Axcient

Last week, thanks to Axcient we were able to recover two servers that went down due to hardware issues!

I use Axcient to protect the data at a medical office I manage. We run our email in the cloud, but all medical records /​patient files are stored in our ‘data center’. In Ocober, we had a pipe burst in our building in an office upstairs from ours. Two of our servers became faulty due to water damage, and one was shot… the one with or patient records.
Axcient made me look like a hero. I was able to have us back online — recovered the data — before the first patient came in the morning. Even better, was that I didn’t even need to call Axcient support to recover my data. It was that easy to use!

Axcient’s key strength is in it’s ability to do an imaged base backups. The ability to choose between granular and bare-​metal restores along with the ability to run the image off the appliance as a VM allows flexibility in restores. The fact that I can spend more time verifying my backups as opposed to having to manually swap tapes is always a good thing in my book.
Recent updates have show improvements in their quickly progressing web management console and several backend improvements that have significantly decreased backup time.
While they aren’t perfect, but really what backup vendor is, it is largely because they are a company that is still growing into a fuller product. Given their strides in the last year I feel confident they are working on improving their tech and some of their support/​service issues.

Axcient is the WORST company for a BDR (Backup and Disaster Recovery) solution. Not only is their appliance 3−4x more expensive than competitors like Datto, but it doesnt even work as advertised.
I have had 3 appliances that rented from Axcient for almost two years, and have patiently tried to work through all of their issues. hardware, software, support, etc. all are completely PATHETIC.
Not only will you not get your support issue resolved (or even a response!) for days, IF NOT WEEKS, you are basically ignored half the time and given the run around.
The backup appliance rarely can replicate data offsite on a daily basis, due to its extremely inefficient RSYNC technology, even on ultra fast 30−100mbps internet connections. The Virtual Machine service is unreliable and will rarely boot in the moment you need to use it.
Also, if you are paying for 2TB of space, most of it will be utilized by «dead space» because of how the image files are stored on the drive. So you will actually be paying for space that is used to «stage» data for offsite data transfer!
Either way, I moved to Datto and im paying ¹⁄₃^rd the cost, and the BDR appliance actually works as advertised! Any questions, simply reply to me and I will give you my company info and even show proof on how worthless this company is. Dont fall for their sales pitch! Its a joke compared to everyone else out there.
I also notice many questionable and possibly fake reviews on here, notably this «Gene» character who claims he owns a $ 50m IT company. Give me a break. I love how he bashes «whitebox» competitors yet they work better than Axcient at a much better price. Trying to claim it’s better because it costs more is comical, I’ve used them all and Axcient is the worst. Also saying that an IT company shouldn’t have to rely on the vendors technical support team and our consultants should be the «1^st and 2^nd line of defense»? HUH? When the operating system of the BDR is failing and not backing things up and restoring them correctly, what do we need to do, hire a programmer to crack the proprietary code of the unreliable Axcient BDR to fix the code for them? Hack their data centers and allow more bandwidth because their connections are slow and can’t properly sync all data on a daily bases as advertised?
This company is swimming in shark infested waters because there is so much competition and they offer a lower quality product and higher prices. I can’t see how Axcient can succeed, and all the venture capitalists who keep pumping money into this thing are going to loose their entire investment IMO!

Used Axcient back in 2008 – 2009 for corporate backup plan with a Axcient 1000 device — worked fine — no problems. Needed to upgrade, couldn’t get a sales person to call us back to save our lives. Continued on until Feb 2010 when we replaced with competitor device — turned theirs off.
Later — we didn’t send written notification to them to cancel service, but had plenty of verbal calls and talks (2011) and we stopped paying (for a device that was turned off ³⁄₂₀₁₀) so they collected a year of our money without providing any service. They then sent us to collections for non-​payment from ³⁄₂₀₁₁ to ¹⁰⁄₂₀₁₁ — because we still didn’t write to them to cancel our service.
We refuted it and tried to work with their AP — they wouldn’t return our calls or our messages and we got a summons to appear. Over $ 2,000 dollars. Just overall, a very bad taste in our mouth and I cannot ever recommend bad customer service.

Axcient started out fine. Then in the summer of 2008 they decided to discontinue my service. No warning, no notice. But continued to bill me through my credit card — for six months. Because they continued to bill me, I assumed I was covered. I finally noticed when I went to retrieve the original of a file I’d accidentally over-​written. Not there. Nothing there at all. No access to my backed up files. For two weeks I could not get passed their receptionist when I called. It took them two months to refund the money they had already collected, while they continued to bill my credit card. I had to dispute their charges to get the new charges removed from my credit card. NOBODY other than one call from their bookkeeper EVER returned phone calls or told me what happened to my data. Email was all «We’re looking into it. «DON’T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU. DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY WITH YOUR DATA!»