Dantz Announces Retrospect 4.3 for Mac OS; Upgrade to Entire Product Line Adds Support for New Devices and Improved Support for Large Hard Drives

Business Wire, July 18, 2000

Business Editors and High-Tech Writers

ORINDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 2000

Dantz Development Corporation announced today an upgrade to its award-winning line of Retrospect(R) Backup software for Mac OS. Version 4.3 brings expanded device support to all Retrospect editions. Retrospect Express, Dantz's entry-level product, gains the ability to use a hard disk drive as a backup destination, a feature previously only available in the $249 Retrospect Desktop Backup.

All Retrospect Backup products now take advantage of Mac OS 9's ability to create files larger than 2 GBs in size, allowing large hard disk drives to be used for backup. (Previous versions of the Mac OS did not allow files larger than 2 GB.) Support has also been added for new USB and FireWire CD-R/RW and tape drives, while performance with certain hardware configurations has been increased.

"As inexpensive as large hard drives are today, many of our customers have been asking about using them for backup," commented Jon Maroney, Dantz director of product marketing. "With Retrospect 4.3, we've answered that need by expanding support for backups to large hard disk drives. This extends Retrospect's value, especially for our popular $49 Retrospect Express product."

New Features

The Retrospect 4.3 product line includes the following enhancements and new features:

-- Retrospect Express may now use hard disk drives as backup destinations, and all Retrospect editions (Express, Desktop, and Workgroup) support backing up more than 2 GB of data to a single hard disk drive destination (requires Mac OS 9 and an HFS+ formatted drive). For maximum safety, Dantz still recommends that at least one backup copy be kept offsite to protect against theft, fire, flood, etc.

-- All Retrospect products now support SDAP (Shared Device Access Protocol), a USB and FireWire device-sharing driver technology, developed jointly by Adaptec, Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL), and Dantz. SDAP allows USB and FireWire CD-R/RW drives to be shared by multiple applications, without requiring end-user intervention (changing system extensions and restarting the computer).

-- All Retrospect editions include support for additional USB and FireWire CD-R/RW drives, including new models from EZQuest, Fantom, Freecom, LaCie, QPS, Sony (NYSE:SNE), and VST. To ensure maximum flexibility, an SDAP-compliant driver (such as the one included with Adaptec Toast 4.1) is required for Retrospect to support certain USB and FireWire CD-R/RW drives. A complete list of supported devices and requirements is available at www.dantz.com.

-- Retrospect Desktop and Workgroup Backup add support for the new USB OnStream Echo 30 and the SCSI OnStream SC50 tape drives.

-- Retrospect Desktop and Workgroup Backup offer improved performance with fast Macs, high-end SCSI cards, and high-speed tape drives (such as AIT, DLT, Mammoth2, and VXA). In addition, DLT 7000/8000 speed is improved when using newer, high-capacity cartridges.

-- All Retrospect products now ship on a bootable Mac OS 9.0.4 Disaster Recovery CD able to start up all current Macintosh computers. The latest versions of Apple's Disk First Aid and Drive Setup utilities are also included, allowing the user to repair or reformat and restore the system's hard drive from a single CD.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for Retrospect Express remains unchanged at $49 (estimated street pricing). Upgrades for registered Retrospect Express owners will be $9.95 for electronic download and $19.95 for shipped goods. Customers who purchased Retrospect Express on or after June 1, 2000 will be entitled to a free upgrade.

Retrospect Desktop Backup and Retrospect Workgroup Backup 4.3 pricing remains unchanged at $149 and $299 (estimated street) respectively. Upgrades will be free for registered owners of version 4.1 and later. Registered owners of version 4.0 and earlier may purchase upgrades for $59.95 for the Desktop edition and $79.95 for the Workgroup edition.

Upgrades and full-product electronic downloads are available immediately from the Dantz website and online store at www.dantz.com or by calling 800/255-4880.

Full boxed product for the Desktop and Workgroup editions shipped to distributors on July 14. Retrospect Express boxed product will ship to resellers by the end of August.

About Dantz

Dantz publishes a wide range of backup solutions for Apple Macintosh and Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) Windows computers, designed to meet the needs of individuals and businesses by making data protection automatic, fast, efficient, and 100% reliable. Dantz has continued to revolutionize backup technology with such innovations as IncrementalPLUS(TM) backups and automatic backups of notebook computers that occasionally connect to the network. Dantz remains committed to its original mission: providing the best backup software available for individuals and organizations in over 140 countries around the world. For more information on Dantz and Retrospect Backup software, please visit the Dantz website at www.dantz.com.