What's the best and most affordable backup media available?
I'm looking for a simple backup solution for my test server running SBS2003. Typically I'm interested in an external USB hard-drive that can hold no more than 80 GB (the current size of my server's HDD).
Can anyone recommend any makes and models? Thanks in advance.
Can anyone recommend any makes and models? Thanks in advance.
zephyr_hex (Megan)
buy a hard drive case, and then buy an internal hard drive to go inside it. this way, you can swap out the hard drives inside the case. much more flexible.
That is SOOO too little information.
How long must you save the backups? How frequently are you backing up? How much data changes and how frequently?
Here's my standard backup comment:
First, there are three MAJOR types of backups:
1. Full backups - They backup EVERY file on the system (in theory). Disk Images, such as those created by Ghost, can be considered Full backups.
2. Differential Backups - They backup everything that has changed since the last Full backup. Expect that each night a differential is run and there hasn't been a full, the differential will grow larger and larger.
3. Incremental - Backups up Everything that's changed since the LAST backup. These backups are often fairly small and consistant in size (assuming your work habbits don't change much).
Fulls can take a LONG time to backup and aren't typically recommended or done on a daily basis. Usually, fulls are done on a weekly, every-other-week, or monthly basis. (NOTE: depending on your business/purpose, they may occur more or less frequently).
Differential backups, as noted, grow in size. So eventually, they can get quite large. This is why Fulls are often scheduled so as to prevent differentials from growing too large. A monday-friday Differential followed by a weekend full is a common practice. If the worst happened and you needed to restore things on Friday morning, you would need the last full backup and the last differential backup to restore all your data - effectively two restores.
Incrementals, while they use less backup space every night, would require EVERY backup job be restored since and including the last full backup. So if Friday morning, you needed to restore your systems, you would need to restore the fUll from the weekend, then Monday's incremental, Tuesday's incremental, Wednesday's incremental, and Thursday's incremental. Not terribly efficient for the restores. In my experience, Incremental backups are not done very often, in part for this reason.
What software to use? I'm not familiar with Linux, Unix, or Mac backup solutions, so this advice is largely windows-centric. NTBackup, included with XP Pro, 2000, and 2003 is a suitable if not terribly fancy program. It lacks some features you might otherwise like to have, but it will backup everything you NEED backed up for no additional cost. If you have a large server environment, you'll most likely want to purchase third party software such as Veritas/Symantec Backup Exec or Brightstor ArcServe and their various agents for things like Exchange, SQL, and other OS platforms.
When people talk of backups, MOST people think of tape. I'll get into my logic for not using tape MOST of the time a little later, but first, some important notes about tape:
Given costs of drives, media and various other issues with tape I discuss later, getting a tape drive with a native capacity of less than 300 GB just isn't a wise idea, in my opinion. This will limit you to getting SDLT or LTO tape technologies. LTO3 can hold 400 GB Native and the newest SDLT technology can handle 300 GB per tape. ***EXCEPTION*** - If you need to keep your backups for lengthy periods of time, for example to comply with HIPAA or Sarb-Ox, then you can get a smaller tape drive for backup purposes.
Hardware or Software Compression? Hardware is faster. Most backup software will DISABLE software compression if hardware compression is available.
Do NOT base your capacity and tape requirements on the advertised compressed capacity of a tape. Most people will find the supposed 800 GB LTO3 tape only holds 550-650 GB compressed. Your milage WILL vary based on the type of date being backed up, but I've backed up a wide variety of data over the years and NEVER seen a tape come CLOSE to a 2:1 compression ratio as advertised.
In my opinion MOST businesses will find daily differential backups appropriate and weekly or twice monthly full backups.
When considering backup solutions you need to consider a variety of factors:
1. How long must you save the backups? (Some companies may be legally required to keep them for years while others may have no need to keep data that is more than 30 days old).
