Small business view on Unitrends Appliance
September 06, 2016
Small business view on Unitrends Appliance
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Unitrends Recovery Series Backup Appliance
The Unitrends appliance is the primary data continuity/protection device we use at the utility. Our organization is small enough to have one central backup solution.
- The appliance is simple to configure. Coming from Backup Exec, this was a plus.
- It's proven reliable. I've had zero instances of any restore, audit or otherwise, fail.
- Cost was competitive with other options I researched. It wasn't the absolute lowest, but I felt it was the best value.
- NDMP functionality requires an additional license. The product bills itself as being all-inclusive without nickel-and-diming the customer. I felt this was an odd piece to make an exception for.
- It would be nice to be able to increase storage capacity without purchasing a whole new appliance.
- There seems to be a new web interface coming down the pike. I've used it, and feel it's far inferior to their current interface.
- We initially used Backup Exec, which was unnecessarily complex (and prone to failure as a result). Even restoring an individual file took too long. With this appliance, I can restore data in minutes.
- I'm able to run a small number of critical servers directly from the appliance should the need arise. This is important to me as my ability to implement redundant systems is limited due to space/budget constraints.
The other device that gave this one a run for its money was a Dell DL4000. Primary motivators for selecting the Unitrends device were a lower cost of ownership and a simpler UI. I'm a sole IT guy; being able to easily set something up and move on is a big deal for me. The sales team at Unitrends were also much more responsive.