I'm trying to upgrade a client's file server/backup and would like it to stay Mac- it's handling about 20 Mac and PC people. It's currently an old beige G3 server running OS 9 so isn't particularly feature-filled or efficient. I'd like the new setup to be reasonably easy to use and backup with RAID 5 and tape.

I know that Retrospect is a common Mac choice and I'm using it elsewhere but it's never been my favorite program to use and frankly makes less sense to me than Backup Exec for the PC (Say it isn't so, Shane!). Anyone else use a different backup program which works well? Currently it's just backing up locally on the server but they might want to do network backups of remote clients in the future.

Retrospect...sorry.

Intego's Personal Backup X4

Retrospect made zero sense to me until i read the manual. now i have no problems.

Retrospect is very complex because it does complex things. I simply don't know of any other software that does incremental backups. (i.e. only backs up changed files since last backup)

i very strongly believe in incremental backups - you're as likely to cause your own data loss as the computer is.

You feel like god the first time you pull up something someone deleted three days ago.

What mattkime said.

matt made no sense to me until I read his post.

Retrospect STILL makes no sense to me.

Retrospect still sounds like the way to go. However, if you're going to stage to a RAID and write it out to tape, it's worth taking the time to check out BRU Server. Those are really your only two options for networkable backup servers for Mac OS X.

Thanks for the quick responses, everyone! Looks like Retrospect is still the most popular but I'll look into BRU Server and Intego Personal Backup X4. Yes, mattkime, I really like incremental backups and no, I haven't RTFM! Looks like it's time to.

Any other idears?

I've been using and installing Retrospect for clients both Mac & PC for years and nothing else beats it. However as mattkime correctly notes reading the manual is essential, it is a powerful program with a learning curve that many find intimidating and revert to something simpler that they can use without reading the manual. I have recovered many clients businesses critical records and complete systems because Retrospect was watching the store and can testify that it works as advertised on both Mac and PC.

The great thing about Personal Backup is the ease of use and the great telephone tech support I've gotten from Intego.

It's very easy to set up a variety of backup options that can run automatically if you choose plus David at Intego has walked me through some questions I had about the setup details.

My setup allows for backing up to both my alternative internal drive plus to my external FW drive.

And it's fast!

Data Backup from Prosoft Engineering does incremental backups and it's easy to use, too. I like it.