2. How frequently does the data change AND how much data changes?
3. How long can you wait to restore the data? (Data on tape can take longer to restore than data on a hard disk. In addition, if anything goes wrong with the tape drive, you may not be able to access that backup. If it's on a hard disk, you can put the drive physically in just about any system and get access to the data. Data on hard drives is RARELY permanently lost to the point a data recovery service couldn't recover it (and I've never had to go that far).
4. How much money/revenue/income would your company potentially lose if you lost an hours worth of data? A days worth? A week? A month? Figure it out and be prepared to spend AT LEAST a day's worth of income on a backup solution. And consider it insurance, because without the backup, if you go down, you'll lose at least that much.
5. How much you can budget for NOW to implement the backup solution. (This should be factored in with 4).
6. What you are backing up. (Databases will compress and require less backup space than video files, pictures, or mp3s would. Exchange and databases, such as SQL Server or Oracle databases, might also require special consideration as normal backups usually won't work for them).
7. Reliability of media. (Tape can wear down and tape heads can wear down over time. A new tape used on an old tape head MIGHT not restore on a new tape head if you replace the tape drive because it fails or gets outdated).
8. Cost per GB of stored data.
The REV Drive option: Do the math. Take the cost of a REV drive itself (the unit that reads the disks), then add in the cost of enough REV Disks to support your backup needs. Now compare that to the cost for a hard disk - external - or an external hard disk adapter, such as a DriveDock from www.wiebetech.com. In almost EVERY instance the REV drive and disks will cost more per GB stored. And, if something ever happens to the REV drive itself, you can't just put the disks in another system - you have to have another REV drive. Using external hard drives does not pose such a problem - you can just open up the external drive casing and plug them into ANY computer, internally, thus providing relatively quick access to the disk and to recover your data.
If you need to store each and every backup (or each and every full backup) long term, then you should consider using tape. Long term, it's cheaper than any other method. And even if there are problems with tape heads and reading the media, OFTEN BUT NOT ALWAYS, some expensive data recovery services can get you access to the data. This should rarely happen though. If not, if you can overwrite data 6 months old and older, than, provided you are not using LARGE (Terabytes or closing in on terabytes) of data, then I tend to recommend using a hard disk solution. These, in my experience, tend to be more reliable, faster, and cheaper in cost per GB.
If your data isn't changing much and you only have a few megs per day, you may want to consider using a third party service to backup your data offsite. They would effectively upload the data to their site and scheduled times, instead of using tape or media. You could possibly get cheaper service and use a 3rd party web host with large amounts of storage if you are prepared to do a little extra legwork yourself in maintaining things - removing old files, scripting the upload, etc).
What you are backing up will make a different in your overall required costs. If it's JUST files, then you don't need any special software. If it's Exchange then you would be better off buying backup software that can do a "brick level backup" (This ability is often part of a seperately purchased agent that works with commercial backup software) which would allow you to restore individual email messages. The built in backup tool with 2000/2003 will backup exchange and restore it, but's an all-or-nothing thing. But with e-mail as important as it is with so many businesses, a brick level backup often makes a lot of sense and can save a lot of dollars. Then there's the Windows system states - A normal FULL, DIFFERENTIAL, or INCREMENTAL backup will NOT properly backup Windows OR the Windows active directory. To do this, you MUST do a system state backup. The built in backup tool will do this for you and save it to a file. I STRONGLY recommend doing system state backups of ALL domain controllers and Exchange Servers whenever making changes to the domain. Not doing so is an unnecessary and risky gamble. High end backup software, such as Veritas Backup Exec or Brightstor ArcServe will do system state backups as well. Then there's your database servers. If your company runs a SQL class database, you need to consider the expensive backup tools like Veritas or Brightstor. They have available (at extra charge) agents that will backup the databases without shutting them down. This can be critical if your database needs to be running 24x7x365.
