Ever lost data through not backing up?

[FlyingPenguin]

Most of my clients are small businesses (less than 5 employees). I generally use CD or DVD backups using software like NTI's BackupNow which lets you schedule backups.

I make Ghost images of the file server and any mission critical workstations, and just backup the data nightly. I recommend one backup a day, after hours, making sure everyone closes all apps so that all files can be copied without file locking errors.

I recommend that someone take home the previous day's backup so there's always a backup off-site in case of file or theft. I strongly recommend that backups left in the office be kept in a fire safe ($30 at Walmart) along with any important CDs like Ghost images and application installers.

I generally avoid tape backups. Why? Probably not for the reason you think. Tape drives come in a giant variety, many different standards and formats. Two drives using the same tapes may not be able to read each other's data. Tape drive formats also become obsolete.

The one thing no one ever seems to think about is what happens if the system with the tape drive is stolen or destroyed in a fire. Now you not only need to replace the file server BUT you also have to replace the tape drive to restore the backup. Is the drive still being manufactured? If not, who makes a compatible model? What's the availability? Most stores don't even stock tape drives so you're probably talking mail order.

CDs and DVDs drives are ubiquitous - you can get one at Walmart if the system doesn't have one.

With a Ghost image and CD or DVD backups, I can restore a server in an hour or two at most, as opposed to a down-time of days.

If the data fits on a CD (and since BackupNow uses data compression I can get 1.4 Gb on a CD), and if the client is using a database, I usually recommend they use CD-Rs instead of CD-RW and archive them.

More than once I've had a client suffer an SQL database corruption. It's MUCH easier to fix a corrupt database file if you have an earlier non-corrupt version of it to compare it to. Both times it's happened to clients of mine, we were able to FTP the good and bad copies to their software provider, and tech support was able to rebuild it and get it back to us within 12 hours. It could have taken days without a good copy to compare it to.

Moreover, in one case the file had been corrupt for weeks, so a simple 5 day backup on re-writable media would not have helped.

I have one client who's so paranoid that they archive daily backups for 6 months. Burned once, you never want to get burned again.


Another method I use for backups is those neat little USB HandyDrives. You can use it as a keychain fob. I usually recommend it as a secondary backup (I still prefer to archive at LEAST a week's data on CDs, but some clients really dig the idea of carrying all their data in their pocket).

[b-man1]

FP-

i agree that there are better/faster ways than tape...but only when dealing with smaller amounts of data (as you mentioned). my weekly backups are around 2TB...monthly full backups are nearing 4TB+...i wish there was a better way, but even with a SAN on fiber it would still take a LONG time. hehe

[Absolut Talent]

i dont really back up my main HD

i keep all my programs and updates and stuff on my 4th HD and just hope nothing happens to that one

i would be more worried about something happening to my 120gig HD completly filled with anime, than something happening to my main or other HDs

[Stacy]

I've lost more than I should have more times than I should have. But that was years ago and a tough lesson learned that HD's do NOT like being slaves to CDR's.

Althoooooooo....this past w/end we just had the same damn problem cuz we thought with a 'new' CDR we wouldn't have a problem, but as it turns out we lost a partition on a 40G HD and ended up using 'GetDataBack for NTFS' and recovered all of it...only to have the partition magically reappear on us. *shrug

But yes, backing up is a rule of thumb for us...although it's a bit difficult to back up 110 G's of data. (.mpc's/.mp3's/.ape's and the like)