Re: Backup devices? SC101? LaCie Ethernet Disk?

On Thu, 5 Jan 2006 14:27:10 -0500, "Peter" <peterfoxghost@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>> Here's what I do to back up multiple networked PCs, and it's worked
>> very well so far. I'm not real good at doing scheduled stuff, so I
>> have it as automated as possible.
>
>I thought that scheduling is a part of automation.

Meat schedule vs. PC schedule. I have a Palm Pilot with a bunch of
stuff that I'm scheduled to do. That doesn't mean I get it done on
time. The PC's automation is much more reliable, in my case.

>> I use True Image 8 (www.acronis.com - now at 9, which I haven't
>> tried), an external USB2 HD on one PC, and an Iomega NAS100D network
>> HD in a remote location. I've had good luck with the less expensive
>> Iomega network HDs, but my needs are simple and I only run XP.
>
>How far is the remote location?

In my case, the other end of the house, in a storage location, stashed
out of sight. I could put them into the safe, where they'd replace
the heater that keeps my steel from rusting, but I haven't bothered
with that yet. They don't restart after a power outage (we've had a
few lately), so I have to go push the buttons to get them back online.

If you want a really remote location, you could mirror to a set of
external HDs that you could send off somewhere, or drop your DVD
copies into a safe deposit box, the mail, or whatever. That's all
human glue stuff, which I'm not so good at, as I said, so I draw the
line there. YMMV.

>> You can sometimes get them for a very good price from their factory
>> outlet store (http://www.iomega.com/direct/outlet/landing.jsp).
>>
>> - Weekly TI8 full backup and daily incremental backup of each PC to
>> the USB HD, all to the same backup set name, so it resets once a week
>> and doesn't keep growing.
>>
>> - Weekly TI8 alternate full backup, no incrementals, offset from the
>> main weekly backup by 1/2 week. This is in case the main backup gets
>> corrupted somehow (like being interrupted during the full backup).
>>
>> - Daily mirror of the above files, using Second Copy
>> (www.centered.com), to the network drive, which is physically
>> separated from the PCs. This gives me a redundant copy of both sets
>> of backups in a remote location, in case of a burglary where the thief
>> gets both the PC and the main backup drive.
>>
>> The TI8 backup file sizes are set for 700 MB, as this will allow me to
>> copy them to CD or DVD without any extra hoopjumping. Now and again
>> (I shoot for once a month, but actually hit once a quarter), I burn
>> the alternate backup set to DVD and stash it in my big safe, which
>> provides some level of fire protection.
>>
>> For files I want to back up more than once a day or independently from
>> the TI backups, I use Second Copy to backup the folder(s) they live
>> in. It won't back up open files (which TI will), but it's another
>> level of redundancy that I like. These mostly go to a second
>> networked drive, but some PCs have a second internal drive for this.
>
>How big are your backups?

Depends on the PC - mostly in the 10-30G range. One runs in the 200+G
range, but there's not much really critical data there, so it backs up
to a second HD in the same box, and the critical data gets Second
Copy'd to one of the 'net drives. On my main PC, I typically put
games and other high-volume, low-criticality stuff on a different
partition and don't bother backing up that partition.

Works well for me.


--
Neil Maxwell - I don't speak for my employer
.