Off-Site Backup of 4 GB of Data????

[joeychitwood]

I help maintain a small computer network at my church. Currently, all data is stored on a small Snap server, and backed up twice per week on an old-fashioned Ditto tape drive. An employee takes the tape home and stores it off site.

Can any of you computer whizzes recommend a better method of backing up data and keeping it off the premises for security's sake?

Is there any kind of portable media or drive capable of backing up 4-5 GB of data (or at least the changed files?)

[lebowski]

Is there any kind of portable media or drive capable of backing up 4-5 GB of data (or at least the changed files?)

You can simply get an additional hard drive and store the information in that, then hook it up to the transporters server or comp and transfer the information to whatever drive he is keeping the info.

There are also 750mb ZIP drives available.. This would probably be easier on those with less computer knowledge... So you'd store info on a couple of disks and simply transfer the info from the server to wherever it is going...

You can probably buy a server that is capable of doing it all as well.. But that is out of my field...

[Q-ball]

Why not use a DVD burner? 4.7gb on a disk is a decent amount and sounds like it'd be enough. You can use re-writeable disks and use one, maybe two disks to back everything up.

Q!!!

[joeychitwood]

Is anyone familiar with this product?

NetDisk (http://www.ximeta.com/products/netdisk.html)

I appears to be the solution I am looking for.

[tgreene]

Originally posted by joeychitwood
Is anyone familiar with this product?

NetDisk (http://www.ximeta.com/products/netdisk.html)

I appears to be the solution I am looking for.

I wouldn't waste the extra $$$ on the ethernet capabilities, as long as it's a USB hot-swap drive. I have a 5gb USB Maxtor that I use to carry data. It cost around $120, but that was a year ago.

Any local geek store should have them in stock!

[oz]

4mm data tape like this can back up 4gb on one tape easy.
http://store1.yimg.com/I/blankmedia_1753_1309059

[beerguy]

Be really careful with the 4mm tape however. They have a realistic lifespan of about 5 uses. It's not the type of thing that you want to use over and over again.

It's really uncomfortable when you try to restore from an old tape and realize the data isn't there.

[DensityMan]

go with a USB drive option or the NetDisk (the real-time mirroring might be worth it for you alone - no long back-ups as it's backing up all day).

The tech is getting cheaper and more durable with every passing day... ;) (not on the same scale, but I carry a 256meg usb keychain with me wherever I go) :D

[oz]

We've been using (and reuse) those 4mm tapes for a number of years haven't had any problems, ever. And we had to do a few restore, backup recovery, etc. Most of the time people have problems, its because the head of the tape drive is dirty, rarely its the tape. Most people don't bother with cleaning. Gotta keep the head clean.

[tgreene]

Originally posted by oz
We've been using (and reuse) those 4mm tapes for a number of years haven't had any problems, ever. And we had to do a few restore, backup recovery, etc. Most of the time people have problems, its because the head of the tape drive is dirty, rarely its the tape. Most people don't bother with cleaning. Gotta keep the head clean.

Tapes can stretch over time, as well as get brittle and break... Been there, done that! :mad2:

[oz]

if you leave it out in the sun, what do you expect ? :rolleyes: BTW, hard disks crash, DVD is scratched easily, duh.

[joeychitwood]

Have you ever tried to find a file on a 4 GB tape? You may wait for hours.

[oz]

Originally posted by joeychitwood
Have you ever tried to find a file on a 4 GB tape? You may wait for hours.

hours is stretching it a bit but it does take a while. It depends on what you're trying to do. What the purpose is for the backup really is. If you have a need for a "frequent" restoration of a file or files then I would consider a "hot" backup on another device that can be restore easily. Or consider archival type systems where you have versioning of files. Solutions are unlimited, question is how much money do you want to spend.

[thrlride]

How about LTO version 2 drives with tapes that hold 400 gb being backed up by EDM, TSM, HP OMNIBACK or Arcserve? You can use gig-e cards on both sides and you will be able to backup terabytes relatively quickly for tape. Or you can get an EMC clarrion 30 terabyte unit hooked up with connectrix and some symmetrix that will make your backup/restore at least 5 times faster. Or how about an STK powderhorn unit with 9840 drives in it to backup. <i>Flex my muscles at work</i>

In all reality, you could use a 4mm drive or even a DLT drive to do your backups. The cheapest would be to get a DVD drive and use that. Maybe setup a full backup for the first and then do incrementals for a few weeks and then reuse your old full disc and do a new full and go on that rotation.

