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Backup best practices !!! I need some tips / advice workgorup server backup questions
I'm realizing more and more that backups are critical (duh). But what is the best way to do it?!! I've been trying a bunch of methods, never feeling 100% (or even 50%) that it was right and we were secure.
This is concerning 20 - 40 GB of data and we have DSL
STORAGE MEDIUM?
too much for online storage? Connection time and costs?
Tape drives -for that amount of storage - too expensive?
External hard drives? how large and farther down here, is the question of how to back up? a 300 GB external drive would have 1 copy? Or several backups?
METHODOLOGY / SOFTWARE?
I wrote a batch script that xcopy c:\data to either an external drive or to an internal drive in the building (internal logic - don't bother to take it home but fire / theft hitting both parts of the building are even rarer than theft / fire at all).
The batch would loop thought 5 backup folders (so 5 nights of data). But it's a dos batch - no notification that there was a problem
how many instances of backup would you keep? the above method keeps 5, and then it loops over again.
1 issue with the simple xcopy is that if a file is moved from foldera to folderb, on the backup it is now in both places - the xcopy doesn't sync... which in a way is good - if the file was deleted from a, you don't want it to be deleted from the backup? but then the backups are not true copies of the hard drive in the case of needing to do a restore of all the data....
yeah, there's lots of apps out there that do backups... I am looking for answers to the more etheral questions of how many backups / do you do full backups all the time / what do you think of the xcopy / what do you backup to / etc.
thanks! Points are awarded for any ueseful advice... there's no wrong answers!
This is concerning 20 - 40 GB of data and we have DSL
STORAGE MEDIUM?
too much for online storage? Connection time and costs?
Tape drives -for that amount of storage - too expensive?
External hard drives? how large and farther down here, is the question of how to back up? a 300 GB external drive would have 1 copy? Or several backups?
METHODOLOGY / SOFTWARE?
I wrote a batch script that xcopy c:\data to either an external drive or to an internal drive in the building (internal logic - don't bother to take it home but fire / theft hitting both parts of the building are even rarer than theft / fire at all).
The batch would loop thought 5 backup folders (so 5 nights of data). But it's a dos batch - no notification that there was a problem
how many instances of backup would you keep? the above method keeps 5, and then it loops over again.
1 issue with the simple xcopy is that if a file is moved from foldera to folderb, on the backup it is now in both places - the xcopy doesn't sync... which in a way is good - if the file was deleted from a, you don't want it to be deleted from the backup? but then the backups are not true copies of the hard drive in the case of needing to do a restore of all the data....
yeah, there's lots of apps out there that do backups... I am looking for answers to the more etheral questions of how many backups / do you do full backups all the time / what do you think of the xcopy / what do you backup to / etc.
thanks! Points are awarded for any ueseful advice... there's no wrong answers!
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puter - I am using this set of switches:
xcopy "\\server\company docs\*.*" "e:\backup\backup%counter%
It will run, create the backup1, backup2, etc. folders... and the batch will run each night, increment the counter each night, then at counter=5, reset it to 1.... I'll use beyond compare (http://www.scootersoftware.com) to compare the source and backup folder trees. if anything, there should be more files in the backup.
But for some reason, there are entire folders that were never copied (and the files under them weren't either). can't figure out why. Haven't paid enough attention to this to see if the same folders are missing in each backup... the dates for the folders are not 'weird' / in the future, etc... but otherwise, I'd love that simple script.
sure, if you leave off the /d, it'll back up everything. but that thrashes the hard drive of the server and the backup LOTS?! and it makes the backup much longer? it has to write all 20 - 30 gig rather than do a compare on the date for a file and move on.
and using the /m or /a switch would work, I guess, but might interfere with a tape backup if this is a fallback measure (this would have to run with /m and before the incremental backup ran.
but again - best practices - why not do full backups each night (if you are going to tape or CD). why scramble for incrementals and fulls if a restore is needed?!
I like your switches spelling hickory.. but you left off the verify switch?
gary - you've been espounding on syncback for a while, right? I remember reading your posts some time ago and trying it out. not sure why I gave up on it? a customer service issue that went unanswereed? Or I think I had what I thought was a basic issue that the app couldn't do? I forget what it was....
your comments seemed geared for your system. I was thinkign more for clients - imaging monthly, etc. is labor intensive? I'm looking for an easier / set it / almost forget it single process that keeps running and will flag you when there's an issue.
xcopy "\\server\company docs\*.*" "e:\backup\backup%counter%
It will run, create the backup1, backup2, etc. folders... and the batch will run each night, increment the counter each night, then at counter=5, reset it to 1.... I'll use beyond compare (http://www.scootersoftware.com) to compare the source and backup folder trees. if anything, there should be more files in the backup.
