3000 supplier ORBiT Software (800.89ORBIT) set up a free Golden Backup Program to help companies bridge the Y2K transition, a way to make a one-time system backup for free using Backup+/iX. Sites can get a free demo copy of Backup+/iX, do a full backup and use the software’s VERIFY option to confirm the data is restorable from the tape. This verification is no small issue, since companies are reporting that 3000 databases are suffering through backups made over SCSI tape interfaces that don’t report errors as well as HP-IB tape interfaces. If a regular backup fails after January 1, sites can use that Golden Backup to restore to any system. “No current software license is necessary,” said ORBiT’s Paul Meszaros. “You just use NMSTORE to restore the program file from the front of the tape, and restore the backup from that.” ORBiT is also including a free demo copy of HourGlass on the same tape, a utility that can set back the simulated system date for any offending program back to before the turn of the century, “so you can continue to operate until you can get things fixed,” Meszaros said. “This gets away from putting all your eggs in one basket. When they make the backup, our program goes onto the backup. This copy of Backup+/iX has no expiration.”