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Home > Archive > alt.certification.mcse > August 2003 > Help w/ W2K Backup Types
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Help w/ W2K Backup Types
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| I'm struggling with the most efficient backup type to use for my W2K server
that contains critical files and folders such as my web site and 5 years of
digital JPG images.
I simply have one Travan tape drive with one 20gb tape always inserted. The
data back up is about 2gb in size. The web site files change infrequently
and the existing JPG's never change. However, I do *add* several JPG files
to the folders being backed up on a regular basis (daily/weekly).
I don't care how long it takes to perform a backup because the process will
be unattended, but I do want to be able to perform quick restores if needed.
My thoughts are to perform a normal backup monthly, and incremental or
differential backups daily. Remember, I'll be storing every backup on just
one tape.
My confusion is if this plan is the most efficient, and will it provide me
with a reliable backup that can be restored quickly? I keep reading these
articles that say that I will need to restore the original and *every*
incremental/differential to properly perform an incremental/differential
restoration. Does that would mean that in a year from now, I would then need
to restore 365 backups to obtain a file backup up tonight?
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| pheonix1t 2003-08-09, 5:24 pm |
| Billy wrote:
> I'm struggling with the most efficient backup type to use for my W2K server
> that contains critical files and folders such as my web site and 5 years of
> digital JPG images.
>
> I simply have one Travan tape drive with one 20gb tape always inserted. The
> data back up is about 2gb in size. The web site files change infrequently
> and the existing JPG's never change. However, I do *add* several JPG files
> to the folders being backed up on a regular basis (daily/weekly).
>
> I don't care how long it takes to perform a backup because the process will
> be unattended, but I do want to be able to perform quick restores if needed.
> My thoughts are to perform a normal backup monthly, and incremental or
> differential backups daily. Remember, I'll be storing every backup on just
> one tape.
>
> My confusion is if this plan is the most efficient, and will it provide me
> with a reliable backup that can be restored quickly? I keep reading these
> articles that say that I will need to restore the original and *every*
> incremental/differential to properly perform an incremental/differential
> restoration. Does that would mean that in a year from now, I would then need
> to restore 365 backups to obtain a file backup up tonight?
basically...how long does your backup take? If the time to restore
isn't that long (not too much data), just do full backups.
For small sites, full backups don't take too long and they are your best
bet for backup/recovery without too much tweaking.
For large sites with very large backup sizes (100's of GB or TB's!!),
that's where incremental/diff. backups help to cut down on time. They
can't be making full backups all the time because they take too long.
>
>
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| Googol_Plex 2003-08-10, 4:26 am |
|
"Billy" <nospam@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:L7mcnTNXZehuyqiiXTWJjA@co
mcast.com...
<snip>
> I simply have one Travan tape drive with one 20gb tape always inserted.
> data back up is about 2gb in size. The web site files change infrequently
> and the existing JPG's never change. However, I do *add* several JPG files
> to the folders being backed up on a regular basis (daily/weekly).
2GB is not a large amount of data, and your Travan drive should not take a
long time to back it ALL up on a single tape, besides you are doing it in
unattended mode, so it isn't a problem for you to simply stick with full
back ups.
As for quick restore, how about ADDING to your tape back up strategy a daily
copy to a networked PC's local hard drive? Standard hard drives these days
are 40GB and bigger, so it is very easy to find networked PCs with loads of
free space available. I literally mean a plain & simple copy on to the PCs
hard drive which means all 2GB is instantly available for restore. Of
course, for this to work, your files must be freely accessible, and no
process should be locking access to them. It is something that you can test
very easily. If this works, it will be possible to do this by a scheduled,
unattended procedure. I also suggest this only because the amount to be
backed up is only 2GB.
If the "copy-to-hard-drive" idea works for you, please ensure that you
continue with normal, full back up to tape. This is to ensure that you
don't suffer data loss due to a power surge or spike that knocks out both
your W2K server and the networked desktop - it can happen!
| |
| John Kerr 2003-08-10, 5:26 pm |
| On Sat, 9 Aug 2003 16:24:35 -0400, "Billy" <nospam@comcast.net> wrote:
>I'm struggling with the most efficient backup type to use for my W2K server
>that contains critical files and folders such as my web site and 5 years of
>digital JPG images.
>
>I simply have one Travan tape drive with one 20gb tape always inserted. The
>data back up is about 2gb in size. The web site files change infrequently
>and the existing JPG's never change. However, I do *add* several JPG files
>to the folders being backed up on a regular basis (daily/weekly).
>
>I don't care how long it takes to perform a backup because the process will
>be unattended, but I do want to be able to perform quick restores if needed.
>My thoughts are to perform a normal backup monthly, and incremental or
>differential backups daily. Remember, I'll be storing every backup on just
>one tape.
>
>My confusion is if this plan is the most efficient, and will it provide me
>with a reliable backup that can be restored quickly? I keep reading these
>articles that say that I will need to restore the original and *every*
>incremental/differential to properly perform an incremental/differential
>restoration. Does that would mean that in a year from now, I would then need
>to restore 365 backups to obtain a file backup up tonight?
