Expanding my backup solution

Hi
I have recently upgraded my internal TimeMachine drive from 1TB to 2TB.
Historically I have been taking a nightly backup of the TM drive to an external LaCie Rugged 1TB drive. I have two of these LaCie drives as I would swap them over weekly and store one away from the house.
Now that my TM drive is bigger, I have RAIDed (concatenated) the x2 LaCie's together to make one big external 2TB drive, with the intention of getting another two so I can continue the weekly swap over.
I'm noticing that, no doubt due to it being over USB, that the time it takes to smart update (I'm using SuperDuper which uses the same 'only backup the changes' type method) the internal 2TB to the external concatenated drive is really really long. The first complete copy (ie. the whole thing) took 25 hours, and when I left the house this morning, the 4AM smart backup was still chugging away after 3.5 hours, whereas before it took about 2 hours - although the drive is bigger, there isn't a vastly greater amount more data on it yet (only upgraded on Saturday) so I thought it would be comparable time wise.
So my numerous questions are...
1. What other connections other than USB are available to me? I've seen the very expensive looking RAID card but not sure what that offers. I've also seen single SATA cards... can you daisy chain SATA drives? If I continue to expand I would want to add more drives and have limited card slots. They're called serial so I'm assuming you can daisychain them? Is there a limit to how many you can daisychain? Would I get the same sort of performance as the internal SATA drives (copying my old 1TB TM to the new 2TB was much faster than copying to the externals)?
2. All the external 2TB drives don't look particularly designed to be portable. I'm not kicking them up the street but I don't want it to fail becuase I've moved it around a few times. How resiliant are drives these days? LaCie's Ruggeds looked far more durable although I may be being fooled by the big chunky rubber casing. They don't make a 2TB yet and am keep to buy something in the 2TB size range since the Rugged's cost £125 for just 1TB when the internal was £80 for 2TB.. Can anyone suggest an alternative? Happy to buy them if they are my best bet for now.
3. Are concatenated drives slower than the original individual drives? I'd quietly hoped it may be faster?
4. Am I going about this all the wrong way? My data is extremely precious to me and I want to ensure I never lose any of it.
Thanks for your help
Guy

You can easily assemble a proper SATA hot swap case and drives.
All the parts here:
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/
$200 for dual drive sounds like a lot but 'works.'
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/SATA2EN2/
$500 for 5-drive bays
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/SATA5PM/
$200+ for a 4-port PCIe controller rather than your two port low end.
NewerTech controller:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/MXPCIE6GS2/
PCI Express card
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/PCIExpressSATA
Port Multiplier Performance
http://www.barefeats.com/hard127.html
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-2me4-e/
I don't consider TimeMachine solid so I use two such sets, or go with at least two clones for each volume. A mix of strategies is best.
For off site the hot swap drive is excellent and they have extra kits ($23 per drive).
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/SATA2EEN4TR/
I won't touch concatenated after trying it out, or LaCie unless maybe this:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Lacie/301135U/
Or this?
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/RAID/Desktop/
2TB is reviewed
http://www.barefeats.com/hard135.html
Hitachi 7K2000
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/0F10311/
http://macperformanceguide.com/Recommended-MacPro-HardDrives.html
... and lots lots more and everything you might want to or need to know.
http://macperformanceguide.com/index_topics.html
Guide to drives, storage, performance, RAM, RAID5, etc.
http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-RAID5.html
How to setup RAID with Disk Utility:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-HowToSetupRAID.html
http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-RAID.html

Similar Messages

New xserve backup solution ???

hi, i am searching for a new backup solution wich can handle up to 2TB of data. i would like an 19" device wich supports retrospect for os x leo server.
can anyone give me an tip ??
thank you !

