what is the best way to back up large amounts of data?

[benjamit]

i was thinking that removable media like zips, jaz, cdrw are ok for less than a couple of gigs but what do poeple use for larger amounts

i was thinking raid with mirroring but hdds tend to fail

someone suggested tape drives but are those reliable?

 

[Vegito]

SUPER DLT.. haven't had a tape fail yet...
220GB

 

[thermite88]

DDS3 tape at about $10 per 24GB is probably the most affordable approach for home or small business.

 

[Rapamatic]

My company got tired of slow, unreliable (ever try to do a recovery off a tape backup thats a couple weeks old), expensive and proprietary tape drives. We threw together a pc that makes backups onto removable IDE drives that we cycle like tape drives. No need to worry about compatablility, proprietary software,companies going out of business, etc.

 

[benjamit]

so just as i was thinking

use ide hdds as media for backups

 

[nortexoid]

print everything to hardcopy....

 

[SPAnDAU]

Lookout nortexoid, greenpeace is comin

 

[TunaBoo]

60 gig 5400 hard drives.

 

[gershel]

Keep your older systems when you upgrade, and just copy everything
through ethernet (it's nice to have applications that will only copy/sync
newer files, I use windows commander).

HDs are so cheap this days, I don't see any reason in using backup tapes,
except for archival purposes

 

[yeuemmaimai]

CD-R and CD-RW is as cheap as it gets

you can get a 24x10x40 ricoh drive and CD-R or CR-RW media for under $150

 

[Salvador]

<< Keep your older systems when you upgrade, and just copy everything >>


I agree! I have a tape drive from work and I never use it. I keep a mirror copy of most of my files on a hdd in another system on my network instead. If I lose one hdd, I have my files safe on another hdd. Also, try and partition your hdd, so you don't share your personal files with your OS. If you ever have a meltdown and need to reformat, your files will be safe. If possible, use one hdd for your OS and a separate hdd for your files. I always copy really important stuff to cdr from time to time also. Why not, it's cheap and I have the burner.

The tape is just so slow and so loud and I hate the fact that I can't restore just my files or specify what I want restored. At least I haven't figured out how to use it that way. I just find tape drives to be a pain.

Sal

 

[Rapamatic]

20 GB~ 30 CD's

 

[KeithP]

Whichever method you choose, the other thing you have to worry about is where you keep it. If your original data and your back-up of that data are in the same location you have a potential problem. Fire, flood (from nature or a water line burst), etc. could easily wipe out both your original and back-up. If you have only 1 copy of your back-up data, then media (tape, CD, HD...it doesn't matter) failure can also be a problem. You can purchase fire-proof storage safes/cabinets but that is by no means a perfect solution. If the data is critical, back-ups should be stored off-site and you should probably have two copies.

It really comes down to how much the data is worth and what happens when you loose it. Once you have those questions answered, then you can determine what the best hardware/software solution is.

-Keith

 

[bozo1]

I backup my beast to my server using plain old NTBackup to backup to a file. Once a week I back my server up to a DLT tape and I take that to work in case something bad happens.

Many times I've seen a controller or OS wig out and scramble the data on all drives in the same system. Backing up to another disk is only really safe if that disk is in another machine or if it is removeable and kept removed when not actually being used.