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

Similar Messages

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.

Hello I bought a G-Raid GR4 4000 4 TB and used it for a backup with my new Imac27. Now this is all I get. "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "G-RAID". to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder.

Hello I bought a G-Raid GR4 4000 4 TB and used it for a backup with my new Imac27. Now this is all I get. "Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to “G-RAID”. to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder."
Any idea what I should do?

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the search box.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

Definitive Storage and Backup solution

Hello, I'm looking for a definitive Storage and Backup solution.
So far I've been looking on to Drobo 5D or N, LaCie 5big Thunderbolt™ 2, or LaCie 2big Thunderbolt™ 2.
Networking would be a plus but not a must. I'm open for other suggestions and also wonder if these systems can be considered backup since they are ready for single or double disks failures.
Thanks.

Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
Avoid Lacie, they contain Seagate drives inside. Bad idea.
huge storage, low cost, high quality, very small and portable.
BEST FOR THE COST, Toshiba "tiny giant" 15mm thick 2TB drive (have several of them, lots of storage in tiny package)    $100
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48     /ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1390020791&sr=8-3&keywords=toshiba+2tb
best options for the price, and high quality HD:
Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or $65 per TB on 2.5"
Perfect 1TB for $68
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba
Nice 500gig for $50. ultraslim perfect for use with a notebook
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s     r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb
*This one is the BEST portable external HD available that money can buy:
HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive $88
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Mobile-Portable-External-0S03559/dp/B009GE6JI8/ref=sr     _1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383238934&sr=8-1&keywords=HGST+Touro+Mobile+Pro+1TB+USB+3.0+7 2 00+RPM
Most storage experts agree on the Hitachi 2.5"
Hitachi is the winner in hard drive reliability survey:
Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the hundreds of Hitachi hard drives received, not a single one had failed due to manufacturing or design errors. Adding the highest average lifespans and the best relationship between failures and market share, Hitachi can be regarded as the winner.
Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
#1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
Drawbacks:
1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks include OS X Recovery. This feature includes all of the tools you need to reinstall OS X, repair your disk, and even restore from a Time Machine
"you can't boot directly from your Time Machine backups"
2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
#2. HD archives
Drawbacks:
1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
Advantages:
1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
#3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
Drawbacks:
1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
HD cloning software options:
1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.
#4. Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
#5. DVD professional archival media
Drawbacks:
1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
Advantages:
1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data.
[*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]
#6. Cloud based storage
Drawbacks:
1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.
2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.
3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.
4. *Level-0 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.
2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.
#7. Network attached storage (NAS) and JBOD storage
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to RAID failure and mass data corruption.
2. Expensive to set up initially.
3. Can be slower than USB, especially over WiFi.
4. Mechanically identical to USB HD backup in failure potential, higher failure however due to RAID and proprietary NAS enclosure failure.
Advantages:
1. Multiple computer access.
2. Always on and available.
3. Often has extensive media and application server functionality.
4. Massive capacity (also its drawback) with multi-bay NAS, perfect for full system backups on a larger scale.
5. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
JBOD (just a bunch of disks / drives) storage
Identical to NAS in form factor except drives are not networked or in any RAID array, rather best thought of as a single USB feed to multiple independent drives in a single powered large enclosure. Generally meaning a non-RAID architecture.
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to HD failure but not RAID failure and mass data corruption.
Advantages:
1. Simplex multi-drive independent setup for mass data storage.
2. Very inexpensive dual purpose HD storage / access point.
3. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
Bare hard drives and docks. The most reliable and cheapest method of hard drive data storage, archives, and redundancies
The best method for your data archives and redundancies, which is also the least expensive, the most reliable, and the most compact option is the purchase of naked hard drives and at least one USB 3.0 HD dock ($40 roughly).
While regarding Time Machine and your Macbook or desktop, your primary backup is best saved to a conventional USB (or Firewire / thunderbolt) hard drive inside an enclosure, the most important part of your data protection begins after your 1st / primary Time Machine / backup; and these are your secondary (most important) data storage devices, archives and their redundancies.
However bare hard drives and docks (below) also work perfectly as a Time Machine backup, this is for home use, since the docking station is certainly not very portable as a notebook Time Machine backup device should be; nor should bare HD be packed around with a notebook, rather remain at home or office.
Six terabytes of 2.5" HD pictured below in a very compact space.
Bare hard drives and docks have the lowest cost, the highest reliability, and take up the smallest storage space
Drawbacks:
1. Care and knowledge in general handling of naked hard drives (how not to shock a bare HD, and how to hold them properly). Not a genuine drawback.
Advantages:
1. By far the least expensive method of mass HD storage on a personal basis. Highest quality naked HD can be purchased in bulk very cheap.
2. Eliminates the horrible failure point of SATA bridges and interfaces between external drives and the computer.
3. Per square foot you can store more terabytes of data this way than any other.
4. Fast, easy, no fuss and most simplex method of data storage on hard drives.
Time Machine is a system backup, not a data backup
Important data you “don’t dare lose” should not be considered ultimately safe, or ideally stored (at the very least not as sole copy of same) on your Time Machine backup. Hourly and daily fluctuations of your system OS, applications, and software updates is the perfect focus for the simple user to conduct ‘click it and forget it’ backups of the entire system and files on the Macbook HD.
Bootable clones are the choice of professionals and others in that Time Machine cannot be booted from and requires a working HD to retrieve data from (meaning another computer). Your vital data needs to be and should be ‘frozen’ on some form of media storage, either in a clone, as an archived HD containing important files, or on DVD blank archival media.
A file that is backed up to Time Machine is unsafe in that if that file is deleted off the computer by accident or lost otherwise, that file will likewise vanish from Time Machine as it reflects changes on the internal computer HD/SSD.