>
2GB of porn...or data as you call it is nothing - just do a normal
backup each day.
When you say " Remember, I'll be storing every backup on just
one tape" you're not saying that you actually only have 1 tape are
you? - because if you are, it's time to buy more tapes.
| |
| Billy 2003-08-11, 12:25 pm |
|
"John Kerr" <Johnkerr@notmail.com> wrote in message
news:qeadjvcecg51fi897apfa95ka
9msgat23u@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 9 Aug 2003 16:24:35 -0400, "Billy" <nospam@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> >I'm struggling with the most efficient backup type to use for my W2K
server
> >that contains critical files and folders such as my web site and 5 years
of
> >digital JPG images.
> >
> >I simply have one Travan tape drive with one 20gb tape always inserted.
The
> >data back up is about 2gb in size. The web site files change infrequently
> >and the existing JPG's never change. However, I do *add* several JPG
files
> >to the folders being backed up on a regular basis (daily/weekly).
> >
> >I don't care how long it takes to perform a backup because the process
will
> >be unattended, but I do want to be able to perform quick restores if
needed.
> >My thoughts are to perform a normal backup monthly, and incremental or
> >differential backups daily. Remember, I'll be storing every backup on
just
> >one tape.
> >
> >My confusion is if this plan is the most efficient, and will it provide
me
> >with a reliable backup that can be restored quickly? I keep reading these
> >articles that say that I will need to restore the original and *every*
> >incremental/differential to properly perform an incremental/differential
> >restoration. Does that would mean that in a year from now, I would then
need
> >to restore 365 backups to obtain a file backup up tonight?
> >
>
> 2GB of porn...or data as you call it is nothing - just do a normal
> backup each day.
>
> When you say " Remember, I'll be storing every backup on just
> one tape" you're not saying that you actually only have 1 tape are
> you? - because if you are, it's time to buy more tapes.
>
I am saying only 1 tape. If I were to have multiple tapes and simply do a
normal backup every morning, how many tapes would you recommend? I'm using a
Travan NS 10gb/20gb tape, and these cost $37 each, so I can't afford to buy
many. However, the JPG memories are priceless, so whatever it takes to make
efficient safe backups is what I will spend. What is your backup schedule
and tape recommendation?
| |
|
| Tapes are semi-reliable, but remember that since they are "moving parts"
they are subject to breaking and there goes your data (not to mention the
fact that using the magnetic tape itself over and over degrades the quality
of the tape itself). I have an Exabyte Travan drive myself, and have
experienced it firsthand.
I'd suggest grabbing a small harddrive, automate the backup to that drive,
then offload to a cd/dvd on a regular basis. Much more reliable, and pretty
cheap process (not to mention much faster than backing up/restoring to
tape). Dvd burners are down to roughly $130-150 now...and you can use a
dvdrw to write and rewrite if you feel like it (althought I'd recommend
swapping dvdrws every now and then for safety's sake).
Jobey
"Billy" <nospam@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:PR6dndhx2v8TJaqiXTWJkw@co
mcast.com...
>
> "John Kerr" <Johnkerr@notmail.com> wrote in message
> news:qeadjvcecg51fi897apfa95ka
9msgat23u@4ax.com...
> > On Sat, 9 Aug 2003 16:24:35 -0400, "Billy" <nospam@comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> > >I'm struggling with the most efficient backup type to use for my W2K
> server
> > >that contains critical files and folders such as my web site and 5
years
> of
> > >digital JPG images.
> > >
> > >I simply have one Travan tape drive with one 20gb tape always inserted.
> The
> > >data back up is about 2gb in size. The web site files change
infrequently[color
=green]
> > >and the existing JPG's never change. However, I do *add* several JPG
> files
> > >to the folders being backed up on a regular basis (daily/weekly).
> > >
> > >I don't care how long it takes to perform a backup because the process
> will
> > >be unattended, but I do want to be able to perform quick restores if
> needed.
> > >My thoughts are to perform a normal backup monthly, and incremental or
> > >differential backups daily. Remember, I'll be storing every backup on
> just
> > >one tape.
> > >
> > >My confusion is if this plan is the most efficient, and will it provide
> me
> > >with a reliable backup that can be restored quickly? I keep reading[/color]
these
> > >articles that say that I will need to restore the original and *every*
> > >incremental/differential to properly perform an
incremental/ differential[color
=green]
> > >restoration. Does that would mean that in a year from now, I would then
> need
> > >to restore 365 backups to obtain a file backup up tonight?
> > >
> >
> > 2GB of porn...or data as you call it is nothing - just do a normal
> > backup each day.
> >
> > When you say " Remember, I'll be storing every backup on just
> > one tape" you're not saying that you actually only have 1 tape are
> > you? - because if you are, it's time to buy more tapes.
> >
>
> I am saying only 1 tape. If I were to have multiple tapes and simply do a
> normal backup every morning, how many tapes would you recommend? I'm using[/color]
a
> Travan NS 10gb/20gb tape, and these cost $37 each, so I can't afford to
buy
> many. However, the JPG memories are priceless, so whatever it takes to
make
> efficient safe backups is what I will spend. What is your backup schedule
> and tape recommendation?
>
>
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