Dantz Development Corp. today announced plans to release a new version of Retrospect Backup for the Macintosh. The new version, Retrospect Backup 5.0, will be released this fall and will run natively on both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9.
Calling the ability to provide reliable backups and restores critical for Mac OS X users, Dantz VP of sales and marketing Craig Isaacs said his company is thrilled to announce Retrospect 5.0.
“Long-time Mac users will be happy to find a familiar, yet improved interface, while users experienced with UNIX backup applications will be pleasantly surprised at Retrospect’s ability to do precise, single-pass restores from incremental backups,” said Isaacs.
Some Mac users have expressed concern about Mac OS X 10.0.4’s shortcomings in storage device support. Dantz CTO Richard Zulch’s comments seem to allay that fear. He noted that Dantz and Apple have been working closely to develop the new version of Retrospect.
“Apple is adding a powerful architecture for advanced storage management to Mac OS X that will allow Retrospect to support a vast array of storage peripherals for reliable backup and perfect restores. Thanks to Apple’s commitment to ongoing improvements to Mac OS X, we will deliver Retrospect Backup for Mac OS X this fall,” said Zulch.
Dantz said that users who buy Retrospect Backup 4.3 on or after July 18th will be entitled to receive a free upgrade to version 5.0, once it’s available. Upgrades to beefier Retrospect packages will also be available at a discount. Expect to hear about upgrade pricing when the product is released this fall.
Dantz plans to make four different versions of Retrospect 5.0 available, depending on what your needs are. They include:
Retrospect Express Backup, a US$49 personal backup application that writes to hard drives, removable cartridge drives, and CD-R/W systems.
Retrospect Desktop Backup, a $149 single user package designed to support tape drives as well. It also works with Retrospect Clients, Dantz’s network backup software.
Retrospect Workgroup Backup, a $299 package designed for small offices and networks. It includes 20 cross-platform client licenses and support for a single AppleShare IP or Mac OS X server.
Retrospect Server Backup, a new version developed for large networks. The package includes 100 cross-platform client licenses and support for multiple AppleShare IP and Mac OS X Server systems. It will carry a suggested retail price of $499.
Dantz said that users who buy Retrospect Backup 4.3 on or after July 18th will be entitled to receive a free upgrade to version 5.0, once it’s available. Upgrades to beefier Retrospect packages will also be available at a discount. Expect to hear about upgrade pricing when the product is released this fall.