Help replacing my backup solution

I currently have a Windows Home Server from my PC days. The house is now all Mac, but I still use the WHS in the following way:
1. Common files, pictures and vidoes are stored on the home server. This allows all Macs in my house to access them.
2. Important folders are dpulicated across two drives in the WHS using Drive Extender. the new WHS 2011 does not have this, so I won't upgrade.
3. I use Cloudberry to backup items in 1) to Amazon S3. It currently does it once a week, but you can set any frequency you want. Since it runs on the WHS as a service, it always keeps the schedule unless the power is off.
In this way I basically have my important files (family pictures and videos) on three different drives. Once of those is in the cloud. I think it is a good backup solution that requires almost no work to maintain.
Now, the PC with WHS is old and I have had some hardware issues. Also, WHS was always a niche product and you can't really find hardware with it installed. You basically have to build your own server. I also don't like the loss of drive extender in the 2011 product.
Is there a way I can duplicate this arrangement using Time Capsule or some other mac specific products. I basically want to:
1. Store files in a common network drive so everyone in my house can access them
2. Back up the files/folders in 1) to Amazon S3 automatically.
Sorry to be long-winded and thanks for the help.

Basically NO!!
The Time Capsule is unfortunately not designed as a NAS.. it has no internal backup solution.. it has no expansion nor raid nor servers nor anything really. It is designed as a dumb target for Time Machine. In particular Time Machine running on laptops which will need wireless.. hence the incorporation of the airport to give wireless.
And there is no Mac.. legimate that is .. that fits the role. A Mac Mini is used and is even sold as a server. But you do not have 3.5" drives.. and any expansion of drives is only by External boxes. The next step up is a Mac Pro.. super expensive and very high power demand. What is needed is an i3 low power consumption with lots of hard disk internal space of a small tower.
I think you will find it is why people with your kind of setup tend to just stick to them.
I would look at Synology or QNAP .. readyNAS maybe higher end models.. that offer TM compatibility.. although Apple will break it regularly, which is why you buy from the bigger companies that will try and keep firmware upgrades coming.
Or build your own running something like FreeNAS. But you will never achieve the neatness of the purchased unit.
I have a feeling Lion Server which is very cheap cf the old SL server was intended for such a role.. the hassle is finding a hardware platform to run it on.. (I wouldn't jump into Lion server yet anyway.. to buggie for now).

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.

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.

Advice on external BackUp Solutions

I have my Aperture Library internal and use an external FW800 drive as a vault.
I am switching all my drive to sata due to some recent FW issues.
So I work with video and shoot photos for fun. My library has grown and I want to create a steady workflow for backup. I was intrested in getting Raid-1 as my vaults. Any thoughts on using this drive as an external sata vault.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MESRSM500G32/
I was going to conitnue to work with an internal library and use two of these drives as external vaults which in theroy would be four total?
Thanks for any feedback or advice.

just a thought, there may or may not be issues with this idea.
how about using a vault for one of the backups, or just backing up the Aperture library file, containing all of your managed images. onto one of the external HDD's.
next, simply make a copy of the currect Aperture library with a new name, open that new copy library in Aperture, then move the entire library to being referenced on the other external drive.
or better yet, if you can take the space hit of having this on both external drives, having the full aperture library file on each, as well as the referenced library. and have double backups on each RAID setup.
with these two type of backups, you will be able to restore the entire library, if that is a good solution at the time, or if you are in a hurry for a specific project, you can simply find that project in the referenced files.
I don't think that would be a super difficult process to have a really efficient backup system, it will take awhile, double the time of a single backup, but will give you all the options you may want.
honestly, if it were me, I would just backup the Aperture library file periodically to each Raid volume, as Library files can still be opened up right in finder, using the Show Contents comand, and maybe even Vaults can as well? I wouldn't be suprised if they could. need to do a little more research on that, if a vault file can be opened just like a library file, then you really shouldn't have to worry about restoring the whole vault if you were in a hurry and just find the photos you need at the time. and eventually do a full restore.

