We performed a comparison between Dell EMC PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) and Rubrik based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Rubrik’s users report that, in addition to being a powerful solution, it is simple to deploy and work with and therefore it comes out on top in this comparison. According to reviewers, PowerProtect’s deployment process can be difficult.
"The most valuable features of Dell PowerProtect DD are reduplication and compression. It provides a lot of data savings for backups. Additionally, the Dell PowerProtect DD solution offers a bundled backup software and storage option. If desired, users can also connect to cloud technology to create an additional copy of their data in the cloud. This solution supports synchronization with various cloud vendors, including Azure and AWS."
"The most valuable features of this product are its guaranteed reliability and its duplication capability."
"Dell PowerProtect DD’s most valuable feature is data deduplication."
"The solution is very stable."
"We have never had any issues with Data Domain. It has been stable."
"Short backup window has made a difference in the way my organization functions."
"It's very easy to use the domain once it's been set up. The interface is also user-friendly."
"The compression aspect of the solution is great."
"One platform for instant recovery."
"The main benefit is that we are secured in terms of workloads. We know that if we need to restore any VMs, or even any files inside a VM, that we will succeed 100 percent. This means that we don't need to spend much time administering the backup environment because we know it is self-healing and efficient. So, we are spending that time on something else, which is always a plus."
"Time dedicated to backup was drastically reduced."
"The tech support is extremely helpful."
"Rubrik simplifies our data backup and recovery processes significantly. It's very straightforward to use. We start by tagging through VMware, and everything tagged for Rubrik is backed up automatically. Backups are much better and faster because Rubrik takes a full snapshot of the virtual machine. We recently conducted a verification by performing a restore, and even during the restore process, we could bring up the server in less than 10-15 minutes. Additionally, we have set up alerts for sensitive data, which helps us track data."
"The most valuable feature has been the Live Mount feature."
"What I like about Rubrik is that you can back up to the cloud. It is a different kind of backup where you're not archiving the tape. Rubrik is a physical appliance. It is a dedicated appliance to which you can back up, and you can also back up to another device. So, you can back up to Rubrik and then to another device. If you have more than one site, you can set up Rubrik on site A and also on site B. You can back up to the Rubrik on site A and then replicate that data to the Rubrik on site B."
"The solution is extremely stable. They've been phenomenal, especially for a young company."
"Technical support needs improvement."
"The pricing should be adjusted. Customers continuously talk about the price. They know it is a good solution and they really need the type of storage the solution offers, but it costs somewhere around $100,000 and up. It's not cheap, but it's very important for data vendors."
"When you use Data Domain, you have to have at least 20% free space so it can work properly. Sometimes we struggle with that, because we wanted to use all the free space, but then Data Domain becomes really slow. I understand that 20% is needed to process all the data, and doing the duplication and compression and all that, but it would be a big improvement if they did not require that 20%, because it is just too much to have available."
"DD doesn't have Intel's air gap technology."
"The size and scale of the product are limited and could be improved."
"The Dell PowerProtect DD architecture offers several significant features. One is DD Boost, which is utilized at both the source and destination sites for application processing."
"The only problem is that it's more expensive than any other vendors available in the market."
"Data Domain lacks compatibility with fiber channels and tapes. We can't use it with a tape library. That's an issue in Latin America sometimes because a lot of clients still use tapes for budget reasons. Maybe they have a lot of archives. In North America and Europe, they do a lot of archiving, but they use the cloud more than we do. Sometimes we have to put together a Frankenstein where we connect another server to the tape library and send all the data there."
"It needs to keep innovating to stay relevant in the data management field."
"Two areas I would like to see improvement in Rubrik are pricing and localization."
"The functionality is missing, but they are very receptive to our thoughts and ideas."
"It does not offer image-level backups for Hyper-V 2012."
"Rubrik's disaster recovery capabilities could be improved."
"It is an expensive product."
"Setup is immediate but pricing is not cheap."
"Collecting logs in Rubrik is very difficult compared to other tools."
More Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) Pricing and Cost Advice →
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is ranked 1st in Deduplication Software with 65 reviews while Rubrik is ranked 4th in Backup and Recovery with 86 reviews. Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is rated 8.6, while Rubrik is rated 9.2. The top reviewer of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) writes "Supports business continuity process but needs improvement in pricing". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Rubrik writes "Automates the backup and recovery process, reducing manual human errors and global search allows for granular recoveries". Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is most compared with HPE StoreOnce, Dell PowerProtect Data Manager, ExaGrid EX Series, Veeam Backup & Replication and Veritas NetBackup Appliance, whereas Rubrik is most compared with Veeam Backup & Replication, Cohesity DataProtect, Commvault Cloud, Azure Backup and Veritas NetBackup.
We monitor all Deduplication Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
The biggest difference is Rubrik has native software and hardware on one platform. Data Domain is only a disk target and a very good one but you still need backup software such as Networker, Veritas, Commvault, etc. That software requires both a master and media server which drives a lot of complexity. Rubrik is hyperconverged data management, there is not software licensing, end of year true-ups or additional infrastructure. Policy-based backup and restore functions with cloud archiving integration. It’s also really fast! Finally, if you’re running Nutanix and its native hypervisor AHV then Rubrik can protect that hypervisor and VMware.
I agree with the other answers - With Data Domain, you still require a software solution to go with the back-end storage. I.e., Avamar, Networker, etc.
Rubrik is a Software Defined Solution or can be deployed with its own set of hardware\storage.