Lastly, cost per GB. Though old tape's cost per GB for backing up LARGE amounts of data (TB in size) still can't be beat. LARGE tapes cost between 30% and 50% less than a hard drive of equal size. But the tape drives often costs many hundreds or even thousands of dollars. So, for example, if you are backing up 10 GB of data every night and want a way of doing this automatically, then I would suggest two or three external hard drives that would be swapped out once per week. This would cost you perhaps $300 and potentially last you 2-4 years. Whereas tape, even though the tapes might be $50 each, the drive will likely cost $400 or more - depending on type of drive. So you end up spending $500-$800 over 2-4 years, at least, and you're using a technology where, if your tape drive dies you have absolutely no access to your backups. On the other hand, you can always attach a hard drive to any computer and read the backups.
In short:
CD/DVD option: If your data doesn't grow that much, you can use a CD/DVD recorder to backup your differential data. The backups are fairly fast, the media is compact and cheap, and the data can be accesssed - usually - by any system with a DVD drive. The problem is, most people can't get a complete backup on a DVD and getting them to work in an automated fashion CAN be difficult.
External hard drive option: Costs are relatively inexpensive and depending on the hardware you buy, cost can be as little as 33 cents per GB - or less. For fast, reliable, easily performed, and easily recovered backups, I believe this is the best solution. You will, of course, need at least two drives so you can cycle one off site. Only drawbacks are that if you need to store data for long periods or have large amounts of data to backup (over 400GB), it can be more expensive than tape.
Tape option: Unless you are backing up terabytes of data and/or need to keep each backup for a lengthy period of time, tape can be more expensive and less reliable than an external hard drive. for LARGE backups and storing backups for long times, it is still the most cost effective solution
Internet backup option: I don't necessary recommend this company, but here's one option - http://www.remotedatabackups.com/. The idea is great - you get an off-site, quickly recoverable backup of your important data. This is an important factor that can make the cost per GB (compared to other backup methods) less important. You will typically want to have a reasonably fast internet connection and keep in mind that LARGE amounts of data (GB's worth) CAN take hours to restore and initially backup. Once backed up, you can typically backup changes fairly quickly. For a "poor man's" method of doing this, you can always script an FTP connection to a remote ISP and upload important files, such as accounting files, via the script nightly - you just need to periodically delete old backups or most likely run out of space.
Aside from backing up your critical data, don't forget to configure your SQL databases for backups, Microsoft Exchange (if used), and when backing up Windows 2000 or 2003 servers or 2000/XP workstations, MAKE SURE you backup the System State, which contains Active Directory information on domain controllers, your registry, and essential files that your computer uses to know it's vital information.
Oh yes, one more VERY important detail. TEST YOUR BACKUP PLAN. Pick a weekend and fake a problem. For example, turn off your server and consider it dead. Rebuild the server on another system and do a restore to see that everything works. What good are your backups if, when the time comes and you need them, you can't get them to work?
[Version 1.5, Last Modified March 16, 2006]
How long must you save the backups? How frequently are you backing up? How much data changes and how frequently?
Here's my standard backup comment:
First, there are three MAJOR types of backups:
1. Full backups - They backup EVERY file on the system (in theory). Disk Images, such as those created by Ghost, can be considered Full backups.
2. Differential Backups - They backup everything that has changed since the last Full backup. Expect that each night a differential is run and there hasn't been a full, the differential will grow larger and larger.
3. Incremental - Backups up Everything that's changed since the LAST backup. These backups are often fairly small and consistant in size (assuming your work habbits don't change much).
Fulls can take a LONG time to backup and aren't typically recommended or done on a daily basis. Usually, fulls are done on a weekly, every-other-week, or monthly basis. (NOTE: depending on your business/purpose, they may occur more or less frequently).
Differential backups, as noted, grow in size. So eventually, they can get quite large. This is why Fulls are often scheduled so as to prevent differentials from growing too large. A monday-friday Differential followed by a weekend full is a common practice. If the worst happened and you needed to restore things on Friday morning, you would need the last full backup and the last differential backup to restore all your data - effectively two restores.
Incrementals, while they use less backup space every night, would require EVERY backup job be restored since and including the last full backup. So if Friday morning, you needed to restore your systems, you would need to restore the fUll from the weekend, then Monday's incremental, Tuesday's incremental, Wednesday's incremental, and Thursday's incremental. Not terribly efficient for the restores. In my experience, Incremental backups are not done very often, in part for this reason.
