.
For personal backup and some network situations, tape backup can be a necessity. UltraBac supports a
wide variety of tape drives, from the personal sizes (QIC-30, 4mm DAT) to bigger offerings (SCSI tape
drives). Tape backups feature a catalog of the files included when the backup was made—but you can make a
separate catalog on a hard drive simultaneously to allow faster restores.
Backing up to disk proves faster than backing up to tape. I have about 13 MB of disk space available—but
these days I'm using only about 6 MB. When I installed UltraBac, I backed up my 'C:' drive to my 'G:' drive.
It took only a few minutes to back up all 2.1 MB. I next backed up my 'D:' drive, then 'E:', and so on. That
almost got me ready for the next crash (I still needed to make a tape backup in case my hard drives melted
down).
The obvious problem was how to restore NT with no existing NT. To circumvent this puzzle,
UltraBac provides a utility that creates a set of mini-installation disks, providing a base to run the
restore (it takes five disks for NT 5.0). For this situation, the Personal Edition suffices.
But what of the enterprise? The Enterprise Edition backs up not only the system it's running on, but
also an unlimited number of workstations and users. It backs up users running either NT or Windows 95/98
on Intel or Alpha systems, as well as active SQL Server 7.0 and NT clusters. It supports RAID drives.
As always, you can back up to disk drives or tape.
UltraBac offers a flexible, built-in scheduler, but if you want to use the Windows Scheduler, you can
run UltraBac from the command line.
The product's 25-page user manual is adequate, but you'll be able to use UltraBac without it. However,
if you have questions and can't find the answers in the manual, the product comes with 60 days of free
tech support.
If you want to try before you buy, download the trial version from the company's Web site (only 2+ MB).
It's full-featured, but will turn into the standalone edition after 30 days if not registered.
The only issue I have with UltraBac is that the Windows 98 and Windows NT backup formats are different.
This can cause problems for users running both operating systems on the same machine (as I do, for
development) who happen to crash the wrong one.
All things considered, UltraBac is a great product. Even if you're not in the market for backup software,
give it a try.
UltraBac 5.04
UltraBac.com
Web: www.ultrabac.com
Phone: 425-644-6000
Price: Personal Edition $149, Enterprise Edition $1,295
Quick Facts: A ready-to-roll Windows NT backup program for single users and large enterprises.
Pros: Fast, flexible, and easy to use; supports most common backup hardware.
Cons: For NT only; the companion product for Windows 95/98 isn't compatible with the NT version's format.
Click here to view article.
John Pearson programs in Visual Basic and C++ for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
and works with Java and Web development tools. He has contributed to several magazines including Visual
Basic Programmer's Journal and Visual Developer.
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