Backup Solutions

[Alexander Short]

I fell into the similar situation where in a single-machine environment,
the computer was stolen, and with it went the most recent backup tape
but more importantly the drive.  At the time the replacement drive on a
weekend was _impossible_ to purchase, fortunately I called about 40
ISPs/Computer stores before I found someone that had one in the back
room and for $50 bucks would dump the data to a drive.

>From there on in, I switched to a DVD burner for backup.  The negative
is size restrictions, but if you can manage, at least you'll have
something that should be fairly readable in 5 years time.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org [mailto:owner-tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of Jon
Thiele
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 7:11 AM
To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
Subject: [TLUG]: Backup Solutions


Almost all of my small business clients run the same setup:  CENTOS on
their
file server and flexbackup as backup software to a Seagate STT220000A
10/20GB tape drive.  I love these drives.  I've used them almost
exclusively
for the last 8 years.  They are cheap ($200), last 4 or 5 years under
normal
load and easy to use.  However, last week I discovered that I have a
problem.  A client's tape drive failed and I found out that
Seagate/Quantum
no longer make these drives - in fact, I can't find a single distributor
(TechData, DirectDial, EMJ) in Canada that has stock...  (Refurbished -
yes,
new - no.)

I'm now looking for a new, long term solution.  I've thought of moving
to
8GB or 16GB USB RAM drives (reliability problems???), I played with
using
daily USB external hard drives (kind of hard to put in your purse to
take
home every night...), I looked into online backup solutions (most of
them
for some unknown reason want Windows...), someone suggested the IOMEGA
REV
removable hard drive (are they going to be around in 5 years???), I've
looked at more expensive SCSI drives (large initial cost > $1,200), and
I've
even thought of setting up my own backup site where I would go in every
night and grab the modified files from each client (do I really want to
do
this???).

So, can I pick your collective brains???  What cheap, offsite,
easy-to-use,
backup solutions do you use for your Linux servers???  Your suggestions
are
appreciated.

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