Backup Program

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pirate252

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
113
I am looking for a backup program that will do the following:

-Take EVERYTHING (an image) of a selected partion(s) and make a copy of it onto another disk

-Do incremental (I think thats the right word) backups every night so that only things that changed during that day will be backed up.

-Not put the image into some bs proprietary format that wont be able to recover without reinstalling the program that made it.

Just plain, copy material from one disk to another and update changes to that data every night.

Does such a program exist?

Thanks
 
pirate252 said:
-Not put the image into some bs proprietary format that wont be able to recover without reinstalling the program that made it.
Click to expand...

What format do you want it in then? The closest thing to a standard image is one done dumping the block directly off disk and that isn't very efficient when you have empty blocks taking up space even if you do compress it. I don't see very many products designed for compatibility because there really is no standard out there that's going to have a good compression level and support incremental backups.
 
I mean, in the perfect world I want this:

A main drive/raid0 array
A secondary raid5 array that is an exact copy of that system

That way if the raid0 failed I can just change the boot order in BIOS and be back up and running, no bs proprietary formats to get in the way ;)


I guess its kinda like raid0+1, however I am not very familiar with that, maybe I should look into it.

I now think I am going to do a raptor setup (one disk or raid0 of 2, not sure yet) for windows/programs only and a raid 5 array for all music/video/data to be stored on

*an update in case you havnt read my other thread* of why I may seem so paranoid... I just built this system a few days ago and now I have 2/3 7200.10 1TB drives dead and one thats clicking and failing...posting from a Ubuntu bootable cd lol
 
My ideal solution is 2 qnap 509 NAS. Both filled with 5 x 1 tb sata enterprise hard drives.

1 NAS would be your storage, and the other would be the backup for the main NAS. Both would be in raid 6 mode :D

Your data is 100% guranteed secure :D
 
I know its not exactly what your looking for but consider a WHS? I had a raptor in my raid 0 die, just threw in an old 250gb drive, imaged the backup from WHS over the network, worked fine, an hour is all it took. 5 days later the new raptor arrived, repeated. A cheap refurb dell + WHS + seagate 1.5tb isn't all that expensive, compared to a raid 5 array. Plus a WHS can do so much more.
 
That way if the raid0 failed I can just change the boot order in BIOS and be back up and running
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The only way you're gonna do that is with a clone of your boot drive/array.


a raid 5 array for all music/video/data to be stored on
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I dunno if anybodys mentioned it to you yet, but RAID is not a back-up.
 
Ya, then I guess what I mean was a clone of the whole disk.

Now plans have changed, as I said that would be a 'perfect world' setup, didnt know if it would actually work that way.

Now I am returning my defective Seagates and going with:

2x 150GB velociraptors in raid 0 for windows/programs
3x 1TB WD Blacks in raid 5 for 'back-up'/data storage.

I put back up in quote in response to the above post, may I ask why raid5 is not considered a back up solution? Is it because its still within the computer tower itself and not a separate entity like a NAS would be??
 
"RAID is not a back-up" is a pick up line around here. Stupid slogan and not enough infomation. I think he wants you to get back to him.

As long as you have two copies of your data on two separate devices/arrays, it's technically backed up. Sure off site storage is a better backup, but non the less RAID is still a backup if you are intending to use it as such.

But if you are simply storing and working off your data stored on the RAID, you do not have a backup. You have a recovery plan for when shit hits the fan.

But I think your point is that RAID 5 is safer than no RAID at all and that is correct.

Two completely different arrays/drives/devices storing duplicates of itself is a backup.

You = RAID 5 = not a backup

Backup = duplicating on USB/FIREWIRE/ESATA Drive, NAS, Local Server, Remote Server, S3, Secondary System HDD... a device dedicated to being your backup.
 
I bought a 1.5 tb drive which I use as a backup location, and use SyncToy to copy one way, from the data store to the backup location. I bought a data fire safe which will hold about 4 hard drives. So my "backup" will be to have (4) 1.5 tb hard drives (three of which I still have to purchase) which I rotate, with a weekly backup on each drive, the drives stored in the firesafe, the firesafe stored in my RV (to get it out of the house).

