Retrospect 8.0 Desktop 3U Mac Mac 8.0 [Old Version]

by Roxio

Product Features

• MAC 8.0

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0021P9FHQ
• Item model number: BZ10A8000
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 27, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,443 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)

Product Description

EMC Corporation Insignia Retrospect Desktop v.8.0 BZ10A8000 927

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not buy Retrospect 8, December 3, 2009

By 

Scott Rose "Computer Geek" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Retrospect 8.0 Desktop 3U Mac Mac 8.0 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

As of December 3, 2009, this product is STILL not ready for primetime yet.

The old Retrospect 6 (and earlier) were fantastic products, but EMC decided to reinvent the wheel with Retrospect 8, and what they ended up with is:

1. A HORRIBLY UNINTUITIVE INTERFACE. They tried to squeeze an entire enterprise-level backup system into ONE WINDOW!! What sort of an interface guru came up with that brilliant idea? One window for 250+ different functions?? What Retrospect has become a TORTURED user interface that makes absolutely no sense at all, even if you have been a 15-year veteran of Retrospect like I am.

2. A tremendously BUGGY program that is not ready for prime time. It crashes, it gives strange error messages, buttons don't work as expected, features are incomplete (you can only backup computers in alphabetical order!). Network issues abound -- computers that were backing up just fine with Retrospect 6 no longer backup fine with Retrospect 8 (and yes, all updates have been applied on all computers).

Retrospect 8 has been a complete disaster for us and a pain in our arse on a daily basis. Avoid this product and stick with Retrospect 6.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not buy Retrospect 8.1, July 20, 2009

By 

Daniel (Santa Cruz, US, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Retrospect 8.0 Desktop 3U Mac Mac 8.0 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

I purchased Retrospect 8.1 for my MacBOok Pro. 8.1 is a newer version than the listed 8.0 I have been a long time user of Retrospect 6, the earlier version of this backup software. The new version 8.1 is not ready for public use. With my many years of software evaluation, testing and design, I find this new product from EMC to be the least ready for public use. Too many bugs. You will be spending your time attempting to due what QA people should have done prior to the release of this product.
Be aware! I only want to warn people. I hope that this product will be made ready for public use. At that time I will even spend more money for the upgrade, if necessary, although I will carry a bitter taste from my experience with version 8.1.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, promising - but not release ready, January 3, 2010

By 

John Faughnan "John G Faughnan" (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Retrospect 8.0 Desktop 3U Mac Mac 8.0 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

Backup is an unsolved problem. Time Machine has a relatively good reputation, but I've run into problems with it. I'm not willing to trust my data to Time Machine alone.

Retrospect Professional (Windows) had even more problems 3 years ago, but it's worked well enough for me over the past few years. Yes, it's complex and hard to understand, but I've worked past that. Problem is, I don't want to keep my XP box running just to run Retrospect Pro.

So I've been testing Retrospect 8. It's just as complex as Retrospect Pro/Win, but I know how to configure it. So complexity isn't a problem. It's fast too. I haven't really challenged it, but the backup portion has seemed to work well enough. The real test, however, is a restore.

So why haven't I tested the restore?

Because Retrospect 8 has a big, red, flag.

There's no manual. The support forums promised a manual in June, but it's MIA. For this kind of software, a manual is not an option (PDF of course).

The only explanation for investing in this software, and then failing to deliver a manual, is catastrophic mismanagement. It tells us that the software is probably unfinished, that the team ran out of money before the product was done.

If you have any other option, I recommend avoiding Retrospect 8 until EMC can produce a manual.