http://www.zensoftware.co.uk/blogresources/2012/11/ba7Beta_box.pngOne of the most noticeable changes in version 7 of BackupAssist is how it looks and feels, so I thought I'd use this first of two preview posts to take an early look at the new interface in a little more detail. Earlier iterations of BackupAssist have often been praised for their simple interface layout and ease of use, so when I first heard that the developers were looking to improve on this for version 7, I'll admit to being a little apprehensive!

.PST archive say noIf you're a small business user looking for ways to manage large amounts of email residing in your server or mailbox, the built-in archiving features of Outlook can understandably look pretty tempting. They're easy to use, they're right there in front of you and perhaps what makes them most attractive, they're free! However, as you've probably anticipated from the title of my post, we're not the greatest fan of archiving to PST as a long-term solution to the issue and there are number of considerations worth being aware of before you rely on this as the primary method for archiving your company's email communications.

You may have picked up from our subtle marketing that something new is on the horizon with the next release of BackupAssist, Version 7. Now the public Beta is here I'm excited to be able to finally tell you all about the new features, which include a completely reworked interface design. First off, let me introduce the completely new simplified interface and layout...

We've had a few customers asking about whether our backup software BackupAssist can be used to restore old backups originally created using NTBackup, to a new 2008 server. This isn't such a crazy idea when you consider that at the point that you upgrade to Server 2008 you may well have a large history of old backups from your old 2003 server and still need files from within them on your new server.

Reseller Marketing Campaign Builder ScreenshotIf you're a Zen Software partner and want to be doing more to generate new business, but struggle to find the time to arrange marketing activity - help is at hand. I've just made some marketing campaign builder pages live which are specifically designed to help all but eliminate the legwork on your part required to create professional, custom branded marketing campaigns to attract new and existing customers. We're even offering to help with the printing and fulfilment!

SearchServerVirtualisation screenshotBackupAssist's Hyper-V product has been featured in a recent review on the virtualisation pages of the TechTarget group Web site. Acknowledged as one of the smaller players in the Hyper-V backup market, BackupAssist with it's Hyper-V Granular Restore Console received praise as a product that - "offers great value for small and medium-sized businesses"  ...and is "a good place to start if you're an SMB".

RDX DriveOne trend I've noticed since we've been supplying  BackupAssist is the popularity of RDX and REV drives for image backups, particularly in small and medium-sized businesses. I put this down mainly to how cost-effective they can be in comparison to similar capacity tape devices, and also that they still provide that same familiar multiple cartridge approach that tape device users are used to.