Other Comparable Solutions: GoBack, Ghost, Rapid Restore, Recovery Genius

COMPETITOR: SYMANTEC GOBACK

Formerly known as Roxio Goback, Adaptec Goback, Norton GoBack as well as other names, GoBack has been sold and transferred frequently from one company to another. We can only assume it has not been pleasing its vendors. GoBack is the only competitor software close enough to be shown on the RollBack Rx radar screen. GoBack’s comparison and competitiveness is limited. Its technology is based on a file level monitoring and logging technique. It needs to consume a large chunk of the hard disk space to create a change history file. The monitoring system is picking up every little bit of file changes regardless of whether or not, it is worth to know or see. A simple system restart will generate 100’s of file changes to log. It really makes one wonder if more truly is better and in GoBack’s case, more is definitely not better. The details file change history logging consumes the hard disk space quickly, not to mention, the tremendous pressure it puts on system resources. Currently GoBack does not support Microsoft Vista.

COMPARE: SYMANTEC GHOST

Formally known as Norton Ghost, Symantec Ghost is the most popular computer system backup and imaging software. It allows users to make a copy of the entire system to an image file. The file can then be stored on CDs or network servers. In a case of disaster recovery, users can restore the image back onto the computer. The solution offered by Symantec Ghost is a slow solution, it takes several minutes or longer in most cases to create or restore the image file. The Ghost solution is a costly solution, the image file might be as large as the system itself or half of the system size in compressed format. However, compression takes a big toll on restore time. The Ghost solution is also a partial solution. Due to the amount of time and space required to create image files, it is impossible for users to create frequent backup image files. Therefore, in a case of disaster recovery, users are most likely to restore back to the date of initial PC setup condition. All the programs, files and data created afterwards are permanently lost.

COMPARED TO: IBM RAPID RESTORE

Rapid Restore is the latest system recovery solution provided by IBM (now Lenovo) with their new PCs in attempt to replace the OEM recovery CDs. The software reserves a portion of the hard disk space to store a complete factory release image of the system. The reserved disk space is programmed as a hidden partition, inaccessible to most common users; however, an experienced user can remove the hidden partition easily. And thereby, leave the system unrecoverable. As a system imaging software, Rapid Restore shares the same deadly weakness with Symantec Ghost as it is only a partial solution. In a case of disaster recovery, users are set back to the initial factory release condition. All the programs, files and data created afterwards are permanently lost. Rapid Restore is also not rapid, as its name implies.. It takes many minutes to restore a system.

COMPARED WITH: GOLDENSOFT RECOVERY GENIUS

Recovery Genius takes the reboot-and-restore concept further. It works deep within the hard drive and OS drivers and freezes the PC’s settings. Technically speaking, its technology is based on a hard disk sector filtering technique. Recovery Genius reserves a portion of the hard disk space for redirecting the disk I/O commands. It allows users to keep the information in the protected space during restarts. It takes significantly less amount of space than the conventional imaging approach. Therefore, the time to restore is much less than Ghost or Rapid Restore. Everything seems ideal so far, until you run the Recovery Genius for the first time! It does not allow you to restore individual files from the backup storage, so it is all or nothing. Unfortunately, you can only get data you had and lose data you have when you select a restore. This significant weakness is driving Recovery Genius away from common and corporate users. Recovery Genius is mainly valued as an restore-on-restart solution for the publicly shared PC markets.

Conclusion

As can be seen, RollBack Rx is the most advanced computer system and data maintenance software available.

  • It offers the most restore points.
  • It takes least amount of disk space.
  • It takes least amount of system resources.
  • It offers most configuration options.
  • It is the fastest to create a restore point.
  • It is among the fastest to restore.
  • It is the only one to allow users to restore without data lost.
  • It is the only one to offer dynamic access control.
  • It is the only one to offer dynamic space management.
  • It is the easiest to operate.