I am not seeking comments on my backup plan, nor suggesting that my plan is the best, or even good, for anyone else. What I am doing is demonstrating a PLAN (which I am implementing), where I make a decision on what data needs to be backed up, how often I need to do the backup, what media I will backup to, where I will store the backup media etc.

BTW, for MY purposes Windows Backup was not feasible. I tried to use it and TWO DAYS LATER I still had not finished backing up 700 gigs of data. OTOH, SyncToy backed up the whole shooting match in about 8 hours. Furthermore, SyncToy only syncs changes so that in the future, files that have not changed will not be backed up (having already been backed up), speeding up the process further.

I run a business out of my Home Office. I use Raid 6 arrays on two different servers to store my data, and my servers all run off of very hefty UPSes. Because of my home office and my requirements to continue working if I have a power failure, I also installed a generator which runs off of propane and powers my office as well as much of the rest of the house.

In 6 years have never lost a file to hardware failure. RAID is an old, proven and very reliable technology, easily implemented by a moderately savvy person. And... it is not a backup, it is a place to store data which minimizes the risk of a hardware failure causing data loss. If my house burns down... I need my backups to get back in business.
 
BurntToast said:
"RAID is not a back-up" is a pick up line around here. Stupid slogan and not enough infomation. I think he wants you to get back to him.

As long as you have two copies of your data on two separate devices/arrays, it's technically backed up. Sure off site storage is a better backup, but non the less RAID is still a backup if you are intending to use it as such.

But if you are simply storing and working off your data stored on the RAID, you do not have a backup. You have a recovery plan for when shit hits the fan.

But I think your point is that RAID 5 is safer than no RAID at all and that is correct.

Two completely different arrays/drives/devices storing duplicates of itself is a backup.

You = RAID 5 = not a backup

Backup = duplicating on USB/FIREWIRE/ESATA Drive, NAS, Local Server, Remote Server, S3, Secondary System HDD... a device dedicated to being your backup.
Click to expand...

Ya thats exactly what I was saying, I get what he meant now since only one copy of the information exists then technically its not backed up. I just like the idea of being able to loose one drive and not be screwed where I would be if I just had my data stored on individual drives.

I dont have a hardware raid card tho, its just the intel southbridge os my asus board in control so running the OS and programs off the raid5 is actually slower than running off a single drive lol. So this build I want to go with raid0 for windows/os and raid 5 for just reading, data or a place to point downloads to, not much writing. Or at least not fast enough writing to exceed the speed the array can go :)

I just wish these velociraptors came in smaller sizes, 300GB seems like to much for just an OS and programs, but thats the smallest raid0 array you can make since they dont make less than 150GB ones.
 
"RAID is not a back-up" is a pick up line around here.
Click to expand...

A pick-up line? :D

It's not just a line around here, it's more of an internet mantra about RAID.

I think he wants you to get back to him.
Click to expand...

No, not at all. I was hoping he'd do a little investigating about it. It's been explained soo many times, with a little research he'd be stumbling over oodles of explanations.

Pirate252, I know what you're shooting for, and in the past I've considered RAID to be a solution to that delimma.

But the more I learned, the more it became clear, that even with a RAID array to keep me running, I'd still have to have a back-up to protect the info on the array. It's just too much trouble for the limited protection it provides in a home storage situation.

Merry Christmas!
 
Merry Christmas to you too! Ya it seems that for extremely important data I will need to also get myself an external, but for movies/games/shows/etc a raid array seems to keep them reasonably protected from failure. The real important stuff I guess I will have to have a external for :)
 
After learning the hard way.. I use Windows Vista Ultimate Complete PC Back to an external for the c: which is OS and Apps on a 2 disc raid 0, and have a 3rd drive internal.. a Data drive, that I use Good Sync to mirror to the external.
Like the original poster, proprietary back up apps are the sux0rz for me.. I wanted my data easily navigatable, so sync'n it to an external is easiest. And the Vista Ultimate Complete Back up is great... works just like a Ghost app.. Ive restored it successfully to bare metal, when I had to replace my failed Raptors with New, different drives
 
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