Backup Solutions

Lennart Sorensen lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org
Thu Aug 30 14:32:47 UTC 2007


On Thu, Aug 30, 2007 at 07:11:12AM -0400, Jon Thiele wrote:
> 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.

A 500GB SATA drive in an enclosure really does work.  We use that at
work, instead of the DVD backups we used to make.  We rotate through 3
drives on a weekly basis.  At under $200 with taxes per drive and
enclosure they are great.  USB2.0 and eSATA support.  We just leave on
power supply and usb cable attached to the server at all times and swap
out the drive.

The enclosure we use is the Vantec NST-360SU (got them at Canada
Computers).

I am actually going to go get another one today for my wife to backup
her laptop to.

I find that unless you have a very very large system to backup, tape
drives are too much trouble.  Anyone can read a USB/eSATA drive
containing a normal filesystem.  Finding a way to restore your backup
data from tape isn't easy.  After all if the building burns down and you
have to buy all new servers, can you even get the tape drives for the
new servers to restore your backups?  If the answer is no or not sure,
then your backups are essentially useless.

--
Len Sorensen
--
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