Tape vs. Umm...vs *what?!*

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BoxMaker

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I have a DDS4 tape drive working with the dated version of Symantec Backup Exec 10d. We backup the My Documents folders of office people, the Exchange server, and a couple of SQL databases. I have to swap tapes out about once a day and clean the tape drive about twice a week.

We don't have TONS of data to backup, but it is getting to the point that a couple of workstations are backing up their own stuff because the current system just isn't big enough.

I've looked at other threads and some have said that tape is dead. If tape isn't the champ for backup media - what is?

I've read many many many recommendations in these forums for backup software and Backup Exec has been good to us. But I don't know how Backup Exec would work with removable hard drives.

I take all of our tapes home every single day, except for the one in the drive. I need something that would allow me to physically transport our backups out of the office.

Is there anyone out there supporting a small business office who has this wired tight and is willing to share?
 
If you're not doing tape then you're pretty much backing up to Disk, based on what you're talking about the best bet for that scenario is a web-based solution like Mozy Pro, etc. The more expensive option is to get some equipment in an off-site data center and do backups to it, but that is almost definitely out of your budget. You could also do some sort of external hard drive but I would be skeptical keeping that data on a single HD as your only backup.

If you're sticking with tapes you at least want to do with newer tape technology such as LTO-3/4 as they hold much more data and you can find replacement hardware easy in the event of a disaster.
 
Tape isn't dead, i use it in smaller backup solutions where clients just like them.

Since you already have the software, why not just get a LTO tape drive?
 
For a lot of clients over the past few years I've been using the Tandy/RDX/RD1000 removable drives.

Tandy is the OEM, they call it the RDX I think
HP resells them as RDX
Dell resells them as RD1000.

It's a unit that comes in external or internal units, similar to tape drives. USB interface, or SATA interface.

The drive itself is low cost, under 300 bucks.

The drive cartridges themselves come in varying capacities, and they're basically 2.5" laptop SATA drives. As you get in up capacity the price does climb quite a bit.

The drives have a long shelf life...I think it's 5,000 mounts that they're rated for. So you won't be replacing them on yearly or bi-yearly dates like traditional tapes. Durability. Good speeds. No need for cleaning tapes.

My only gripe...SBS2008 doesn't natively support them. But so far, for every other server job I setup, I'm mostly using these now.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
The drive itself is low cost, under 300 bucks.

The drive cartridges themselves come in varying capacities, and they're basically 2.5" laptop SATA drives. As you get in up capacity the price does climb quite a bit.
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Your right there, the cartriges for the RD1000 can be a couple hundred bucks a pop, kinda why if i were going to do tape i would choose LTO, they are cheap tapes and reliable
 
k1pp3r said:
Your right there, the cartriges for the RD1000 can be a couple hundred bucks a pop, kinda why if i were going to do tape i would choose LTO, they are cheap tapes and reliable
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Yeah I am surprised the price hasn't dropped on them yet...the "novelty" of the product is over. A 2.5" SATA laptop drive is barely over a hundge or two....looking now a 500 gig Seagate 2.5" SATA drive is $150 bucks retail.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Yeah I am surprised the price hasn't dropped on them yet...the "novelty" of the product is over. A 2.5" SATA laptop drive is barely over a hundge or two....looking now a 500 gig Seagate 2.5" SATA drive is $150 bucks retail.
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I was looking at one about a year ago and almost croaked at the price lol.

For the OP's case, how much data are you looking at and how often does it change?
 
Our data changes daily.

The Ultrum 3 tapes would cover me nicely, I think. This is old tech and still $2000+ from IBM. I'm on the phone now with IBM to make sure the TS2230 SCSI version is compatible with our server. IBM is pretty picky about what is compatible with what but their stuff (support and hardware) has been so solid in the almost 5 years we've had these 5 servers going.

If this is an option for me, I need to see if my Backup Exec version 10d software is compatible with this older gear that may be new to my old software (follow that?)

Wow, the tapes are only $30. That is surprisingly low. The IBM guy on the phone just said, "I'm sure that this will work, but I need to check and make sure."
 
Me: "Hi, IBM. Can you tell me what LTO Gen 3 or 4 drive will work with my server? I don't care if it is SCSI or if I need to get a SATA controller of some kind. I'm just curious about my options."

IBM: "No. The best you can get is a Gen 2 LTO drive for nearly a grand."

Me: Disappointment.

I did call Symantec, however, and was told that the new software will work with a USB attached drive or hot swap drive. I'm going to check today, but it may be less expensive for me to buy the new software, a few drives, and skip tape even though I like how 'robust' tape is. I need to find out how much it's going to be to upgrade from BackupExec 10d to 12.something.

The Dell Powervault thing...it is less expensive than I thought it would be. Why wouldn't I, however, just buy a few WD external drives? Maybe rotate 4 drives every 4 weeks? Do they make some kind of RAID 1 external drive array to offer some redundancy - just a box I could put into a padded pelican case and slip into my work bag like I do my tapes?
 
boatasiaus, thanks for pointing that out. Do you know of anyone who uses one of these?
 
What about simply picking up a couple of these Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition USB external hard drive RAID 1 devices?

My only concern is, if a hard drive fails...I have to send in the whole thing for replacement? An external RAID 1 enclosure that is waiting for my own hard drive selection may be a better idea. Also, I like the idea of breaking the array and being able to pull backups off of the single working drive. In other words, I don't want to be with my backups because UPS is toting my fingerprint magnet to WD to get repaired.

Still waiting from my vendor to let me know about the cost of Backup Exec new version.
 
for what is it worth.. i have been backing up a lot to small 2.5 inch usb drives.. 2 drives are under $100 each and last for a few years.. we have small clients that use them, they take one drive home and leave the other at the office.. swap them when they feel like it..
it doesn't even matter.. do a full 60gb backup per night, overwrite old.. both drives are assigned a drive letter manually on the server so it never changes when the swap.. cheap, compact and simple...
 
BoxMaker said:
What about simply picking up a couple of these Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition USB external hard drive RAID 1 devices?

My only concern is, if a hard drive fails...I have to send in the whole thing for replacement? An external RAID 1 enclosure that is waiting for my own hard drive selection may be a better idea. Also, I like the idea of breaking the array and being able to pull backups off of the single working drive. In other words, I don't want to be with my backups because UPS is toting my fingerprint magnet to WD to get repaired.

Still waiting from my vendor to let me know about the cost of Backup Exec new version.
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i am not a fan of WD anymore.. we have some small clients on MyBook.. and they started to crap out.. some have these old linksys 160gb nas boxes that are still running strong.. mybook is having problems.. right now, i have been getting the buffalo nas.. they aren't as "pretty", but they do the job better IMO..

you don't have to send the whole thing in.. do you? i always assumed you could pull one drive out and recover, as long as it is raid 1..
 
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