BESR 8 Desktop Edition vs Norton Ghost 14.0 ?

[beq]

For an individual user's home PC or laptop, do you recommend using Backup Exec System Recovery 8 Desktop Edition or the consumer Norton Ghost 14.0?  Note that in this situation the user won't need to use the BESR Manager or Altiris integration.

It's kind of confusing because both workstation products are based on the same technology and seem to tout many of the same features (ThreatCon, offsite backup, PV2 conversions, PE support, etc).  I can also find single retail licenses for each in a similar price range of $60-80.

What are the pros and cons of each?  Does Norton Ghost support Restore Anyware like BESR DE?  On the other hand Norton Ghost can remotely manage other Norton Ghost installations on the network -- can BESR DE also do this without using BESR Manager?

Can BESR DE create an on-disk recovery environment like Norton Ghost?  At the same time, can Norton Ghost also create recovery CDs?

Any other differences?  Does BESR DE offer more user configuration than Norton Ghost?  Which one has better VMware/Microsoft virtual support?

Please help, I need to buy a few licenses and can't decide.

Message Edited by beq on 04-18-2008 09:33 PM

[beq]

The Norton Ghost 14.0 product page also mention an upcoming update for Vista SP1 compatibility, is this out yet?  Does BESR 8 DE also need to be updated for Vista SP1, or is the current version already compatible??

I ask because the majority of the computers I want to purchase for are running Vista SP1!

[Ajaysp149]

Hi Beq,

            Greetings!!!

The update for MS-Windows VISTA SP1 is not yet released for the Norton Ghost14.0. Expecting the same in the first week of May. No sources from symantec.

[AndrewPBG]

Ghost and BESR Desktop are almost the same product - the most significant difference is that Ghost doesn't do Restore Anywhere (rather, the SRD shows it as "unlicensed" when you aim it at a Ghost-created backup). Every feature of Ghost 14 is in BESR 8 - LightsOut and all - and the cost difference is low enough to make BESR undoubtedly the one you want.

BESR Desktop will also manage both BESR Desktop and Server agents (and vice-versa) quite well in a peer-to-peer style. The console connectes to remote agents and operates much like you were sitting in front of the machine, and will maintain a history of the agents you've connected to. Also, pressing the "Connect all" button in the "Edit List" screen will provide a quick status check on all machines listed. The Manager Option is really there for managing large amount of agents in detail, and for the Backup Exec Retrieve web interface.

As for Vista SP1, I've not had any trouble with it yet - it installs fine and creates backups that work well with the Recovery Point Browser and the SRD. I've not tried to run Restore Anywhere on an SP1 system, but the forums aren't yet ablaze with trouble, so it's pretty safe to be sure that it works at least most of the time. I think that addendum at the bottom of the Ghost page was placed there a long time ago and simply forgotten about.

[David_F]

AndrewPBG very well said, in a nutshell BESR is for more of a networked SOHO or business like environment, Norton Ghost for single desktop protection. If someone has more then 5 systems they need to protect, I would move to BESR, especially if they are in a LAN like environment. If someone has though just one or two systems, that may or may not be networked except maybe a single broadband type connection then use Norton Ghost. Finally, pricing and support, with BESR the price is often ranged in the number of ‘seats’ that is purchased at a particular time. Seasts = the number of systems to be protected; the more seats typically the better price per product unit. This is often not the case with Norton ghost. Secondly is support, Norton Ghost, I do not think has a yearly contract, it is more of a pay-per-incident approach, where BESR at the time of purchase the sales rep will often ask if you like to have a support contract that entitles the customer, base on the contract they purchase, support for a period of time (typically 1 year starting at the date of purchase) as well as a maintenance agreement for any updates or hot fixes between full release builds.