Re: Tape Backup - Change needed?

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From: root (root_at_buchanangc.com)
Date: 03/25/04 

Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:37:41 -0800

"John Harris" <johnh@antispam.comptroub.co.nz> wrote in message
news:uCtGYSqEEHA.3748@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> I would tend to agree with Dave. However, it is a concern that your
> restores do not appear to be working currently. Personally, I prefer tape
> over removable hard drives but have used both.

Read this thread and note all the comments about tapes and their care and
feeding. Anyone who has actually used them knows that they are a relative
nightmare for a smaller system with modest backup needs and non expert users
doing the backups on a daily basis. Removeable HDs solve most the backup
issues and they are very fast.

> And DLT does it for me, SDLT
> even better. One thing I ask business owners to think about when they say
> that they cannot afford a certain technology is how much is their business
> worth to them? How much money, time and effort have they put into it?
And,
> if their server/data was to disappear, what would be the effect of that on
> their business and their income.

An equally important or more important question to many small businesses is
down time. Often being down a day is more costly than losing a day's work.
If a backup is ever needed the how long does it take to recover. With a
tape it's almost always quite slow/long. With a removeable HD and image
backup technology then restore time can be an hour or less.

> Most will say that it is worth a lot
> (100,000's of dollars, if not millions) and the impact would be
significant.
> It never ceases to amaze me that we all insure our homes, cars, etc but
> baulk at the price of insuring the safety of one of the most crucial
aspects
> of our businesses - the data.

and DOWN TIME!

> We can recover from fires (insurance will
> help a lot), theft (again insurance) but the loss of data is unrecoverable
> unless you have a good, reliable and TESTED backup system. There are a
> number of studies that conclude that 70% - 90% of businesses will fail
> within two years if data is lost and unrecoverable.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Best Backup Blocksize for 110SDLT Tape?
    ... >> raised was that is or was a problem with tape backup and restores ... and I've been doing VMS backups (and restores) ... > that the resulting ANSI tape files can't be copied to disk. ... In that case you should also check that your network setup can ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: SBS Backup/Restore- Best Practice
    ... I have always loved tape and never had an issue restoring. ... us are going to use hard disks (As SBS 2008 was designed for this). ... As long as the client gets a reliable backup, ... Do practice restores periodically. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: ASR or FULL Backup
    ... I've been successful with full restores (haven't tested ASR enough to say). ... Did you select to include the System State in the backup? ... > tape. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Backup
    ... When you configure a backup by using the SBS 2003 Server ... the backup program selects the first tape type that is ... 831664 "The requested media failed to mount" error message when you try to ... 840754 Backups on Windows Small Business Server 2003 may use more backup ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: SBS Backup/Restore- Best Practice
    ... I have always loved tape and never had an issue restoring. ... us are going to use hard disks (As SBS 2008 was designed for this). ... As long as the client gets a reliable backup, ... Do practice restores periodically. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)