What software to use? I'm not familiar with Linux, Unix, or Mac backup solutions, so this advice is largely windows-centric. NTBackup, included with XP Pro, 2000, and 2003 is a suitable if not terribly fancy program. It lacks some features you might otherwise like to have, but it will backup everything you NEED backed up for no additional cost. If you have a large server environment, you'll most likely want to purchase third party software such as Veritas/Symantec Backup Exec or Brightstor ArcServe and their various agents for things like Exchange, SQL, and other OS platforms.
When people talk of backups, MOST people think of tape. I'll get into my logic for not using tape MOST of the time a little later, but first, some important notes about tape:
Given costs of drives, media and various other issues with tape I discuss later, getting a tape drive with a native capacity of less than 300 GB just isn't a wise idea, in my opinion. This will limit you to getting SDLT or LTO tape technologies. LTO3 can hold 400 GB Native and the newest SDLT technology can handle 300 GB per tape. ***EXCEPTION*** - If you need to keep your backups for lengthy periods of time, for example to comply with HIPAA or Sarb-Ox, then you can get a smaller tape drive for backup purposes.
Hardware or Software Compression? Hardware is faster. Most backup software will DISABLE software compression if hardware compression is available.
Do NOT base your capacity and tape requirements on the advertised compressed capacity of a tape. Most people will find the supposed 800 GB LTO3 tape only holds 550-650 GB compressed. Your milage WILL vary based on the type of date being backed up, but I've backed up a wide variety of data over the years and NEVER seen a tape come CLOSE to a 2:1 compression ratio as advertised.
In my opinion MOST businesses will find daily differential backups appropriate and weekly or twice monthly full backups.
When considering backup solutions you need to consider a variety of factors:
1. How long must you save the backups? (Some companies may be legally required to keep them for years while others may have no need to keep data that is more than 30 days old).
2. How frequently does the data change AND how much data changes?
3. How long can you wait to restore the data? (Data on tape can take longer to restore than data on a hard disk. In addition, if anything goes wrong with the tape drive, you may not be able to access that backup. If it's on a hard disk, you can put the drive physically in just about any system and get access to the data. Data on hard drives is RARELY permanently lost to the point a data recovery service couldn't recover it (and I've never had to go that far).
4. How much money/revenue/income would your company potentially lose if you lost an hours worth of data? A days worth? A week? A month? Figure it out and be prepared to spend AT LEAST a day's worth of income on a backup solution. And consider it insurance, because without the backup, if you go down, you'll lose at least that much.
5. How much you can budget for NOW to implement the backup solution. (This should be factored in with 4).
6. What you are backing up. (Databases will compress and require less backup space than video files, pictures, or mp3s would. Exchange and databases, such as SQL Server or Oracle databases, might also require special consideration as normal backups usually won't work for them).
7. Reliability of media. (Tape can wear down and tape heads can wear down over time. A new tape used on an old tape head MIGHT not restore on a new tape head if you replace the tape drive because it fails or gets outdated).
8. Cost per GB of stored data.
The REV Drive option: Do the math. Take the cost of a REV drive itself (the unit that reads the disks), then add in the cost of enough REV Disks to support your backup needs. Now compare that to the cost for a hard disk - external - or an external hard disk adapter, such as a DriveDock from www.wiebetech.com. In almost EVERY instance the REV drive and disks will cost more per GB stored. And, if something ever happens to the REV drive itself, you can't just put the disks in another system - you have to have another REV drive. Using external hard drives does not pose such a problem - you can just open up the external drive casing and plug them into ANY computer, internally, thus providing relatively quick access to the disk and to recover your data.
If you need to store each and every backup (or each and every full backup) long term, then you should consider using tape. Long term, it's cheaper than any other method. And even if there are problems with tape heads and reading the media, OFTEN BUT NOT ALWAYS, some expensive data recovery services can get you access to the data. This should rarely happen though. If not, if you can overwrite data 6 months old and older, than, provided you are not using LARGE (Terabytes or closing in on terabytes) of data, then I tend to recommend using a hard disk solution. These, in my experience, tend to be more reliable, faster, and cheaper in cost per GB.
