Best NON-tape backup method?

[Entity]

I'm installing a server for a lab of around 80 users; on a weekly basis, we'd like to be able to backup around 2gb worth of data. However, due to cost constraints, a tape backup isn't looking to be feasible right now. What other inexpensive methods of data backup are out there?

Currently considering:
Jaz 2gb
Syquest (SyJet 1.5gb)

Any other recommendations?

Rob

 

[GuruMogens]

What is it you gonna backup? Thant seems like a lot of data.

 

[Rigoletto]

Noooooo! No JAZ or sysquest!!!!!!!!!
The sysquest sounds like the Sparq that was no.1 in users' regret lists, it dies very quickly.
Have you thought about a hard drive...?! Really, especially if you can get a removable caddy for it. Then you could back that up onto CDs if necessary out of that environment, and no one could fiddle with the data on the HD.

 

[Noriaki]

Equipment required:
1 CDRW drive, can be had for under $200 for a pretty good one.
1 Copy of Drive Image or Norton Ghost $50
3 CDRW discs per backup set roughtly $3-$5

Install DI or Ghost, and Image the drive writing it directly to CDRWs
The CDRWs can be used from a DOS prompt to restore the partition completely exactly as it was when the backup was taken.
At 10x RW speed (Plextor 12/10/32) this would take about 8minutes/CD and you'd probably need 3 for 2gigs of data.

Is $250 too much?

 

[BoberFett]

Does it have to be removable? If not, how about another hard drive? And even if you need several backups, you can get a large enough drive to fit several weeks of backups fairly cheaply. If it does need to be removable, what kind of data is this? If it's text you could probably compress it down to fit on a CD. If neither of those fit the bill, and tape drives are out, those two options are about the best you'll find.

What is your budget anyway?

 

[Entity]

Noraki (and others),

I already suggested that she try a CDRW; she wasn't keen on having to run DriveImage on the \users directory every time we wanted to backup. She wants it to be as automatic as possible. Thanks for the advice on Jaz/Syquest drives. Nice to know.

I think we may go with a SCSI HD.

Rob

 

[Noriaki]

Oh...ok well when you said that tape backup I expected it would be a manual type backup. Even with the tape drives you still have to sit and switch tapes. (unless you want to pay a huge wad of cash for a tape robot...but for 80 users I think not )

If you want automated then another hard drive in a removable caddy is probably the best.

Get like an 80Gig DMax 80 you can keep about 40 weeks of backups on that.

 

[Entity]

The server has a 36gb U160 SCSI drive already; we're going to put a 9gb drive into it for backups. Since the contents of the backup are simple (the \users directory), we're going to set an event to copy that over once per week. We'll configure it to just recopy over the old backups, since keeping old data isn't a concern for her (the \users directory just contains thesis papers, research material, etc., that is being regularly updated, so there is no need for older backups to be kept).

There. Question answered. Thanks guys.

Rob

 

[rahvin]

Dude drop buy ebay and get a used 8gig tape drive (usually with tapes) for under $100. Tape drives are CHEAP on ebay, no resale value in them...

 

[Subversal]

I just bought a 20GB HP Colorado TRAVAN external drive for $270 with 3 tapes. But I guess that doesn't figure in what you want...

 

[Dave]

How about boosting the storage capacity of your server, or better yet using an older machine with enhanced (ide raid?) storage capacity, and using Ghost to create compressed image files on the "Backup Server". Ghost may be run from a batch file with command line switches that can automate the entire process ... A shortcut that refers to the batch file could be placed on each user's desktop (I'm assuming WIN9X clients) and be executed periodically to throw a complete compressed image on the Backup Server.

Its a snap, and very fast, to restore an image ...much better than rebuilding a drive from scratch and then restoring data scrounged from backup tapes ... yuk!

Also, in the particular case of Ghost, you can encrypt the image file as well as specify that the image be split up into files each no larger than 650MB (so that you could fit them on a CD). Finally, Ghost Explorer (like File Explorer) can be used to selectively extract files from the image ... this comes in handy from time to time.

Good luck!

By the way, the newest version of Ghost (Ghost 2001) allows booting off a floppy and backup directly to a CD-R. Spanning is automatic and even NTFS partitions may be backed up. This puts the ball completely in the users hands ... no worry with managing a backup server etc.

 

[MWink]

The only reliable backup I have found is CD-RW. By the way, don't forget that Syquest went out of business a while ago.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Maybe a DVD-Ram drive?

 

[ArkAoss]

no need for robots get an HP 24x6 24 gb in a six tape cartridge, or compaq makes one that takes 8 tapes, NO i am kidding, the hp, we've replaced 5 times, and only owned it 9 months. . . . . the compaq is killer expensive. . . . maybe for your needs you could get a single tape, they should be cheap enough, but besides tape, or an extra HD, there is nothing for backup, if some one got a good idea they could make a killing in the industry

 

[thornc]

Entity: a few small questions!?!

1) what os are you using in the server?
there are many backup systems that aren't available in all platforms.

2) what kind of work to the users do?
80 users only needing 2gb its very small, as an example my lab has 6 people running and last
count we take 11Gb of space with personnal data only.

3) what's the hardware configutation??

if don't use tapes, you are quite limited. Except for another hard-disk, or perhaps some
form of optical/magnetcoptical.

DVD-RAM, and MO drives should work...but they are as expensive as the tape backup...

 

[LevcoS]

Using another HD is a mistake... tape is really the best way to go:
1) Media is CHEAP.
2) Backups can be automated, and
3) You can carry a complete backup away with you.

Using another hard drive is cheap, true- but automation will be tricky unless you don't plan to keep more than the most recent backup- which will be troublesome, as you'd be surprised how often the most recent backup tends to include exactly the bad data you're hoping to replace, making it necessary to go back to a previous backup catalog to retrieve the "good" version. Reliability of HDs versus tape media is also quite low. And, perhaps most importantly, if you're keeping your only backup not only on-site but actually inside the machine you're backing up, you're putting the whole shebang at risk of being destroyed by machine failure, not to mention the risk of natural disaster, fire, etc. at your location. Best practices for backup, therefore, should include off-site storage... just carry a set home with you each time you back up, so that when you finally suffer that fire or flood or whatever, you can restore data just as soon as you replace the server.

LevcoS