Here's a question sort of related to this: I am using an Xserve for a similar use, and as our data has expanded, we need more backup room. The Xserve is connected to a RAID, and we need to back up about 1.5 TB from that RAID once a week for offsite storage.
This will be rotated weekly, so there would be two offsite drives or modules -- one offsite at all times.
Up to now, we have been using Firewire connected drives, and rotating them offsite has worked OK. Now we are evaluating three ideas to accomplish this task on a more professional level, and I would welcome feedback on these ideas. Tape is not an option.
Options proposed are:
1. Using "raw" drives (1.5 or 2 TB mechanisms) in a simple hard-drive docking station. The drives would be placed in these each week, then stored in a case of some sort when offsite.
2. Using standard desktop drive/case units (i.e. LaCie, Iomega, etc.).
3. Using a rack-mounted solution (OWC, Sonnet, etc) that has FireWire/eSATA connectivity and hot-swap drives in sleds. These, too, would be in a case of sorts when offsite.
4. Using a drive module on the Xserve -- buy, say, two 80GB ADMs and the replace the mechanisms with a 1.5 or 2 TB mechanisms. These, too, would be in a case of sorts when offsite. Since the Xserve is connected to a RAID, one other drive would be the boot/backup software drive and remain in place at all times.
My initial thoughts:
Option 1 leaves the drive too vulnerable, and the units allow the drives to get hot when used for long periods of time. Drives also are spinning down as they are removed, which could be risky. I don't like this idea.
Option 2 works (and has worked) but it involves unplugging FW800 and power cables from the drives, and then these heavy units must be dealt with. An OK solution, but not ideal.
Option 3 appeals to me because it offers some security for the drive (sleds, ability for the drive to spin down once unmounted and before transport) yet without the bulk of an external drive such as a LaCie. Also, being rack mounted, no power or data cables must be touched.
Option 4 is, like Option 3, simple (no power/data to deal with), and offers some security for the drives. But it involves placing unapproved drives into the Xserve as well as putting lots of insertion/removal cycles on the Xserve drive bays (which may or may not be designed for this use).
Any thoughts? I'd really like to get some feedback...
Thanks,
Pete

Large Volume Backup Solution?

Hello,
I'm investigating some solutions to backing up a large and extensive digital film library. We are a online movie distributor and looking to build a backup solution to our library.
We are currently at 7TB of space.
Files formats include: MOV, MP4, M4V, JPG, PDF, PSD, PNG
We expect to be using 12TB of space by the end of the year.
We expenct to be filling 1-2TB of space every month in 2013.
If we set up a FTP/SMB NAS at an external site, is any recommended Apple software that can manage a scheduled back up of the above?
Do you have any recommendations on a expandable NAS?
If not, any cheap cloud storage solutions that can manage dozens of TB of storage in a year?
Thank you.

The amount of data you are talking about will be difficult to manage remotely.
I did a Bad Blocks scan recently on a FireWire-attached 3TB backup drive, and it took over 12 hours just to read every block.
My recommendation for remote backup of that scale of data is to do the backup locally, then put the drives (or the entire NAS unit) in your car and take it off site.

What is the best free backup solution for Hyper-V R2/2012? CSV support is necessary

Hi,
I need so guidance, please.
I’m planning to deploy a free backup solution for my virtual environment and I need your advice. I have the following configuration:
Failover Cluster:
Two Dell Servers
OS: Windows 2012 STD
Each server has two AMD Opteron 4180 6C @ 2.6 GHZ
16 GB – RAM (supports 256GB)
QNAP NAS (CSV)
It’s hosting a DC, an Exchange 2010 and soon a SharePoint 2013 VM
Standalone Hyper-V:
Dell Server
OS: Windows 2008 R2 Datacenter
It has two Intel Xeon E5520 @ 2.2 GHZ
16 GB - RAM
It’s hosting 3 VMs
In my research I found these apps. All of them are limited in some way but they do the job:
Veeam Backup Free Edition v7
Altaro Hyper-V Backup
Unitrends Enterprise Backup
PHD Virtual Backup for Hyper-V
HV Backup from CodePlex
Windows Server Backup (WSB)
What is your experience with them? What would you recommend?
When it comes to money, which one is more affordable? (In case I want to buy the full version)
Thanks in advanced.

Hi,
I need so guidance, please.
I’m planning to deploy a free backup solution for my virtual environment and I need your advice. I have the following configuration:
Failover Cluster:
Two Dell Servers
OS: Windows 2012 STD
Each server has two AMD Opteron 4180 6C @ 2.6 GHZ
16 GB – RAM (supports 256GB)
QNAP NAS (CSV)
It’s hosting a DC, an Exchange 2010 and soon a SharePoint 2013 VM
Standalone Hyper-V:
Dell Server
OS: Windows 2008 R2 Datacenter
It has two Intel Xeon E5520 @ 2.2 GHZ
16 GB - RAM
It’s hosting 3 VMs
In my research I found these apps. All of them are limited in some way but they do the job:
Veeam Backup Free Edition v7
Altaro Hyper-V Backup
Unitrends Enterprise Backup
PHD Virtual Backup for Hyper-V
HV Backup from CodePlex
Windows Server Backup (WSB)
What is your experience with them? What would you recommend?
When it comes to money, which one is more affordable? (In case I want to buy the full version)
Thanks in advanced.
Any Altaro Hyper-V Backup User?