Is DLT the best backup solution?

Hi,
I am curious to know what people use as a good backup for their FCP projects and footage. I know DLT is recommended for outputting DVD projects - but are there better options? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

DLT is the dinosaur of the industry. Rock solid, totally dependable. The reasons it's still used for DVD replication are not associated with any reasons why you'd want to use DLT for backing up your FCP projects. DVD replication is an entirely different industry.
DLT would not be efficient for video offloading in the slightest. Linear and long. But, as said, utterly bombproof and relatively inexpensive. if you have a couple of DLT machines and lots of cart,, you can certainly use them for offloading your FCP media. But "best"? Not at all. There is no single best backup solution, only what works for your budget and workflow. Hot swap RAIDs, cheap FW drives, optical, DVD-ROM, even installing and removing ATA drives in your Mac; they're all viable.
bogiesan

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

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?

Nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

Time Machine has been working just fine, but in the last week or two it has given up the ghost. I reset the connections to the drive, and it will basically save a few bytes of data and then hang.
Although Apple originally announced, prior to the release of the first 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations (AEBSn), that it would support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks, they removed that option before they did finally release the base station for sale.
Since then, Apple has posted (as you have noted) that they DO NOT support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks. As far as I know, they have not changed from that position and those who do these backups find that they become corrupted over time. Sorry, but it sounds like you just confirmed that for yourself.
1) Has one of the recent updates either on the AE (firmware) or OSX disabled this function?
No. Again, this feature has never been supported by Apple for every generation of AEBSn released.
2) Are there any changes I can make to get this working again?
If your data backups are critical to you, then you will want to use a different solution for your Time Machine backup destination drive strategy. I would suggest that you connect your WD My Book directly to your Mac in the mean time.
Your other options would be to either use a Time Capsule (which interestingly does support TM backups to AirPort Disks) or a non-Apple solution like the Drobo FS or HP MediaSmart server.

What online backup solution is best with Time Capsule?

I am trying to find an online backup solution that is compatible with Time Machine's Time Capsule. I tried ZipCloud, but while using ZipCloud my Time Capsule failed to backup. It would issue an error something-"sparsebundle" was already in use by another program and therefore Time Capsule would not backup. I worked with ZipCloud's technical support, but was unable to find a solution. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

cfirtion wrote:
It would issue an error something-"sparsebundle" was already in use by another program and therefore Time Capsule would not backup.
See #C12 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting, but that's probably unresolvable.
I don't know how that app is supposed to work, but usually only one user can access a sparse bundle disk image at a time. If the app is supposed to be backing-up your backups, instead of your Mac, that's not a good idea in general and unlikely to work with a sparse bundle anyway.
I did hear from one developer a couple of years ago, about an app that did the backups separately, but used the same rules, etc., as Time Machine, so the operation was, theoretically, separate. I can't recall the name now, though. They had lots of trouble at first, and I haven't heard of them in a while. I'll post back if the name comes to me.
For secondary backups, whether local or not, it's usually prudent to use a different app entirely; that way, you're also protected against a failure of either app.
If you have a lot of data, it's probably not worthwhile trying to back up your entire system to the Internet; it would take much too long to download it all. If your HD failed, you'd have to install OSX first anyway to get connected to the remote location.
EDIT: By the way, just to reduce misunderstandings, a Time Capsule is Apple hardware combining a wireless router and HD; Time Machine is the software that does the backups, to a Time Capsule, internal or external HD, shared drive on another Mac, Mac Server, or (sometimes) a NAS.
Message was edited by: Pondini

What's the best external backup solution for the 2011 MacBook Air?

I'm really considering moving to a new 2011 13" MacBook Air for my primary machine and I'm curious to know what ya'll might suggest for the ideal backup solution.
Currently I use a Firewire 800 drive with my MacBook Pro consisting of a Bootable OS backup, Media volume backup, Time Machine backup + blank volume for files.
The current external options available —Thunderbolt release date anyone?—are: USB 2.0 and Time Capsule. Lately—and a first up until now—I've started thinking about potentialy moving my backup solution online. I'm curious if anyone has experience with an affordable, simple, online solution?
Also, don't suppose any kind of storage solutions could utilize the SD card slot in any way?
I look forward to hearing about your backup solutions!
All the best,
—Jordan

Redundancy is more important than speed when it comes to backup.
I like a have a clone of my internal drive to an external drive of the same size. If your internal drive fails you can boot from your external clone. I use SuperDuper!
If your data is important to you, you should keep a backup off-site and have more than one backup set.
Cloud storage is an option if you have fast broadband and small data volumes.
I like the simplicity of Time Machine with Time Capsule for incremental and version backups.
Rather than invest in Thunderbolt (expensive and fast), invest in redundancy (cheap, slow).

