NAKIVO Backup & Replication vs. StarWind Virtual Tape Library

File share backup is less rich in terms of restore features, but the basic functions are supported. It have all you need to plan backup jobs. Backup and restore of virtual machines is the strongest function of Nakivo. When backing up to Amazon S3, keep in mind that you will be taxed also based on the I/O you make and this will be more prominent cost with Nakivo.

Starwind VTL is a great solution for customers that want the benefits of a physical tape library without the hefty price tag and the manual intervention required when changing tapes as it is automated. In addition, Starwind VTL virtual tapes are "air-gapped" as they are in LTO format.

• Frequent backups do not affect the server load especially when the store is based on a high-performance NAS. We use OMV and average a GB per Minute per backup.
• Offsite backups to a hosted store on AWS or Wsabi is simple.
• VM replication is simple to set up.
• Backup compression and encryption is excellent.

• Allows you to use Veeam and other software that uses Virtual Tape Libraries while getting rid of actual tape drives and tapes
• Backblaze B2 implementation is great - keeps storage costs low while automating backups to the cloud storage
• Low cost and great support by the Starwind technical team
• Feature-rich and in constant development

• Backups have the option of "screenshot verification". Screenshot verification doesn't always work for us when our vmtools is out of date. If we are on an older version of VMware and that version of vmtools is up to date, NAKIVO still thinks it is out of date.

• Set-up is confusing.

Because it is a product that I have been using for many years, it is becoming easier to use, and it also includes more and more things that you might need.

Their support is great and the interface is not as user friendly

NAKIVO Backup & Replication is very easy to set up. I did it by myself, and it went perfectly. Online documents are very well written, and also the tech support asked to help me set it up. I want to do it by myself and the setup process is very easy to do. The connection to your VM and servers is very easy to do.

The initial setup took some time, however, with the help of the Starwind technical team, we were able to set it up from start to finish including seamlessly adding it to our existing backup solution. After that, there was no need for any additional setup or troubleshooting.

The support is fast and perfect. If u have any questions, you can contact the support team via mail or chat and you always get a fast answer. You can also find a lot of help in the FAQ in the help center to resolve your problems. Anytime I had to contact the support, they helped me and solved my problem.

Great and reliable product with little need for support

It is very easy to do in all the formats in which it is implemented, whether as an appliance, in a windows machine, or an implementation in NAS. I only use the appliance one, but I have tried all of them in trial mode to know which one interested me more.

NAKIVO Backup & Replication offers most of the features of the great products and the ones most used by all backup administrators at a very competitive price. For this reason, it is not necessary to make large outlays to be able to maintain a backup with a high level of security. It is quick to implement and very simple to use.

We've looked at physical tape backups, however, the infrastructure is too costly compared to Starwind VTL and it also requires manual changing of tapes that users will not want to do or forget to do. With VTL, it works exactly like a physical tape library with the same benefits and full automation.

Of course, you always think that something could be a bit cheaper. But NAKIVO Backup & Replication delivers real value for its price and value that lasts. We greatly appreciate that you are still able to actually BUY the software instead of being forced into subscription services. After all, it is OUR data and it should remain that.

I contacted a few times Nakivo representatives, once for technical doubt and the other ones for commercial ones. Both support services are fast and reliable.

• One of our contributors has permanently deleted worksheets from our file server. From Nakivo, we were able to recover all the data in less than 10 minutes.
• An authentication server was encrypted by ransomware, through NAKIVO Backup & Replication, we recover the entire server within 1 hour.

• ROI was immediate as we got rid of expensive sneakernet backups with hard drives in a Pelican case
• One-time cost of the product is very cost-effective
• Support contracts are reasonable and we received excellent support throughout
• We have much better peace-of-mind with our data being protected better