need to back up Windows 2003 Small business server

Guys

I have a Windows 2003 small business server (includes Windows 2003, exchange, SQL server 2000, etc.)

The server version 8.0 of ACronis TI says it will cost me $700.

is it worth it? Is there a better product?

 

It's worth buying it. I brought a Enterprised Edition for 1,025 dollars for my company. You just have to decide if it's worth your businesse to have a program like Acronis to back up your HDD, or losing it to unknown reason. You decide 700 dollars now or a 5,000 dollars or bigger figure trying to get get your data back.

 

Acronis sell several other versions of TI - do any of those give you all the features you want?

 

I would NEVER pay $700, if there is a possibility to shut down that server and make image from boot CD. In this case home version should also be ok (except I don'tknow how about RAID arrays).
After that, all the data can be backed up in the normal way - there is no need to image anything.

 

okay, what is it that Server TI 8 does that home version does not?
if I boot from the home version it takes me into a linux shell for the backup. Will this backup ignore the fact it's windows 2003 server and make a backup for me because it's linux based?

if so, that's pretty slick. I don't expect any support from acronis if something goes wrong though

 

does anyone know the answer to this? Can I backup Windows 2003 server with True Image 9 home version if I boot from the Recovery CD?

 

I don't think it will work. The recovery CD is based on the version (home or server), so the drivers on the CD are geared towards desktops. If you have a server grade NIC or RAID controller, you might be out of luck as it won't detect it.

 

As far as I know the server version will image remote drives and the basic version will image drives that Ti is installed on or boot cd from only. The newer versions are supposed to support the newer raid controllers and that is part of the reason for all the current complaints. They will eventually get larger controller support sorted out. Just try the trial version and if you can boot from the cd and see your raid drives it should work.