Easy Server 2012 backup solutions with tape support?

We have several smaller to midsized customers that have invested money in tape drives and tapes. They are using Symantec BackupExec on Server 2003 / 2008 and 2008 R2. Unfortunately, Symantec postponed Server 2012 support in their products many times
already. This fact costs us many business opportunities to upgrade infrastructures to Server 2012.
DPM 2012 is good for larger customers, but less suited for smaller companies (and the DPM "philosophy change" of the backup procedures, compared to older tape based backup solutions is an obstacle as well.)
So we are looking for EASY backup solutions that support tape drives and server 2012. The "perfect" product for us would be just a tape driver and an extension to the integrated Windows Server Backup that would allow to store backups on tapes,
the same way that Windows Backup allows backups to network shared folders.
Does anyone knows EASY backup software that provides this functionality? I'm also very interested in feedback from peoples that have successfully used such products on Server 2012 and are satisfied with them.
Thank you all in advance for any help.
Franz

Looks like we are in the same boat here with 2012.
For all its trouble, BackupExec has been instrumental for us in providing our customers with a backup application that no other software vendor has been able to match. This includes:
1) Granular backup and restore of Exchange allowing the restore of individual mailboxes and single mail items
2) The same Granular backup and restore of Hyper-V's VMs
3) The ability to backup to Tape, Removable USB HDD and NAS and Network shares
Not even Shadow Protect cuts the mustard anymore – it’s become simply “stupid”.
Although we love the simplicity and robustness of Windows Backup, there are some very serious deficiencies including;
1) The extreme difficulty of adding additional USB HDD after the backup schedule has been created. I believe that this has partially been resolved in R2 but in 2012 it was a utter mess-up. We
resorted to hooking up two 5-port USB Powered Hubs so we could make sure that all USB HDDs could be included in the schedule - what a mission! One blown hub after the other - couldn't find one that could handle the electrical current load of 5x USB HDDs!
2) No Granular restore ability of nothing... had to resort back to the "old school" ESEUTIL "after" restoring the entire Exchange database to alternate location.
3) Backup to a Network Share is pathetic - can't store more than the current backup. What use is that? Had to resort to backing up to Network Share then including that backup in another Windows backup - go figure!
Like Franz, our customers have invested HEAVILY in Tape Drive hardware (some of which cost the customer in excess of $8000) and that excludes the cost of Symantec BackupExec.
Although BackupExec 2012 now supports Server 2012, the re-purchase of the software is not a consideration to most of our customers.
Sorry Franz, I don’t have a solution for Tape Drives yet. This is one reason why we have stayed away from deploying 2012 that already have a recent investment in Tape Drive technology.
However, because there is NO other backup solution that compares to Symantec BackupExec (version <2010), we have been successfully implementing a hybrid solution (which, unfortunately, still does not include Tape Drives) including our own business.
As BackupExec 2010 does not support Windows 2012 as a “Media Server” there IS a workaround in a “virtual environment”.
We have successfully installed BackupExec 2010 on a Hyper-V Virtual Server as the “media server” and targeted the backups to shared folders on both NAS and removable USB HDD shares (off the Host Server).
Although it works GREAT, there is still the serious deficiency of not been able to use Tape Drives (unless some really bright spark out there has an idea on how to make a Tape Drive accessible to a VM).
Another REALLY good solution in which we deployed just last week was to supply the customer with a dirt-cheap PC, install it with Windows 2008 and the Tape Drive and schedule all the normal (and yummy) BackupExec 2010 granular backups to. Remember, the BackupExec
agent WILL install and run just fine on Server 2012 - no problems there.
This has become an INSTANT hit and this is OUR solution – a very small price to pay for “real granular” backups to Tape Drive.
I hope that you find that the mentioned "good solution" a viable and cost-effective workaround.
Backup Exec DOES NOT support Windows 2012. I just got of the phone with them today April 24, 2014. I have been using BE since Seagate made version 7. Every product Symantec buys eventually turns to crap! I just left Symantec Endpoint
Protection after 13 years because it is unreliable and has very poor detection compared to other products. In fact, it is so bad, that Symantec won't participate in any third-party evaluations that they don't pay for such as AV-Comparatives.org.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Symantec!

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

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