Re: Backup Verification Best Practise

First, we find USB solution more reliable than tapes.

Depending on the customer's need, we design a system of swapping USB drives
the same way we used to handle tapes.
Most small businesses choose to switch the drives every Monday morning. We
run the backups during the week and disconnect the drive via script on the
last backup on Sunday night. The client then just has to disconnect the USB
and connect the next one for the coming week. All USB drives - except the
current one are kept offsite.

We have also larger clients that change the drives daily where we have
designed a schedule that will accommodate one or two weeks of daily backups
with 5 - 8 weeks of weekly backups and if needed 4 quarterly backups.

We find that the USB solution is also much more cost effective. You pay
about $130 for a 500GB drive. That's a lot of storage per $$ and the drives
last longer than tapes. Considering the initial purchase of the tape drive
you are definitely ahead of the game.

--
Claus
"Luke Robertson" <luke.robertson@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:D9D8A212-2C08-4C9D-B9D0-FCD8D2DFF8A0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Just a side question.
How reliable is using USB for backups? Why do you suggest that it's better
than tapes?
I like being able have a tape for every day of the week, and a 'father' or
'grandfather' method. are you suggesting having multiple backups on one
drive, or having many drives to take offsite?
Are you suggesting this as a recommendation for small business due to
cost, or do you think it's an overall better solution?

Thanks



"Claus" <cjobes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eSK6KnYGIHA.4628@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
We are testing a full restore. It's sometimes a challenge with different
hardware but if we can restore to different hardware we can for sure
restore to the same hardware. And yes, IMHO USB is the way to go.

So far (reaching for a piece of wood) we have not had a case where the
SBS wizard generated backup did not work at any client site.

--
Claus
"Arthur" <mynewsgroupaccount@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OlB5NEYGIHA.4272@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So if the restore is to different hardware what exactly are you testing
? Is it just that the files get restored and verified correctly ? I
guess that offering this as a service is a lot easier with USB drives
eliminating the need to have different tape format drives available?

"Claus" <cjobes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OqfgidXGIHA.1212@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This is a dilemma that most small companies face. The rule that "the
only good backup is a backup that has been tested successfully" is
sometime difficult to achieve and does preset cost. We offer test
restores as part of our service to our clients and use a dedicated
server in our lab. It does have it's limitations because of different
hardware and the client has to pay for it.

Other than that, we have moved away from tapes to USB drives. We find
them more reliable and we keep several backups off site.

--
Claus
"Arthur" <mynewsgroupaccount@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OCO5UbWGIHA.6068@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Just wondered what is the sensible approach to testing backups in a
small business environment.
I guess that a period test restore of files is sensible but it doesn't
prove that a tape/disk is fully functional for disaster recovery ?
It's also not practical in cost terms to restore to a full blank
server for most small business environments.
I would be interested to hear what others do or if there is a best
practise document anywhere.








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