My 4 year old Dell Precision Workstation and 80 gb hard disk are chugging along just fine, but right now I'm just doing incremental back-ups to CDs, and that's not enough. I run a small business and major downtime from a hard disk crash would hurt plenty. If the HD crashes, I want to be up and running again within a few hours. I also like the idea of having a complete copy of the data out of town, in case something like Hurricane Katrina strikes.
I'm mulling over different options, and would like feedback on them:
1. Get a new computer.
The Dell does everything I need it to do. My only fear is that it will suddenly go out of service. If the hard disk is the weak link, then I could just replace it. But if other components on four year old computers regularly start to act up, then it's time to start thinking about a new machine.
If I get a new computer, of course, I have to budget time to re-install all the software, plus figure out what box I'll get.
2. A second hard drive, either USB 2.0 or (if necessary) SATA, plus Ghost or another software solution.
It would be easier for me to install a USB 2.0 drive, as I have a couple of free USB ports. However, I *could* buy a SATA card, if SATA is that much more desirable.
If I get a back-up drive, I'd want a hassle free restore process. Best of all would be to simply reboot from the back-up drive; I think only SATA would give me that capability. It also would be acceptable to open up the case, replace the dead HD with the back-up drive, and reboot.
I haven't used Ghost, though, and don't know if Ghost makes things that easy. I also could install the new HD, fire up Ghost or another software program and then wait as it restores the volume. (What I *don't* want is to have to install the HD, install the OS, install various drivers and then only restore selectively -- I could do that with my current set-up.)
I know that other products are available, such as Maxtor One Touch. Maybe that's just what I need. I tend to be leery, though, as I've had years of bad experiences with back-up products. I've heard good things about Ghost, but maybe I haven't heard enough.
3. Tape Drive.
I now have a film scanner on a low-tech Adaptec 2930CU PCI SCSI controller. I could get a better SCSI controller to use with both the film scanner and with SCSI tape backup. I like tape because it would let me postal mail copies of my data out of the city, solving my Hurricane Katrina concerns. But maybe it's more than I need.
The main priority: to be able to get up and running again fast, with all or virtually all of my data, in case of a hard disk crash.
Thank you!
1. Have you ever thought about setting up a new computer using RAID technology? I realise that you may not have it now with your DELL, but if you configure it correctly, if one of the hard drives crash, you can just rely on the second hard drive until you replace it. The downside is that you lose storage space, but it gives a certain peace of mind.
2. What about online storage? There are vendors out there who offer online storage that you could use in an emergency. If you keep your most important data there and have a ghost image of your system (for all the programs), you may be up and running in any emergency.