facher
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external hard drive back up dvd burner question...
I'm running a small (5 desktops a network printer and 1 server) Win2k network. I want to create a backup solution as the server is a few years old and only has 20 GB total and it is partioned into a C & D drive (D: has all of the files that we are storing on the network). There is a tape backup drive but it came with the basic software that Dell gave us and we (even using Dell tech) were never able to get it working consistently....Due to a recent almost lost my data nightmare...I am now going to fix this situation. I'm thinking of getting an external hard drive and setting it up to back up the Server and then getting an external DVD RW to burn the data to DVD's (backup the system to external once a week & then once a month back up external to DVDs). My main questions are...
1. Does this potential setup with external hard drive backup and then backing up the backup to DVD make sense?
2. Will I be able to see the external hard drive from my desktop (even though it will be connected to the server)? The reason I ask is because I want to be able to back up files from my desktop onto the external hard drive (things like outlook files every so often or bookmarks or any other files that are on my desktop but not on the server)...
3. If I attach the external hard drive to the server, would it be best to attach the DVD RW to the server or should I attach it to my desktop and burn the DVDs from there?
The bottom line is that I'm trying to come up with solution that will not only let me back up (i.e. external hard drive that connects to my network) but also one that I can create some sort of physical backups that I can bring off site for safe storage...Any advice would be greatly appreciated...Thanks so much!!!
1. Does this potential setup with external hard drive backup and then backing up the backup to DVD make sense?
2. Will I be able to see the external hard drive from my desktop (even though it will be connected to the server)? The reason I ask is because I want to be able to back up files from my desktop onto the external hard drive (things like outlook files every so often or bookmarks or any other files that are on my desktop but not on the server)...
3. If I attach the external hard drive to the server, would it be best to attach the DVD RW to the server or should I attach it to my desktop and burn the DVDs from there?
The bottom line is that I'm trying to come up with solution that will not only let me back up (i.e. external hard drive that connects to my network) but also one that I can create some sort of physical backups that I can bring off site for safe storage...Any advice would be greatly appreciated...Thanks so much!!!
Hi facher,
1. Makes sense, but I would backup all data to the external drive once a day, and then to DVD once a week (or however frequently you want)
2. Yes, you will be able to see it, the same as other hard drives on the server - \\servername\e$ (assuming the new external drive becomes the E:)
3. I would say best to put the DVD-R on the server, simply because you dont want to burn data from over the network. I will clarify that. The DVD-R drive should be on the same machine as the External HDD - if that means you install the DVD on your desktop and move the USB HDD to burn the data - fine.
I don't like the idea of burning from the server, because it is resource intensive, and will take a while - if you can do this out of hours, great - if not, then look at the other option of moving the USB HDD for the backup.
So far, sounds like you have some good ideas there. I think what I would do in your shoes would be; put the DVDR and USB HDD on your desktop - use robocopy to backup all the files over the network to the USB drive (it will only take a long time the first time) - then set your machine to burn a DVD once a week with the contents of the USB drive.
Hope that helps,
-red
1. Makes sense, but I would backup all data to the external drive once a day, and then to DVD once a week (or however frequently you want)
2. Yes, you will be able to see it, the same as other hard drives on the server - \\servername\e$ (assuming the new external drive becomes the E:)
3. I would say best to put the DVD-R on the server, simply because you dont want to burn data from over the network. I will clarify that. The DVD-R drive should be on the same machine as the External HDD - if that means you install the DVD on your desktop and move the USB HDD to burn the data - fine.
I don't like the idea of burning from the server, because it is resource intensive, and will take a while - if you can do this out of hours, great - if not, then look at the other option of moving the USB HDD for the backup.
So far, sounds like you have some good ideas there. I think what I would do in your shoes would be; put the DVDR and USB HDD on your desktop - use robocopy to backup all the files over the network to the USB drive (it will only take a long time the first time) - then set your machine to burn a DVD once a week with the contents of the USB drive.
Hope that helps,
-red
ASKER
red & leew,
thanks for the info. i think i will use leew's info to get a better idea of what is going on and then use a system similar to what red suggested...therefore i will split the points once this is complete...
1. What is robocopy?
2. Is USB or FireWire better? I know they probably both have their advantages/limitations, but which one is going to be quicker in my type of setup?
3. How does one set a machine to backup the network daily (I think this is what robocopy does...but can how can I set it up to backup files over the network daily?). Also, you said it takes a long time the first time...is this because each subsequent time it is only backing up files that have been altered, created, deleted?
4. If it is true that the daily backups only update the newly edited files, is there a way to make it so I only burn the updated files on my weekly DVD backup...This way, I don't have to back up the entire external drive weekly (as it could end up taking multiple DVDs even though I may only be altering a gigabyte worth of data on a weekly basis). I hope that question is not ass backward and you can understand what I'm getting at...
5. Is there a specific type/brand of external hard drive or DVD RW that I should be looking for? Anything to avoid?
Thanks...
Pat
thanks for the info. i think i will use leew's info to get a better idea of what is going on and then use a system similar to what red suggested...therefore i will split the points once this is complete...
1. What is robocopy?
2. Is USB or FireWire better? I know they probably both have their advantages/limitations, but which one is going to be quicker in my type of setup?
3. How does one set a machine to backup the network daily (I think this is what robocopy does...but can how can I set it up to backup files over the network daily?). Also, you said it takes a long time the first time...is this because each subsequent time it is only backing up files that have been altered, created, deleted?
4. If it is true that the daily backups only update the newly edited files, is there a way to make it so I only burn the updated files on my weekly DVD backup...This way, I don't have to back up the entire external drive weekly (as it could end up taking multiple DVDs even though I may only be altering a gigabyte worth of data on a weekly basis). I hope that question is not ass backward and you can understand what I'm getting at...
5. Is there a specific type/brand of external hard drive or DVD RW that I should be looking for? Anything to avoid?
Thanks...
Pat
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>All that said, you really are better off, in MOST circumstances using a TRUE backup utility... The built-in NTBACKUP utility is sufficient for this
I could not agree with you more.
I could not agree with you more.
I've often seen problems with external drives like USB drives etc suddenly stopping to work, so I'd not use an external HD but rather add another internal one to your system, backup to that and then from there make archives to a DVD drive. If an external HD is disconnected improperly this can kill the disk and the data on it, this is a lot less likely to happen to a builtin disk.
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http://www.lwcomputing.com/tips/static/backup.asp