If your data isn't changing much and you only have a few megs per day, you may want to consider using a third party service to backup your data offsite. They would effectively upload the data to their site and scheduled times, instead of using tape or media. You could possibly get cheaper service and use a 3rd party web host with large amounts of storage if you are prepared to do a little extra legwork yourself in maintaining things - removing old files, scripting the upload, etc).
What you are backing up will make a different in your overall required costs. If it's JUST files, then you don't need any special software. If it's Exchange then you would be better off buying backup software that can do a "brick level backup" (This ability is often part of a seperately purchased agent that works with commercial backup software) which would allow you to restore individual email messages. The built in backup tool with 2000/2003 will backup exchange and restore it, but's an all-or-nothing thing. But with e-mail as important as it is with so many businesses, a brick level backup often makes a lot of sense and can save a lot of dollars. Then there's the Windows system states - A normal FULL, DIFFERENTIAL, or INCREMENTAL backup will NOT properly backup Windows OR the Windows active directory. To do this, you MUST do a system state backup. The built in backup tool will do this for you and save it to a file. I STRONGLY recommend doing system state backups of ALL domain controllers and Exchange Servers whenever making changes to the domain. Not doing so is an unnecessary and risky gamble. High end backup software, such as Veritas Backup Exec or Brightstor ArcServe will do system state backups as well. Then there's your database servers. If your company runs a SQL class database, you need to consider the expensive backup tools like Veritas or Brightstor. They have available (at extra charge) agents that will backup the databases without shutting them down. This can be critical if your database needs to be running 24x7x365.
Lastly, cost per GB. Though old tape's cost per GB for backing up LARGE amounts of data (TB in size) still can't be beat. LARGE tapes cost between 30% and 50% less than a hard drive of equal size. But the tape drives often costs many hundreds or even thousands of dollars. So, for example, if you are backing up 10 GB of data every night and want a way of doing this automatically, then I would suggest two or three external hard drives that would be swapped out once per week. This would cost you perhaps $300 and potentially last you 2-4 years. Whereas tape, even though the tapes might be $50 each, the drive will likely cost $400 or more - depending on type of drive. So you end up spending $500-$800 over 2-4 years, at least, and you're using a technology where, if your tape drive dies you have absolutely no access to your backups. On the other hand, you can always attach a hard drive to any computer and read the backups.
In short:
CD/DVD option: If your data doesn't grow that much, you can use a CD/DVD recorder to backup your differential data. The backups are fairly fast, the media is compact and cheap, and the data can be accesssed - usually - by any system with a DVD drive. The problem is, most people can't get a complete backup on a DVD and getting them to work in an automated fashion CAN be difficult.
External hard drive option: Costs are relatively inexpensive and depending on the hardware you buy, cost can be as little as 33 cents per GB - or less. For fast, reliable, easily performed, and easily recovered backups, I believe this is the best solution. You will, of course, need at least two drives so you can cycle one off site. Only drawbacks are that if you need to store data for long periods or have large amounts of data to backup (over 400GB), it can be more expensive than tape.
Tape option: Unless you are backing up terabytes of data and/or need to keep each backup for a lengthy period of time, tape can be more expensive and less reliable than an external hard drive. for LARGE backups and storing backups for long times, it is still the most cost effective solution
Internet backup option: I don't necessary recommend this company, but here's one option - http://www.remotedatabackups.com/. The idea is great - you get an off-site, quickly recoverable backup of your important data. This is an important factor that can make the cost per GB (compared to other backup methods) less important. You will typically want to have a reasonably fast internet connection and keep in mind that LARGE amounts of data (GB's worth) CAN take hours to restore and initially backup. Once backed up, you can typically backup changes fairly quickly. For a "poor man's" method of doing this, you can always script an FTP connection to a remote ISP and upload important files, such as accounting files, via the script nightly - you just need to periodically delete old backups or most likely run out of space.