But for some reason, there are entire folders that were never copied (and the files under them weren't either). can't figure out why. Haven't paid enough attention to this to see if the same folders are missing in each backup... the dates for the folders are not 'weird' / in the future, etc... but otherwise, I'd love that simple script.
sure, if you leave off the /d, it'll back up everything. but that thrashes the hard drive of the server and the backup LOTS?! and it makes the backup much longer? it has to write all 20 - 30 gig rather than do a compare on the date for a file and move on.
and using the /m or /a switch would work, I guess, but might interfere with a tape backup if this is a fallback measure (this would have to run with /m and before the incremental backup ran.
but again - best practices - why not do full backups each night (if you are going to tape or CD). why scramble for incrementals and fulls if a restore is needed?!
I like your switches spelling hickory.. but you left off the verify switch?
gary - you've been espounding on syncback for a while, right? I remember reading your posts some time ago and trying it out. not sure why I gave up on it? a customer service issue that went unanswereed? Or I think I had what I thought was a basic issue that the app couldn't do? I forget what it was....
your comments seemed geared for your system. I was thinkign more for clients - imaging monthly, etc. is labor intensive? I'm looking for an easier / set it / almost forget it single process that keeps running and will flag you when there's an issue.
Any copy/sync program (SyncBack; XCopy; XXCopy; etc.) has the "flaw" that it won't copy the system state (registry, etc.) ... so if you're not going to maintain an image, then you should use a utility that will allow system state backups. NTBackup is free and already part of XP ... this is a nice tutorial on using it: http://www.datamills.com/Tutorials/systemstate/tutorial.htm
Basically, anything you can do with XCopy you can do with SyncBack. As I noted above, I used to use XXCopy (a "super XCopy") because it is so powerful and configurable, and runs very fast. I had tried a few other well-known backup/sync freeware utilities (e.g. Karen's Replicator comes to mind, but there were a few others), but they were clearly written in VB and ran MUCH slower than XXCopy. SyncBack, on the other hand, runs almost as quickly as XXCopy, and has a nice GUI interface. It does take a bit of learning to understand the structure of the profiles and how to set some of the more advanced options ... but for everything except the system state it's an excellent utility. There is one MAJOR flaw -- but it's true of most of these programs: it won't copy locked (in use) files. But the nominally priced SyncBack SE will copy them.
Basically, anything you can do with XCopy you can do with SyncBack. As I noted above, I used to use XXCopy (a "super XCopy") because it is so powerful and configurable, and runs very fast. I had tried a few other well-known backup/sync freeware utilities (e.g. Karen's Replicator comes to mind, but there were a few others), but they were clearly written in VB and ran MUCH slower than XXCopy. SyncBack, on the other hand, runs almost as quickly as XXCopy, and has a nice GUI interface. It does take a bit of learning to understand the structure of the profiles and how to set some of the more advanced options ... but for everything except the system state it's an excellent utility. There is one MAJOR flaw -- but it's true of most of these programs: it won't copy locked (in use) files. But the nominally priced SyncBack SE will copy them.
ASKER
OK, you mention fast.... I have xcopy running on a desktop and it is backing up data from a 'server'. they are on a 10 / 100 lan. the xcopy is backing up to a sata hard drive from the server which is a snap server.
care to say how long you think it 'should' take to backup 40 gigs of data? that is a new backup - no existing files on the backup drive
it's been running for 4 hours and it's almost done. does that sound right over a LAN? I guess USB would be better (it's an older machine - need to get a USB 2 card, since the ports are likely 1.1)
care to say how long you think it 'should' take to backup 40 gigs of data? that is a new backup - no existing files on the backup drive
it's been running for 4 hours and it's almost done. does that sound right over a LAN? I guess USB would be better (it's an older machine - need to get a USB 2 card, since the ports are likely 1.1)
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xcopy with the /h /i /c /k /o /r /y will not stop on any error and it copies everything, including attributes.