Backup solutions w/RAID or redundancy (NAS, RAID, DIY File server)

Hi all, I need a place to bounce my ideas off of. Here goes:
I have been doing a lot of reading, since I was considering adding an NAS solution for my home network. My data consists mainly of videos (TVs and movies) and pictures (many many years worth).
Anyways, out of the box solutions seemed a bit too pricy and the RAID not that spectacular unless you're willing to spend, so I began looking at building my own fileserver, with a hardware/software RAID solution. That was a bit better bang for the buck, but I still had one nagging concern.
I've played around with RAID before, and I realized that with mirroring (the only RAID option I was really considering), was that it relied on the RAID controller. I couldn't just take a hard drive, remove it physically from the array, and have my information accessible when plugging it into another computer.
What happens in a few years if your RAID controller dies and you can't find the exact same one? Your array will always be dependent on that controller and I really don't like that feeling. I'd rather have the option of taking a drive, plugging it in another computer, rather than needing to move the whole array (RAID, NAS, DIY file server) around. That means quicker access to my information or the ability to take it with me anywhere I go, on a moment's notice.
The least costly solution I have come up with, for data that doesn't change all that much, is to have two huge drives (1 TB) on a computer, either one or both connected via eSATA. Just remember to ghost/copy the main drive once in a while, and keep the 'backup' drive detached (preferably located in a fire-proof safe) and back it up once in a while, on a regular basis).
Sorry for the long post, but how does that sound, for a cheap, reliable backup solution, for data that doesn't get updated too frequently and for ease of access and use?

Hi BGBG;
For what you are attempting to do, RAID is not the best solution. The reason I say this is because RAID 1 is only capable of protection from disk failure. It is not a valid backup solution.
I think that your last solution of using eSATA and a copy is the best. My only addition to your proposal would be a third disk. That way when you move the backup disk into storage you could replace it with the third one. In this way you could use SuperDuper to periodically backup between two disks.
Allan

Backup Solutions for my MacBook Pro+

I have a Macbook Pro (2010) w/500gb hard drive. I have one 500gb external hard drive that holds movies and my Aperture library. My current backup solution is a 2nd external hard drive (2TB) that I attach to my laptop while my smaller external hard drive is attached (it is not excluded from the backup).
I manually attach the laptop and 500gb ehd every week or so to backup to Time Machine
The problem? My laptop is approaching it's limit and I'm thinking that I need to move my iPhoto library off to an ehd as well.
I'm wondering if backing up to my Time Machine drive with a laptop and two ehd (each 500 gb) is smart or if I need to backup those hard drives to other ehd separately.
Also, I plan to buy an iMac for my family in the next couple of months. Not sure how that should impact my backup configuration.
I've also heard that in addition to Time Machine I might consider getting an ehd specifically with the purpose of being a bootable drive (via Super Duper)
With all of these options my head is swimming a bit.
Would love recommendations for a backup workflow/solution based on my equipment.
Thoughts?

Pretty much any drive will work, but for a laptop, you might like to get a portable drive (doesn't require that you connect it to power) with USB3. Thunderbolt drives are also available, but they're more expensive and no faster than USB3 for a single hard drive.
I personally like the Lacie rugged series: http://store.apple.com/us/product/H9377ZM/A/lacie-1tb-rugged-hard-drive-triple-u sb-30-5400-rpm?fnode=5f
If you shop around you should be able to get it a little cheaper than Apple's prices.
Matt

Which backup solution to use?

I didn't see anything here, but only looked a few screens deep, so sorry if this comes up a lot.
I just found out from reading here that I was running BOTH the Windows backup AND the Lenovo R&R backup. Nowhere does the computer warn about this (something that should be fixed, IMO).
I deleted all the R&R backups and recovered almost 60GB of disk space.
Can someone provide a link or an explaination as to which service is "better", or at least a comparison. From reading, it seems it is recommended to only run one of them. I saw one post which said R&R was better at recovering, etc, but I see other posts which says it just fails (for that person)...
I have a 142gb drive (reported size for C Thinkpad T61p purchased in Dec 2007, running Vista Ultimate with SP1
Thanks.

