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What are the implications of implementing Volume Shadow Copy?

I am considering implementing Volume Shadow Copy on my new server. What concerns (security, or disk space, etc.) should I be aware of? What requirements are there? I will be enabling it on a Small Business Server 2003 server. Thanks for any help that you can give. I do have a Raid 5 volume on this server with 5- 500 GB drives including the boot drive.

Lee W, MVP

The service takes deltas in files so that it doesn't actually backup the entire file. It backs up only the changed sections of it. Security wise, it should be as safe as having the file on the server... Disk can be a concern and there CAN be disk performance issues during the time the copies are made. If the disk is VERY busy, sometimes copies WON'T be made. In addition, I would strongly encourage purchasing another disk (separate spindles) to allow better performance and be sure to set the other disk as the place to store the copies. If you can't do that, you can still use them, but the performance considerations will be more pressing.

Just remember, Shadow Copies and RAID are NOT a substitute for backup - they are GREAT at helping to reduce down time and lost data due to negligence, but they can't save you from corruption, fire, or other hardware problems.

jmattson30

ASKER

Thanks Leew,

I appreciate the information. If I do implement the Volume Shadow copy service and there is a performance decrease, is it easy to reverse or disable VSC?

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Lee W, MVP

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jmattson30

ASKER

Great! I will give this a shot and see what happens. Thanks for the help!