Aside from backing up your critical data, don't forget to configure your SQL databases for backups, Microsoft Exchange (if used), and when backing up Windows 2000 or 2003 servers or 2000/XP workstations, MAKE SURE you backup the System State, which contains Active Directory information on domain controllers, your registry, and essential files that your computer uses to know it's vital information.
Oh yes, one more VERY important detail. TEST YOUR BACKUP PLAN. Pick a weekend and fake a problem. For example, turn off your server and consider it dead. Rebuild the server on another system and do a restore to see that everything works. What good are your backups if, when the time comes and you need them, you can't get them to work?
[Version 1.5, Last Modified March 16, 2006]
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This is a test system only, so it's not supporting a business. I simply need something that can hold up to 60 GB that runs on USB 2.0. It'll only be used to store everything on the data drive such as Exchange mailboxes and WSUS updates when I reinstall the OS, which I'm currently doing a lot; everytime I do it I learn something new. :)
In actual fact, it could be a lot less than 60 GB. I just need something that's reliable and fairly quiet (due to the location of the server in the house).
In actual fact, it could be a lot less than 60 GB. I just need something that's reliable and fairly quiet (due to the location of the server in the house).
Based on your request, I offer the following solution:
First, go get an external hard drive enclosure. This one connects via USB, but *also* connects via firewire- could be very handy/useful/flexible for other needs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817201012
Second, go find a nice hard drive. The price differential between 80G and lots more is miniscule-- this way you can have a few copies (separated into dated folders).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144118
The external enclosure I show above is all aluminum- and quiet. Drive is also quiet, and relatively cool. And only costs about $20 more than an 80G version. Shop around (I like newegg...) - they have tons of drives to offer. Pick the one you want based on your needs, and the product reviews.
The total cost for the above- about $100. Wooof.
First, go get an external hard drive enclosure. This one connects via USB, but *also* connects via firewire- could be very handy/useful/flexible for other needs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817201012
Second, go find a nice hard drive. The price differential between 80G and lots more is miniscule-- this way you can have a few copies (separated into dated folders).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144118
The external enclosure I show above is all aluminum- and quiet. Drive is also quiet, and relatively cool. And only costs about $20 more than an 80G version. Shop around (I like newegg...) - they have tons of drives to offer. Pick the one you want based on your needs, and the product reviews.
The total cost for the above- about $100. Wooof.
As in the first answer, get a USB or firewire adapter (or both) and just attach a HD to that. One of the best and most flexible product is a drive dock from the following link:
http://www.wiebetech.com/home.php
http://www.wiebetech.com/home.php
Maybe you should go for a easy and flexible bare-metal backup solution?
Works well in a single server backups and has a really fast recovery times with bootable CD or DVD disk
Example: Live State Recovery from Symantec (Former V2i Imaging from Powerquest)
Works well in a single server backups and has a really fast recovery times with bootable CD or DVD disk
Example: Live State Recovery from Symantec (Former V2i Imaging from Powerquest)
Copying everyone else, go with a USB harddrive solution. I would go for a all in one solution from Lacie or Western Digital. Cheap, plug and go, includes backup software with one button backup options. None of this build your own hard disk !
LACIE external harddrives are good value and one button backups, as do lots of others. (eg, Lacie 80GB = £60, Western Digital 80GB = £70)
Firewire is much faster than USB2 but be sure you have a firewire card already otherwise that is something else to buy.
Alternatively, if you have space, can you insert a new disk into the server, seperate LUN/volume and just use it for backup?
Hope this helps
Barny
LACIE external harddrives are good value and one button backups, as do lots of others. (eg, Lacie 80GB = £60, Western Digital 80GB = £70)
Firewire is much faster than USB2 but be sure you have a firewire card already otherwise that is something else to buy.
Alternatively, if you have space, can you insert a new disk into the server, seperate LUN/volume and just use it for backup?
Hope this helps
Barny