977220 wrote:
Hi ,
We have Oracle 8i DB running on Windows with Backup using CA client.
We are planning to migrate all backups from CA to Netbackup but since Oracle 8i is no longer supported by Netbackup so we need to use either RMAN or User managed backup .
Can somebody guide,which backup solution to use on Oracle 8i (we will migrate DB to MS-SQL) so this will be temporary solution for DB backup.
1) shutdown IMMEDIATE
2) OS file copy all the files
3) STARTUP

I want a better backup solution.

My current network consists of a 1Tb Time Capsule backing up a 500Gb HDD in an iMac and a 500Gb HDD backing up a MacBook Pro via the wireless network.
I have a 3Tb HDD attached externally to the iMac that I use for large file storage and remote access with my MacBook Pro. It's been a few years since I made the purchase and began using the drive in this way, and I feel like it's time to prepare for the failure of the drive. I've been present for many drive failures of friends and family. I don't take risks of losing my data.
I was curious of the backup solutions you all must have, drive brands that you trust (I'm a WD fan), and if you use RAID 1 or RAID 1 Mirroring.
Thank you.

I use a number of Lacie D2 Quadra drives + OWC Mercury Elite enclosures with WD Caviar Black SATA drives. They have been 100% reliable for many years. (I formerly used Seagate Barracuda drives, but gradually migrated to the Caviar Blacks). In practice, I have 3x backups on separate drives. The drives are only connected during backup operation, otherwise they are disconnected from my Macs, each other and power. I keep one set offsite.
For my more frequent, interim backups, I also use a Lacie D2 Network2 online in my network; I back up email & documents more frequently than other files since they change daily. I use a combination of manual copies via the Finder and automated backups via CarbonCopyCloner depending on what I want to backup at any particular time. I do not use Time Machine or a Time Capsule.
RAID is interesting and useful, but it is not backup. Mirroring only protects you against a single hard drive failure in the Mirror set itself. It does not protect you from software, user or system errors, which are much more frequent than hard drive failures. And in the event the RAID Mirror enclosure itself fails, both drives are likely to be unusable.

Backup solutions for Solaris 10 systems

I am trying to put together a backup solution for a number of SunFire V240 systems running Solaris 10. We do run our backups using NetWorker, along with a couple of high powered back up systems. But this solution I am trying to create is something that can be performed by our first responders, our help desk folks. The systems in question are already in production but we do have days where we can bring them down for maintenance or whatever we need to do. Therefore, I can implement this new solution during the day(s) of maintenance time.
I was looking at using Solaris Volume Manager and its metadata configurations. But I am unsure how to start with files sytems already created. I want to be able to have a backup of the boot disk in the event that the hard drive in which it resides goes down. I want our help desk folks be able to immediately bring the system right back up with little down time during the evening to late hours.
I guess what I am looking for are exact steps to help configure this backup solution with Solaris Volume Manager for our production systems. Can anyone help?

Hey there,
Have a look at this excellent guide. I think that you may find what you need here. If not drop an email back. To begin with you need an extra disk(s) since you will mirror your data. This is sort of a pre-requisite.
Good luck,
Pierre
http://www.adminschoice.com/docs/solstice_disksuite.htm

2x 10.5.2 xServe + raid backup solutions - Suggestions please!

