V Communications Announces Shipment of DriveWorks; Value Priced, Wizard Driven, Hard Drive Management Software Suite Available Now.

Business/Technology Editors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2001

Today V Communications announced that DriveWorks(TM), a wizard driven integrated solution for hard drive management including partitioning, copying, imaging and backing up hard drives, is shipping now. This "first of its kind" suite combines V Communications' well-known Partition Commander(R) with their new Copy Commander(TM), Image Commander(TM) and SecurErase(TM). As a bonus, AutoSave(TM), has also been included into this value packed software suite for just $69.95

"Hardware management products have been available for some time in the market place," noted Jeffrey Hyman, V Communications vice president of marketing, "The DriveWorks difference is the integration of tasks within one interface and the ability to get everything needed within one product for a reasonable price. To buy each of these products separately would cost between two and three hundred dollars. As an introductory incentive, we're even offering a $20 mail-in rebate, so value to the user is tremendous," concluded Hyman.

Each of the products included in the DriveWorks suite performs a wide variety of management tasks. Partition Commander, often recognized as the easiest, most powerful partitioning product available, provides the ability to safely resize partitions, with no risk to data. Hard drives become better organized, wasted disk space can be reclaimed and in some cases, system speed may improve as well. Partition Commander provides safe resize for Windows(R) 95/98/Me/NT/2000, DOS and Linux. Also provided is the ability to convert partitions from FAT16 to FAT32, or FAT32 to FAT16, or NTFS to FAT, including NTFS compressed volumes. With the exclusive BackStep Wizard(TM), multiple partitioning operations can be undone at a later time including the recovery of a deleted partition.

DriveWorks includes Image Commander, which provides complete hard drive backup by making an exact duplicate "image" of a partition or an entire hard drive. Image Commander creates a compressed image file that can be easily saved to a CD, Zip(TM), Jaz(TM), to another hard drive or network drive. Should a system crash occur, this easy-to-use, wizard-driven imaging solution provides restoration to a prior state when the system worked correctly. DriveWorks' Copy Commander provides the safest and easiest way to automatically transfer everything from an old hard drive to a new hard drive without missing any preferences, settings or data. There is no need to reinstall anything. Copy Commander supports all PC operating systems and their file systems. Copy Commander even copies multiple partitions and gives the option to have them proportionally expanded on the new disk. To round out the DriveWorks suite, SecurErase completely eliminates the possibility of recovery for deleted files or partitions, something even re-formatting a hard drive cannot promise. SecurErase provides a multi-pass drive/partition erase for total peace of mind.

As a bonus, DriveWorks also includes AutoSave, the award-winning, automatic backup program that works as the user does. Running in the background under Windows 95/98/Me/NT and 2000, it automatically and invisibly backs up files that are created and modified as the user works on them. A perfect compliment to Image Commander, which takes care of periodic full backups, AutoSave concentrates only on those files created and worked with between those full backups.

DriveWorks' minimum configuration is 386/486/Pentium or better and it requires 8 MB RAM. DriveWorks works with all hard drives including those 40 GB or larger, and can be run directly from an included boot diskette or bootable CD-ROM or can be installed and run from Windows 95/98/Me. Current owners of System Commander 2000 or Partition Commander 6.0 may upgrade for $39.95. Multi-site licenses are available. DriveWorks is available at most major computer stores nation-wide, and via web and catalog sales nationally and internationally.

V Communications markets software utilities designed for the full range of PC users from beginners to experts. Creating solutions for PC users since 1986, V Communications products are widely recognized for their superior quality and reliability. V Communications markets its products worldwide through the retail, VAR and enterprise sales channels. V Communications Inc. is headquartered at 2290 North First St., Suite 101, San Jose, CA 95131. Phone: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. Web: www.v-com.com, Email: [e-mail].

DriveWorks, BackStepWizard, Image Commander, Copy Commander, SecurEase, and AutoSave are Trademarks and System Commander and Partition-Commander are registered trademarks of V Communications Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.