Rebit: 'Ridiculously Simple' Backup

Simple in this case, however, does not mean ineffective. Rebit's line of backup products are perfect for small or isolated jobs. For instance, an SMB may want to back up a single machine used for payroll or finance, or perhaps there is a need to back up the CEO's or some executive's lone machine. In these cases, a NAS or another type of network-based backup and recovery solution may be overkill for the small or home business, making Rebit's wares a good fit in these types of scenarios.

Rebit's backup technology comes in two different forms: as an appliance and as software. Rebit's backup software is available for single PC backup at a cost of $49.95, or for multi-PC backup, $79.95. With this software, a user can back up a system to an external hard drive. The same software is available on Rebit's appliances. Rebit has two form factors in backup appliances: portable and desktop. The portable appliances are 2.5-inch hard drives with capacities available in 160 GB for $149.95, 320 GB for $169.95 or 320 GB for Multi-PC backups for $219.95. The desktop appliance is a somewhat larger device (although very portable) and is offered with 1/2 TB of capacity ($189.95 for single PC backup and $239.95 for multiple PCs) as well as 1 TB of capacity ($269.95 for single PC and $319.95 for multiple PCs).

Considering how efficiently the software works, whether on a Rebit-supplied device or not, Rebit is a fairly low-cost and robust backup solution. CRN Test Center reviewers connected the 500-GB appliance to a laptop running Windows XP. The devices connect via USB. Once connected, that's pretty much it. No user intervention is required. The software does all of the heavy lifting.

Upon initial connection of the appliance, the Rebit software loads up automatically. It begins by cataloging all of the data on a PC. The nice thing about this is that we did not see evidence of any additional overhead on system resources while Rebit did its initial indexing. Once complete, Rebit runs in the background of a system's OS and performs continuous, nonintrusive backup. This means that files are only backed up when they change or are created and only during periods of PC inactivity. So users have automatic backup, without having to set up a backup job and without taxing the system.

Rebit software provides users with some safety nets. For one, the software backs up versions of files, making it easy to restore an older version of a file over the latest version. Also, if you purposely or inadvertently disconnect the Rebit device from the PC, either during the initial indexing of the system or during backup, Rebit picks right back up where it left off. We tested this feature several times and it worked well.

Rebit appliances are also self-maintaining. As the device approaches its space limit, the oldest backups are deleted to allow room for new data. Data recovery is straightforward. The software integrates nicely with the Windows operating system; you can simply use Windows Explorer to drag and drop files from the device to restore. If you need to restore an entire system, Rebit is shipped with a CD-ROM, enabling users to recover an entire PC to a past image. There are some advanced backup features supported. By relying on the Windows Volume Shadow Service, Rebit can back up database files and other open files such as .pst files.

Although this product keeps its promise of ridiculously simple backup that does well, there are some limitations. Rebit is only compatible with Windows--and Windows desktop operating system at that. Vista, XP and now Windows 7 are the only systems that can be backed up. It does, however, back up 64-bit versions of these operating systems. Also, the multi-PC version is designed to back up up to six machines, one at a time rather than simultaneously. This means that each machine must connect to the Rebit device or to an external storage drive. ESATA and internal disk drives are not supported as backup drives.

This certainly isn't a product that offers granular backup job control or network-based backup. It does offer good, on-the-fly, cost-effective backup with a simplicity that makes it easy to use for remote users who may work away from corporate offices or small business lacking IT support. It is a simple system backup without bells and whistles but it gets the job done.

Several executives who formerly worked at IBM, Seagate and Quantum, among others, now work for the Longmont, Colo.-based vendor. Rebit also recently added SED International Holdings, a distributor of computer products in the U.S. and Latin America, as a channel partner.