Hello,
I'll give a brief overview of what I'm rolling out. *Limited budget* So keep that in mind
Basically I'm just looking for suggestions on backup solutions for this particular setup. I have been hearing mixed reviews of most backup solutions under 10.5.x... (In 10.4.x server I was relatively confident with Retrospect and had performed restores before).
--2 xServes, One web server, one for local services like mail, OD, AFP, Cal, etc. each has 2x 80gb drive (boot volume + mirror). Advanced server config.
--1x raid configured as raid6 with 4TB useable after formatting and parity. Data (user directory, mail store, calendar, web sites and database, etc) will be on the raid volumes, the 80 gb drives in xserves are only for OS and log files.
--All clients are using MacBook Pro's and most users have minimal data. Most data will be mail and quicktime videos (compressed for web, originals on mini dv tapes).
--MacBook Pro's already live, current server is SBS 2003 and it handles backups via Retrospect.
--Backups will have to be D2D, tape is not an option in this case. This means two external drives for backup (one on site and one off site, cycle on friday). Probably 2TB FW800 for each drive as entire raid isn't being backed up, some of it is scratch storage so 2 TB is plenty for now).
Naturally I want to use time machine but I am hearing of horror stories using time machine to backup advanced server in 10.5. Also seeing issues with cyrus (mail) and time machine (I will be running mail services). In addition, I don't think I could do any sort of cycle with the two external drives using time machine? The lack of configurability in time machine worries me. And finally, I don't know how time machine does with active database' (Ie: sql database for web server, I just don't know if time machine will cause problems when trying to back live database up). If someone has experience with time machine in a similar setup I'd love to hear your thoughts / suggestions.
Alternatively there is retrospect. We already own a license and I am familiar with administering it on 10.4.x. How reliable is it for backing up 10.5.2 clients and 10.5.2 server? Including active databses (Again the web server sql databases, etc? Kind of a pain restoring anything from retrospect (Especially entire server if / when it has to be done) but it was tried and true for me in 10.4.x server installations.
These MacBook pro's will also likely become mobile homes once all is said and done (But currently are not as the xServes are not installed yet). Time machine + mobile home directory seems like a lot of data being backed up that is probably redundant?
To top it all off, until new office is ready (All gigabit when that happens in ~1 year) network is as follows:
Servers have 100 mbit full duplex connection
Clients have 10mbit half duplex (This is where time machine really frightens me with hourly client backup).
Considering above, I can either:
A: Run proactive backup script from retrospect for all clients and then nightly backup for select raid volume contents + server boot volumes.
B: Not backup clients directly via retrospect and only backup contents of the raid volume (Which is where the mobile homes will be stored). Mobile home sync would be set to occur on login / logout only (Considering 10mbit client connections, I don't want active or user initiated sync heh).
Thoughts / suggestions? Thanks in advance, any suggestions are much appreciated. Hardware is set in stone but backup solution is not so most aspects of backup solution can be changed =)

First of all, thanks for your reply!
Well I should clarify in that I wasn't going to operate "network" homes and that they were just going to be the mobile homes with sync only occurring at login / logout. Even then, I think I'd run in to issues with the 10base-T for the client systems. The servers are on 100base-T full duplex. Currently All of the Windows systems do the same and logging in / out isn't too terrible but I couldn't imagine actually running the home directories off the server on 10base-T.
Do you still think mobile homes would be too much with just the login / logout sync? If so, I'll simply avoid this option until we get our new building and gigabit networking all around in the next year.
You're correct in that all clients will be running 10.5.2.
If I am not running mobile homes, I suppose the easiest way then is to in fact backup clients via time machine to the raid volume and then backup the entire raid volume (Hence all of our sites, compressed video files and databases to a large external drive (Maybe I'll get a couple 3 or 4 TB raid drives instead... lol). Naturaly I'd select the scratch disk directories and tell time machine to ignore them. Only issue there being that I may run in to space concerns like you say. If it becomes a huge problem and apple still hasn't made TM more configurable by then, I could use the time machine editor app or modify the intervals myself. I'd rather not and will only do this if it becomes an issue
From what I can gather, time machine is not making complete duplicates of an active database (MS Entourage in this case) and is only backing up the changes. I was worried about how it handled this and whether it would detect a change and just backup the entire database again (Which would be a nightmare if it did this for our web directories as they have active databases running).
Do you know of time machine will wreak havoc with active databases (Like the ones our websites use, a couple small sql databases and one larger one).
I think time machine would work well with the method you suggested. So I can just set it to backup all clients to the raid volume and then setup time machine to backup the raid volume to the external disk? For my off site... I suppose I could just bring in the second identical external drive every Friday and copy the time machine backup database from the on site backup drive on to it and then get it out of there each evening.
As for backing up the servers themselves, they will not be storing much of anything and most everything will be pointed to the raid volume (Hence the 80GB drives). Because of this, the data on the servers themselves will not change THAT much compared to the raid volume which will change drastically every day so full backups of the servers is fine. Perhaps just setting psyncX (assuming it works in 10.5) to backup the 80GB boot volume for each server would be best? I could just set psyncX to backup each server boot volume to the same external drive the raid volume is backing up to and then each friday just copy the data from the on site drive to the external, killing two birds with one stone. (Tape would make this all easier but it isn't gonna happen in this case sigh).
I worry about the cyrus / mail issues I'm reading about on servers running time machine though.

