EMC Retrospect Express HD review

Retrospect Express HD simplifies and automates the process of making regular backups, so that users never find themselves with a backup more than 24 hours old.

It works in a similar way to Windows System Restore in that it creates restore points. By default, one is made daily at 10pm, but this timing can be changed and additional restore points can be created at any time. The first restore point after installation contains the entire contents of the disk (or disks) being backed up, but subsequent restore points contain only the changes made since the last backup.

Here the similarities with System Restore ends, because while System Restore only logs the changes made to key system files, Retrospect Express is able to log changes to every file on a PC. Furthermore, System Restore places its recovery data on the disk that is being protected, which makes it useless if a hard disk fails. Retrospect, however, uses a separate hard drive and can be used to reinstate an entire system onto a new hard disk, if necessary.

To reinstate a complete backup to a blank or reformatted hard drive, you need to reinstall Windows and then apply the same service packs as exist within the backup. Next, Retrospect must be reinstalled and finally the backup itself. This isn't ideal, but better than nothing.

To reinstate files and folders is a simple matter of selecting a restore point by date and then picking the files and folders you wish to restore. By changing the restore point, you can retrieve different versions of the same document at various stages in its evolution. Retrospect can also be used in Copy mode, which simply transfers individual files and folders to the backup drive.

Retrospect Express does its job well within its limitations, but for the same money you could buy Acronis True Image, which can reinstate a system from a bootable recovery CD without having to reinstall Windows first.