kevin@kosman.UUCP (Kevin O'Gorman) (06/26/89)
Yesterday's mail contained an interesting offer from Fifth Generation Systems. Because I am already a registered user of something of theirs, I can get FastBack II for 60% off. I gather that this a new release. The price comes out to $US75.60. They say this is a limited time offer, although I could not see the time limit anywhere in the mailing. Sigh. I have a couple of questions, all under the general heading of "is this a good idea". First, is this actually much less, or any less, than I'm likely to see it for in mail order discount houses? Second, is this a good package to have. My concerns are speed, and reliability first. Then, I do not like image backup software where you're always updating to the same disks. This may just be that I'm not used to such stuff, but some of the consequences of this approach bother me. Does anyone have comments?
dce@Solbourne.COM (David Elliott) (06/27/89)
In article <799@kosman.UUCP> kevin@kosman.UUCP (Kevin O'Gorman) writes: >Yesterday's mail contained an interesting offer from Fifth Generation >Systems. Because I am already a registered user of something of theirs, >I can get FastBack II for 60% off. I gather that this a new release. >The price comes out to $US75.60. Damn. Any idea what program you own that got you the deal? If it's SuitCaseII or PowerStation, I'll be disappointed, since I own both of these and just paid $109 for FastBack II. >First, is this actually much less, or any less, than I'm likely to see >it for in mail order discount houses? Well, like I said, I paid $109, and I think I got a good deal. >Second, is this a good package to have. My concerns are speed, >and reliability first. Then, I do not like image backup software >where you're always updating to the same disks. This may just be that >I'm not used to such stuff, but some of the consequences of this approach >bother me. I have used FastBack at work and found it to be quite useable. It isn't "image backup", at least not the way I used it. Instead, it was incremental, where you add to the backup disk set. The only problem I ever had was that my catalog disk died (that's the only disk that gets written to a lot), and I made some mistake (like reinserting the bad disk), and had to completely rebuild the catalog. Anyway, the main reason I ordered FastBack II is that it has data compression. With my current home backup system (freeware), it takes 145 floppies to backup my basic disk. FastBack is already more efficient with floppy disk space, and with additional compression, I can't lose. Even if the total reduction is only 10 floppies, it will be that much longer before I decide to do a new backup (I do a full backup when I hit 250 disks), and will take that much less time to do the initial backup (assuming that backups are generally I/O bound). -- David Elliott dce@Solbourne.COM ...!{boulder,nbires,sun}!stan!dce
kevin@kosman.UUCP (Kevin O'Gorman) (06/27/89)
In article <1514@marvin.Solbourne.COM> dce@Solbourne.com (David Elliott) writes: >In article <799@kosman.UUCP> I write: >> [I got an offer for FastBack II in the mail, from the maker, for about $75] > >Damn. Any idea what program you own that got you the deal? If it's >SuitCaseII or PowerStation, I'll be disappointed, since I own both >of these and just paid $109 for FastBack II. I think all I have of theirs is SuitCase II. Sorry.
ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith) (06/30/89)
The article about FastBack II in MacWeek said that it's $40 if you send in your original disk or the first page of your manual from a competing backup program. Disclaimer: I can't seem to find the last issue of MacWeek to verify this. Un-disclaimer: If I am not flamed to a crisp within the next 24 hours for posting incorrect information, you can assume that the first paragraph is correct... :-) Tim Smith
rcfische@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Raymond C. Fischer) (07/02/89)
In article <20027@cup.portal.com> ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith) writes: >The article about FastBack II in MacWeek said that it's $40 if you send >in your original disk or the first page of your manual from a competing >backup program. > > Tim Smith 'Tis true. I just got my notice in the mail a couple of days ago. "Each copy of an FGS product entitles you to order one copy of FASTBACK II at a 60% discount, or each original title page of your current backup manual entitles you to order one copy of FASTBACK II for $40." (From the order form) The order form says that you can use photocopies of the order form, but you must write the serial number of your FGS product on the form. All-in-all, it sounds like a really good deal. And its even (mostly) within my budget. Ray Fischer rcfische@polyslo.calpoly.edu