Backup solution for E- Business Suite

Hi all,
We have Oracle application and database deployed to a single server, whilst running a server on Oracle Entreprise Linx on 64 bit and running oracle R12.
Therefore basically I see 03 root folders in my server in my Oracle folder namely,
[oracle@test lab01]$ ll
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 4 oracle dba 4096 Jun 24 15:07 apps
drwxr-xr-x 4 oracle dba 4096 Jun 24 15:07 db
drwxr-xr-x 3 oracle dba 4096 Jun 24 15:06 instSo far as my backup solution I am planning to have:
- RMAN backup solution for the database which is represented by the DB folder
- OS tar command" to copy the Oracle application which is represented by the apps* folder --> correct me if I am wrong, I am not sure...
- I am not sure what is the function of the INST folder and what is the best way of backing it up.
Thanks and Regards,

Hi,
- RMAN backup solution for the database which is represented by the DB folder Correct.
- OS tar command" to copy the Oracle application which is represented by the apps* folder --> correct me if I am wrong, I am not sure...Correct.
- I am not sure what is the function of the INST folder and what is the best way of backing it up.Please refer to the "Oracle Applications Concepts" manual for details about the INST folder.
You need to use the OS command to backup this top, just the same way you back up the application tier node files.
Oracle Applications Concepts
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B53825_03/current/acrobat/121oacg.pdf
Thanks,
Hussein

Mac OS X Server Backup solutions?

Hi all, I have built up my network with 3 Leopard servers running on Mac Pro's and 8 mac clients (one mobile)
Between all of them there is about 12TB's of storage space (about 2TB being used at present)
it really is time to now invest in a complete backup solution and we won't a format that can be taken offsite (Tape sounds the best)
I really have hardly any experience in this area and need to get some advice.
I have an ATTO Ultra320 card in one of the Mac Pro's so need to figure out which tape drive (or drives) which software and the best way to implement it.
All the clients are on OD so not overly bothered about backing them up, just the 3 main servers really.
Any help would be really appreciated, thanks.

Here's some grist for the thought mill...
The use of "Removable" here likely (probably?) means "remote", which itself (and depending on the bandwidth of the network connection or access to couriers or such) may or may not actually be a removable disk or removable tape storage, or disk or tape libraries.
What's the volume of the actual data? What's the rate of change of the data? There are two parts to the calculation for the creation and operation of the archive, the initial archive and the occasional (weekly, monthly, before an upgrade) full archive, and then the incremental (hourly, daily, weekly) archives. This assumes the usual two-level archive processing; an occasional full and a more frequent incremental.
You need to figure out how big these activities are, and what your backup window is. These details then drive the available hardware and media options and then the device selection.
Then determine (or guesstimate) the growth rate of the data. That tells you what your approach can support now, and how quickly your backup window (if you have one) might be closing. And (if you're using smaller media) when you might need to go to a larger-capacity media or to multi-volume archives. Right now, you can probably get most everything onto a 1 TB or 1.5 TB spindle, for instance.
You'll also need to sort out the local and continuously-active processing activities, and how to get copies of those. The sqldump tool, for instance, can be the path to get a recoverable installation. And that processing tends to be part of getting a recoverable archive.
There are cloud services around for storage and (if your change rate is less than the bandwidth "slop" available within your current network pipe) to a remote site that you manage or contract with; to a storage site or to warm site you work with, or out to an Amazon S3 or other competing storage pool. (There are various options for archiving out into Amazon S3, for instance. And Time Capsule and Time Machine is seriously slick.)
Never assume that RAID is an archival strategy. It's not. RAID is useless against application corruptions, blown software upgrades, user errors, client and server and storage theft, and malicious-user activities. Nor against roof-mounted heat exchanger system that sprout leaks that then pour red-colored coolant into the server racks. RAID protects against disk spindle failures and (for some specific configurations) against certain other "upstream" storage controller failures.
When you get all done, make sure you can recover and restart using your archives. Periodically test the recoverability of the archives.

Why to use SQL Server's native backup facilities, not other backup solution?