There are facilities out there that will store your data for a fee but with it being a church that probably isn't logical.

Good luck!

[joeychitwood]

Originally posted by thrlride
How about LTO version 2 drives with tapes that hold 400 gb being backed up by EDM, TSM, HP OMNIBACK or Arcserve? You can use gig-e cards on both sides and you will be able to backup terabytes relatively quickly for tape. Or you can get an EMC clarrion 30 terabyte unit hooked up with connectrix and some symmetrix that will make your backup/restore at least 5 times faster. Or how about an STK powderhorn unit with 9840 drives in it to backup. Uhhh, what? :eek:

[thrlride]

Very large backup solutions that are $1,000,000 + in money.

[joeychitwood]

Originally posted by thrlride
Very large backup solutions that are $1,000,000 + in money. Now you tell me! I just ordered the system from Best Buy .

[thrlride]

:eek: Hope you have a big room with a VERY powerful central cooling system and raised floors for the cool air to travel up through that best buy equipment! :)

[oz]

Originally posted by thrlride
:eek: Hope you have a big room with a VERY powerful central cooling system and raised floors for the cool air to travel up through that best buy equipment! :)

Yeah but you can cool your tank at the same time.

[valleye]

thrlride, you have 30TB on your Clariion? You definitely have the wrong platform for that much data. Symetrix is the only way to go for that much warehouse space.

I recommend the DVD writer joeychitwood.

[thrlride]

We have 30tb available that we use for backup to disk instead of tape. We do have numerous series 8 symmetrix boxes on the floor but the client didn't want to spend the money on that hardware. The clariion was less than 500k which sounded better to them. Just for this one client we are backing up 150tb per month.

[BrianD]

Its a church, right? Why not use a team of monks to transcribe everything by hand?

BTW, I considered banning you for saying "church". No religion please.

[oz]

Originally posted by thrlride
Just for this one client we are backing up 150tb per month.


99% of that is spam email :D

[thrlride]

:D You are probably right!

[joeychitwood]

Originally posted by BrianD
Its a church, right? Why not use a team of monks to transcribe everything by hand?

BTW, I considered banning you for saying "church". No religion please. Did I say church? Sorry!!! I saw how fast you shot down the reef hottie thread again.....I'm lucky I didn't get banned and shunned!

[BrianD]

I am not sure I know how to shun. I might need lessons.

[reefkeeper1]

Take a look at this kit from Granite Digital. I use it to store offsite bootable system backups of our Mac OS X servers so that if there's a major catastrophe at the office, I just have to get some new machines, and I'll be ready to go. You can also easily replace the hard drives as hard drive storage keeps increasing.

[reefkeeper1]

Granite Digital Link (http://www.granitedigital.com/catalog/pg26_firewireidehotswapdrive.htm)

[joeychitwood]

reefkeeper1, that looks very cool. Thanks. It appears that this would be the perfect solution, especially with the FireWire.

[beerguy]

We're only talking about 4gb of data and you're talking firewire. Buy an iPod and and store your files there. That way you get a portable offsite backup solution AND an mp3 player. :)

If something happens to me laptop drive I can actually boot from my ipod and run my recovery tools - very cools stuff.

[beerguy]

Brian - pipe down and go count some more beans.

:)

[reefkeeper1]

We're only talking about 4gb of data and you're talking firewire. Buy an iPod and and store your files there. That way you get a portable offsite backup solution AND an mp3 player.

Yes, the Mac is nice that you can boot off a firewire drive. My brother actually uses a Nomad Zen to make backups off his Windows machine. My only concern with using an iPod is that you're making backups to only one other hard drive. With the Granite Digital swappable drives, the incremental cost of having multiple backups is relatively low. Besides Granite Digital, here are some other companies to checkout with firewire swappable drives:

http://www.wiebetech.com/

This product looks so trick:

http://www.miglia.com/products/storage/mediabank_hsr/index.html