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Topic: Apple

Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

Summary: Apple's Lion will save any document you're working on automatically. These files can be duplicated, locked and reverted to old versions.

Larry Dignan

By for Between the Lines |

For a few minutes during Apple's WWDC keynote speech you could close your eyes and almost think you were listening to EMC.

Disaster recovery is going mainstream.

In its demo of Mac OS X Lion, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller demonstrated a feature that opens the door to automatic versioning. Apple's Lion will save any document you're working on automatically. These files can be duplicated, locked and reverted to old versions.

Add it up and Apple is looking to put personal disaster recovery behind the scenes, just in case you forget to save.

The punch line was:

  • Automatic versions;
  • Manual snapshots;
  • And efficient storage.

In other words, all the stuff you get in enterprise storage Apple is looking to incorporate behind the scenes.

See also:

Topics: Apple, Data Centers, Hardware, Storage

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25 comments
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  • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

    Wow, that sounds "magical", "revolutionary", and "seamless".<br><br>I wish MS had something like that in place. Maybe MS Office could add the capability to recover or restore docs?<br><br>Or, Windows 7 would provide the ability to retrieve/ restore previous version of files?<br><br>that would be <i>really</i> cool!<br><br>they could even give it a cool sounding name... like "shadow copies" or something!

    I mean, come on, it [i]is[/i] the year 2011
    SonofaSailor
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

      @SonofaSailor

      Bazinga! ;)
      The one and only, Cylon Centurion
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

        @Cylon Centurion

        *chuckle*
        josh92
        Reply Vote

    • Apple has also had versioning for quite a while...

      Apple has also had versioning for quite a while, but the point of this implementation is to make it easy to use, automatic, and transparent to the user.<br><br>Windows has a decent implementation, but it is not very intuitive for the average user. Windows' Shadow Volume Copy is certainly <i>not</i> seamless.
      olePigeon
      Reply Vote

      • Apple's version of it was a little less intutive then MS's version

        @olePigeon
        so if they can make it easier more people will use it, which is a good thing.
        Will Pharaoh
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

      @SonofaSailor

      Yes, but Windows XP users have none of that, and since Windows XP is still used by the majority of Windows users, blah, blah, blah, blah.....

      ;)
      The one and only, Cylon Centurion
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

        @Cylon Centurion
        And neither do OS X Snow Leopard n lower have any of that and since Lion isn't yet used by Majority of Mac OS X users, blah, blah, blah......

        :p
        MrElectrifyer
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

      @SonofaSailor Yeah, maybe Apple should have cryptic support articles where everything you do to fix things needs to be done with command lines! Of course you'd have to read 8-15 other articles before getting back to the article that addresses the issue in the first place...
      I12BPhil
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

        @I12BPhil "Yeah, maybe Apple should have cryptic support articles where everything you do to fix things needs to be done with command lines! "

        Hey, stop that! Don't be encouraging Apple to start copying we Linux users! Well, actually, we rarely even have the cryptic support articles to work with.... :-)
        jgm@...
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

      @SonofaSailor LMAO :D
      MrElectrifyer
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

      I've been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much more useful than ever before. <a href=http://walmartscholarship.org/>walmart scholarship</a>
      tringo007
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

    But don't call Apple to ask how to use it if you get a virus and need to restore your system. They'll just deny there is a problem and tell their techs to not help you.
    Colorado_AL
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

      @Colorado_AL

      Well put.
      Apple really showed its true colors when they made it official company policy to refuse to acknowledge or help infected mac users.

      They lost my respect and trust when they did that. If they can't be honorable and trustworthy in something like that, then what makes them think that we should trust them in the iCloud with our data?
      josh92
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

      @Colorado_AL
      @Colorado_AL

      Well put.
      Apple really showed its true colors when they made it official company policy to refuse to acknowledge or help infected mac users.

      They lost my respect and trust when they did that. If they can't be honorable and trustworthy in something like that, then what makes them think that we should trust them in the iCloud with our data?
      josh92
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

        @josh92
        Actually they only prevented reps from assisting for a couple of days. Then posted articles to tell customers how to remove it and told reps to help customers with it regardless of warranty status.
        bvirga0218@...
        Reply Vote

  • Sold!

    I would have paid $29.99 in a heartbeat for a standalone app that does what the AutoSave and Versions features in OS X Lion are going to do. But to have it integrated at the system level (which makes a lot more sense) is a no-brainer. That alone is enough to sell me on Lion.
    slingzenarrowzuvowtrayjissforchin
    Reply Vote

  • Windows 8 Watch Out!

    With this, Apple has sent a clear signal to Microsoft users and Microsoft. Yes, a company can remain profitable and nimble while still allowing it's user base to have access to an array of helpful features and keep the OS and other features like iCloud, cheap or free. This is a lot considering I'm a Windows user now in lust over OS X Lion, iCloud, etc. So, Windows 8 and MS watch your backs. By the time you release the next iteration of Windows in 2012, all those "new" features will be old news and ubiquitous to the average Mac user.

    Well played Jobs, well played indeed.
    gmendez@...
    Reply Vote

    • You're joking, right?

      @gmendez@...
      Will Pharaoh
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

    Hey, doesn't this sound like ZFS?
    KeithNB
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple aims to make disaster recovery personal

    "In other words, all the stuff you get in enterprise storage Apple is looking to incorporate behind the scenes."

    Except that "enterprise" stuff often ends up costing enough to buy the Space Shuttle, and complex enough to confuse a quantum physicist.
    CobraA1
    Reply Vote
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