I've been asked in my company: why to use SQL Server’s native backup facilities? Instead, they currently rely on other backup software, like Backup Exec, BrightStor, or even Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager. Those solutions let the
company manage all of its backups—including SQL Server—in a single place, whereas SQL Server’s native backup abilities only apply to SQL Server.
So what does SQL Server native backup facility give us more to be forced to use it?

Satish and Pawan ... thanks but, a backup solution is just there. they don't need to pay anything. even though, having a backup solution that backup everything on the server, like files, software.. etc is needed regardless if you have SQL Server databases
or not, and if it does database backup it would be even better and more complete as a backup solution. So sorry your answer is not an enough reason that will force me to leave that complete backup solution and use the SQL Server backup tools specifically to
backup databases.
Olaf ... thanks as well. But I was just counting a number of solutions that i think they are related to backup things. yet I believe that Symantec backup exec does backup for SQL Server database, ain't?! what I understood from the link that you gave me,
that some backup applications (if not all) use SQL Server backup facilities to do database backup, is what I understood correct? if yes then the question will be, is there any situation or reasons that force me to use SQL Server backup tools even if I have
those backup solution (that some of them in the backgroud they are using SQL Server backup facilities)? does SQL Server backup tool give me more capabilities in backing up databases than what I find in backup solutions?
The answer is NO, as of now you get all these features in 3rd party native backups...
So in nutshell Microsoft never forces you to use SQL Servers Native backup -----The only reason why you get native backup featues is since SQL Server is an Enterprise Solution MS provide you all features in-built within the bundle so that you don't have
to purchase any other license (incase you\your company doesn't have one already)
Sarabpreet Singh Anand
SQL Server MVP Blog ,
Personal website
This posting is provided , "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" and "Vote as Helpful" on posts that help you. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Rsync or other backup solution- single source multiple target?

Seems from http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions … ly-774225/ that I can't do what I want, but I thought I'd ask as well.
My laptop hard disc is going to be backed up to two external hard discs (regular script). What I do right now is run two separate rsync commands, but of course this means that the data (all 300+ GB of it, currently) needs to be read twice. Seems it'd be much more efficient if the data were read once and then written to both external hard discs.
It doesn't seem from the above link and other google resources that this is possible. Can anyone suggest an alternative short of scripting a file-by-file cache?
Last edited by ngoonee (2013-10-31 01:33:22)

cfr wrote:
Doesn't this partially undermine the point of doing two backups? I realise one is off site and that they are on separate devices which rules out some sources of corruption/loss but if you run the backup as you wish and something bad happens to the source during the backup, you are likely to end up with three corrupted copies rather than only two.
I don't manage to do this as I only have one complete backup but I thought that best practice involved not touching one backup while the other backup was being created (or restored or...). That way, you always have one "known good" backup whatever happens.
EDIT: not "whatever happens" but "whichever of any of a larger number of possible catastrophes occurs". Obviously, the third copy could be on a device that dies or explodes or gets drowned by a peeved goldfish at just that moment when mice eat your source during a backup, thus corrupting your other two copies. But you can only plan so far...
This isn't my complete backup solution. I have two hard discs in one location (what I'm asking about here) and another one at a different location. The reason I have two is simply because I have a spare which doesn't have any other use, and it may as well be put to use in this way.
Besides, if something happens to the source, using --backup-dir means I'll still have the last known good copy anyway (not taking into account the backup which is at the different location.

Time Capsule Worst Backup Solution Ever?

Once again I have been greeted to a message that Time Capsule could not backup my disk and must completely backup my Mac. So I plugged my Time Capsule directly in by Ethernet due to the size of the backup and time involved over wifi. Then I proceeded to go to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I was greeted with the message that Time Capsule could not delete the disk image. The backup failed.
This has happened numerous times during the life of my Time Capsule. ANd each time the only solution was to reformat my Time Capsule, thus LOOSING the backup it was there to perform, and resulting in significant downtime for my Mac.
What kind of backup solution is this? My Mac hasn't been backed up in weeks awaiting time for me to do it, and now I have acompletely useless backup, with no way to backup the Time Capsule before I manually reformat the drive. If anything goes wrong, I am completely screwed. How does this make any sense?

Welcome to the discussions!
Try deleting the Time Machine preference file Hard Drive > Library > Preferences > com.apple.TimeMachine.plist and resetting Time Machine to see if that helps.
This will not disturb any of your backups.

Expanding my backup solution

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for