Enterprise Back up Software

[fenderltd]

I need to back up about 300gb every night to a single drive throughout the network. I have tried the windows back up software and it's ok, have also tried back up now. I am looking for something to set it and forget it, I had errors a few times with Back up now.

Thanks!

 

[XOR != OR]

You should never "set it and forget it" with backups. I don't care how reliable it is, you should check in on your backups daily.

We use backup exec where I work, but I would recommend against it. It's a steaming pile.

Depending on how comfortable you are with linux and a scripting language, you could setup a linux box with huge harddrive space and do all your backups to it. And then, if you wanted to finish it off professionally, get an LTO tape drive ( 400/800 gig model ). It ain't cheap, except when you consider what would happen if you needed backups that were on bad drives.

 

[fenderltd]

By set it and forget it, I mean not needing to add the 200 folders I need to back up each time like using windows back up. NTI Backup now worked ok, but a lot of errors. HDD space is no issue, linux knowledge is ok, I travel a good bit and need something simple I guess in this case, in case I am oversea's I need to how someone how I want it done and where I work, no one is technical with computers.

 

[gigabyte1024]

Veritas is a pain in the ass, but it gernally works.
There are not a lot of great alternatives.

 

[ILAMtitan]

You have a lot of options for this task. For all the servers I maintain, I use backup exec by Symantec, which has a client utility. You would install the server end on your backup computer, and the clients on each machine you need to backup. It will run as a service and you can manage all of the individual computer's backups from the server. The only problem is that it isn't a cheep solution.

One alternative is to use windows task scheduler. I have used it in the past to put a backup system together quickly, but I don't recommend using it as a permanent solution. You would just map the backup drive from the server on each local computer, then use a free command line tool like robocopy to perform the backup. In task scheduler you can pass robocopy all the parameters it needs, like directory source and destination.

What I recommend for a small operation is a program called Cobian. You can have it operate just like the windows task scheduler, or set it up on the server and map the folders you need backed up to the server. It is a very versatile piece of software, and the best part is that it's free. You can find it here: http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm

I'm sure someone else may have better solutions so weigh your options before committing to a full setup. It's not fun to have to go back and build a new system once you have a solution in place.

 

[fenderltd]

Thanks for the replies, I have seen the Cobians before.

 

[Carv]

This year we implemented using Acronis True Image Enterprise Server. We have tape backup's using Veritas for daily use, but take acronis Images every week for disaster recovery. It just runs on a schedule, and takes an image of the hard drive that we store on an external hardrive connected to the main server. It also let's you create a bootable media CD incase your HD becomes corrupt or fails, you can just restore the computer off the image, I've done it a couple of times on XP machines, but not servers.