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I need a cheap backup solution.

Currently were are a small company.

We have 1 server that is on Windows 2003 in a domain enviorment,.... it is also our PDC.

This server has an internal tape drive that backs up to 20GB Travan Tapes.

WE back up each night and we use 5 tapes a week. We use the same tapes the following week, allowing the drive and sofware to erase what is on the tape then back up again.

Currently we backup about 11 gigs of data per tape per night.

I think we have been using these tapes for over a year.... I dont like them they ware out etc.... we are looking at replacing the tapes and system.

Ideas as to what is out there? links etc? What would you use for our situation?

Andre_Tertling

It all depends on your budget. You may as well just take an external hard disk, plug it into the server and have the backup software write the backup to that external drive. Apart from the fact that it is a bad idea to backup on a medium with the same failure characteristics as the original medium, that's an affordable solution. By the way, you may need to revise your backup generations management. For example: Create a full backup on monday, then create incremental backups for the rest of the week. At the end of the week, archive the hard disk and use a new one for the next week. This way, you can keep longer time spans with a limited amount of money.

Creating incremental backups can reduce the wear-off for your tapes as well ;)

Please give some more details, so that I can suggest more detailed solutions.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Rob Williams

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OAC Technology

I've had bad luck with Travan Tapes going out. I switched to DLT IV and never had a problem since.

Rob Williams

I must say Travan drives and tapes are not my favorite either. If you switch to a DLT or even DAT drive, the tapes are more dependable and much cheaper, but if looking for inexpensive, tape drives are not.

mrchaos101

ASKER

Can you prvide a link ot the DATA drive you use? I would like to read up on it some?

Rob Williams

This is a link to the DAT drives. Prices are Canadian but site seemed to have reasonable technical information.
http://www.insight.ca/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=QU2LWHSB

Rob Williams

Thanks mrchaos101,
--Rob

milkboy33

Nay on Travan. Yay on DLT/DAT.