Choosing a commercial backup product is hard work. There are more than 50 products with hundreds of features that change every day. Combine the complexity of the subject matter with the fact that every company’s data protection needs are different, and the result is that if two administrators of equal skill from two different companies perform an equally exhaustive search for a backup product, they will arrive at different results because of differences in their companies’ specific needs. A product that might not be a good choice for any other company might be the perfect choice for yours, simply because it does something no other product does—something that your company needs it to do.

Although there are a few products that come close, there is no single product that meets everyone’s needs. That means that neither this chapter nor this book says “pick product X” at any time. This is for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is change. The backup and recovery market changes every day. Users’ backup and recovery needs change, and what different companies do to meet those needs changes. Add to that the ever-present influence of competition. It’s happened more than once that a lesser-known backup product comes out with a new version that significantly changes its standing in the market. This constantly changing nature of the backup and recovery market means that any recommendation you read here could be wrong by the time the book hits the shelves.^[29]

There are two reasons why this chapter also is not going to attempt to give you a summary description of the available backup products. The first is, as said, that the information here may be out of data by the time the book is printed. The second reason is bias. I would be lying if I said that I knew all 50+ products equally. I know certain products better than others, and those products would receive a more accurate description.