Facts And Test Setup
| System Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor | 2 x Intel Xeon Processor (Nocona core) 3.6 GHz, FSB800, 1MB L2 Cache |
| Platform | Asus NCL-DS (Socket 604)Intel E7520 Chipset, BIOS 1005 |
| RAM | Corsair CM72DD512AR-400 (DDR2-400 ECC, reg.) 2 x 512MB, CL3-3-3-10 Timings |
| System Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar WD1200JB 120GB, 7,200 RPM, 8MB Cache, UltraATA/100 |
| Mass Storage Controller(s) | Intel 82801EB UltraATA/100 Controller (ICH5)Promise SATA 300TX4Promise FastTrak TX4310 Driver 2.06.1.310 |
| Networking | Broadcom BCM5721 On-Board Gigabit Ethernet NIC |
| Graphic Subsystem | On-Board GraphicsATI RageXL, 8MB |
| Performance Measurements | c't h2benchw 3.6 PCMark05 V1.01 |
| System Software and Drivers | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, Microsoft Service Pack 1 |
| Platform Driver | Intel Chipset Installation Utility 7.0.0.1025 |
| Graphic Driver | Default Windows Graphics Driver |
Here are some facts and figures that we collected during our review:
Backup and restore:
1) The initial backup of our 110GB test system took around seven hours.
2) Disaster recovery of the same system took around two hours.
3) We did not notice a performance impact due to the Rebit service. Obviously, it runs at a low task priority.
4) Even files that are currently open are included in the backup.
File storage on the Replica drive:
1) Files on the Replica drive are only read once the Rebit service has been installed.
2) You cannot directly access backup files when attaching the Replica drive to another host PC, but you can erase the ciphered data.
3) You can set a password for file access on your host PC, but the password solution requires the Rebit service. On PCs without Rebit installed, you can access all files directly.
4) The backup set has a different structure than the backup host’s file system, and it assigns unique IDs to all files, but the files are not encrypted.
5) Deleted files are not deleted on the Replica drive since you may change your mind and want to recover them. Rebit still marks those files as erased.
6) This also means that secure erasure is not possible.
Licensing
1) Seagate provides a full Rebit license so you can create backup of multiple PCs.
Alternatives
1) Rebit offers its software without any hardware. This is favorable if you already have a hard drive available for backup purposes. The single backup version costs $49, while the multi-PC license is $79.
