Disc or Tape for back-up ?? Advices/comments plz

I am about to do the big office upgrade and want to know how you feel about tapes ( which has been suggested) or discs for backing up system and data.

Pros
Cons
Comments gratefully recieved.

As this is work related, there is some $$flexibility
Want failssafe, no down time, easily upgradeable, security, redundancy and some future proofing ( and "pebkau" proofing )
Heh: not asking too much is it.?

Thx.

 

Hello,

I am not sure what pebkau is ... Maybe you meant bambleweenie meson disruptor?

If compatibility is not an issue, tape has several advantages over discs:

1. Capacity
2. Long-life
3. Relative durability

Discs are simpler because you can plug and play them anywhere and more readily usable by the common guy ...

Why not both? Long-term tape and short-term disc?

Cheers,
Mrk

 

personally I like tape backups. I use an hp dat72 at work and can do a complete computer in short order. Tapes last about 10 years but need to be kept in an temperature controlled environment i.e they don't like temperature changes but overall the tape device if external can be moved from machine to machine with little trouble as it is plug and play.

If you are looking at rotational backups I might suggest an NAS device and limit each computer to a 5 day backup solution. The nice thing about the NAS device is portability if you need to run from storms etc.

 

Tapes are the way to go if you ask me. Once you get around the cost for a drive they aren't too expensive, and they are relatively fast, reliable, and easy. Just do "dump" backups for all of your systems and restore with, well, "restore", preferably in a Tower of Hanoi style (openbsd man page explains it much better here)

Dump/restore are available on any *nix system, and there is even one for windows, but I don't know how reliable it is. Dump/restore is considered one of the most bullet-proof ways of backing up, and I love using them for the simplicity and ability just to run it in a small script.

Cheers,

Alphalutra1

 

From a work standpoint, tapes used to be the major media used to store offline and very large data sets (those 9 track round reels). They have been completely replaced with 36 track cartridges (with robotic arm access) and high speed access disk devices now. The price of disk hardware has dropped quite a bit and now even some very large files are stored on them instead of the offline media.

Disk - Pros - fast (direct) access and no robot or operator intervention
Cons - usually more costlier than offline media

Tape - Pros - usually cheaper in cost and can store them or ship them
Cons - slow (sequential) access and can degrade after repeated reading and writing

When doing file searches where the numbers goes into the hundreds of thousands, disk access versus tape access is similar to broadband versus dialup. There is a noticeable time difference between the two.

 

Sorry for some off topic comments, I don't want to hijack the thread
by any means.
which one is better DVD-R or DVD+R( If used for backup)
Being a newbie to backup,
I have wasted lot of Dvd's while trying to test backup programs, I always end up getting some error message and there is no way i can continue the backup. Any suggestions. Please suggest any good backup program which can convert the physical disk to vmware disk.

 

My apologies.

 

Thanks all for replies.

I should have been a little more specific about the set-ups ( need advice re home as well; doing the home office too)

At work: server, 3-4 client/workstations plus 2 Laptops on wired and wireless LAN, common/shared web access, networked multifunction printer.

Home similar: shared access, probably server, 3 "workstations" (with the 2 same laptops going back and forth) prolly remote access or VPN between

So may options: brain hurting
I've been in contact with some guys here who friends have had success with: there's really no other way to know.
http://www.jabbawoki.com/au/?cid=1


Might give TallEmu a call see if I can get them out of their ivory tower. lol.

Any one in Sydney with any recommendations ??

 

We just went through this process. The same question was asked in a similar link at Broadband Reports. Here is the link:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19230819-Need-Info-Windows-Server-2003-Image-Software

The original question in the above link was options less expensive than Acronis True Image Server. I'm lazy so I'll just quote my response from that link:

Just one more opinion. Personally, I like this solution. Hope this helps.

 

@RealResults Thankyou
Prolly just what I'm looking for was thinking I might substitute Shadowprotect with incrementals for Acronis ?
I like the rotating NAS drives idea.
KISS paramount for slow thinking Aussies.
Thanks again.

 

Tapes ? I saw computers with tapes in several episodes of Columbo, but that is 30+ years ago.
I would never buy such backup device with tapes. For me nothing but external harddisks.

 

It may be a good idea to consider your particular requirements when it comes to restoration, and take ccsito's pro/con post into account.

If you think that your office will regularly restore individual files from backup, then tape may cost more in opportunity cost (due to lost time) than disk-to-disk. On the other hand, if you will only rarely restore individual files, then tape can be a cost effective solution.

Now I'm a bit biased, as our solution (ShadowProtect) is a disk-to-disk product. So take this with a bag of salt. My preferred way to set things up is to use ShadowProtect's Continuous Incremental job type to backup to a NAS, and then use a file sync/replicator (there are plenty these, for free) to copy image files from the NAS to a remote site. This way I can quickly restore from my local NAS, or if the NAS dies, I still have all of my data on my remote site.

[UPDATE: If you do sync backup image files to a remote site, as I described above, then obviously you'll want to configure your file sync tool so that it doesn't sync delete events, and only syncs an individual file once (does not copy a file if the file is altered). The reason for this is that if, somehow, a backup image file is deleted, or corrupted, on your NAS, you'll want to ensure that your sync tool doesn't mirror that change to the remove site, deleting or corrupting files on the remote store.]

Now for a note on Continous Incrementals. There's an issue in 3.0 which causes the Continous Incremental job to create a new base (beyond the first base) if your server crashes or is powered off unexpectedly (after it's powered back on) rather than just creating another incremental. This issue has been fixed in 3.1, which is soon to be released.

 

I used to use tapes before CD's etc. Bought one system then HD sizes went up so needed another. Manufacturer went bust so when the tape drive failed I was left with tapes I could no longer access. At least with CD/DVD you usually have backwards compatability.

As drives get larger you have more & more delay in accessing sequential access.

I now use an ext HD but of course that could also fail.

 

Even with Karen's Replicator you can misconfigure things,but at least she warns you if you also like to delete events in backups after altering files in the source. KR is not a sync/backup app. but a pure replicator,offcourse you can make KR a sort of sync app. but you have to do it manually because there is no snapshot/hotsync utility build in,so for example if you want to update your office files,you have to close them in order to update your backup files manually,from another perpective this is also a safety measure which i like in KR.

 

Longboard,

I only have a few comments about work and space requirements... I try to keep the drives as small as possible, I mean they should only hold enough work related software along with the OS to do the job. This way your backups are relatively small and you can keep a greater number of them.

A well thought out plan and control of work-related and non-work related applications will make choosing the backup plan easier to deploy and use.

Hope this is helpful.

 

To recover as vast as possible i like to narrow down my system part as small as possible,only OS + App. My Documents and pers. data on another part. which are independant backed up with a replicator app.
To recover my system part. takes only 7 min.with SP.