Power On Software has begun shipping Rewind, its revolutionary $100 utility that enables users to "rewind" their Macs to any previous moment in time, when everything was working smoothly. A single click on the Rewind button permits the user to revert back to earlier versions of files, preferences and system states.
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If you're referring to Assimilator from Stairways Software, then Rewind is nothing like Assimilator. Assimilator allows an user of a Mac or (most likely) and administrator of a group of Macs (like a lab) to make a master "standard" disk image and duplicate it to a Mac or group of Macs. It's a static image, though, and must be recreated for any desired changes. It's great for creating a lab of Macs with identical setups, or restoring a messed-up Mac back to a pristine state, but it's useless for dealing with changed or accidentally deleted documents. Rewind purports to constantly monitor the operation of a single Mac and automatically maintain an ongoing list of changes to documents, software, etc. and allow reversal of any of those changes or deletions. Absolutely nothing like Assimilator.
This is a very good idea, but I wouldn't call it "revolutionary." It's taking a cue from version control systems like ClearCase. Basically, all Rewind must do is create a Versioned File system layer on top of the Mac HFS file system. Each time a document is modified, a diff of the changes is stored with the file. When the user specifies, the software can "roll-back" up the tree of versions to return the file to any previous state.
...Second Chance for Win 98, from PowerQuest, which is not a bad little utility, it also takes snapshots of a users system, files, registry etc... and then keeps a log and record of anything that changes whenever you scedule it to. you can then return the system to a previous state, and retrieve and files (such as your work) created after the snapshot you returned to.
Its actualy quite good under windows, where trying to fix things is normaly not worth the hassle and in some cases unlikelyto work... In fact havent MS integrated this kind of functionality in to ME?
However, I will say it can really EAT hard disk space, particularly if mis configured to keep and eye on EVERYTHING, and I'm not sure of it's value on the mac. I cant see I'd even use it, or even ask somone to use it if I was their tech support.
I seem to recall people trying this out in the past and discovering it's a fake. Anyone feel like doing a search? I'm sure that it's the same bunch who ripped off Applwindows, and also who took out the Idle loop from something to make Macs go "faster"; actually they didn't and they didn't work.
Rewind is not from the folks at Gadget Software, if that's what you're thinking. Power On is a legitimate company and Rewind was announced and demoed at MacWorld Expo New York last summer.
Whether it does exactly what it says it's supposed to do without causing other problems remains to be seen after real folks start using it. But it's definitely not a rip-off.
I have been testing Rewind and i can say its working:) But serious, its a nice way of rewinding the state of your HD, but remember you need to "give" HD space so Rewind can store data tehre for possible rewinding later. it also involves a background compressor which can use up some processor time when performing compressions.
As you can see ... the more diskspace you give Rewind, the more data can be rewinded in an emergency case. You can also rewind a certian file you deleted or unerase a trashed file per se. THIS is a good use of the software - the price is nice anyways!
I just posted this same message on MacCentral's site:
Does anybody have any idea how this thing works? I mean, besides the description on PowerOn's web site.
Does Rewind somehow change the HFS+ file system to add journaling to it? Kinda like HFS+journaling. The transition to OS X may be very easy for them to do, if they have a new file system that is totally HFS+ compatible.
Or... are they patching every file manipulation routine in the current, Classic Mac OS to simulate a journaling file system? Sort of on top of the underlying file system. Sounds like a bad way to do it (and a lot of work). This would make the OS X transition, basically, a complete re-write (and definitely not an easy one).
Anybody?
-Sherman.
I thought they were shipping this thing in July?
Hi everyone,
Computerware.com just sent me my copy and they have plenty in stock according to the sales gal I talked to. The install was basic and so far so good. It's 99.99.
Mac Man
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Havent checked it out yet, but it sounds very much alike Assimilator software which I personly have very good references from. But thats cost about 5 times more than this. Could be worth checking it out..