Good backup program to use

i just went on their site but im not sure ....


I have 4 drives (or had 4 :( )  at 500gb a piece and i would backup via copying files here and their but copying 20GB every night even when files werent in use i wasnt sure if i was doing it right....


Thanks

http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm

Sorry here is a link to the site.

Cobain backup backs up data - not the OS system state, not exchange, just data.  It's fine for home... it's not appropriate for a server.

i wouldnt mind spending 500 dollars because we need to be able to backup

but whats the best approach hardware wise like i dont have a raid

i have a system with 4 500 Gb dirves and i backup to each of them

OR should i look at getting a external raid server (san or nas) Or should i look at getting another server for just backups across the network though >>>> ?

does a San or Nas have a usb also a network.....


Thanks again

now could that have both for like is USB faster then going throrough a non Gigabit network unless i get a Gigabit Nic and plug it straight in
 
THanks  

I think we need a better discription of what you are backing up is it just files is it the whole OS is it a exchange server.

well IT should be AN OS .... like exchange / AD but i have that on a mirror .... (i think a bad idea)
 
But alot of its day to day DOcuments for the Business data files about 40 material but im not sure if it backs that up every day or just the files that have been touched or edited....
 
THanks

Did you read the link I posted in the very first comment?  I used to copy and paste the vast majority of it into the question... but it seemed better to make it a web page... I can copy and past the whole thing if you like?  (I talk about backup types, software, and as Callandor noted, RAID is NOT BACKUP!)

ok if you are just doing documents and simple files my recommendation is the Cobain back up and back it up to a simple western digital hard drive that is raided in case it crashes.

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4082295&CatId=2422 $250.00

and use Cobain to do it.
http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm

If you are doing Exchange invest in Back up Exec well worth it for the restoring of exchange

yea im going to get the backup exec thanks .... but now im wondering if i should get a

NAS now (im scared at the thecus company) i called it and got a vmail of someone hard to understand (im not sure if netgear is a good route or buffalo ) anyone has good expericee on some of these....
 
but  should i get something that i can put a usb connected to the server and a Rj45 on the network....
THanks

i have 2 esata ports on the motherboard of the Backup machine is that faster then the USb2
 
THanks

My experience with eSata has not been rewarding. Granted that I have to use pcmcia eSata card, but throughput has been inconsistent. Perhaps with an add-on card for eSata you would be successful. Callandor is correct. You will need better throughput than usb2 provides.

now when did esata2 come out just to make sure i might have to get a pci card (which i dont mind at all but its a dependable way of doing quick backups)
 
would the Esata2 way be faster to connect via network to the machine then through esata OR just via the network if i decide to use this as a File server .... or not :) ..
 
Thanks

eSATA has the same throughput as SATA II - 3Gbit/sec, faster than gigabit ethernet.  A PCI card is limited by the 33MHz bus x 4 bytes = 132MBytes/sec, which is a little over the max hard disk transfer rate, but can be limited by other devices in contention on the bus.  If you need a card (it doesn't sound like you do, since you say you have ports on the back of the motherboard), you should get one that uses PCI-e.  Each lane in a v1.x PCI-e slot provides 250 MBytes/sec throughput, while v2.0 slots provide 500 MBytes/lane, so even a PCI-e x1 slot is an improvement over PCI.

so if Usb is out of the picture and PCI is as slow as 132 having 2 esata ports Or firewire would be the better option then for backup purposes (with a nas device Hopefully)
 
im not sure if backup program will see it or does it detect it like a Drive
 
Thanks again

I would do network Esata and firewire can be a pain and drive letters can change then you have to reconfigurer the backup program every time the drive letter changes.

yep then it plugs in to a rj45 at 100

Just buy the WD mybook world edition it offers 1000mb all you need is a gigabit switch which is like 40 bucks for a 5 port.

my boss wants something with like 4 drives at least and also be able to access via the network (maybe if i connect via esata then share the drive thats almost like a NAS in a way right ??
 
http://store.sansdigital-shop.com/mr5ct2.html
heres what i saw with esata connection to my server
now the only question i have is Jbod i might start a new thread though...
 
Thanks  

eSata appears as another drive, just like usb2. And backupexec will recognize. With the onboard eSata port you probably have the solution right there. A gig drive like swfasit suggested with eSata would be awesome. Throughput is rated at 3gbs and does not require any network connection (no added switch). when I read into your description earlier, I missed the fact that your server had onboard eSata ports. If I coudld do that, I could share the drive or have a second drive just for the backups.